WASHINGTON—The House of Representatives last night passed five regulatory relief bills that had the strong support of credit unions. Passed were:
* H.R. 299, the Capital Access for Small Community Financial Institutions Act of 2015, introduced by Representatives Stivers and Beatty, which corrects a drafting oversight in the Federal Home Loan Bank Act that has resulted in a small number of privately insured credit unions being ineligible to join a Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB). The bill passed by voice vote.
* H.R. 1259, the Helping Expand Lending Practices in Rural Communities Act, introduced by Representatives Barr and Hinojosa, which directs the CFPB to establish an application process determining whether an area should be designated as a rural area if the CFPB has not designated it as one. This bill passed by a vote of 401-1.
* H.R. 1265, the Bureau Advisory Commission Transparency Act, introduced by Representative Duffy, which would, in effect, open Bureau advisory committee meetings to the public. This bill passed by a vote of 401-2.
* H.R. 601, the Eliminate Privacy Notice Confusion Act, introduced by Representatives Luetkemeyer and Sherman, which would require financial institutions to send their customers/members privacy policy notifications only when the privacy policy is changed. This bill passed by voice vote.
* H.R. 1480, the SAFE Act Confidentiality and Privilege Enhancement Act, introduced by Representatives Dold and Perlmutter, which would allow state and federal regulatory officials with mortgage or financial services industry oversight authority to access any information provided to the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry without the loss of confidentiality protections provided by federal and state laws. This bill passed by a vote of 401-0.
“I thank Speaker Boehner and Leader Pelosi for bringing these much needed pieces of legislation to the House floor,” said President and CEO of CUNA, Jim Nussle. “Moving the needle forward to reduce regulatory burden allows not-for-profit, member-owned, community-based financial institutions to focus on the needs of their credit union members. I look forward to continuing to work with the House and the Senate to pass regulatory relief legislation for credit unions.”