MINUTES 
                                           
                      SENATE COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS & COMMERCE 
                         Subcommittee on Interim Charge #4 
                               Tuesday, May 21, 2002 
                                     10:00 a.m. 
                                   El Paso, Texas 
                                           
                                       ***** 
          
         Pursuant to a notice posted in accordance with Senate Rule  
         11.18, a public hearing of the Senate Committee on Business &  
         Commerce, Subcommittee on Interim Charge #4,  was held on  
         Tuesday, May 21, 2002, at the One Stop Capital Shop in El Paso,  
         Texas. 
          
                                       ***** 
                                           
         MEMBERS PRESENT:                        MEMBERS ABSENT: 
         Senator Eliot Shapleigh, Chairman       Senator John Carona 
         Senator Troy Fraser                     Senator Mike Jackson 
         Senator Eddie Lucio, Jr.                 
                                                  
                                       ***** 
                                           
         Chairman Shapleigh called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m.   
         The following business was transacted.   
          
         The Chairman made brief opening remarks, advising that the  
         Subcommittee was charged with studying lending practices and  
         access to capital in the state of Texas.  Chairman Shapleigh  
         then called the first panel of invited witnesses to testify on  
         trends and patterns in the state lending environment.  Steve  
         Martin and Robert Bacon, representing the Texas Department of  
         Banking, Austin, Texas, testified on bank fees and federal  
         preemption issues.  Their testimony was followed by Leslie  
         Pettijohn, Consumer Credit Commissioner, who discussed maximum  
         interest rates and preemption. 
          
         Upon completion of the above witnesses' testimony and response  
         to members' questions, the Chairman called Arthur Piacenti,  
         Assistant County Attorney with the El Paso County Attorney's  
         Office, to discuss border community perspective on lending and  
         access to capital.  Mayor Ray Caballero, Mayor of El Paso,  
         presented testimony on local access to capital. 
          
         Chairman Shapleigh called the next panel to testify on access to  
         credit and capital issues.  The panelists were: 
          
              Harriet May, CEO, Government Employees Credit Union, El  
         Paso, 
              John Fields, Vice President, Greater El Paso Chamber of  
         Commerce, El Paso, and 
              Kathy Cox, Director, El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce,  
  
         El Paso. 
          
         Upon completion of the above panelists' testimony, the Chairman  
         called Neale Godfrey of Chester, New Jersey to testify  
         concerning school programs for teaching financial literacy to  
         children. 
          
         DaCosta Mason, Legislative Representative for AARP, Washington,  
         D.C., and John Henneberger, Texas Low Income Housing Information  
         Service, Austin, Texas, testified concerning mortgage-secured,  
         business and personal lending.  David Lovell, Chairman and CEO,  
         Aquila Bancorporation, Inc., Houston, Texas, presented testimony  
         concerning financial literacy and strategies for moving  
         underserved markets into mainstream lending. 
          
         Elvira Valles, Loan Officer with Accion Texas, El Paso, and  
         Adriana Dominguez, representing Community Scholars, El Paso,  
         testified concerning business lending. 
          
         Following the above invited witnesses' testimony, Chairman  
         Shapleigh called for public testimony to commence, as follows: 
          
              David Gay, Banker, First National Bank of Crockett,  
         Crockett, Texas, 
              Ronald Abbot, representing himself, Paris, Texas, 
              Conrad Ramirez, AARP, El Paso, Texas, 
              Reymundo Ocanas, Community Development Corporations,  
         Austin, Texas, 
              John Rabenold, Vice President Government Affairs, Check N  
         Go of Texas, Mason, Ohio, 
              Mary Jackson, Cash America, Fort Worth, Texas, 
              Rob Schneider, Senior Staff Attorney, Consumers Union,  
         Austin, and 
              Azuri Gonzales, The El Paso Collaborative, El Paso, Texas. 
          
         There being no further business, at 4:18 p.m. Chairman Shapleigh  
         moved that the Subcommittee stand recessed subject to the call  
         of the chairman.  Without objection, it was so ordered.   
          
         ________________________________ 
         Senator Eliot Shapleigh, Chairman 
          
         ________________________________ 
         Barbara Henderson, Clerk