Pub. 5 2017 Issue 1

6 The Community Banker www.mibonline.org W elcome to our newest edition of The Community Banker. By the time you are reading this article, the 2017 Montana Legislative Session will have, with any luck, wrapped up its work for another two years. At the time I am writing this article, the Legislature has nearly completed its nine- ty-day session. As such, what I write below may have changed due to the lag in time between when this article is written and the date the magazine is published. This being stated, overall, the 2017 Montana Legislative Session was a positive one for Montana’s community banking industry. The Associ- ation was able to achieve what it strives to accomplish every legislative session, which is to keep bills harming the community banking industry from being signed into law. In addi- tion, the community banking industry also is in a position to push through a bill which will provide some much-needed regulatory relief here on the state level. During the session, the Association has been able to defeat multiple measures opposed by the banking industry. Two of the most notable measures were as follows: The House Business and Labor Commit- tee resoundingly killed off the State Farm Mortgage Loan Origination bill. The bill was defeated on a 14-5 vote with all Democrats opposing the legislation. State Farm hired three lobbyists this session in order to get the bill passed. As a result, State Farm was able to get the bill out of the Senate for the first time. Though we are able to defeat this legislation Executive Director’s Report