Washington, D.C.

On February 6-7, LBA staff and three Louisiana bankers visited Louisiana congressional delegation members in Washington, D.C.  We met with Sen. John Kennedy and Congressmen Steve Scalise, Mike Johnson and Clay Higgins; and with staffers of Congressmen Garret Graves and Cedric Richmond and Sen. Bill Cassidy. Uniformly the meetings were positive and encouraging. We also met with a staffer of Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer, now chairman of the powerful House Financial Services Committee subcommittee Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit. Items of discussion were The Financial CHOICE Act by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Thomas Hensarling, which will be the starting point for regulatory changes in the House, and Sen. Kennedy stated that this bill will influence what transpires in the Senate.  Flood insurance was a common theme in our meetings and our delegation appears to be optimistic that reauthorization of NFIP by the September 2017 that is acceptable to Louisiana. Fair lending was discussed with Sen. Kennedy and his aide, as well as a fair lending concern with flood insurance. The LBA is working on some legislative language to address some concerns in these areas to provide to our delegation. HMDA, CRA and BSA ‘modernization’ is being discussed by Congressman Luetkemeyer and his staff to be addressed in a separate bill from The Financial CHOICE Act. This was very encouraging to hear. We also spoke about our concerns with the reports of David Nason possibly being nominated for the Federal Reserve Board Vice Chairman of Supervision. And credit unions tax exemptions and push for more business lending. Optimism tempered by realism is our attitude. Help us in our work this year!