The Council of the District of Columbia hereby finds and declares that:
(1) On September 29, 1994, the federal Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994 (“federal legislation”) became law.
(2) Sections 102 and 103 of the federal legislation permit states to enact early opt in legislation to enable a state to appropriately regulate interstate banking, branching, and bank mergers and acquisitions prior to June 1997 when all provisions of the federal legislation will become fully effective.
(3) It is the intent of the District of Columbia to exercise its statutory option under the federal legislation by opting in to its interstate branching schemata thus permitting the District’s Office of Banking and Financial Institutions to regulate, pursuant to the federal legislation, interstate branching, acquisition of branches, bank mergers, and consolidations of existing banking entities within the District of Columbia among other things.