Georgia credit unions have consistently engaged with legislators throughout the year, meeting as of press time with more than 20 federal and state legislators in their districts to build a positive relationship for the industry. By engaging in these meetings, credit unions help put a local face on the industry, and reinforce the entire advocacy process to move positive legislation forward (and keep negative bills from becoming regulatory reality).
But one does not need to solely attend an orchestrated “Hike at Home” to engage with legislators – the avenues to engage with them locally are ample (especially leading up to an election!). Credit unions around the state did precisely that when they took International Credit Union Day (ICU Day) festivities as yet another opportunity to connect with their legislators. On October 19th, credit union ICU Day involved seven elected officials from local mayors, state legislators to U.S. Congressman:
- The Augusta Chapter hosted Augusta Mayor Hardie Davis at their ICU Day meeting, reinforcing a strong relationship with the local elected official.
- The Chattahoochee Valley Chapter hosted their federal and state legislators at their ICU Day meeting. Those in attendance and addressing the group included U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-2), State Sen. Ed Harbison (D-Columbus), State Rep. Debbie Buckner (D-Junction City), State Rep. Carolyn Hugley (D-Columbus), and State Rep. Calvin Smyre (D-Columbus).
- Marshland CU had Brunswick Mayor Cornell Harvey join them to kick off their ICU Day celebration for the members, with a proclamation from the city recognizing the day.
Credit unions engage with their elected officials in other avenues as well, at civic meetings, local chamber functions, and events in the community. Just recently on October 17th Family Savings CU engaged with U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-11) at the Cartersville-Bartow County Chamber Luncheon, and we are aware of several other credit unions that often engage in this manner. Keep up the great work engaging with elected officials as an industry, and in looking ahead, please consider reaching out to your elected officials on the next ICU Day, or for any credit union celebration (branch openings, events). Each of these interactions adds up to advocacy success for all credit unions.
Not sure who your legislators are? You can research your elected officials here, but please note for some districts, this may be subject to change soon as on November 7th there are several local and state elections to fill vacancies. If you are in one of these districts with a special election, you likely already are aware due to the signs, fliers and mailings. However, to gain information on whether there are races in YOUR district, please click here. Many of these races will likely lead to runoffs – in one state Senate race alone there are eight candidates, so stay tuned for the runoff elections that will take place on December 5th.
