Bank Day a big draw for MBA

Northwestern Financial Review, Mar 1-Mar 14, 2005 by Bengtson, Tom

Bank Day at the Capitol has grown into the Minnesota Bankers Association's largest single-day event. Conducted Feb. 8 in St. Paul, 247 bankers attended the 2005 event. With the legislature in session little more than a month, Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson, House Majority Leader Steve Sviggum and others delivered messages on the budget, transportation, education and gaming. They also had kind words for bankers.

"It is good to have people here who are wage payers, run a business and meet a payroll," commented Gov. Pawlenty, speaking to bankers in the State Capitol's Great Hall. "You are people who know what it means to take a risk. You are significant economic contributors to Minnesota. Thank you for that."

"There is no reason that your agenda is not the agenda of the caucus I represent," said Senate Minority Leader Dick Day. "Every banking bill that has come down the pipe, our caucus has been in back of. We know what you are doing in the trenches. We respect that."

Sviggum reminded bankers that he was with them in opposition to credit union legislation considered three years ago in Minnesota.

Tim Wilkin, chairman of the House Commerce Committee, told bankers his committee is reviewing the state's competitive environment. "If we are making Minnesota uncompetitive, we need to hear from you and find the fertile ground for making changes," he said, at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel near the Capitol where the event began.

Linda Scheid, chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, also delivered a friendly message to the bankers. "Fm a let-the-marketplace-work kind of person," she said, "but never forget the consumer."

Although Day is a Republican and Scheid is a Democrat, Day said: "Linda Scheid and Danny Sparks are just two of the finest people the Senate has. They are really good people who do really well for your industry." Sparks, who has worked in the banking industry, is vice chairman of the commerce committee.

Matt Entenza, the House Minority Leader, also offered encouragement for the bankers. He noted the growing competition in the industry. "It's getting to the point where Super America is a bank," he quipped. "We want to make sure you are not disadvantaged by competitors that come into the state."

Joe Witt, MBA president/CEO, urged bankers to visit with legislators to tell them how bankers drive growth in their communities. "Let them know that Minnesota is unique in that we have 470 banks. It is a good thing that we have that many banks," he said.

Witt outlined several issues the 115-year-old association is watching:

* MBA wants language included in banking statutes that would allow bankers to elect limited liability corporate structure.

* MBA want to amend statutes to allow state banks to open health savings accounts.

* It wants legislation that would require third-party marketers to make better disclosures when they use a bank's name in their materials. The disclosures should make clear that the marketer is not affiliated with the bank and that it obtained the bank's name through publicly-available information.

* It wants legislation that would declare state banks in compliance with mandated account opening procedures if they comply with the USA Patriot Act.

* It wants to amend statutes to further clarify the ability of financial institutions to share data for the purpose of preventing fraud.

Witt said MBA also is watching efforts to regulate fees on gift cards and to extend truth in lending like protections to commercial and agricultural transactions.

In his 15-minute speech, Gov. Pawlenty talked about the need to "make sure our financial house is in order." He said the 2004-2005 budget cycle will close this summer with a $500 million surplus. "When I became governor, we had a $4.5 billion budget deficit," he said.

The biannual budget he has proposed increases spending by 5.8 percent, compared to expected inflation of about 3.7 percent, he explained.

Sviggum earlier told bankers the $29.66 billion budget is about $2 billion more than the budget for the last biennium.

Pawlenty talked about maintaining the state's "world class education system." He advocates changes to the compensation system for teachers, saying raises should be based on performance, not solely on seniority.

Pawlenty also said his administration is working to slow the rising cost of health care, and that he is proposing to spend up to $7 billion to improve the state's roads and bridges.

He also said he is pursuing partnerships with Native American gaming interests so the state can share in the proceeds. "It is not a question of whether gaming is growing, it is a question of who is going to get the money and is it going to be fairly distributed," he said.

Pawlenty, who took a pledge during his election campaign not to raise taxes, summarized: "When I say we're not going to raise taxes, it's for a reason. It's not because I took a pledge. It's because you cannot be a rational person and survey the rest of the states around the nation and conclude that our problem in Minnesota is that we are an under-taxed state... We are a state that is very highly taxed. Our revenues are growing... We don't have a revenue problem in this state. We have to make sure that our revenues and expenditures match and that we live within our means."