Florida Senate - 2018                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 894
       
       
       
       
       
       
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                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: RCS            .                                
                  02/15/2018           .                                
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       The Committee on Rules (Garcia) recommended the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete everything after the enacting clause
    4  and insert:
    5         Section 1. Present subsections (4) through (37) of section
    6  494.001, Florida Statutes, are redesignated as subsections (5)
    7  through (38), respectively, and a new subsection (4) is added to
    8  that section, to read:
    9         494.001 Definitions.—As used in this chapter, the term:
   10         (4) “Business purpose loan” means a mortgage loan, the
   11  proceeds of which the borrower intends to use primarily for a
   12  business purpose and not primarily for a personal, family, or
   13  household purpose. In determining if the loan is for a business
   14  purpose, a person must refer to the official interpretation by
   15  the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau of 12 C.F.R. s.
   16  1026.3(a).
   17         Section 2. Subsection (4) is added to section 494.00115,
   18  Florida Statutes, to read:
   19         494.00115 Exemptions.—
   20         (4) As used in this section, the term “hold himself or
   21  herself out to the public as being in the mortgage lending
   22  business” includes any of the following:
   23         (a)Representing to the public, through advertising or
   24  other means of communicating or providing information, including
   25  the use of business cards, stationery, brochures, signs, rate
   26  lists, or promotional items, by any method, that such individual
   27  can or will perform the activities described in s. 494.001(24).
   28         (b)Soliciting in a manner that would lead the intended
   29  audience to reasonably believe that such individual is in the
   30  business of performing the activities described in s.
   31  494.001(24).
   32         (c)Maintaining a commercial business establishment at
   33  which, or premises from which, such individual regularly
   34  performs the activities described in s. 494.001(24) or regularly
   35  meets with current or prospective mortgage borrowers.
   36         (d)Advertising, soliciting, or conducting business through
   37  the use of a name, trademark, service mark, trade name, Internet
   38  address, or logo that indicates or reasonably implies that the
   39  business being advertised, solicited, or conducted is of the
   40  kind or character of business transacted or conducted by a
   41  licensed mortgage lender or is likely to lead any person to
   42  believe that such business is that of a licensed mortgage
   43  lender.
   44         Section 3. Subsection (4) of section 494.0025, Florida
   45  Statutes, is amended to read:
   46         494.0025 Prohibited practices.—It is unlawful for any
   47  person:
   48         (4) In any practice or transaction or course of business
   49  relating to the sale, purchase, negotiation, promotion,
   50  advertisement, or hypothecation of mortgage loan transactions,
   51  directly or indirectly:
   52         (a) To knowingly or willingly employ any device, scheme, or
   53  artifice to defraud;
   54         (b) To engage in any transaction, practice, or course of
   55  business which operates as a fraud upon any person in connection
   56  with the purchase or sale of any mortgage loan; or
   57         (c) To obtain property by fraud, willful misrepresentation
   58  of a future act, or false promise; or
   59         (d) To misrepresent a residential mortgage loan, as
   60  described in s. 494.001(25)(a), as a business purpose loan.
   61         Section 4. For the purpose of incorporating the amendment
   62  made by this act to section 494.0025, Florida Statutes, in a
   63  reference thereto, section 494.0018, Florida Statutes, is
   64  reenacted to read:
   65         494.0018 Penalties.—
   66         (1) Whoever knowingly violates any provision of s.
   67  494.00255(1)(a), (b), or (c) or s. 494.0025(1), (2), (3), (4),
   68  or (5), except as provided in subsection (2) of this section,
   69  commits a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in
   70  s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084. Each such violation
   71  constitutes a separate offense.
   72         (2) Any person who violates any provision of this chapter,
   73  in which the total value of money and property unlawfully
   74  obtained exceeds $50,000 and there are five or more victims,
   75  commits a felony of the first degree, punishable as provided in
   76  s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.
   77         Section 5. This act shall take effect July 1, 2019.
   78  
   79  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   80  And the title is amended as follows:
   81         Delete everything before the enacting clause
   82  and insert:
   83                        A bill to be entitled                      
   84         An act relating to mortgage regulation; amending s.
   85         494.001, F.S.; defining the term “business purpose
   86         loan”; amending s. 494.00115, F.S.; defining the term
   87         “hold himself or herself out to the public as being in
   88         the mortgage lending business”; amending s. 494.0025,
   89         F.S.; prohibiting the misrepresentation of a
   90         residential mortgage loan as a business purpose loan;
   91         reenacting s. 494.0018, F.S., relating to penalties,
   92         to incorporate the amendment made to s. 494.0025,
   93         F.S., in a reference thereto; providing an effective
   94         date.