WASHINGTON, D. C.— "The Committee will come to order. This afternoon the Committee wil mark-up two pieces of legislation: the "Check Truncation Act of 2003", which is original legislation, and S.498, which authorizes a Congressional Gold Medal for the late Reverend De Laine, a civil rights leader from South Carolina."

"The check clearing system remains dependent on the physical transportation of ton of checks which are trucked or flown across the country every night. The bill we are considering today would permit financial institutions to clear checks electronically rather than having to forward the original paper check. In cases where a hard copy of a check was needed, a Asubstitute check@ could be downloaded from the electronic image and delivered to the bank. This legislation provides legal equivalence for such a substitute check, creates a framework for the resolution of any disputes, and recredits where appropriate. This bill would compliment, rather than preempt current check-clearing law as provided in the Uniform Commercial Code. Electronic clearing would be entirely voluntary."

"This is clearly "good government" legislation, that will hopefully result in an improved check-clearing system. The Committee has worked constructively together on this bill, and I would like to commend the members for not offering extraneous amendments. I would particularly like to thank Senators Johnson, Miller and Bennett for their leadership on this issue. And I would like to thank Senator Sarbanes and his staff for their assistance in preparing this legislation. It is the product of bipartisan cooperation."

"I hope that the Committee will favorably report this legislation, and that the full Senate will quickly take-up and pass this bill."

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