On May 4th the U.S. House Financial Services Committee passed committee chairman Rep. Jeb Hensarling’ s (R-TX) Dodd-Frank alternative bill with a vote of 34 to 26. This federal bill, the Financial CHOICE Act, contains a number of regulatory relief provisions positive for credit unions. These include:
- Changes to the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and how it operates,
- Improvements to mortgage lending laws,
- Examination fairness with NCUA,
- Safe harbor for reporting elder financial abuse, and what is deemed highly controversial –
- A repeal of the “Durbin Amendment” on interchange, which is not considered by several political insiders likely to stay in the bill moving forward. To urge your U.S. Representative to keep the “Durbin Amendment” repeal in the legislation going forward, click here.
Leading up to the vote, the House Financial Services Committee held multiple “mark-up” hearings that lasted well into the evening for days as multiple amendments were considered. If the length and challenges from partisan politics are any indication, the bill is nowhere close to being in its final form. However, next steps would be for the bill to secure time for debate on the House floor – and, if passed, then it would travel to the Senate where (hopefully) several of the provisions will be retained and pass.
