The Senate Banking Committee is creating a new subcommittee to regulate electronic commerce. The panel will be headed by Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah.
Another Senate Banking panel is being abolished by absorbing duties of the housing and urban development oversight subcommittee into the panel on housing opportunity and community development. Sen. Connie Mack, R-Fla., will lead the combined subcommittee.
Sen. Lauch Faircloth, R-N.C., who headed the HUD subcommittee, will move to the financial institutions and regulatory relief panel, whose former chairman, Sen. Richard Shelby, now heads the Senate Select Intelligence Committee.
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Banks, securities firms, and finance companies were the leading sources of federal campaign contributions in 1996, donating $63.5 million to candidates, according to Citizen Action, an independent campaign monitoring group.
Among those donors, banking industry political action committees accounted for 11 of the top 25 donors. Leading the industry - and second overall - was the American Bankers Association, which forked over $1.3 million to congressional and presidential campaigns. Other top banking industry PACs were those of J.P. Morgan & Co., with $512,000 in contributions; Banc One Corp., with $452,156; and NationsBank Corp., with $424,000.
The Credit Union National Association, that industry's largest trade group, contributed $588,002 to 1996 campaigns.
Leading all financial industry PACs was the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, with $1.7 million.
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Endnotes: Rep. Steven C. LaTourette, R-Ohio, was named to the House Banking Committee Tuesday, succeeding Steve Stockman, who lost his re- election bid.
Michael J. McGarry, returns to Capitol Hill as House Banking's new deputy staff director after a four-year stint with public relations giant Fleishman-Hillard Inc. ... Senate Banking Committee Deputy Staff Director Philip E. Bechtel has been named chief counsel, replacing Robert J. Guiffra, who resigned in December. ... Kenneth A. McLean, former Senate Banking Committee staff director, has retired from lobbying. His recent clients included the California thrift companies Golden West Financial Corp. and H.F. Ahmanson & Co.
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