Legislative actions in the early 1980s were designed to aid the S&L industry but in fact increased the eventual cost of the crisis. The two principal laws passed were the De- pository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980 (DIDMCA) and the Garn St Germain Depository Institutions Act of 1982 (Garn St Germain). 23 DIDMCA re- duced net worth requirements and Garn St Germain wrote capital forbearance into law. DIDMCAreplaced the previous statutory net worth requirement of 5 percent of insured ac- counts with a range of 3 6 percent of insured accounts, the exact percentage to be deter- mined by the Bank Board. Garn St Germain went even further in loosening.
