AUSTIN, Texas—Heavy lobbying by Texas’ credit unions led to the defeat in the Texas House by a vote of 135-1 of an amendment that would have moved the Texas CU Department sunset date to 2017.
According to the Cornerstone CU League, on Friday, May 1, Rep. Dan Flynn (R-Van) offered a third reading amendment, which requires 100 votes to pass, that returned the Sunset date of the TCUD to 2021. The amendment was accepted by the author, Rep. “Four” Price (R-Amarillo), eliminating the requirement to get the 100 votes, the CCUL said.
But the Cornerstone league reported that Rep. Larry Gonzales had offered a “surprise” amendment to move the TCUD sunset date up to next session, 2017. He had pre-filed an amendment to move the Finance Commission agencies up to sunset in 2017. Rep. Nicole Collier (D-Fort Worth) and Rep. Dan Flynn (R-Van) questioned the need to move the TCUD sunset date to 2017 and Rep. Flynn pointed out that the cost to credit unions for doing so is estimated to be $100,000, the CCUL said. The league added that lobbyists reported hearing from legislators’ offices about the calls received from concerned credit union members about the amendment to move the agency sunset date forward.
The Texas CU Department just went through Sunset in 2009. Rep. Gonzales stated he wanted to move all financial regulators up to 2017 to look at the SDSI status of the agencies. After the amendment to the amendment was defeated, the House adopted the amendment to move the Finance Commission sunset date to 2017, the CCUL said, adding that in “an interesting move, the House later reconsidered the vote. That amendment was then withdrawn from the bill, leaving the Finance Commission agencies with a 2019 sunset date.”
HB 3123 now goes to the Senate for consideration. The league said it will continue to work the bill in the Senate, as the companion Senate bill, SB 218, would move the TCUD sunset date to 2019.
“I was proud of the response by our credit unions and league staff to this important attack on short notice, and to the work of Cornerstone League advocacy staff in organizing the alert,” the Cornerstone league quoted CCUL CEO Dick Ensweiler as saying. “The ability of our credit unions to follow up the next day with a strong grassroots effort shows the commitment of credit union people.”