Gov. Janet Napolitano and state lawmakers have announced no new taxes for this 2004 legislative session. The deficit has been reduced from a projected $1 billion to $500 million and they are betting on a healthy state economy. The governor has a Tax Task Force that is reviewing different strategies of collecting taxes. Although credit unions were not in their last report, we certainly are keeping a close eye on all their findings.
The lack of concern over the deficit is helping our credit union legislative agenda too. We have filed a bill, HB 2241, that will change the name of the State Banking Department to the Financial Institutions Department. We also are changing the criteria for the superintendent from "banking experience" to "financial institution experience" to allow more flexibility in the superintendent's appointment process and open it up to other financial candidates.
