Renewing an annual battle, leaders of the House Banking Committee last week urged President Clinton not to impose new federal exam fees on state- chartered banks.
The money-raising proposal has appeared in five previous White House budgets but was dropped each time under industry and congressional pressure. It is expected to be included again in the president's budget, due today.
Chairman Jim Leach and ranking Democrat John J. LaFalce called the plan "an assault on the nation's historical dual banking system" because banks already pay their state examiners and could switch to federal charters to avoid double charges.
"The imposition of new federal fees on state-chartered banks would be redundant," the lawmakers wrote in a Jan. 26 letter. "Proposals to raise exam fees would also mean new costs to customers by increasing the cost of credit."
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The 28 Democrats on the House Banking Committee have elected their ranking subcommittee members.
They tapped Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts as the top Democrat for the housing subcommittee. He succeeds former Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy 2d, who did not seek reelection last fall.
Rep. Frank signaled at the full committee's Jan. 20 organizational meeting that he plans to be as sharp a liberal thorn as ever in the side of Republicans.
After Rep. Marge Roukema, chairwoman of the financial institutions subcommittee, said she would hold a hearing on the Community Reinvestment Act in connection with regulatory relief, Rep. Frank said: "The notion that that should be approached primarily from the perspective of regulatory relief will not be a unanimous one."
Ranking Democrats on the other subcommittees will remain the same: Reps. Bruce F. Vento of Minnesota, financial institutions; Paul E. Kanjorski of Pennsylvania, capital markets; and Maxine Waters of California, international monetary policy. Rep. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., will be the ranking minority member of the oversight and investigations panel.
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Rep. James H. Maloney told a meeting of insurance agents last week that this is the year to enact financial services reform.
"If we don't move it in 1999, there is going to be too much going on in the year 2000-the presidential elections included," the Connecticut Democrat told members of the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents. "We have to do it now, or the chance will again slip from our grasp."
Rep. John A. Boehner, the former House Republican Conference chairman who helped spearhead the legislation last year, told the same group that quick action is possible because consensus is holding among industry factions. "I am very optimistic that this year we can pass financial modernization legislation," he said.
Both agreed that the regulatory turf dispute between the Federal Reserve Board and the Treasury Department is the biggest remaining hurdle.
Rep. Maloney said Senate Banking Committee Chairman Phil Gramm's concerns that the legislation would expand the Community Reinvestment Act were "legitimate" and could be worked out. Rep. Boehner questioned whether anyone but Sen. Gramm considers the community reinvestment provisions a serious problem. "I've never seen any CRA problems in this," Rep. Boehner said.
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Independent Bankers Association of America members will elect officers in March at their convention in San Francisco. Slated to become president is Robert N. Barsness, chairman and president of Prior Lake State Bank in Minnesota. Thomas J. Sheehan, president of Grafton State Bank in Wisconsin, is on the ballot as president-elect.
