One of the benefits of your credit union’s League membership is access to Advocacy in Action, which offers information about how we are advocating for credit union interests. You’ll receive this enewsletter regularly when the Indiana General Assembly is in session along with timely updates at other times during the year. Since it is a benefit for League affiliates, links are password-protected. If you have questions or comments about content, contact us at (800) 285-5300, or email SVP Governmental Affairs Chris Beaumont or League President John McKenzie .
July 2 Highlights: Congressional Update, News about Indiana BMV's Electronic Lien and Title (ELT) Plan, Project Zip Code
Congressional Update
From a credit union perspective, Congress has been quite productive in recent months having passed tax reform that protected the credit union tax exemption and significant regulatory relief along with blocking the CFPB’s guidance on indirect auto lending. With the fall general elections looming larger by the day and big-ticket priorities like a Supreme Court Justice nomination and appropriations legislation likely to take up a much of the oxygen in the room, it will be challenging for Congress to work on other issues we care about. Even so, the League continues to watch and advocate on several issues with our Congressional delegation:
 
  • Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) legislation. When agreeing to move forward and pass S. 2155, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling made clear that he wants to pass additional regulatory relief legislation this year and received some level of commitment from the Senate that it would make time to consider additional reg relief. While much of what Chairman Hensarling has in mind deals with capital formation and other Wall Street relief that would likely not impact credit unions, there also are efforts underway to provide BSA/AML relief. Reps. Stevan Pearce and Blaine Luetkemeyer have introduced H.R. 6068 that would raise the Currency Transaction Report (CTR) threshold from $10,000 to $30,000 and the Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) threshold from $5,000 to $10,000. It also would help better utilize technology and improve coordination of information and oversight between agencies and institutions. The bill had been scheduled for a full committee mark-up in June but was pulled from the schedule after the inclusion of language improving the collection of “beneficial ownership” information drew opposition from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The bill authors planned to remove the language from the bill, but then the Fraternal Order of Police opposed that approach. The League has weighed in with Indiana’s Financial Services Committee members (Reps. Trey Hollingsworth and Luke Messer) in support of H.R. 6068 and we will continue to push for passage of this bill.

  • Data security legislation. The League continues to encourage Indiana legislators to support data security legislation. During recent meetings in Washington, the League visited with several of our Congressional offices and again voiced credit unions concerns about retail merchant data breaches. Rep. Luetkemeyer along with Rep. Carolyn Maloney (both key members of the House Financial Services Committee) are in the process of drafting data security legislation that is expected to include several credit union priorities like higher data security standards for retailers and a requirement that retailers disclose to consumers when a breach has occurred. Word is that House leadership would like to see action on some kind of data security legislation this year, but the issue remains a difficult one on which to find consensus. It is important for credit unions and the overall data security debate, though, that the Financial Services Committee has a data security bill in play that includes credit union priorities.

  • Risk-Based Capital (RBC) Rule delay. As we wrote to you last week, the House included language in a broad defense spending bill that would delay the implementation of NCUA’s RBC rule from Jan 1, 2019 to Jan. 1, 2021. The Senate also is working on a defense authorization bill (which does not include the RBC rule language). Ultimately, the House and Senate will work out the difference between the two defense spending bills in a conference committee and we will advocate in that process for the RBC rule delay language to remain in the legislation.
News about Indiana BMV’s Electronic Lien and Title (ELT) Plan
During the recent session of the Indiana General Assembly, the League worked hard to support legislation that would enable the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to develop an ELT program for vehicles titled in Indiana. The legislation passed unanimously and the BMV has provided us with an update on its plan to develop and implement the program. The BMV recently informed us that the first step in the process will begin “in the near future” with the Department of Administration publishing a request for bids that will allow all ELT vendors to apply to be a part of the program. The request for bids, which will be open for four weeks, will outline all of the mandatory requirements for ELT providers and all vendors meeting these requirements will be allowed in to the ELT program. Once the bids have been received, the BMV will begin contract negotiations with vendors with a goal of having all vendors selected and contracted by the end of 2018. The BMV then targets 2019 to implement the ELT program. The League will follow this process closely and will provide information along the way.
Project Zip Code
On May 25, we sent a message asking credit unions to run the Project Zip Code (PZC) program. PZC is an important advocacy tool that helps us communicate to federal and state legislators how many credit union members live in their districts. It is important that as many credit unions as possible participate in this program that helps enhance our political advocacy efforts. If your credit union has not yet run PZC, please read about how to run this simple program here .
Action Tracker - Advocacy in Action
Ongoing League Advocacy Efforts
When legislators are not in session, the League spends time building relationships and supporting campaigns. Thanks to the strong support of credit unions for ICUPAC, League staff has been able to represent credit unions at 57 state legislators’ campaign fundraising events so far this year.