Bankruptcy Bill to be Last Bill of Session
Republican Senate leaders are expected to file cloture this week,
timing it so that a vote on bankruptcy overhaul legislation (H.R. 2415)
would be one of the last votes of the 106
th congress,
according to the
CQ Daily Monitor. Democratic opponents
expect the bill to die with a veto by President Clinton. Senate
Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) said the move is intended to
protect any hard-won agreements on spending bills.
A handful of democrats have vowed to filibuster the bill. If
Lott decides to file cloture to end the filibuster, the Senate has to
wait two days before it can vote on the measure (the cloture motion to
end the filibuster is expected to easily win the 60 votes necessary for
approval). If cloture receives the votes, then Sen. Paul Wellstone
(D-Minn.) and other opponents could have 30 hours to debate before a
final vote on the bill. The House passed the bill on Oct. 12 and
the Senate last Thursday passed a motion to proceed to the bill
89-0.
Greenspan, Summers Urge Action on U.S. Netting Bill
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and Treasury Secretary Lawrence
Summers Friday urged Congress to act this year on legislation that would
simplify the treatment of derivatives contracts in the event of the
bankruptcy of a major financial company, according to a Reuters
report. In a letter sent to House of Representatives Speaker
Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.),
Greenspan and Summers said the bill would help reduce the impact of the
failure of any one financial institution on the stability of the broader
financial system.
The legislation aims to allow the speedy resolution of derivatives
contracts held up by a bankrupt financial firm rather than having them
tied up in bankruptcy court, where delay could spread the firm's
problems to others involved in the deals. Among other things, it
would permit the “netting” — or offsetting — of
all the derivatives contracts between a bankrupt financial firm and a
counter-party to quickly arrive at a single outstanding claim. The
effort has near-universal support in Congress, but has become ensnarled
in controversy surrounding a broader overhaul of U.S. consumer
bankruptcy laws.
Agencies Propose Consistent Consumer Protection Rules for Affiliate
Information Sharing Practices
The federal bank and thrift regulatory agencies continued the predatory
lending debate Friday at a National Press Club luncheon and proposed
rules to implement the Fair Credit Reporting Act’s (FCRA) notice
and opt-out provisions governing the sharing of information among
financial institution affiliates. The rules, proposed by the Board
of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and
the Office of Thrift Supervision, explain how to comply with affiliate
sharing provisions of the FCRA that have been in place since
1996.
The agencies minimized the compliance burden on banks and thrifts by
making the proposed rules for notice and opt-out provisions generally
consistent with recently adopted privacy regulations that were required
under the Gramm-Leach Bliley Act (GLBA). The proposed rules apply
to any institution that wants to share consumer information, other than
transaction or experience information, with its affiliates but does not
wish to be considered a consumer-reporting agency.
Big Boy Files for Bankruptcy
The franchiser of the Big Boy restaurant chain Friday filed chapter 11,
according to the Associated Press. Elias Bros. Corp. also said it
will sell the company to investor Robert G. Liggett Jr. Liggett is the
founder and chairman of Liggett Broadcast Group, which merged earlier
this year with Citadel Communications Co. The chain, based in Warren,
Mich., includes 455 Big Boy Restaurants.
The company purchased 34 Shoney's Restaurants in October 1998 to
expand its national presence. But the conversion took longer than
expected. Elias Bros. fell behind with creditors and had to renegotiate
vendor contracts last fall. The company last month closed 43 Big Boy
Restaurants in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and Michigan. Business
remained good at the other restaurants.
Employee Data Posted on Living.com Yanked After Complaints
The court-appointed trustee handling
href='http://living.com/'>Living.com's bankruptcy reversed herself
this week, removing court documents that were posted on the company's
Web site that revealed employees' salaries and stock options and listed
thousands of customers' names and home addresses, according to a
newswire report. The information was removed after several former
employees of the home furnishings site complained. Privacy advocates
said it appeared to be the first bankruptcy filing posted on a retail
web site and a cautionary tale about the posting of private information
that is contained in a public document.
The documents identified all the people—including employees,
customers and business associates—owed money by Amazon.com-backed
Living.com, which
href='http://rd.yahoo.com/Dailynews/inlinks/cn/*http://www.news.com/news//0-1…'>filed
for chapter 11 in August. Including the information posted were
the salaries, signing bonuses and stock options for employees and the
amount customers had put down as deposits. Home addresses for all the
creditors were listed. Privacy issues have emerged as a critical
issue for Internet retailers. The FTC, more than 40 states, and
numerous others have called for new safeguards to protect consumer
privacy. A Massachusetts bankruptcy judge is deciding the fate of failed
Toysmart.com’s customer lists.
