WASHINGTON – The House may consider the credit union regulatory relief bill known as CURRA as soon as next week, as Democratic leaders are expected to offer it alongside a regulatory relief bill for banks.
“That’s our hope,” one Capitol Hill source involved in the process told The Credit Union Journal yesterday.
The bill, also known as CURIA-lite for its similarity to the long-stalled credit union relief bill, this week is being reviewed by the White House Budget Office to determine the costs of its provisions, the source said.
Democratic leaders plan to put CURRA to a vote on the House suspension calendar, reserved for non-controversial bills. It is expected to be voted alongside the banks’ bill, in order to deter the banks from lobbying against the credit union bill.
A similar strategy was tried in April, but House leaders were forced at the last minute to pull the credit union bill from a vote because the bankers refused to go along with the strategy. CURRA, the CU Regulatory Relief Act, is very similar to CURIA, the CU Regulatory Improvements Act, absent two major CURIA provisions opposed by the banks: enactment of a risk-based capital system for credit unions and lifting the cap on member business loans.
As with CURIA, CURRA would allow credit unions to retain their select groups after converting to community charters, allow all credit unions to branch into underserved areas and exempt religious-based loans from the business loan cap.
But the biggest bone of contention for the bankers is a CURRA provision that will allow credit unions to offer payday loans to non-members within their field of membership – if it is inside an underserved area. It also would allow credit unions to make business loans in those areas and not have them count against the limits on member business loans.
Representatives from banks and credit unions have been negotiating language on the underserved provisions since the April non-vote on the bill.
