League, Credit Unions Host Virtual Meeting with Sen. Tim Kaine

Twenty credit union champions and League President Carrie Hunt and staff participated in a 45-minute virtual meeting on June 8 with Sen. Tim Kaine, discussing a range of topics and legislation, including cannabis banking, interchange fees, data security and overdraft programs.

"Meetings like this are critically important in that they not only provide us an opportunity to discuss our key issues and make our case for and against legislation, they can also provide us a read on where lawmakers stand on certain issues and specific legislation," noted Hunt. "We appreciate Sen. Kaine's time and the fact he shares our belief credit unions should be subject to regulation that fairly balances safety and soundness with the realities of today's marketplace and the credit union mission to serve our members and communities."

Sen. Kaine signaled his strong support for the SAFE Banking Act, the cannabis banking measure that may have its best opportunity this year to pass. Kaine was among the lawmakers who signed onto a letter asking that the SAFE Banking Act provisions be included in the America COMPETES Act. The provisions of the SAFE Banking Act would allow credit unions, banks and other financial institutions to offer banking services to legally operating cannabis businesses without fear of punishment by federal regulators.

Virginia is moving to establish a regulated cannabis marketplace by 2024.

Kaine noted his support of the Credit Union Board Modernization Act, a measure that would change the requirement for credit union boards to meet once a month to not less than six times per year for qualifying credit unions.

We also discussed several top-of-mind issues, some of which have been the subject of Congressional hearings or the focus of regulators in recent months, including interchange fees and overdraft protection programs.

Virginia's credit unions remain firmly opposed to any changes to the current interchange fee model, noting that financial institutions rely on those fees to cover the costs associated with debit and credit fraud.

We told the senator we also have grave concerns of regulatory overreach by the CFPB as it targets what it terms "junk fees." Service-related fees for programs, such as "overdraft protection," are appropriate provided the credit union adheres to applicable regulations and necessary to underwrite the costs of such programs.

Your League also noted specific bills of interest to credit unions:

• Veteran Member Business Loan Act (S. 3813), which would exclude extensions of credit made to veterans from the definition of a member business loan.
• Expanding Access to Lending Option Act (S. 762), which would allow the National Credit Union Administration Board to increase the federal credit union loan maturity cap from 15 to 20 years.
• Building Credit for Veterans Act (S.1838), which would allow the use of alternative credit scoring for veterans and members of the armed forces for expanded credit and homebuying access.
• Provisions from H.R. 7003 (now included in H.R. 2543) which would allow federally chartered credit unions to apply to the National Credit Union Administration for permission to widen their membership into underserved areas. It would also lift the cap on member business lending in those areas.

Joining the League on the call were representatives from the following credit unions: ABNB Federal Credit Union, Apple Federal Credit Union, BayPort Credit Union, Chartway Credit Union, Henrico Federal Credit Union, Langley Federal Credit Union, Navy Federal Credit Union, Peoples Advantage Federal Credit Union, Topside Federal Credit Union, ValleyStar Credit Union and Virginia Credit Union.