STATE GOVERNMENT RELATIONS
Holcomb Urges Hoosiers to Vax
Gov. Holcomb is encouraging Hoosiers to get vaccinated amid reports COVID-19’s highly contagious omicron variant has been detected in Indiana. This comes as a surge of the delta variant is rocking hospitals across the state. Unvaccinated Hoosiers are filling ICUs to the point the National Guard has been called in to help at least 20 hospitals. The Hoosier State is heading into the holiday weekend with some of the highest COVID-19 case counts of the entire coronavirus pandemic. Statewide, just 12.2% of intensive care unit hospital beds are classified as "available."
Indiana Jobless Rate at 3.3%; 20-Year Low
Indiana’s unemployment rate continued to descend in November. It hit a low that the state has not seen since November 2000, according to numbers released Friday by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. The state’s unemployment rate dropped from 3.3% in October to 3% in November – a far cry from the mid-teen highs seen in the first months of the pandemic in 2020.
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT RELATIONS
Action Alert: Urge Lawmakers to Oppose New IRS Reporting Rules
The Biden Administration is proposing a sweeping expansion of tax information reporting aimed at raising revenue to help offset the cost of additional spending programs in the American Families Plan. While the initial draft of the Biden administration’s $3.5 trillion spending plan currently does not include the IRS reporting proposal, the language could be added over the coming weeks as the current package is debated. We must continue our grassroots efforts to ensure that this provision stays out of future drafts of the bill.
Contact your lawmakers today to express your opposition to any new IRS reporting that leads to increased compliance costs, damages your customer relationships and threatens customer privacy. In addition to the current action alert seeking bank employee participation, we have created an action alert with messaging specifically designed for bank customer engagement. Please consider sharing this unique action alert link so they may urge Congress protect their financial privacy!
Justices Will Hear Arguments in Challenges to Biden Vaccine Policies
With COVID-19 cases surging across the country, the Supreme Court fast-tracked two disputes over the Biden administration’s expansion of vaccinations. In an unusual move, the justices announced on Dec. 22 that they would hear oral arguments on Jan. 7 on two federal policies: a vaccine-or-test mandate for workers at large employers and a vaccine mandate for health care workers at facilities that receive federal funding.
Agencies: CBLR Returns to 9% on Jan. 1
With the expiration of coronavirus-related relief provided under the CARES Act, the community bank leverage ratio will revert to a minimum of 9% starting on Jan. 1, 2022, the banking agencies indicated today. Banking organizations that elect the CBLR framework on their March 31, 2022, call reports will be subject to the requirement. “The community bank leverage ratio framework includes a two-quarter grace period that generally allows banking organizations additional time to build capital and manage their balance sheets to either remain in the framework or prepare to comply with the generally applicable risk-based and leverage capital requirements,” the agencies added.
The CBLR had been set at 8% since spring 2020. Banking groups have been advocating passage of H.R. 6145, a bill introduced by Rep. Tracey Mann (R-Kan.) that would direct the regulators to set the CBLR between 8% and 8.5% until the end of 2024.
Federal Agencies Release 2020 CRA Data on Small Biz, Community Development Lending
On Tuesday, Dec. 21, the federal banking agencies released 2020 Community Reinvestment Act data on small businesses, farms, and community development lending. The CRA requires banks with more than $1.305 billion in assets to report data in these areas.
The 687 reporting banks originated or purchased 8.4 million small business loans totaling $461.8 billion. The total number of loans originated by reporting banks increased by about 9.7% from 2019, due mainly to the Paycheck Protection Program, the agencies said. Small-farm loan originations fell by about 1.7% year-on-year, while the total dollar amount increased by 7.9%. About 40.7% of the reported small-business loans and 56.3% reported farm loans were made to firms with less than $1 million in revenue.
A total of 621 banks reported community development lending activity totaling nearly $169 billion in 2020, a 52% increase from the amount reported in 2019, again mainly attributable to PPP lending since many PPP loans did not meet CRA requirements small-business loan reporting qualified for community development reporting.
GOP Senators Sound Alarm on Maneuvers by FDIC Board Members
A group of twelve GOP Senate Banking Committee members wrote to President Biden last week raising concerns about the recent conflict between Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. board members, which stemmed from the desire of at least two of the FDIC board’s four members to release a request for information about the agency’s bank merger procedures. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra sought to have the FDIC board vote on the RFI during a board meeting this week, but FDIC Chairman Jelena McWilliams ruled the motion out of order, stating that “it doesn’t comply with the previously stated information received from the general counsel about the legitimacy of that action.”
The lawmakers expressed serious concern over these attempts to circumvent the authority of a sitting FDIC chairman. “Director Chopra and Director Gruenberg’s statement and actions make clear that they violated FDIC procedures with the apparent goal of usurping the powers of the chairman and inhibiting her ability to carry out her official duties and responsibilities,” they wrote. “In addition to violating the FDIC bylaws and processes, their actions upended an 88-year tradition of the FDIC board working on a collegial basis with its chairman as well as working independent from partisan political influence.”
They also called on the president to “nominate promptly a candidate to replace Director Gruenberg, as well as a candidate to fill the vacant vice chairman position on the FDIC board.” Gruenberg has been on the board since 2005, first as vice chairman and then as chairman, but his most recent six-year term expired three years ago.
Build Back Better Vote Planned Despite Manchin Objection
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., says the Senate will vote on the Build Back Better package next year, despite opposition from Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., to the bill as it stands. Manchin has described changes that might attract his support, saying he could only back a $1.75 trillion bill if it makes the tax code fairer.
SEC Commissioner Roisman to Step Down
Securities and Exchange Commissioner Elad Roisman, a Republican, announced on Monday that he would resign his position at the end of January. Roisman has served on the SEC since 2018.