State: Expanding Awareness and Understanding with New Legislators

At the start of 2019 a large number of new legislators took office in the Georgia Legislature … 40 to be precise at the start of January (and more throughout the year with special elections). And when these individuals take office, they bring with them the personal connections from inside the districts and their professional background, but often not much more. As such, it’s vital to educate legislators on credit unions, their impact in the district, and their district legislative needs. This is done through your efforts individually as credit unions, as well as collectively through various regular communication during the session and outside of the session by the credit union advocacy team. Throughout the year credit unions sit down with their local elected leaders in group meetings or with individual tours of credit unions for the legislator. In addition, one-on-one informational sessions are held to provide in-depth insight into the industry and the specific legislative needs, the most recent:

On July 1^st Rep. Beth Moore (D-Peachtree Corners) sat down with GCUA to discuss the industry and provide deeper detail on the issues, as well as grow a positive connection for the future. Rep. Moore is in her first year with the state Legislature, and sits on the House Banking Committee, where many of the issues of importance to credit unions are discussed in hearings. Two of her other committees are of note to the industry as well – Science and Technology (where cybersecurity bills are often assigned) and Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications (where the PACE loan issue from 2019 was defeated).

Rep. Moore was very open to credit unions during the session, seeking input on the various bills and listening to the concerns of the lobbying team on the negative issues. But her and her staff’s interest during the off session to learn more about credit unions is positive, and we look forward to growing this connection further. Our thanks to Rep. Moore for sharing her time, and we look forward to working with her on issues in the future!