Credit union advocacy breaks through in 2018, poised for 2019
CUNA, leagues and credit unions celebrate a productive 2018 and prepare for more challenges in 2019 on the advocacy front.
2018 was a watershed year for CUNA/league/credit union advocacy. Our accomplishments last year during a turbulent political time stand out over any of the last 20 years of credit union advocacy, making it a story that deserves to be told. And as we consider all of our 2018 wins, we are ready more than ever before to take on a new year and new Congress.
In a period of political turbulence, credit unions led the way to convince Congress to enact the first major piece of regulatory relief legislation since 2006. And unlike that previous effort, this legislation included several important credit union priorities, including amendments to the Dodd-Frank Act to reduce regulatory burden, a provision that holds the NCUA accountable by requiring it to hold an annual hearing on the budget, and a provision that protects credit union officials that report suspicion of elder abuse.
Importantly, this legislation also carried a major charter enhancement provision, exempting one- to four-family non-owner occupied loans from the member business lending cap. Taken together with our success on the NCUA’s MBL rule, which exempts from the cap loan participations purchased from other credit unions, we can officially declare final victory on the system’s 20-year battle to restore credit union business authority. Indeed, these two changes will provide more cap space than we had been seeking in the old Royce-Udall legislation that aimed to raise the cap to 27.5%.
continue reading »
