Held September 28-30, 2005 in Universal City, CA, the seventh annual AFSA State Government Relations Forum and the Administrators/Industry Program with the National Association of Consumer Credit Administrators (NACCA) have become "benchmark meetings of the year." At least, that is, for those interested in state legislative and regulatory issues and trends.

The SGR Forum (September 28) featured expert panels on the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA), the Future of Fair Lending Legislation in All Industry Segments, a luncheon roundtable on State Lobbying Challenges and Successes, and an afternoon panel on Explaining Credit Scoring to Legislators and Regulators.

The Joint Industry Day with NACCA (September 29) included both financial services industry executives and regulators as participants. The segments were varied in presentation format to encourage audience participation. Topics included a debate on Mandatory Arbitration, Security Breaches and ID Theft Issues, Uniform State Licensing, and the traditional "Hot Topics" where Missouri Commissioner John Allison discussed in vivid detail the challenges his department and fellow citizens and lenders are facing as a result of Hurricane Katrina.

Next year's meetings are scheduled for September 27-29 at the Hyatt Regency in Savannah, GA. While 2005 may be hard to beat, AFSA and NAACA plan to set even higher standards for 2006.