House OKs FCRA, But Senate Status Iffy

The House voted overwhelmingly last week on a bill to reauthorize the Fair Credit Reporting Act, but the bill is in for a tougher ride as it moves over to the Senate.

"We've really been working for several months on getting this done but we really worked hard the last day-and-a-half to see that the bill got the clear majority that it did," said CUNA's chief lobbyist John McKechnie, of credit unions' involvement.

The bill passed by the House on a 392-to-30 vote, includes the credit union-backed seven federal preemptions of state credit laws. A bid to ensure that Congress doesn't try to preempt the tough new California privacy law was introduced, then pulled from consideration.

But McKechnie said the preemption of state privacy laws, like California's, as well as other issues, will emerge as the debate now shifts to the Senate. The CUNA lobbyist said he is confident the Senate will pass a fair credit bill before provisions of the current law expire at the end of the year.

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