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Minutes for SB87 - Committee on Financial Institutions and Insurance
Short Title
Amending the Kansas credit services organization act.
Minutes Content for Wed, Feb 1, 2017
Chairperson Longbine opened the hearing on SB87. Eileen Ma presented a brief summary of the bill.
Jennifer Cook spoke in favor of the bill. She reflected that the intent of SB87 is to update, enhance, and provide flexibility and resources to credit service organizations (CSOs), who provide financial and credit counseling services to consumers. She stated that this bill recognizes the role of CSOs is evolving to reflect the needs of consumers in managing their finances. Ms. Cook answered a question from Senator Rogers clarifying that all Kansas CSOs are non-profit organizations. She related that Kansas has 31 CSOs, two of which are based in-state, and 29 others are out-of-state based.
Ms. Cook requested two amendments where the existing language was inadvertently retained in the draft of the bill:
- Sec.1, page 2, lines 5 through 20: deletion of the definition of "Related interest."
- Sec. 1, page 2, lines 21-22: deletion of the definition of "Registrant." (Attachment 2)
Jeff Witherspoon presented proponent testimony. He told the members that like many things in life, some of the provisions of the original act need to be revisited, such as the fee structures put in place 13 years ago when the cost of doing business was much less. He strongly urged the committee to make the changes proposed in SB87. (Attachment 3)
Marilyn Stanley also spoke in support of the bill. She explained that the bill contains some beneficial provisions for both consumers and CSOs in working with their consumers. She stated that HCCI views passage of SB87 as a progressive and more fair way to enable consumers to responsibly address their debts by seeking counseling at a reasonable fee. (Attachment 4)
There being no more questions or discussion, and no other conferees or written-only testimony submitted, Chairperson Longbine closed the hearing on SB87.
The Chairperson reminded the committee that tomorrow it would be taking action on bills previously heard and that there would be no meeting on Friday this week, or Monday next week.
The meeting adjourned at 10:06 am. The next scheduled meeting is Thursday, February 2, 2017 at 9:30 am.
