Commercial financing disclosure requirements taking effect in various states this year will have a significant impact on the commercial equipment leasing and finance sector. The Equipment Leasing and Finance Association’s state advocacy team, led by Scott Riehl, vice president of state government relations, has been lobbying rigorously on behalf of members and the industry.

“It’s been ELFA’s strategy to work to exempt as many industry transactions as we can,” Riehl said. “We’re engaged in the legislative process and regulatory rulemaking and continue to keep our members aware of what they can expect to prepare their businesses.”

To help educate members about what they need to know about this important topic, the ELFA compiled a selection of critical informational resources.

In-Depth Webinar and Takeaways

Riehl and ELFA members Moorari Shah, chair of the ELFA’s state legislative and regulatory subcommittee and partner at Sheppard Mullin; Robert S. Cohen, partner at Moritt Hock & Hamroff; Troy Kepler, corporate counsel at Channel; and Daniel Nelson, CEO of Tamarack, presented a webinar on July 28, titled “Operational Preparedness: Are You Ready for the New CA and NY Disclosure Requirements?”

The session generated considerable interest, with 580 people registering to learn about the latest legal, operational and system integration information concerning commercial financing disclosure laws. The webinar also touched on overlaps and inconsistencies among state regulations that could require redundant, tedious and/or cumbersome investments in technology, software and training to comply with the subtle and material differences between the state laws.

The webinar recording, slide deck and video Q&A from the webinar are available here.

“With the effective date of the final regulations in California coming later this year, the time to address these issues is now,” Riehl said. “It will take preparation to get operations up to speed to implement methods to capture all the types of information that need to be disclosed.”

Additional State Advocacy Resources

In addition to the July 28 webinar resources, on the ELFA’s state advocacy webpage is a section on lender license and enhanced financial disclosure that provides an overview of finance licensing, the state advocacy team’s legislative testimony and regulatory comments, requests for guidance and regulatory response. A recording and slide deck from an earlier webinar held on Dec. 15, “ELFA State Advocacy New Year’s Resolutions: Prepare for Commercial Financing Disclosure Laws in New York and California,” are also available.