July 7, 2026

Dear Credit Union Leaders,

The USA had a good run! As we continue to obsess about the final stages of World Cup 2026, here are the updates you need!

Advocacy

In Lansing, the legislature careened into its summer recess last week in a marathon session from Thursday well into Friday morning.  The FY2026-27 state budget was adopted, although the details are still being sifted through and the overall impact being assessed.  As part of this budget, the Michigan Saves program appears to have received at least $4 million in total funding, with $1.5 going to its loan loss reserve and $2.5 offered for certain grant programs related to energy efficiency and septic issues.  Funding opportunities for CDFIs were relocated from standalone boilerplate to a broader line of small business support.  While this may restrict available funds to commercially oriented use and the structure (and competition) has not yet been articulated, the overall pool of available funds has broadened to $30 million for programs covered in the relevant section.  Overall, the budget appears to have seen a topline cut of about $750 million dollars, totaling about $75.1 billion. In addition to the budget, lawmakers cut deals to pass a large number of policy bills as well. While many were innocuous, MCUL Advocacy and our industry partners remained fully engaged on several measures related to medical debt collection, foreclosure, redemption, property speculation and investment that would have seriously and negatively impacted credit unions and other lenders in those processes. All such bills were successfully amended or did not move. Looking ahead to summer, there will likely be very little legislative activity until at least after Labor Day.  Our team will remain vigilant for further threats and will continue to press forward on MCUA reforms and private share insurance in the remaining legislative time this year.

In Washington, D.C., both chambers of Congress remain in recess after the Fourth, although pro forma session meetings are occurring. The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, H.R. 6644, long-awaited affordable housing legislation that also contains the Credit Union Board Modernization Act’s provisions, has been presented to the President.  The President is holding out on signing this popular legislation, which will become law on July 10 if he does not veto it beforehand, while he calls for action on unrelated voting reform legislation.   

Grassroots and Advocacy Funding

We hope to see you all at the 2026 ASFM Golf Outing is here! The event takes place at Forest Akers West Golf Course, on the campus of Michigan State University in East Lansing. You can register yourself or your foursome here and you can see sponsorship opportunities here. Funds raised support the Michele Myrick Scholarship Fund, which in turn assists credit union officials, volunteers and young professionals in attending events such as America’s Credit Unions GAC, MCUL GAC and Hike the Hill.

Registration is open for Congressional Caucus 2026, hosted by America’s Credit Unions. The event takes place September 13-15 at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Our own MCUL Hike the Hill will take place adjacent to the event, beginning September 15.

Elections

All 110 state House seats, 38 state Senate seats, 13 U.S. House seats and Executive Branch positions, as well as one open U.S. Senate seat will be up for election this year. In addition to these seats, there are statewide university boards and Supreme Court races, as well as local and lower-level judicial races on the ballot. MCUL does not engage in judicial or university races, or local races. If you have any information or if you or your credit union has a particular relationship with any state or federal candidates, please contact our team and share what you know! Endorsement of candidates will be considered on a monthly basis, based on survey results as well as member and staff input and intel. Support for candidates is based on their support for the credit union philosophy and difference, and is not based in any manner on partisan considerations. The next round of endorsement discussions will take place on July 13, and please see below for the latest on endorsements made in any races!

As always, thank you for all that you do for Michigan’s credit unions! 

Current Endorsements:

U.S. House

U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman, 1st District
U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar, 2nd District
U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten, 3rd District
U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga, 4th District
U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg, 5th District
U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, 6th District
U.S. Rep. Lisa McClain, 9th District
U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, 12th District
(State) Rep. Donavan McKinney, 13th District

State House

Rep. Veronica Paiz (D)-- 10th District
Rep. Jason Morgan (D) – 23rd District
Rep. Ranjeev Puri (D), House Democrat Leader – 24th District
Rep. Jamie Thompson (R) – 28th District
Rep. Joey Andrews (D) – 38th District
Rep. Matt Hall, Speaker of the House (R) - 42nd District
Rep. Steve Frisbie (R) – 44th District
Rep. Sarah Lightner (R) – 45th District
Rep. Kathy Schmaltz (R) – 46th District
Rep. Carrie Rheingans (D) – 47th District
Rep. Jennifer Conlon (D) – 48th District
Rep. Jason Woolford (R) – 50th District
Rep. Mike Harris (R) – 52nd District
Rep. Brenda Carter (D) – 53rd District
Rep. Mark Tisdel (R) – 55th District
Rep. Sharon MacDonnell (D) – 56th District
Rep. Ron Robinson (R) – 58th District
Rep. Denise Mentzer (D) – 61st District
Rep. Alicia St. Germaine (R) – 62nd District
Rep. Joe Pavlov (R) – 64th District
Rep. Jaime Greene (R) – 65th District
Rep. Penelope Tsernoglue (D) – 75th District
Rep. Angela Witwer (D) – 76th District
Rep. Brad Slagh (R) – 85th District
Rep. Nancy DeBoer (R) – 86th District
Rep. Jerry Neyer (R) – 92nd District
Rep. Amos O’Neal (D) – 94th District
Rep. Bill G. Schuette (R) – 95th District
Rep. Timmy Beson (R) – 96th District
Rep. Greg Alexander (R) – 98th District
Rep. Tom Kunse (R) – 100th District
Jaxon Deur (R) – 101st District
Rep. Curt Vanderwall (R) – 102nd District

State Senate

Rep. Erin Byrnes (D) – 2nd District
Rep. Matt Kolezar (D) – 5th District
Sen. Mary Cavanagh (D) – 6th District
Sen. Michael Webber (R) – 9th District
Sen. Veronica Klinefelt (D) – 11th District
Sen. Kevin Hertel (D) – 12th District
Sen. Sue Shink (D) – 14th District
Sen. Thomas Albert (R) – 18th District
Rep. Donni Steele (R) – 23rd District
Rep. Douglas Wozniak (R) – 24th District
Rep. Matthew Bierlien (R) – 25th District
Mark Polsdofer (D) – 28th District
Sen. Mark Huizenga (R) – 30th District
Kim Cole (R) – 32nd District
Rep. Gina Johnsen (R) – 33rd District
Sen. Roger Hauck (R) – 34th District
Sen. Chedrick Green (D) – 35th District
Sen. Michele Hoitenga (R) – 36th District
Sen. John Damoose (R) – 37th District

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