2022 federal and state legislative update

Published by: Jared Weiser

January 12, 2023 | Government Affairs

By working together, we successfully fought year-end political headwinds and a constricted legislative calendar to ensure credit unions could continue doing what they do best: serving members. With your help, we will hit the ground running this year to advance priorities that stalled year-end.

Congress

In addition to successfully advocating for a $6.7 million reduction in the National Credit Union Administration’s (NCUA) budget for 2023, the League was instrumental in preventing legislation in Congress that would:

Empower the NCUA with broad authority to examine third-party vendors
Modify the current interchange model
Restrict overdraft protection programming

While guarding against challenging policy changes, several positive policy priorities fell short:

Extending Central Liquidity Facility (CLF) access for credit unions through corporate credit unions
Cannabis banking clarity through the Secure and Fair Enforcement Act (SAFE) Banking Act
Empowering federally-chartered credit unions with board meeting flexibility
Establishing a national data and privacy security standard

With the 118th Congress underway, the League will engage with the Ohio delegation, Credit Union National Association, and League system partners to promote and defend Movement priorities, so you can focus on how to best serve your members.

Ohio General Assembly

Despite strong strategy and execution, the League’s top legislative priority, the Ohio Computer Crimes Act (House Bill 116), stalled on the Ohio Senate floor. Cybersecurity and holding bad actors accountable is critical to all businesses, including credit unions, and the League will continue to advocate for appropriate penalties for cybercriminals.

While HB 116 did not become law, Ohio credit unions and their members were promoted and protected through the following successful legislative initiatives:

Secured financial institution mortgage lien priority over Property Assessed Clean Energy loans
Provided more flexibility and access to linked-deposit programs through the Ohio Gains initiative
Prevented prescriptive and restrictive lending and services standards

The League has already begun engaging with new members of the 135^th Ohio General Assembly, and we will continue to advance Movement priorities at the Ohio Statehouse.

Contact Jared Weiser for questions or assistance.