Last Tuesday, Jeff Ball, immediate past chairman of the CBA board of directors, and president and CEO of Friendly Hills Bank in Whittier, joined the state government relations advocacy team in a series of productive state Capitol meetings. Topics discussed spanned from pending legislation focused on data security and CBA’s two sponsored measures relating to small business lending and mortgage debt forgiveness, to the overall regulatory burden faced by banks. During the one-day blitz, meetings took place with Senator Andy Vidak, vice-chair of the Senate Committee on Banking and Financial Institutions and Assembly Member Travis Allen, vice-chair of the Assembly Committee on Banking and Finance. We also met with standing members of the respective legislative banking committees, including Senator Mike Morrell, Assembly Members Freddie Rodriguez and Ed Chau, and senior staff for Senator Richard Roth. In addition, time was well-spent meeting with the chief consultants for the Senate Committee on Banking and Financial Institutions and the Assembly Committee on Banking and Finance. CBA wishes to thank Jeff Ball for his continued leadership and commitment to state advocacy. If you have any questions regarding CBA’s state advocacy efforts, please do not hesitate to contact Kevin Gould, CBA’s senior vice president and director of state government relations at kgould@calbankers.com or (916) 438-4410.