Banking regulator backs governor on LB261 as industry warns against sweeping assessment funds

At a Nebraska Legislature Appropriations Committee hearing, Kelly Lammers, director of the Nebraska Department of Banking and Finance, told the committee the department supports the governor's budget recommendation and specifically "LB261 section 70 and 71." The committee also heard testimony from banking trade groups urging caution about a separate proposal in LB264 that would sweep financial-institution assessment cash funds into the state general fund.

The issue matters because the Department of Banking and Finance is cash-funded by fees assessed on state-chartered banks, mortgage loan originators, money transmitters and securities registrations. Industry witnesses said those cash funds currently hold temporary surpluses that were intended to cover cyclical work and, in one recent instance, to pay for implementing supervision of digital-asset activity.

"This department appreciates the committee's review of the department's new issues and supports the governor's recommendation," Director Kelly Lammers said while introducing the agency's budget. Lammers described the agency's two divisions'the Financial Institutions Division and the Bureau of Securities'and explained the department…