There is no shortage of issues of interest being addressed in Congress by credit unions, Leagues and CUNA. One of particularly high interest is on the topic of the ADA website demand letters. Credit unions across Georgia felt this impact in October of 2017 and CUNA held a webinar in January on this issue, but work continues to eliminate this ambiguity in federal laws and rules that has created this situation. Part of that effort was seen this week, as GCUA has been working with CUNA and U.S. Rep. Rob Woodall (R-7) to utilize a contentious bill to highlight what is happening at credit unions across the country. Our thanks to Rep. Woodall who utilized the debate on February 15th on H.R. 620, an Americans with Disabilities Act Reform bill, as a vehicle to raise awareness regarding credit unions’ concerns with predatory litigation related to website accessibility. While this legislation is controversial for other reasons, the effort by Rep. Woodall was to bring public attention – in a hot-topic bill where many are watching – to how the ADA proposed rule on website access is being used as a way to fleece money off of credit unions and others. In addition, our thanks to CUNA, which is planning an amicus brief to be filed in conjunction with Leagues to emphasize the point.
In addition, there’s been much activity this week on other issues in Washington, D.C.:
- Data Security: On February 14th the House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit held a hearing on data security, and credit unions had an industry representative providing testimony on behalf of the industry (Kim Sponem, President and CEO of Summit Credit Union in Madison, Wisconsin).
- Corporate Stabilization Fund: On February 15th NCUA held its monthly board meeting at which time the Board released more information regarding distributions resulting from the closure of the Temporary Corporate Credit Union Stabilization Fund – and the information is presently being analyzed as of press time. Thanks to all who were involved in Advocacy (credit unions, Leagues, and CUNA) to pursue a change as credit unions will be receiving rebates from the corporate fund instead of paying a premium this year to the share insurance fund.
- Remittances: The wire transfer fee tax is being seen on a federal level also, as part of the Senate’s consideration of immigration reform U.S. Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) introduced an amendment that would impose a tax on certain international remittances. The credit union/League/CUNA system has engaged to address this and ensure that credit union concerns are understood.
