In an already packed Tuesday special order calendar, the Alabama House of Representatives is slated to vote on legislation mandating the tracking and recording of out-of-country wire transfers.
House Bill 297 (HB297) by State Rep. Jennifer Fidler (R-Silverhill) is one of several bills filed by lawmakers to address illegal immigration in the state.
The bill 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 are currently housing ICE detainees in their jails, as well as to English Language Learner (ELL) programs in public schools. Alabama residents would be eligible for a tax credit to offset the transfer fees.
However, according to Fidler, the bill underwent significant amendments, resulting in multiple substitute bills as it was reviewed by two separate committees. 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.
The newest bill version on Tuesday's calendar completely removes the wire transfer fee section. 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 enforcing violations.
The bill would also require money transmission businesses to report and maintain records relating to additional activity involving cash transactions beyond what is required by federal regulation 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 a 15-day span.
- 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 under the bill must be retained for 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.
The first substitute added in the Ways and Means Education Committee clarified that fees would not be charged to entities such as Cash App, PayPal, Venmo, and money orders. However, Fidler said the second committee was uncomfortable levying an across-the-board fee on transfers.
"It was totally changed," Fidler told 1819 News. "I could not get our Financial Services Committee comfortable with any type of fee on a cash transaction going international from the state of Alabama. They just were not comfortable with that."
Despite the heavy emendation, Fidler said she was unaware of the pervasiveness of the issue.
"Have you ever been in a Spanish grocery store?" she asked. "Have you ever seen those different color telephones that are in there? That's where everybody wires their money. And those telephones have a certain license number on them. They put the license number in, they put their code in, and that's how they're wiring money. They give cash to a teller or the person that's there. This was all foreign to me. I had no idea. I knew we had an issue, but I did not realize that there was such a large amount of money leaving the state of Alabama."
HB297 is 16th in line of the 21 bills on Tuesday's calendar, with only five legislative days remaining in the session.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email [email protected].
Don't miss out! Subscribe to our newsletter and get our top stories every weekday morning.
