OLYMPIA, Wash. Legislation that would allow state chartered credit unions to pay their directors has moved through the Senate and is advancing towards a vote in the House, as credit unions around the country look for new ways to recruit members of their boards.
The bill has been approved by the House’s Business and Financial Services Committee and is expected to be voted any day by the Rules Committee, which would forward it to the House floor for a vote, according to Mark Minickiello, chief lobbyist for the Northwest CU Association, who said there has been no opposition to the bill reforming governance practices among state charters.
The movement comes after lawmakers in Tennessee approved a bill that will allow credit unions to pay their directors, the 13th state to do so.
If the Washington bill approved by the legislature, it will be up to the Department of Financial Institutions to set limits on compensation and other parameters. “This is important to some credit unions that have had trouble recruiting board members,” Minickiello told the Credit Union Union Journal today.
The bill would also amend the state’s credit union statute in a number of other ways, including striking the requirement for monthly board meetings and requiring instead quarterly meetings.
