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 .
Statehouse Update
Highlights: Electronic liens & titles, auto-renewing CDs, DFI bill, protecting credit union interests
The fast start to this year’s legislative session continues as the House and Senate have each been working on big ticket issues like education, the opioid crisis, economic development and, of course, Sunday sales (likely to pass) and cold beer (not likely to pass). Last week, the League was actively engaged on several different bills as committee hearings and floor action took place.

  • HB 1095, the legislation that would give the BMV the ability to create an Electronic Lien and Titling program, passed the full House by a vote of 92-0. Credit unions have strongly supported and helped in the development of this legislation. We thank Rep. Sally Siegrist (R-West Lafayette) for her work to introduce and pass the bill in the House and look forward to working with Sen. Mike Crider (R-Greenfield) who will shepherd the bill through the Senate. Sen. Crider is Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Transportation Committee, where the bill is expected to be assigned.
  • The League worked to pass two bills last week that will clarify a conflict within Indiana’s unclaimed property laws related to when an automatically renewing CD should be considered as abandoned/unclaimed. HB 1090 passed unanimously out of the House Financial Institutions Committee, and SB 376 passed unanimously out of the Senate Insurance and Financial Institutions Committee. Both bills would clarify that the existing process of using returned mail to trigger abandonment is correct rather than being required to hear affirmatively from a member at the time of renewal.
  • The League testified before the House Financial Institutions Committee in support of the Indiana Department of Financial Institutions’ annual legislation (HB 1397). The bill, which passed the committee unanimously, would help the DFI create an expedited branching process, make a few minor changes to the State Credit Union Act, and codify permitted “additional charges” under the Uniform Consumer Credit Code (UCCC) that have previously been permitted by DFI policy (like skip-a-pay and expedited payment fees).
  • We also continue to work against bills that would be harmful to all credit unions. Last week, we wrote to you about SB 384 that would create a new type of lien for agriculture supply providers at the expense of existing lienholders. We received word last week that the bill is not expected to get a hearing. The League also worked hard to amend or kill SB 422 that would have reinstituted the $50 mortgage foreclosure counseling fee (which we successfully lobbied to end last session) and created a new $150 “blight fee” both of which would have been paid by lenders filing any foreclosure action in Indiana. We talked with several members of the Senate Local Government Committee and testified against the bill. The bill was not voted on, and, following the hearing, we received word from the committee chairman that the bill will likely not receive another hearing.
  • This week, the League expects to be working on additional UCCC issues as well as bills related to electronic powers of attorney, wills and trusts and electronic and remote notarization.
U.S. House takes action on Reg Relief Bills
Highlights: Regulatory relief and reform legislation is moving forward
Last week, before the government shutdown debate, the U.S. House of Representatives acted on a few bills of interest to credit unions. Thursday night, the full House passed H.R. 2954, the Home Mortgage Disclosure Adjustment Act, by a mostly party-line vote of 243-184. H.R. 2954 would provide important regulatory relief by raising the threshold that triggers certain HMDA requirements to 500 closed-end and 500 open-end mortgages. This is nearly identical to a similar provision that is part of S. 2155, the Senate bi-partisan regulatory relief bill awaiting action on the Senate floor.

After a long hearing Wednesday covering 15 bills covering a wide variety of financial services issues, the House Financial Services Committee advanced these bills out of the committee Thursday morning. Two of these bills were of particular interest to credit unions. H.R. 1264, the Community Financial Institution Exemption Act, would exempt credit unions and banks with less than $50 billion in assets from all rules and regulations issued by the CFPB, unless the CFPB determines that such financial institutions have "engaged in a pattern or practice of activities that have been detrimental to the interests of consumers…" Of course, credit unions have long advocated for the CFPB to use its already-existing authority to exempt credit unions from many of its rules, and H.R. 1264 would legislate such an exemption. Also, the committee passed H.R. 2226, the Portfolio Lending and Mortgage Access Act, which would allow certain mortgage loans that are originated and retained in portfolio by a credit union or bank with less than $10 billion in assets to be considered to be "qualified mortgages." It is not clear when these bills might reach the House floor.

Even as the House continues to pass regulatory relief bills, the best chance for regulatory reform legislation to become law this year remains S. 2155. Senate leadership continues to indicate that the bill has a chance of making it to the floor in the next few weeks. As you know, Senator Donnelly has been instrumental in developing this legislation, and every indication is that Senator Young will support the bill once it reaches the Senate floor.
In diana Bills
We Follow
At the state-level, League staff annually reviews more than 1,000 introduced bills, identifying dozens each year that could impact both state-chartered and federal credit unions.

Click here to learn more about some of our top priority bills this session.