House Banks & Banking Committee, February 20, 2026
Video: https://vimeo.com/1166454515 (a timestamp t plays at https://vimeo.com/1166454515#t=<seconds>s)
Page: https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-02-20/house-banks-and-banking

This is a machine transcript of the General Assembly's video, made by a speech-recognition model. It is not an official record and can mishear words, names, and numbers. Speakers are not identified. The video is the record: every timestamp links to the moment it plays.
[0:17:10] Good mor- good morning, everyone. It's, uh, it's 8:00 this morning, and, um, we're supposed to start session at 9:00, and we have quite a few bills to hear this morning and to vote. So if I could, I'm gonna ask, um, Representative Dunahoo if he would give the invocation this morning. What number is that? 29?

[0:17:29] 29.

[0:17:30] I remember being that age many years ago. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we just thank You for this day and thank You for Your blessings. Watch over our families as we are away. Give us wisdom to know what we're voting on and what it will do for the state. We just pray, Heavenly Father, for Your protection. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

[0:17:51] Amen, thank you. Um, this morning, we're gonna start with Chairman Todd Jones. And Chairman Jones, the floor is yours. And if you'll have your guests introduce themselves. What's, what's this time?

[0:18:04] Mr. Chairman, thank you so much for the opportunity to present to the committee. Um, I have to my furthest right is Luther Madee. He's the co-founder and CEO of Stable Pa- uh, Stablecoin Partners. To my direct right is Davin Persano, and he's the founder and partner at the FinTech Accord. And to my left is Tony Erwin, and he basically is with US Blockchain Corporation. Uh, this is... I wish this is one of those times that we could say it's a simple bill, uh, but given the volume and given the fact that we're on the edge, uh, my felt- my thought was, Mr.

[0:18:34] Chairman, that I would bring, I'll just say, a little bit of an army so that we can make sure that the committee gets fully informed in terms of what 1272 does.

[0:18:43] Well, thank you so much, and if you'd like to proceed with your bill.

[0:18:45] Okay. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, our state has long been the heartbeat of global commerce. We are the proud home of Transaction Alley, where 75% of all US card transactions are processed right here in our backyard. We didn't earn this title by accident. We earned it through a bold, forward-thinking policy. As a matter of fact, that policy really implemented about 60 years ago when we transitioned from paper to what we all call now the rails. We consistently hear that we are the number one state to do business.

[0:19:17] But as the Fifth Industrial Revolution is upon us, we must turn our sights to being the most innovative state in the union to do business. I caution the committee, 50 years ago, Michigan held 90% of the car market. Today, Michigan holds 20% of the car market. Kmart, 50 years ago, held the top of retail, and today, they no longer exist. I can give you all kinds of historicals around may it be Blockbuster and maybe other companies that did not look to the future but just assumed that we would always hold the top of the mountain like we do today in fintech.

[0:19:56] Years ago, this body established a merchant acquirer limited purpo- purpose bank charter. At the time, it was a novel concept. Today, it is the reason why global giants like Fiserv, Checkout, Stripe have anchored significant operations and thousands of high-paying jobs here in Georgia. Not just high-paying, but sustainable and in very high volume, over 50,000. We gave them the regulatory certainty that they needed to innovate, and in return, they made Georgia the payments capital of the world. But technology does not stand still.

[0:20:26] Today, we face a new challenge. We are currently wi- witnessing the greatest evolution in the history of value exchange since the introduction of the credit card. One noted fintech executive to- basically said that stablecoin, in the very near future, will be essentially called money. The bill before you, the Georgia Payment Stablecoin Act, is our line in the sand. It is our chance to proclaim to the country and to the world that Georgia intends to maintain its position in the fintech space.

[0:20:57] Let me be clear, though the feds have moved on this last summer, and we appreciate the 536 doing their job, this is our opportunity to tell the world that we will be first as a state to move this across the line and give our fintech industry an opportunity to leverage exactly what this brings to us in terms of opportunity. So what does this bill do? This legislation is designed to be the state-level companion to the Federal Genius Act, ensuring our laws are substantially similar to national standards while empowering our own Department of Banking and Finance.

[0:21:30] Before I dive into the bill, let's be sure we have a clear understanding of stablecoin. Stablecoins offer advantages for cross-border payments. That means basically inter-country payments, including faster transaction times, often settling in minutes rather than days, and lower fees due to fewer intermediaries. They also provide greater transparency and security as transactions are recorded on public blockchains, making them traceable and auditable.

[0:21:58] This is a win for Georgia. It's a win for the fintech industry, and frankly, it's a win for innovation. When we look at our GDP, our GDP is eigh- is eighth in the union and 22nd in the world. If Governor Kemp was to walk into the United Nations, he would effectively be a head of state larger than over 80% of the countries in the world. However, our GDP is dominated by my favorite industry, agriculture. But we must acknowledge that agriculture grows at a very low pace.

[0:22:30] Our sisters to the right, North Carolina, and unfortunately, our friends to the north, New Jersey, are right behind us in GDP, but a- both of them are growing at double and even triple the pace that we are from a GDP standpoint. It's not just important that we mature and we cultivate the fintech industry, but it's equally important that we cultivate the startup industry. In order to do that, we need to always make sure that we, as a body, are able to give this type of regula- regulatory clarity to those that are thinking to invest here as opposed to Wyoming, Arizona, or Utah Mr.

[0:23:11] Chairman, those are my opening comments. Uh, the four of us can stand ready to take any comments or any questions that you have, sir.

[0:23:20] Uh, thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Do I have any questions from the committee? Let's see. Yes. Okay, it's lit up. Number 27.

[0:23:30] Oh, thank you. Um, my friend, Chairman Jones. This, you have to have a, we're establishing this, so there's not a license yet, correct? Telling my cell hello.

[0:23:45] Not good when your sheriff is calling you at 8:00 in the morning. Okay. My apologies.

[0:23:49] Are you getting swatted?

[0:23:50] Yes. Um, so, so current, you gotta have a license to operate, uh, one of these businesses, correct?

[0:23:57] That is correct. And the bill basically lays out exactly how the Department of Banking will absolutely be the arbiter of that license and all the requirements. And for in- Um, so hope, does that answer your question, sir?

[0:24:09] Yeah. And it, and do you have to get a charter, or does anybody apply? How is that, how's that part of it work?

[0:24:15] So the rules are still being promulgated by the federal government that, which we will be committed to aligning to, along with our state Department of Banking. However, those rules sit within the bill, and there is no charter as if you were a bank, but there is definitely application and minimum standards that are wa- or that are based within the bill.

[0:24:30] Okay. Thank you.

[0:24:32] All right, number 26.

[0:24:34] Uh, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, thank you, Chairman Jones, for bringing this bill. And, um, um, I did co-sponsor. Uh, but, but remind me, uh, and we have the finest, uh, regulatory institu- uh, uh, outfit in the whole nation in the George Department of Bank, uh, Banking and Finance as far as regulating our financial services industry across Georgia. Uh, but rem- when they take on this added responsibility, remind me in the, in the bill whether or not it's subject to funding, adequate funding to the Department of Banking and Finance to be able to handle these additional responsibilities.

[0:25:09] Yes, that, uh, is in the bill. Um, I don't have the line number, but maybe if someone can-

[0:25:14] On the line.

[0:25:14] Yeah, it is absolutely in the bill, Mr. Chairman.

[0:25:16] Okay. Would, and has there been discussions on the appropriations, uh, front to make sure that they do have adequate resources, or does the bill just contemplate-

[0:25:26] Those conversations have been, have been had, and they're still ongoing, sir.

[0:25:29] Okay. Thank you.

[0:25:32] All right, thank, thank you. Uh, number one.

[0:25:38] Um, good morning. Um,

[0:25:43] okay, I would like to know, uh, what safeguards are in place to prevent, um, stable coins issuers from displacing deposits for Georgia community banks that fund local small businesses and mortgages?

[0:25:57] Why don't you take that one and if you can first, and then I'll go.

[0:26:00] I'm gonna invite, uh, Luther Maday to answer that.

[0:26:04] Good morning. Uh, thank you for the question. Um, the, the key thing to understand is that stable coins and stable coin issuers are not banks. Uh, and the other important thing to remember is that the, the, the backing for the r- the stable coins themselves are bank deposits that, so this will not deviate funds from actual banks.

[0:26:24] Oh, okay.

[0:26:25] And if I could add, um, and I probably should have mentioned this, it was, I was remiss not to say it. The stable coin is marked against the US dollar, and it's marked-

[0:26:34] Okay

[0:26:34] ... against short-term treasuries less than 90 days. That's imperative because what we'd like to be able to do is create, I think as a federal government, is a global standard that worldwide stable coins would mark against our dollar. We've seen our dollar actually lose value as not being the standard currency globally, and this is an opportunity for us to pick up some momentum.

[0:26:55] Okay.

[0:26:56] Thank you, Representative. Number two.

[0:26:59] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, how many states are already doing this?

[0:27:05] Why don't you take that, and I'll-

[0:27:08] When it comes to stable coin issuance, there are several states that have passed, that, that have not passed actually any laws or any s- bills that are Genius compliant. I think that's the most important thing to remember here is that this bill is substantially similar to the Genius Act, uh, and there are no states today that have actually passed any bills, uh, that are substantially similar to the Genius Act.

[0:27:28] So, so Georgia would be the first?

[0:27:29] Yeah, and if I, if I may, too, because the Genius Act was just pushed out in like summer, July, I believe, we're in a position in the state of Georgia, you know, if you think about states like Texas, they're not even in t- right now. So we're, just based on calendar, we're ahead of the game.

[0:27:48] Okay. Uh, um, just to-

[0:27:48] And we wanna continue to keep-

[0:27:50] Okay

[0:27:50] ... Georgia at the tip of the spear.

[0:27:51] Could I add to that, Representative Alexander?

[0:27:53] Mm-hmm.

[0:27:53] We know that Florida has nearly the identical bill that's being contemplated by committee. The good news is that Florida does committees first and then gavels in in March. So in my mind, this is an opportunity for us to maintain leadership against our friends from the South.

[0:28:08] Okay. Uh, further follow-up, Mr. Chairman?

[0:28:10] Yes, yes, ma'am.

[0:28:11] So is there any evidence that you've received that the consumer or businesses have a demand for gold and silver in the state of Georgia?

[0:28:20] Representative Alexander, um, this is a different bill than the gold and silver bill. I'm, uh, I apologize.

[0:28:27] Mr. Clerk, uh-

[0:28:27] This is marking against-

[0:28:29] Okay. Okay, got it. Okay

[0:28:29] ... US currency, the dollar-

[0:28:31] Okay

[0:28:31] ... and against US Treasury. It is not marking against precious metals.

[0:28:34] Okay. What, what other, is there any type of regulatory that, you know, so we can make sure that the state is in line for this and that the, um, that the industry is ready to do this? What, what guidelines?

[0:28:47] Well-

[0:28:47] I would assume there's some guidelines.

[0:28:48] How about this? I'll give you a general answer, then I'll let industry answer that. Um, from a industry standpoint, absolutely. We have to continue to give industry an additional arrow in their quiver so they can maintain competitive balance and pla- and frankly, innovative balance. So they want this, and I believe this is an opportunity to do that. I think from a digital currency standpoint, I think without a doubt there's a transition from paper to digital. We've already saw over the last 60 years paper to plastic, as, as some people say. Now we're gonna go plastic to digital. This is an opportunity to do that in such a way that is c- Absolutely guided by the Federal Genius Act, guided by our Department of Banking.

[0:29:26] Inside the bill, there are even monthly reports that are required based on liquidity, based on effectively the backing to ensure that we do not put ourselves or our consumers into any risk position. There is no intent here to create any level of risk against our consumers and against Georgia citizens.

[0:29:43] Thank you.

[0:29:46] Uh, thank you. Uh, number 16.

[0:29:49] Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and to you, Mr. Chairman. My concern, or I guess my question is, first of all, does our department have the capacity to regulate this? And secondly, what assurances do we have that our consumers are going to be protected in this environment?

[0:30:10] I'll take the first one, you take the second.

[0:30:12] That's fine.

[0:30:12] Okay. Madam Leader, thank you so much for the question. Um, I don't ever wanna speak for any department, but based on conversations with the department, I would use the word eager, uh, to be able to unders- to be able to oversee, regulate, and hopefully cultivate this industry within our fintech industry and also within our eco- ecosystem around startups, growth companies, and basically allowing us to be able to get the growth that we need in this t- in this sector, and lead, not just in this country, but in the world. And I'll let my colleagues answer your second question, Madam Leader.

[0:30:45] Yeah, just i- innately, the stable coin being pegged one-to-one to a dollar is much different than what other people think about crypto and, and Bitcoin and that kinda thing a- around protections in and of itself. I, I'm gonna invite Tony to, to go with that.

[0:30:59] Yeah, when you look at, uh, look in the bill, there's a tremendous amount of things in the bill that do protect, uh, consumers of the State of Georgia. For example, the funds that, uh, are backing each coin, uh, have to be segregated and cannot be commingled with operating, uh, capital from the, the business that issues or the issuer of the stable coin. And so, uh, and there's, the money's also put in a statutory trust to make sure that, uh, that the, it's for the, the, funds are for the benefit, the reserves backing the stable coins are for the benefit of the stable coin holders, not for the benefit of the corporation.

[0:31:33] So there's, and there's many more things, but those are two primary examples of how it protects US consumer, or Georgia consumers.

[0:31:40] Uh, my last question. I'm not sure I understand how we're gonna protect our consumers against fraud. That's what I wanna know.

[0:31:51] You wanna take that or you want me to?

[0:31:53] Well, uh, the, the stable coin, uh, you know, the Stable Coin Act itself, uh, has, like I said, has protection for consumers, but, but, uh, it, it's just a, uh, a digital currency. And, and just like it has all the laws that are, that banks come under and, and all those things, this comes under, uh, many of those laws for anti-money laundering, know your customer laws. So when an issuer becomes, uh, becomes an issuer with the State of Georgia, they fall under, uh, uh, they become a financial institution. And as a financial institution, they have to be regulated for anti-money laundering, KYC, so there's lots of things that, uh, are mandated for the issuer that they put in place to protect consumers against fraud.

[0:32:34] Madam Leader, I, I think the best example I can give is this is effectively a dollar, meaning a paper dollar, digitally. And we need to set up, 'cause that is the wave of the future. We need to set up a regulatory environment that allows us to make sure that, that in- individuals are protected, and organizations that wanna do this are vetted properly. My colleague just talked about KYC or the know your customer standards. That is something that you see in literally Chase Manhattan Bank-

[0:33:05] Exactly

[0:33:05] ... all the way down to many community banks in terms of basically not allowing an issuer to come in who has not gone through a full KYC process. So that is built into the bill. I also wanna note this, 'cause you, you, you, you talked about consumer protections. Inside the bill, it's very clear not only are the funds segregated, but unlike some other folks that hold deposits, they can't margin them. Have, you know, they cannot use them as leverage, essentially. They effectively have to keep them one-to-one against that digital dollar that's in your digital wallet.

[0:33:37] To the point where you can't even g- yield off of the, the transaction.

[0:33:43] All right. Thank you. Number 17.

[0:33:45] I'm not convinced, but-

[0:33:47] Uh, I'm sorry. I thought you... Were you finished?

[0:33:49] Oh, I, I just said I wasn't convinced.

[0:33:53] Oh, okay. Okay. I thought you said I wasn't finished. Okay.

[0:33:56] I have a friendly q- question. I understand. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, Mr. Chairman, um, what entity does this fall under? Uh, does it fall by itself, or does it fall under banking? I know it's being regulated by banks and finance. I understand that part. Uh, so is this the f- fintech? Is this part of fintech?

[0:34:20] My argument would be, Representative Douglas, would be that it would fall under the fintech industry or sector.

[0:34:26] Industry.

[0:34:26] But I would also argue that as we see more and more startups around this, you're gonna see some pretty interesting derivatives that I don't know if they're gonna be fully fintech. I think there's gonna be some pretty interesting downstream and upstream businesses that are gonna be created that will probably be complementary to the fintech industry, and I'll let my colleagues answer also. Yeah, that's great, Chairman. So there's a real intersection in this space right now where, um, w- when we think about the payment processing industry here in the State of Georgia, you know, if, if you're, you, a lot of you are probably familiar that Georgia has 75-plus percent of all transactions worldwide go through companies that are either headquartered in the State of Georgia or have a large presence here.

[0:35:07] Um, the, the chairman had mentioned the limited purpose bank charter, um, that was introduced, actually it was about 10 years ago. But because, um, at the time

[0:35:16] the networks m- mostly MasterCard and Visa did not support it, um, it didn't take off. The landscape of payments has changed since so that, that now the networks don't have a choice but to support it. And because of that, we see companies that have moved in or increased their presence in the state like Fiserv, like Stripe has put 500 jobs in and, and growing. Checkout.com, a London-based payment company, was thinking about putting their North American headquarters either in Silicon Valley, Austin, or Atlanta. They chose Atlanta.

[0:35:46] Why? Because of the charter. What we see with this bill is going to mirror the momentum that we've, that we saw with the limited purpose bank. Um, but we think it can even eclipse it because those are large payment processing companies. What we're seeing and introducing with this bill isn't to issue a Georgia stablecoin like some other states have done. What we're doing is creating an environment that is, again, substantially similar to the federal act that has been put out. And w- the difference is, is we kind of joke that we have a Goldilocks strategy.

[0:36:18] It's not too hot, it's not too cold, but Georgia's just right. So the not too hot part of this is the federal piece. It's rigorous. There's not a lot of innovation that can take place. There's an 18-month runway. Um, the not too cold are states like Wyoming who have issued their own stablecoin, and not, people aren't really sure what to do with it. We kind of joke there's more cows than people in, in Wyoming, so w- are, are they gonna use the stablecoin? But Georgia's just right. And again, it's not to issue our own stablecoin. It's to create that environment that we've already done, um, you know, 13 years in a row, the best state to do business.

[0:36:52] We've got tens of thousands of, uh, employees here. I think, um, to note, uh, we, we had somebody that actually wrote, uh, was, uh, an author of the Genius Act review this bill and say, "This is spot on. The only place to do this is in Georgia."

[0:37:07] Okay. Thank you very much. We have a couple more questions, but I think it might be a good time now. Amy Patterson, I think, was gonna say a few words, um, 'cause GBA, CBA, Department of Banking and Finance, I think they're all, they all were instrumental in helping with this bill and are all aligned together. So Amy, would you like to say a few words?

[0:37:27] Sure. I'm happy to. Um-

[0:37:30] Amen

[0:37:30] ... as, uh, Chairman Williams mentioned, we've been at the table, uh, with the industry looking at this bill. Uh, we do think it, uh, uh, creates a regime that satisfies the federal requirements. I know you've heard it a lot, but looking at that substantially similar requirement, um, and will provide a framework that the department can enact subject to that adequate funding, which I know has already been discussed. Um, and that's really kind of the big piece for us is this is new to us as well. This is not something that we have a lot of expertise in. So to the extent that this goes through and becomes law, we're gonna need that additional funding to kind of build this up and spin this up with the assistance of the industry and get that program ready to go.

[0:38:07] So I'm happy to answer any questions, but we have been at the table, and we are, um, believe this is a workable thing for the department.

[0:38:14] Okay. Thank you. I've got, um, question number 23. Is it a question for the author or is it a question for Department of Banking and Finance?

[0:38:22] Uh, thank you, m- thank you, Mr. Chairman. A question for the author, but, but certainly chime in. First of all, I, I wanna thank you for bringing this bill. We've seen a lot of examples. Uh, the, the, the, the bad actors are coming out of the woodworks these days, and, uh, we've seen real profound examples e- in the last 12 months of those things and, and tr- trying to get our hands around. You know, to, to, to beat a crook, you gotta think like a crook, unfortunately. Um, but, but I'm so grateful for you preemptively bringing this from a regulatory perspective and, and the Department of Banking and Finance is absolutely the right place to do that.

[0:39:01] Will you give some insight, being the chairman of the committee that you're chairman of, I'm a simple country banker, and I don't have what you've got bumping around that head of yours. T- talk to, uh... What can go wrong if we don't do something like this? Uh, because it feels like it would be the potential for the Wild West.

[0:39:17] So first of all, thank you very much, Representative Barrett. I actually have in my notes, if you don't mind, I'm gonna actually read verbatim, because when you said the Wild West, that's perfect. You cued me up. It provides a clear framework for licensing, examination, and supervision. We are moving stablecoins out of the Wild West and into a regulated environment. Look, what we would hate the committee to think is that this is a parallel to Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and I'll just say the cryptocurrency today. I have no opinion on that, and I'm not here to make an opinion on the current crypto market.

[0:39:48] What I am here to say, and I concur with you, this allows us to create a stable environment backed by the strongest currency in the world, or US Treasuries, again, the strongest, I guess, notes in the world, allowing us to be able to give the consumer an opportunity to basically use digital currency for whatever they wanna use it for. And again, I see it today being used more and more for just digital asset transfers, which is basically currency, you know, trading. I use it for maybe cross-border payments. But I'm gonna see a time where we've seen this...

[0:40:19] It took us basically years to go from a paper credit card transaction to the rails. The rails basically held us, or plastic held us for about half a century. Then we saw this massive move to NFC and what most of you consider Apple Pay or, you know, Google Pay. Well, that's, that's NFC, but that's really only been like a five-year horizon. Remember, we went all, all of time, 50 years, five years. Now there's this transition to digital, which is gonna take a Genius Act, has required us to do. And on top of that, what we've worked with in terms of the department and industry to ensure we have safeguards on here that exist for no other digital currency in this state or in the country or in the world.

[0:40:56] And if anyone wants to add to that.

[0:40:57] Thank, th- thank you. I think that was, that was good. All right, two more. Number 26.

[0:41:02] Oh, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, and thank you again, Chairman Jones. So bottom line, I think what, um, Leader Hugley and all of us wanna make sure is, is it safe for the, uh, citizens of the state of Georgia? And just, uh, uh, sort of answering this question myself is I remember during the 2008 meltdown when money market funds broke the dollar for the first time ever, meaning that the, the money market funds ideally always

[0:41:30] Market to market

[0:41:31] ... market to market. One US dollar equaled w- $1 in a money market fund. It went as low as 97 cents. I know that subsequently to that, is it not true that the SEC and the feds tightened, uh, the, uh, the metrics on that, where that would not happen again? But importantly, even during that meltdown, treasury-backed funds never broke the dollar, and that, is it not true that this attempt will have it pegged to US Treasuries primarily, and it will be the part of the regulatory oversight of the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance to make sure that it was all, it, all, it does in fact do what its name implies?

[0:42:11] It's appear- it's exactly stable to one, uh, US dollar equals one Stablecoin, unlike cryptocurrencies, which is a commodity, and they can fluctuate wildly. Is that not true?

[0:42:26] That is absolutely true, sir.

[0:42:27] Thank you.

[0:42:28] Thank you. One more question, and then we're gonna wrap this one up. Number 18.

[0:42:33] Thank you, Chair. Um, Chairman, about two years ago, you and I were on a study committee together looking at processing fees for credit cards, and, um, I spoke to you a lot, and I really learned a lot. And two of the things I learned is that processing fees can be out of control, and there's massive fraud now with credit cards. And I'm just wondering, have we learnt anything from that? And have safety... 'Cause I hear regulation, regulations, but credit cards are also regulated, and I'm just wondering, have we learnt anything from what's going on with the credit card industry that we're putting things in place now to prevent some of the overage?

[0:43:09] 'Cause I haven't heard anything about processing, um, this entity when it comes to consumers. And then again, how are you going to deal with or maybe prevent the fraud that is so prevalent now with credit cards?

[0:43:22] So Representative Cummings, thank you so much for the question. Um, I think our fintech industry, to the, what we learned during that study committee, our fintech industry is doing more and more advanced AI, more and more machine learning, to basically detect that fraud. I think here, one of the advantages that we have is I'll say a very well thought out blockchain. And I'm gonna let the person to my left give you a more detailed answer. But no, I think the blockchain, and that being the backbone of this, truly gives us what we truly need in terms of a central nervous system to...

[0:43:54] I don't know if that will completely wipe out fraud. I don't know if I'm ever willing to say that. But I am willing to say that I believe that we're gonna be able to handle it with much more efficacy than we're doing today. So I wanna let the person to my left to basically handle that.

[0:44:05] Yeah. Thank, thank you. Uh-

[0:44:07] Just-

[0:44:08] Okay. Just brief, because we're, we're running out of time.

[0:44:10] Okay.

[0:44:11] Probably the best example I could give is the part of the, part of the answer is that the Stablecoin and the demand for Stablecoin is because the fees that get, uh, implied on credit card issuance is pretty much eliminated. And the, and to move a Stablecoin and to move money digitally, uh, is sometimes, uh, you know, uh, in a fraction of, of a penny or even a few pennies. And so there's the demand for Stablecoin is created. And, and I could further that to say Visa themself is pushing the Stablecoin industry. So, and there's plenty of evidence for that, that I could talk about, but even Visa is saying we need to do this.

[0:44:46] Mr. Chairman.

[0:44:47] And if I could, M- Re- Representative Cummings, I wanna make it crystal clear, Stablecoin may be a first cousin to payment processing, maybe a second cousin, or maybe a third cousin twice removed, but at the end of the day, we are not trying to replace the processing industry. Again, this is an additional arrow in their quiver. It is not meant to be a substitute.

[0:45:07] Thank you. All right, number 25.

[0:45:09] Thank you. That's me. I'm 25.

[0:45:16] I've been o- I've been out here waiting for 30 minutes.

[0:45:19] Appreciate it, really. No. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Representative. You know, you know I gotta ask a question, but, uh, so what happens for the, just the risk side? I'm sitting here as, as Carter, an old country banker for 38 years, but what happens if one of these issuers goes, goes bust or goes broke? And-

[0:45:36] So if I could, and again, I know we're working on time, uh, Representative Chastain, if you could go to line 49- uh, 499 on page 21, and basically you will see it starts with, "In the event the license payment issuer fails." And then I, I, I don't wanna read to the committee, but if you could go 499 down to 519, that's the main thrust, sir. And then after that, we can go 521, uh, and essentially to 526. That being stated, Representative Chastain, I would also alert you that 437 to 497 talks about the minimum thresholds.

[0:46:13] Okay.

[0:46:14] Sorry, Mr. Chairman. I'm just trying to answer-

[0:46:16] One more question

[0:46:16] ... but completely.

[0:46:16] What about the, what about the max threshold? Is there a max, like if it's over-

[0:46:22] 10 billion.

[0:46:23] Okay.

[0:46:23] 10 billion.

[0:46:23] Oh.

[0:46:24] Yeah.

[0:46:24] Oh, I see. Okay.

[0:46:25] I th- I think that might work, don't you? Number 27, last one.

[0:46:29] Okay. Didn't you say earlier y'all's capital requirements-

[0:46:33] Good God. We're gonna operate this.

[0:46:36] Need to farm it out. All right. These are your capital requirements one to one?

[0:46:42] Yes, sir.

[0:46:43] And, and a bank is only 10% of the assets.

[0:46:46] Not gonna comment on banks, but on this case we're one to one, sir.

[0:46:49] So, uh, and, and that, I don't know how much more customer or consumer, f- uh, r- consumer guardrails you could put up of o- a dollar for dollar match on capital versus 10 cents to every dollar match.

[0:47:00] Tur- correct, sir. And we're not talking about pegging it to the Mexican peso, we're pegging it to the US dollar and US Treasuries.

[0:47:06] All right. Thank you.

[0:47:08] No problem.

[0:47:10] Okay. Can, can you do it offline or is it pertinent to this right here? Okay, go ahead and then w- we gotta wrap this up. We wanna hear more bills.

[0:47:16] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. One other question on the oversight. Is O- OCC Federal Reserve over-

[0:47:23] Yeah, I'm done

[0:47:24] ... oversight at all in this program?

[0:47:26] It's the SEC's doing.

[0:47:27] No, are we, no. Uh, that's at the federal level.

[0:47:29] Okay.

[0:47:29] At the state level it will be our Department of Banking.

[0:47:31] But, but in the bill, can a issuer opt out? I'll let that opt out load. But can an issuer opt out of the federal level and go, and go into the- No ... just have the s- the state?

[0:47:43] No, sir. It's intended for the states to create frameworks that lock into the Federal, uh, Genius Act.

[0:47:50] All right, number 12. What's the-

[0:47:53] Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd, uh, at the proper time, I'd like to make a motion-

[0:47:56] Yes, the proper time

[0:47:56] ... to be passed.

[0:47:58] We have a motion, we have a second. Any discussion? All in favor say aye.

[0:48:02] Aye.

[0:48:02] All opposed? It passes. Thank you.

[0:48:05] Thank you very much.

[0:48:06] Now, our next bill, Mr. Barrett, would you like to get up there? We're, we're running off short time, y'all, so if we can get this bill. Hear this?

[0:48:18] Yes.

[0:49:05] Mr. Barrett, the, the floor is yours.

[0:49:14] Thank you, uh, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, uh, House Bill 1112, 1-1-1-2, uh, LC number 620427s is the LC we're working off of.

[0:49:34] Okay. I, I see it. LC 620427s?

[0:49:39] Yes, sir.

[0:49:40] Okay.

[0:49:41] Well, thank y'all for, uh, letting us, uh, join you this morning. Uh, uh, we're joined by Charles Elrod from the Department of Revenue, uh, and Cade Tallifer from Troutman Pepper. Uh, funny that this bill is following HB 1272, the stable coin bill. This is kind of the other end of the spectrum. Uh, as of November, when the federal government decided to quit producing, uh, the, the penny, uh, it's created some, some challenges for those folks in retail on how to deal with that, um, uh, when, when people use cash transactions and, and all of a sudden, they, no one has pennies anymore.

[0:50:16] So this bill is a very, very simple bill that is designed to, uh, address that issue for retailers and others who deal in, in currency. Um, basically all this bill does is says if a retailer receives a cash payment, they're gonna take... Let's you go to the grocery store, you go wherever, you buy 23 items. All those items are aggregated, totaled up, the sales tax is applied. They take the total number, and if the transaction ends in a one or a two or a six or a seven, they're, they're able to round down to the nearest nickel.

[0:50:50] If it ends in a three or a four or a, or an eight or a nine, they can round up, uh, to the nearest nickel. And, and what this, this is in, in line with NCSL, other states around us, Florida. Uh, you know, the federal government has not issued, uh... They, they, they haven't taken action on this themselves, and they've kind of left it to the state. So what we're trying to do is get, get aligned with other states around us at, for convenience and clarity for our retailers.

[0:51:17] Okay. Thank you. We already have a question for you. Number 16.

[0:51:21] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for bringing this bill. I, I, I can't tell you, I, I went to the Dollar General, and I'm like, "Man, keep my money." I'm like, "I know how to count. What, what are you doing?" And he said, "Well, we've decided that we're not giving back, uh, any, any pennies of any kind." And I said, "Uh, if you keep everybody's penny, somebody's making money." Uh, so I appreciate your bill. Thank you. Thank you.

[0:51:48] Thank you, ma'am. Number one. I'm sorry I slighted you a while ago, Representative.

[0:51:52] That's okay. Uh, uh, thank you for, thank you. Um, consumer protections or disclosure requirements are contemplated to ensure transparency when totals are rounded upward.

[0:52:08] Would, would you repeat? Would-

[0:52:10] I'm sorry.

[0:52:10] Was that a, in a form of a question, Representative?

[0:52:12] Uh, uh, yes.

[0:52:12] Or a statement?

[0:52:13] A, a question.

[0:52:14] Okay.

[0:52:14] I said, what consumer protections or disclosure requirements are contemplated to ensure transparency when totals are rounded upward? Is it any type of protection or disclosure of, will we know how much the stores are, whatever, gaining? Because personally, uh, I like the I think it's a pretty good bill to round up to the nearest nickel. Uh, but I guess I just have concern about the consumer protections on it.

[0:52:44] And how are you gonna get this information out? Because right now stores are doing this, um, and a lot of people do have problems with keeping their change. So what type of protection or disclosure requirements are contemplated to ensure transparency when totals are rounded upward? How, how are we gonna know how much money they are gaining?

[0:53:06] Uh, and thank you, Representative. This bill does not prescribe or, or, or compel those retailers to put signage or anything out. There, um, that's, that's, uh, something worth considering for s- a subsequent bill. What this is is really just creating the framework so that people at least know the rules of engagement. And it's, and it's a fair approach in that i- if you round up or you round down, it will generally all come out in the wash. Uh, some- sometimes I'll, I'll, I'll benefit to a penny or two pennies, and sometimes it will be detrimental to a penny or two pennies, but over time, it will all come out in the wash.

[0:53:42] So, so that's, that is in place. Uh, we did, uh- Have a, a question a, a little while ago, and, uh, that you may want to speak to, or you especially. Um, but with a cash transaction, if you have exact pennies, pennies are still legal tender and you can still use them. So if you have a transaction-

[0:54:00] This is about change.

[0:54:01] Uh, yes, sir.

[0:54:02] Okay.

[0:54:02] Exactly.

[0:54:03] Thank you. Number 12.

[0:54:06] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I almost forgot I was number 12. Um, so to that point, and just to your point, it's not always gonna be rounded up, right? There will be circumstances, and this is gonna set the, the guidelines for when it's rounded up and when it's rounded down so that there's, um, uh, equity between different retailers, right? So if I go to one place, I'm gonna be handled the same way as I am in another store, so everybody will have to operate under the same rules. And then secondly, um, this, uh, it looks like the, the change was on line 24 where y'all added the, um, the sentence about, um, the sales price as far as tax code, sales tax, I guess, is that what that is, to make sure that that, that the sales tax is still calculated on the actual sales price, not the amount they actually collect?

[0:54:53] Correct. It's a kind of a two-layer transaction. Step one, you have your price.

[0:54:58] Use the microphone, please.

[0:55:00] Apologies. Pleasure to be here today, by the way. Uh, two-step transaction. You have your, your retail price. Sales tax is calculated on top of that. Revenue's finished, and all taxation is finished at that point, and then the round up, round down is subsequent to that.

[0:55:14] Okay.

[0:55:15] And this is just clarifying that from a taxation perspective, let's turn to Title 48 as opposed to getting into the tax here in Title 10.

[0:55:22] Thank you.

[0:55:22] So it's not gonna mess with our taxes for the state?

[0:55:24] We sure hope not.

[0:55:25] Okay, number 11.

[0:55:28] Uh, just to clarify, uh, for those that may or may not know, this is an estimate, but there's roughly about $1.14 billion worth of, uh, pennies that are still in the, uh, circulation across the United States. It's an estimate. Nobody knows how many. Uh, they haven't checked my mom's, um, penny jar. But, um, but it, there's nothing that would prohibit those small businesses that want to continue to issue exact and collect exact change. You're not mandated to do the round up or round down.

[0:55:59] Uh, we've got some really small businesses in rural Georgia. They, they're not... They, they have lots of pennies in their drawer, and they make it work. Um, but I just want to clarify that this is not mandating that a business has to round up or round down. If they want to continue to collect legal tender and issue exact change, they can.

[0:56:18] That, that is correct. That's-

[0:56:19] That's correct.

[0:56:20] Yeah, that's what we had stated before.

[0:56:21] Just making sure.

[0:56:21] Number 26.

[0:56:24] Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I think, uh, Representative Wade kind of leader- Floyd Wade kind of, that was one of the questions. I just want to be clear on that. If you're using cash and you have pennies, you can present those pennies, uh, and the, and the retailer, if you're using cash, they can make penny change.

[0:56:41] I was missing that language.

[0:56:42] Oh, the lang- uh... So w- we already discussed this issue this morning, that the, you know, the idea that pennies are still legal tender has to be considered. And so we've, we're, we're, we're adding a, a, a tweak here at the bottom I think that all of us have agreed to that essentially says, that should say, uh, one of two things, really. One is if somebody wants to present extra pennies to create, you know, a, a dollar back, right? If you want to give two extra pennies, you could give that in order to get it back. And you could use the penny essentially for what everybody's speaking about here.

[0:57:14] I mean, it is legal tender. I don't think we have any ability to tell people they can't use their pennies, and we want to ensure that that still remains possible for small busines- businesses and everybody else as well.

[0:57:24] So you're answering my question, so your answer is yes.

[0:57:26] Yes.

[0:57:27] Okay. Thank you. That was a long yes.

[0:57:29] Thank-

[0:57:29] Mr. Chairman.

[0:57:30] Thank you.

[0:57:31] I'm, I'm, I'm sorry, Mr. Chairman, let, I'd like to just jump in there as well, and maybe we can, uh, look to legislative council as well. Is there a, is there an opportunity to, to further clarify that point, that someone can still use their pennies and not be required to round up or round down? 'Cause that's certainly the intent.

[0:57:47] And, and follow-up question to Representative Carter, on that same vein, and I think that's what I heard the gentleman testify to, is, say we have a 7% sales tax. There's a dollar charge. There's 7 cents tal- sales tax due. It's electronic transmission, so the, the customer is only gonna be charged $1.05 on their credit card. It's electronic transition. That's not cor- That, that's not correct. It doesn't round down to a dollar and a nickel.

[0:58:18] You, you said... Sorry.

[0:58:19] Credit card.

[0:58:20] Mr. Chairman, you said credit card. This doesn't apply to electronic transactions at all.

[0:58:24] This is coins.

[0:58:24] This is only cash.

[0:58:24] Only for, only for cash.

[0:58:28] Okay. That answers that question. Thank you.

[0:58:31] And just one point of clarification. Mixed tender transactions as well. So if you use a gift card for $100, but it was $101.07, then the cash, that's a mixed transaction.

[0:58:42] Thank you.

[0:58:53] Um, okay, number 24.

[0:58:55] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This would not prevent my business from choosing to round up where you're saying to round down, would it?

[0:59:06] I, I'm sorry. Would you say that one more time?

[0:59:07] On the, on the 2 cent, 6 cent, 7 cents, you know, it is, you know, you round down for that. But if I choose in my business to just always round up, that's my privilege, correct?

[0:59:21] No. It's actually not-

[0:59:22] Okay

[0:59:23] ... your, your, your privilege to round up. That, that would be detrimental to the consumer if you were, if you were choosing to round up. Um, this, this allows you, if the, if the transaction ends in a 3 or a 4 or a s- or an 8 or a 9, you are allowed to round up.

[0:59:39] Oh, I, I see-

[0:59:40] If it-

[0:59:40] ... what you're saying. Okay. That's, that answers that.

[0:59:44] Thanks, Chairman Yearta. Any other questions?

[0:59:49] At the proper time, floor lead, um, Minority Leader Heasley.

[0:59:57] Mr. Chairman, I'd like to move do pass.

[0:59:59] We have a, we have a motion do pass.

[1:00:01] Second.

[1:00:02] We have a second. Any questions or any discussion? All in favor say aye.

[1:00:08] Aye.

[1:00:08] All opposed. All right, y'all, I think we need to probably head over. Mr. Lim, you'll be number one on our next meeting. This meeting is adjourned. Thank you.

[1:00:18] Um, that language, so I've got this.

[1:00:21] Yeah, I've got the-

[1:00:21] I think we're good.

[1:00:22] I've got the add-in for further clarification. I think that works. You want to just take that?

[1:00:25] I think we should try and do a substitute here.

[1:00:27] Yeah, let's do it.

[1:00:28] We'll se-