CUNA/League advocacy results in multiple FCU Act modernization bills Posted by AVCU on 8:16 AM

A total of three bills that would provide important updates to the Federal Credit Union Act were introduced during CUNA’s Governmental Affairs Conference (GAC) this week. Modernizing the Federal Credit Union Act is a main advocacy goals this year, as CUNA and Leagues seek enhancements to increase access to safe and affordable credit union products and services.

CUNA and the Leagues directly engaged with lawmakers working on these bills, including during CUNA GAC meetings.

“We thank the legislators who came together to introduce these bills that would modernize credit union governance, allowing credit unions to meet more local family and business needs in the communities in which they operate,” said CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle. “CUNA and the Leagues have been working directly with legislators throughout this Congress, and particularly during CUNA GAC, to emphasize why Main Street communities need these changes and look forward to working with other members of Congress to move these bills forward.” 

The bills are:

• The Credit Union Governance Modernization Act of 2020, which would allow a credit union board to expel a member for just cause, rather than requiring a full membership vote, introduced by Sens. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and Ben Sasse (R-Neb.);

• The Credit Union Fairness Act (S. 3326), which would remove outdated duties for credit union boards and remove the requirement for credit unions to provide NCUA with the names of its loan officers from the Federal Credit Union Act. The bill was introduced by Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Richard Burr (R-N.C.); and

• The Board Governance Modernization Act, which would modify the Federal Credit Union Act requirement that credit union boards meet once a month to not more than six times per year, introduced by Reps. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) and Mark Amodei (R-Nev.). Porter introduced the bill on the CUNA GAC stage.