MADISON, WI (February 12, 2014) -- Bipartisan legislation has cleared the State Assembly and Senate, making way for various reforms benefiting member-owned credit unions.
“Lawmakers, regulators and the private sector can still accomplish positive things for consumers and businesses by sitting down together and working in good faith to find opportunities to streamline, update and improve laws and regulations,” said Tom Liebe, Vice President—Government Affairs at the Wisconsin Credit Union League.
After passing the Assembly Financial Institutions and Senate Financial Institutions and Rural Affairs Committees on unanimous, bipartisan votes, the Senate and Assembly passed the package of reforms and forwarded them to Governor Walker for his consideration.
“We applaud the Legislature for passing common-sense reforms that allow credit unions to spend less time unraveling regulatory requirements and more time providing consumers and communities the services that have consistently earned them recognition for their social responsibility,” said Brett Thompson, League President & CEO.
Companion bills Assembly Bill 649 and Senate Bill 520 make modifications to a dozen different areas of credit union regulations. Discussion that led to this legislation was initiated as part of the State Assembly Financial Institutions Committee’s ‘Right the Rules’ efforts.
“While no single change in the bills may be pivotal in and of itself, passage of reform packages such as these yield regulatory improvements and operational changes that reduce a small portion of the regulatory burden on state credit unions,” said Liebe. “Wisconsin’s lawmakers have again shown they understand, appreciate and support credit unions across the state by adopting reforms that facilitate credit unions’ continued service to their 2.4 million member-owners.”
Attendees of The League’s State Government Affairs Conference delivered the 2013 Scorecard to the Legislature. The Scorecard details credit unions’ social responsibility and more than $1 billion in savings for their member-owners over the last decade.