STATE GOVERNMENT RELATIONS
Register Today for 2021 IBA Regional Meetings
Register today and join us for a series of regional meetings around the state. The IBA has implemented these meetings in an effort to facilitate grassroots communication between the bankers we serve and the legislators who serve our state. The meetings include an hour-long update on the IBA, including legislative information and advocacy opportunities. Following the update, local legislators from the Indiana General Assembly will meet for lunch with bankers from the community. This year, three regional meetings remain, each beginning at 11:00 a.m. local time. Follow the links below for your preferred location and register today!
Fair Oaks
The Farmhouse Restaurant at Fair Oaks Farms
New Date! Monday, October 4
Click here to register
Evansville
The Bauerhaus
Tuesday, October 5
Click here to register
Fort Wayne
The Landmark Centre
New Date! Monday, October 25
Click here to register
House In Session to Pass New Districts
The Indiana House of Representatives met this week to pass HB 1581, a bill that creates new legislative districts for all 100 House members, 50 senators and nine Congressional members in Indiana. This process is required by statute every 10 years. Lawmakers waited until now to hold session due to the delay in the release of census data that is required to track population shifts. The bill now moves to the Indiana Senate to repeat the process next week. Any possible changes occurring in the Senate must be worked out between the two chambers before being sent to the governor’s desk for his signature into law.
Indiana House proposed districts
Indiana Senate proposed districts
Indiana Congressional proposed districts
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 to protect their financial privacy!
House Committee Votes to Include Cannabis Banking Bill in NDAA
In an overwhelming bipartisan vote this week, the House Rules Committee agreed to include the SAFE Banking Act – an industry-supported bill that provides clarity to financial institutions seeking to serve legitimate cannabis businesses – as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act.
The bill – which passed the House in the last Congress but was not taken up in the Senate – would provide a safe harbor for depository institutions serving cannabis businesses in states where such activity is legal. Currently, more than 35 states have legalized cannabis for medical or adult use, but current federal law prevents banks from safely banking cannabis businesses, including ancillary businesses that provide them with goods and services.
FOMC: Asset Purchases May Be ‘Moderated’ If Economic Progress Continues
If the economy continues to improve broadly, “a moderation in the pace of asset purchases may soon be warranted,” the Federal Open Market Committee indicated on Wednesday. Since last December, the economy has made progress toward the committee's goals of maximum employment and price stability, and the committee said it expects that progress to continue.
The target range for the federal funds rate will stay at zero to 0.25%, the committee said, adding that it expects it will maintain that range until inflation has risen to 2%, is on track to moderately exceed 2% and maximum employment is reached.
Meanwhile, elevated inflation will likely remain in the coming months before moderating, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said in a press conference after the release of the FOMC statement. He added that supply chain bottlenecks have been larger and longer-lasting than anticipated and have led to upward revisions to inflation projections for this year.
The sectors of the economy most affected by the pandemic have improved recently but a rise in COVID-19 cases have slowed their recovery, the FOMC added. “The path of the economy continues to depend on the course of the virus. Progress on vaccinations will likely continue to reduce the effects of the public health crisis on the economy, but risks to the economic outlook remain,” the committee said.
Basel Committee Urges Banks to Up Their Cyber Risk Preparedness
With cyber incidents continuing to pose a threat to the financial system, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision this week called on banks to improve cyber threat resilience. In a newsletter, the committee promoted the widespread adoption of measures to strengthen cybersecurity, following principles released earlier this year on operational resilience and operational risk.
“Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, [cyber security] concerns have heightened,” according to the committee’s newsletter. “Remote working arrangements and increased provision of financial services using digital channels have enlarged banks' attack surfaces. This means that malicious actors, who have become increasingly sophisticated, have more points of access to banks' systems. Targeted attacks on banks' third-party service providers, including third-party software banks commonly use and intragroup entities, are also a stark reminder that cyber security measures should take into account operational dependencies on such providers.”
The committee did not endorse a specific tool or framework, but recommended adopting practices that align with widely accepted industry standards. Doing so, the committee said, should improve “fundamental elements that include effective cyber risk management, diligent cyber hygiene practices, appropriate methods for identifying and protecting against cyber threats, and enhanced response and recovery capabilities.”
Resources cited by the committee as aligning with industry standards include the National Institute of Standards and Technology Cybersecurity Framework, International Organization for Standardization 2700x, and the Center for Internet Security Critical Security Controls.
National Trade Groups: IRS Reporting Proposal Raises Data Privacy Concerns
More than 40 trade associations representing a broad range of U.S. businesses sent a joint letter to House leadership and members last Friday expressing concerns about a controversial tax-reporting provision floated by the Biden administration that would expand mandatory IRS reporting on bank account information. The proposal would require financial institutions to track and provide the IRS with the inflows and outflows of every account above a de minimis threshold of $600.
“While the stated goal of this vast data collection is to uncover tax dodging by the wealthy, this proposal is not remotely targeted to that purpose or that population,” the associations wrote. “In addition to the significant privacy concerns, it would create tremendous liability for all affected parties by requiring the collection of financial information for nearly every American without proper explanation of how the IRS will store, protect, and use this enormous trove of personal financial information. We believe that this program is costly for all parties, not fit for purpose, and loaded with potential for unintended and serious negative consequences.”
While the proposal was not included in the earliest stages of the bill’s consideration, administration officials have signaled in recent days that it remains a priority for the Biden White House. Banks and their customers should continue to contact their representatives to ensure that this provision stays out of any future versions of the bill. To help engage bank customers on this issue, the IBA has an action alert that both bankers and their customers may use.
Indiana and Other State Treasurers Join Opposition to IRS Reporting Plan
The campaign opposing proposed IRS reporting requirements continued making headlines this week with a coalition of state treasurers joining the debate. State treasurers from 22 states issued a joint letter to the Biden administration on Monday, calling the proposal “one of the largest infringements of data privacy” in U.S. history. Indiana State Treasurer Kelly Mitchell signed on to the letter as one of the 22 states listed.