October 29, 2024

Dear Credit Union Leaders, 

October is drawing to a close! As the weather is starting to get chillier, and Election Day draws near, here are the updates you need!

Announcements

MCUL will be hosting a virtual Election Day recap and rundown for our member credit unions on Friday, November 8 at 10:00am. Trey Hawkins of America’s Credit Unions will join our team to discuss the results in Michigan and across the nation. For information on how to register, please contact Kieran (Kieran.Marion@mcul.org). The next edition of “Cheers! To Compliance” will be held on Dec. 13, speakers to be announced. For more information, please contact Brad (Bradley.Willett@mcul.org).

Advocacy

In Lansing last week, the Senate FICP Committee substituted language into SB 408-409, the garnishment and collections reform package our team has been tracking, and reported the bills to the Senate floor on a 5-3 party line vote. While concerns are still present in the bill, and our team and stakeholders continue to work with the sponsors on such, a fair number of significant issues have been mitigated or eliminated from the bill through active discussions with the sponsor about its impact. The full text of the current version of the bill can be found at 2023-SCVBS-0408-0B735.PDF. Looming larger on the horizon are SB 1021-1022, which would amend the Michigan Consumer Protection Act and expose credit unions (and many other businesses) to both lawsuits and regulatory action by the Office of Attorney General on products and processes that could be deemed “deceptive” or “unfair.” Under its current language as interpreted within Michigan case law, the Act does not apply to legally authorized products and services offered by licensed or chartered entities. The MCUL has communicated strong opposition to the bill’s sponsor, legislative leadership, the Office of Attorney General, and the Governor. Given the scope of potential application, a broad coalition of business groups are doing the same as we move closer to the lame duck session.  No further testimony has been taken yet on SB 888 and a series of trailer bills dealing with data privacy and notification issues. Also backed by the OAG, this bill along with the Consumer Protection Act bills bills also would provide the ability to OAG to compel testimony and documents outside of any formal hearing from any person they “reasonably believe” may have information or documentation relevant to a violation of the respective Acts addressed, without further due process protections. As mentioned previously, both legislative leadership and the Administration remain tight-lipped about the prospects of amending the newly re-instated mandatory paid sick leave provisions and minimum wage increase before the end of the year. Labor organizations that supported the measures are urging the majorities in both chambers not to amend and let the laws become effective “as is”; however as stated in previous editions of this update, optimism still remains that some amendments to address severe implementation problems on paid sick leave as well as removal of the tipped wage credit may be possible.

Congress has been in recess pending next week’s elections. Recapping last edition’s federal update, if you have not yet used it, an Action Alert has been set up to assist credit unions in contacting their members of the U.S. Congress to communicate opposition to the Protecting Consumers from Payment Scams Act (H.R. 9303 and S. 4943, respectively). These bills would amend the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA) to define an unauthorized transfer as one that includes a fraudulently induced transfer, and requiring financial institutions to reimburse consumers for this type of fraud. We do not expect this to pass this session, but we want to stay ahead of it for next session and to continue to combat the growing drumbeat to shift accountability from other parties on to financial institutions. America’s Credit Unions and state and regional credit union leagues wrote to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees earlier this month to share the industry’s opposition to including any amendments that impose burdens on credit unions in the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Neither the House nor the Senate versions of this legislation contained any provisions related to interchange, financial institutions’ Electronic Fund Transfer Act/Regulation E liability for fraudulent transactions, or military banking matters, and we continue to maintain that these items should remain excluded from the final bill. 

For a full update on state and federal regulatory action, please see the “Reg Corner” update in this edition of MILeague Minute.  

Grassroots and Advocacy Funding

For those credit unions that are participating in the 2025 Plush Toy campaign to benefit MCULAF, our State PAC, we have exhausted our reserves of the bunny and jaguar toys. We do still have some of the dachshund and sloth toys from previous years available if your credit union has sold through their order. Our team will be contacting current participants to locate any unsold stock for this year as well, and will make that available if we are able.

As a standing reminder about 2025 America’s Credit Unions GAC, the Michigan hotel block sold out extremely quickly. We do anticipate that rooms will open up, and there may still be rooms available through a broader America’s Credit Union room block at a number of hotels that are used for the event. If you have any questions, or haven’t yet added your name to the waitlist, please contact Todd (Todd.Jorns@mcul.org) to do so, and also with any questions.

Elections

As noted previously, the November General Election will take place on Tues., Nov. 5. All signs point to tight elections up and down the ballot both in Michigan and nationally. Our Advocacy Team will be up late on Tuesday tracking results. As per our normal practice during election cycles, a full list of endorsed state and federal candidates is provided at the bottom of this update and will be updated onto our website. The final meeting of the Executive Committee of the Government and Political Affairs Forum where endorsements could be considered took place on Oct. 28, making this the final listing of endorsements for 2024.

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

Sincerely,

Patty Corkery and the MCUL Advocacy Team

 

2024 Election Endorsements:

U.S. Senate

U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin

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. John James, 10th District
U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, 11th District
U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, 12th District
U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar, 13th District

State House of Representatives

Rep. Tulio Liberati (D) – 2nd District
Rep. Karen Whitsett (D) – 4th District
Rep. Natalie Price (D) – 6th District
Rep. Joe Tate, Speaker of the House (D) – 10th District
Rep. Mai Xiong (D) – 13th District
Rep. Erin Byrnes (D) – 15th District
Rep. Stephanie Young (D) – 16th District
Rep. Matt Kolezar (D) – 22nd District

Rep. James DeSana (R) – 29th District

Rep. William Bruck (R) – 30th District
Rep. Reggie Miller (D) – 31st District
Morgan Foreman – 33rd District
Rep. Joey Andrews (D) – 38th District
Matt Longjohn (D) – 40th District
Rep. Julie Rogers (D) – 41st District
Rep. Matt Hall, House Republican Leader (R) – 42nd District
Rep. Sarah Lightner (R) – 45th District
Rep. Kathy Schmaltz (R) – 46th District
Rep. Ann Bollin (R) – 49th District
Jason Woolford (R) – 50th District
Rep. Brenda Carter (D) – 53rd District
Rep. Donni Steele (R) – 54th District
Rep. Mark Tisdel (R) – 55th District
Rep. Sharon MacDonnell (D) – 56th District
Rep. Nate Shannon (D) – 58th District
Rep. Joe Aragona (R) – 60th District
Rep. Denise Mentzer (D) – 61st District
Rep. Jaime Greene (R) – 65th District
Rep. Kara Hope (D) – 74th District
Rep. Penelope Tsernoglue (D) – 75th District
Rep. Angela Witwer (D) – 76th District
Rep. Gina Johnsen (R) – 78th District
Stephen Wooden (D) – 81st District
Rep. Carol Glanville (D) – 84th District
Rep. Bradley Slagh (R) – 85th District
Rep. Nancy DeBoer (R) – 86th District
Rep. Bryan Posthumus (R) – 90th District
Rep. Jerry Neyer (R) – 92nd District
Former Rep. Tim Kelly (R) – 93rd District
Rep. Amos O’Neal (D) – 94th District
Rep. Bill G. Schuette (R) – 95th District
Rep. Tom Kunse (R) – 100th District
Rep. Joseph Fox (R) – 101st District
Rep. Curt VanderWall (R) – 102nd District
Parker Fairbairn (R) – 107th District
Rep. David Prestin (R) – 108th District
Rep. Greg Markkanen (R) – 110th District

MCULAF is a state-registered political action committee that makes campaign contributions to candidates for elective office in Michigan. Contributions to MCULAF are not tax deductible. Contributions to MCULAF are completely voluntary and will be used for political purposes. You have the right to refuse without any reprisal. Must be 18 years or age or older to participate. Must be a qualified employee (professional, supervisory, managerial and administrative non-clerical position) of the MCUL & Affiliates or a member or qualified employee of an affiliated Michigan credit union. 

Contributions to MCULLAF are not considered charitable contributions or business expenses for income tax purposes. Contributions to MCULLAF are completely voluntary and will be used for political purposes. There shall be no reprisal for those who decide not to contribute. Must be a qualified member of a participating MCUL-affiliated credit union, U.S. citizen and 18-years of age or older to participate. 

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