Legislature passes, governor signs state budget; impact on credit unions
Published by: Andrew Canan
July 12, 2021 | Government Affairs
In the wee hours of the morning on July 1, Governor Mike DeWine signed the state’s $75 billion FY 2022-2023 state budget (Sub. House Bill 110) into law. Throughout the budget process, the League has been dedicated to relentless representation for Ohio’s credit unions, promoting and protecting financial cooperatives every step of the way. However, as the process of funding the required state government functions also regularly includes policy changes, there are many opportunities ripe for mischief across all industries, including the Ohio Movement, which is why a watchful eye is required for successful advocacy efforts.
Listed below are key provisions in the final version of the bill that could (or would have) impact(ed) your operations. A more detailed analysis of the legislation can be found via Huddle:
- Residential Mortgage Lending Act fee increase – the state budget increases the licensing and registration fees under the Residential Mortgage Lending Act paid to the Superintendent of Financial Institutions. After consultation with your credit union peers, the fee increases were deemed reasonable, and the League remained neutral.
- Tax Expenditure Review Committee repealed – the entire provision, which would have required credit unions to advocate for the cooperative structure before a bicameral/bipartisan committee every few years, was removed from the final version.
- Use of medical marijuana in violation of employer’s policy – this policy outlined that an employer does not violate the Ohio Civil Rights Law by taking adverse employment action against a person who uses medical marijuana in violation of a workplace policy. This will maintain credit union empowerment to manage their personnel policies regarding legal medical marijuana usage within the workplace.
- Discriminatory restrictive covenants:
o Declares void discriminatory covenants in deeds limiting the transfer or lease of real property to individuals against whom discrimination is prohibited under Ohio Civil Rights Law.
o Allows attorneys preparing new deeds to omit discriminatory restrictive covenants that are contained in prior deeds.
o Provides that the omission of a discriminatory restrictive covenant from a new deed does not affect the validity of the deed.
o Prohibits county recorders from refusing to record such a deed due to that omission.
As credit unions currently comply with anti-discriminatory lending practices, the League remained neutral, but credit unions should be cognizant of how property transfer covenants are included in new deeds.
Should you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to Chief Advocacy Officer, Emily Leite, or Senior Manager of Political and Grassroots Affairs, Andrew Canan.
Contact Andrew Canan or Emily Leite for questions or assistance.
