Aloha fellow HAMB members,

Our legislative bill last year was an effort to enact a state law that conformed to the "Secure And Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008" (SAFE Act) and our bill in 2010 is an effort to correct last years legislation to make it truly comply with the entirety of the SAFE Act and the ways in which our industry actually operates.

Our bill this year is SB2603, and was submitted by majority Senator Rosalyn Baker from Maui. HAMB's legislative committee has worked tirelessly to assist in its drafting, and continues to monitor, testify and comment by phone, email and physical appearance and testimony at the State Capitol.  The most recent updates are available at these links:

SB2603 Testimony

SB2603 Status 

SB2603 Committee Reports

Other bills that HAMB had no involvement in drafting, but we are monitoring are:

The Department of Financial Institution's bill HB2278, was introduced by minority Representative Marumoto and is similar to our bill but more lengthy and proposes additional language from our regulator that HAMB chose not to support. This bill will most likely not make the crossover from the House to the Senate, but we are watching in case it does.

Another bill, SB2612  would NOT exempt banks as well as other entities that deal with mortgage origination. The Mortgage Bankers Association will likely oppose this one. While it seems to make sense that everyone should be licensed, even MLOs at banks and credit unions. HAMB's position is that we are not intending to endorse any Hawaii-specific statutes that do not follow the federal law called the SAFE Act, which does not eliminate the exemptions this bill is proposing. If a state law removes the exemptions, then bankers, credit unions and insured depository institutions would also need to be licensed, which would be more restrictive than the federal SAFE Act requires. The NMLS is working with the FDIC to require MLOs at federally insured depositories to be registered with the NMLS, but registration is not the same as licensing with the state. Click for the FDIC draft. This particular bill has its merits, but as an Association we are concerning ourselves with laws that affect MLOs in the wholesale channel, not the retail banks, credit unions etc.

But wait, there's more. SB2254 submitted on behalf of Trusts and Non-Profits seeking exemption. These same institutions have tried unsuccessfully in the past to exempt themselves from taking the Continuing Ed for Real Estate.

The last bill HAMB is concerned about is HB2824 dealing with distressed property consultants. Currently the realtors, retail staff of depository and non depository bank officers, attorneys and CPAs are exempt from this. HAMB's position is that mortgage loan originators should also be exempt, especially when our customer is the buyer of a "distressed property".

As you can see, anyone can monitor the whole process online, just click any or all of the links above, or you can choose to become active in the process if you so desire. We sincerely hope this gives you a broad perspective on the Hawaii legislative landscape with respect to the mortgage industry this year.

Mahalo,

Scott Coffman
President