MONTGOMERY — The Alabama House of Representatives passed legislation by State Rep. Jennifer Fidler (R-Silverhill) bolstering reporting and retention requirements for those licensed to send money overseas.
House Bill 297 (HB297) initially imposed a 4% wire transfer fee on international money transfers from Alabama. A portion of the revenue generated by this fee would be allocated to county sheriffs, who currently house ICE detainees in their jails, and to English Language Learner (ELL) programs in public schools. Alabama residents would be eligible for a tax credit to offset the transfer fees.
The bill underwent significant amendments, resulting in multiple substitute bills as two separate committees reviewed it. The bill was first substituted in the House Ways and Means Education Committee in March. Over a month later, it received its second and most significant substitute in the House Financial Services Committee.
"In all wire transfer companies and businesses, we already require information to be collected and record keeping to be done," Fidler told the House. "What we're doing is expanding that record keeping to any transactions that are more than $1,000. These records have to be kept for five years."
Before the amendments, Democratic opposition would have been virtually assured. However, HB297 received only five minutes of minor pushback from State Rep. Mary Moore (D-Birmingham).
"I just question us monitoring people for sending that denomination of money internationally, and what types of consequences we might have to bear as a result of it," Moore stated.
The House passed the bill after fewer than 10 minutes, voting 83-2 with 12 abstentions. The Senate must now approve it before it can take effect as law.
The approved bill completely removes the section regarding wire transfer fees. Now, businesses that conduct money transmissions would be required to report and maintain records of certain money transfers that would be considered suspicious, such as large cash transactions.
All revenue to the state would come from the Alabama Securities Commission's (ASC) enforcement of the bill's provisions. The ASC is responsible for licensing money transmission businesses and policing violations.
The bill would also require money transmission businesses to report and maintain records related to additional activities involving cash transactions beyond what is required by federal regulations and would provide civil and criminal penalties for violations.
The bill would require state licensees to report the following items in addition to preexisting federal reporting requirements:
- Suspicious cash transactions of aggregate funds of $2,000 or more within 30 days of becoming aware of the activity, including reporting apparent attempts to evade HB 297's provisions.
- Cash transactions of $10,000 or more with the same customer, or on behalf of the same customer, during one business day within 15 days.
- Any cash transaction that is deemed suspicious by the ASC.
- All cash transactions of $1,000 or more must be recorded and maintained for five years from the transaction date.
Virtually all records related to the bill must be retained for a minimum of five years.
Anyone knowingly attempting to evade the bill's reporting requirements would be guilty of a Class C felony for the first violation. All subsequent violations would be guilty of a Class B felony.
The ASC can impose a fine of not more than $5,000 for every day the violation is outstanding. Any revenue collected that exceeds the cost for the ASC to investigate violations will go to the Sheriffs' Advancement in Education, Technology, and Training Fund.
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