February 20, 2024
Dear Credit Union Leaders,
America’s Credit Unions’ GAC is almost here! And MSU Men’s Basketball is turning the corner toward another March run, perhaps… As we wrap up February (already) here are the updates you need.
Announcements
As a reminder for those interested, SAS Compliance Office Hours occur the first Friday of every month. Even though these sessions are labeled “SAS”, all are welcome – especially if you have a particular question you’d like to discuss. Also on a compliance note, our Q1 “Cheers! To Compliance” session will be a hybrid live and virtual event hosted from this year’s Marketing, Compliance, YOU & Lending Conference in Grand Rapids on March 20. For more information on either program, please contact Brad (Bradley.Willett@mcul.org).
Advocacy
In Lansing, the state legislature is beginning its work on the FY 2025 state budget, while trying to work through smaller issues during the remaining that time the House is locked in a 54-54 tie. As tensions between the deadlocked caucuses spiked last week, legislation providing for technical amendments to the Michigan Credit Union Act related to military account escheats was voted down on the House floor, with two Democrats absent and most Republicans withholding votes. The two bills involved will be reconsidered and likely passed at a later date. As mentioned in our prior edition, we remain hard at work on collections and garnishment reforms that were proposed last year, as well as bad faith insurance, and GAP waiver issues, and will be closely monitoring possible efforts on significant state-level reforms to the Michigan Consumer Protection Act proposed by the Office of Attorney General. We do not expect substantive action on these until after the House is whole in April. In Washington D.C., there still hasn’t been much recent movement on legislation impacting interchange or other key priorities. However, we continue to watch negotiations on budget measures and other must-pass legislation in the event U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and supporters of the Credit Card Competition Act attempt to amend any related provisions into these. We also continue to monitor the potential progress of legislation to amend the Federal Credit Union Act to allow federal charters with high CAMELS ratings to reduce the number of required Board meetings per year from 12 to 6, as well as recently introduced legislation to extend allowable maturity limits on certain non-mortgage lending products.
For a full update on state and federal regulatory action, please see the “Reg Corner” update in this edition of MI League Minute.
Grass Roots and Advocacy Funding
The 2024 Lapel Pin Program is going strong! Thank you again for your support of our advocacy programs. For those looking for information, please visit Lapel Pin - Michigan Credit Union League (mcul.org). As a reminder, with regard to substantive or compliance questions on state PAC issues, or state PAC remittance questions, please contact DaeSean (DaeSean.Ashby@mcul.org); for federal PAC questions please contact Todd (Todd.Jorns@mcul.org). Kieran is also able to assist with these, as is Aria (Aria.Ottenbreit@mcul.org) on processing issues.
The numbers keep increasing for our Michigan delegation at America’s Credit Unions’ GAC in Washington D.C. All together, we have over 170 Michigan registrants for the event. Our team is in the process of scheduling and finalizing hill visits late Tuesday and throughout Wednesday of that week. For those attending, our Know Before You Go calls will take place on February 26 at 2:00pm and February 28 at 10:00am. Please reach out to Todd with any questions or for registration information! And, it’s never too early to start thinking about the 2024 MCUL State GAC! Our team is in the process of putting together another great line up of panels and speakers – this event is a great opportunity to network with your peers, learn about current issues, and advocate directly with your state lawmakers. We look forward to seeing you in Lansing on May 1!
Elections
The Executive Committee of the MCUL’s Government and Political Affairs Forum met in late January to kick off the year. This Committee meets monthly during election years. As previously mentioned, please let our Advocacy Team know what you are hearing about candidates and races in your home districts! If you or credit union have insights into a particular race, we absolutely need to hear from you! Please contact DaeSean, Todd, or Kieran about any of these folks and we will make sure your information is part of our process.
As per our normal practice during election cycles, a full list of endorsed state and federal candidates will continue to be included at the bottom of this update and will be updated onto our website once our new site is unveiled early next year.
As always, thank you for all that you do for Michigan’s credit unions!
Sincerely,
2024 Election Endorsements:
U.S. Senate
U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin
« Return to "Roundup"
