August 8, 2014 No. 14-32 Primary Elections Recap from the Moment
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August 8, 2014 No. 14-32 Primary Elections Recap In This Issue: From the moment early voting began weeks ago until the polls closed TN Bankers Gain Sponsors for last night, insiders predicted there would be some surprises, upsets and a Reg Relief Bills – 1 few close races. And they were right. House Committee Approves Additional Regulatory Relief Below is a brief summary of the results. For a complete list of all Measures – 2 election results, go to http://www.elections.tn.gov/. House Passes Cybersecurity Coordination Bill – 2 US Senate. Lamar Alexander didn’t have an easy primary race with current state Representative, and Tea Party favorite, Joe Carr at his FDIC Withdraws Lists of ‘High- Risk’ Merchant Customers – 2 heels, but he won with 328,315 votes to Carr’s 269,021. FinCEN Proposes Enhanced US House. All nine Congressional seats were up for re-election, but the Customer Due Diligence – 3 two most notable primary races were in Districts 3 and 4. In District 3, CFPB Extends Complaint Republican incumbent Chuck Fleischmann was challenged, for the Proposal Comment Period – 3 second time by Weston Wamp. Despite a hotly contested race, CFPB Announces Nationwide Fleischmann received 51 percent of the votes, while Wamp received 49 Financial Education Effort to percent. Low-Income Customers – 3 ICBA Launches Petition for Call District 4 was perhaps the most talked about race in the state, and even Report Relief – 4 picked up national attention. Current state senator Jim Tracy challenged incumbent Scott DesJarlais. After the last county submitted its results, DesJarlais received 34,787 votes. Jim Tracy received 34,752. With a difference of only 35 votes, officials will conduct a recount, which could take several weeks. TN Senate. Although only 17 of the 33 Senate seats were up for re-election, there were several close races as well as a few upsets and surprises. Stacey Campfield (R-Dist. 7) of Knoxville, who has faced tough challengers in the past, was defeated this time by Dr. Richard Briggs by a substantial margin. In District 21, the open seat due to Sen. Doug Henry’s retirement, will be likely filled by the Democratic primary winner Jeff Yarbro of Nashville. Yarbro will face a Repubilcan opponent in the general election, but the district leans heavily Democratic. ™Copyright 2014 Tennessee Bankers Association. The material contained herein is provided for general informational purposes and should not be considered legal advice. Please contact your local counsel for application to any specific matter. Timothy L. Amos, Senior Vice President/General Counsel Amy Smith, Vice President/Associate Counsel TBA Legislative Update No. 14-32, Pg. No. 2 Incumbent Jim Summerville (R-Dist. 25) faced two challengers – current House member Joshua Evans (R-Dist. 66) and former state Senator Kerry Roberts. In the end, Kerry Roberts came out ahead, with nearly three times the number of votes Summerville received. Evans trailed close behind Roberts. Perhaps the biggest surprise in the Senate races was the defeat of incumbent and very well known Sen. Ophelia Ford (D-Dist. 29) of Memphis. Most had predicted her last name alone would be enough to carry her through despite having three challengers. However, Ford came in third place, with Lee Harris, current councilman and law professor at the University of Memphis coming out the winner. Harris received 10,495 votes while first runner-up, Ricky Dixon, received 6,878. Ford received 6,750. Harris will face a Republican challenger in the general election, but the district is leans strongly Democratic. TN House. With all 99 seats up for re-election, several incumbents were able to fight off tough challengers. The most notable of those being: District 7 – Matthew Hill (R-Blountville); District 31 – Ron Travis (R-Dayton); District 33 – John Ragan (R-Oak Ridge); District 45 – Courtney Rogers (R-Goodlettsville); District 61 – Charles Sargent (R-Franklin); and District 63 – Glen Casada (R-Thompson Station). However, there were some upsets as well. Four incumbents lost to their challengers: District 2 – Bud Hulsey defeated Tony Shipley; District 18 – Martin Daniel defeated Steve Hall; District 35 – Jerry Sexton defeated Dennis “Coach” Roach; and District 71 – David “Coach” Byrd defeated Vance Dennis. TN Supreme Court Justices Prevail in Retention Elections Tennessee voters rejected an all-out effort to force three State Supreme Court justices from the bench after conservatives sought to define them as too liberal for the state. Chief Justice Gary R. Wade and Justices Cornelia A. Clark and Sharon G. Lee all survived to win new eight-year terms on the state’s highest court, maintaining a margin of about 56 percent to 44 percent. The justices were all appointed by the governor at the time, Phil Bredesen, a Democrat. Conservative groups targeted them for defeat in this summer’s retention elections. Their critics, including the Republican State Leadership Committee and Americans for Prosperity, mounted a high-profile campaign claiming the justices had been “soft on crime” and hostile to business interests. The justices, joined by many members of the state’s legal community, said the attacks were baseless and raised more than $1 million. Their opponents responded by pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into the race. TBA Legislative Update No. 14-32, Pg. No. 3 The leader of a political action committee that opposed the justices, Tennessee Forum, said after the election on Thursday that the balloting had placed the jurists on notice. ICE Reviews Libor Licensing Fees The Intercontinental Exchange, or ICE, on Tuesday hosted a conference call with ABA and five ABA member banks to discuss the impact of ICE-Libor licensing fees on bank activity. The banks, representing a cross-section of financial institutions, described how Libor is used in the United States and asked ICE to clarify the list of activities that would incur a fee under the licensing scheme that took effect on July 1, 2014. During the call, ICE made the following points: • ICE-Libor licensing fees are under review and revisions to the fee structure and additional FAQs are likely. • U.S. banks that have yet to pay the ICE-Libor licensing fee are encouraged to wait until ICE releases further information before revising business operations or documentation. • U.S. banks that have not yet purchased a license should continue to have access to ICE- Libor data through vendors and data distributors. • ICE-Libor hotline operators will be receiving further direction to ensure consistent and explanatory responses to banker questions. Read more about the ICE-Libor licensing and usage fees. OCC Guidance Addresses Debt-Sale Arrangements On Monday, the OCC released guidance on managing risks associated with debt-sale arrangements. The guidance, which is based on best practices identified by large bank examiners, details the agency’s supervisory concerns and expectations for structuring arrangements that are consistent with consumer protection and safety and soundness. Among other things, the guidance advises banks to: ensure appropriate internal policies and procedures are in place to govern arrangements consistently across the bank; perform appropriate due diligence when selecting debt buyers; and provide accurate and comprehensive information regarding each debt sold. Read the guidance. Fed Survey: ATR/QM Rule Lowers Mortgage Approvals About half of the banks participating in the Federal Reserve’s latest senior loan officers survey reported that the CFPB’s ability-to-repay/qualified mortgage rule had reduced approval rates on applications for prime jumbo home-purchase loans and for nontraditional mortgages. A majority of large banks but only about half of all other banks said the rule has had no effect on approvals of prime conforming mortgages, in part because they qualify for the safe harbor for mortgages that pass the GSEs' automated underwriting models. TBA Legislative Update No. 14-32, Pg. No. 4 The survey also found that banks continued to ease lending standards and terms for many types of loan categories amid a broad-based pickup in loan demand. A small percentage of respondents reported having eased standards on commercial and industrial loans over the past three months, while moderate to large fractions of banks reported having eased various terms on such loans. On the demand side, a significant fraction of banks reported stronger demand for C&I loans from firms of all sizes. They attributed the increased demand to customers' need to finance investments in plant or equipment, accounts receivable, inventories, or mergers or acquisitions. Read the survey report. CFPB, Fed to Host Second TILA-RESPA Disclosure Webinar The CFPB and the Federal Reserve will co-host a webinar on August 26 at 2 p.m. EDT to answer frequently asked questions about the TILA-RESPA integrated mortgage loan disclosure rule. The webinar is the second in a series intended to help creditors, mortgage brokers and others implement the new forms, known as the Loan Estimate and the Closing Disclosure. Register for the webinar. Download a recording of the first webinar. .