On Deadline

For the second Congress in a row, the House overwhelmingly approved a credit union-backed regulatory relief bill last week. But the bill, which has as many as 15 provisions requested by credit unions, now goes to the Senate, which has dragged its feet on regulatory relief now for three straight congresses. Sen. Michael Crapo (R-ID), however, said last week he hopes to finally introduce a Senate version of regulatory relief later this month.

Both bills are expected to include provisions allowing federal credit unions to provide limited services to non-members within their FOM; retain their SEGs after converting to community charters; allowing NCUA, instead of Congress, to set limits on permissible CU investments and loan maturities; and allow privately insured CUs to join the Federal Home Loan Bank System. The bills are not expected to include proposals to enact a risk-based capital system for CUs and require that at least 20% of members vote on conversion to a mutual savings bank, which are included in the CU-specific CURIA bill. (c) 2006 The Credit Union Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.cujournal.com http://www.sourcemedia.com

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