On Tuesday, May 1st, NACBA President Henry Sommer testified before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Lawrnon “The Second Anniversary of the Enactment of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act.” Also testifying about her experiences was a client of NACBA member Wayne Sigmon.  Other witnesses included a representative of the Government Accountability Office (GAO), who provided an overview of the agency’s recent report on credit counseling under the 2005 bankruptcy amendments (“Bankruptcy Reform: Value of Credit Counseling Requirement Is Not Clear.” GAO-07-203, April 6. And Steve Bartlett represented the Financial Services Roundtable.

In addition to considering the impact of the 2005 amendments, the hearing provided a valuable forum in which to promote the proposals made by NACBA and other consumer groups to deal with the mortgage foreclosure crisis through expanding chapter 13 debtors’ rights.

The hearing covered two major issues: (1) implementation of BAPCPA; and (2) the growing problem of home foreclosures and the recommendation of NACBA and others to amend the bankruptcy law to make it a more useful tool for people seeking to save their home from foreclosure.  This proposal, which was the subject of a NACBA-sponsored news event earlier this month, was developed with the input of NACBA’s Board of Directors and Legislative Committee, as well as members Max Gardner and Wayne Sigmon.  The hearing itself was the result of the work of the NACBA legislative committee to reach out to lawmakers as early as January 2007 to bring to their attention issues related to the 2005 amendments, as well as the growing home foreclosure problem.