Regulatory Relief Moves Back To HouseFloor

WASHINGTON - (11/17/05) -- The House Financial ServicesCommittee easily passed the regulatory relief bill again Wednesday,but not before brief controversy surrounding a provision allowingprivately insured credit unions to join the Federal Home Loan Banksystem. As Committee Chairman Michael Oxley, R-Ohio, the chiefadvocate of the provision, left the room, the committee agreed withcredit union champion Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., to eliminate themeasure from the bill, based on Kanjorski's concerns about theviability of private deposit insurance. But upon his return to thecommittee room, Oxley insisted that the measure be re-voted and thecommittee agreed to return it to the bill. The bill passed by thecommittee includes more than a dozen credit union provisions,including measures allowing credit unions to retain their selectgroups after converting to community charters; allowing federalcharters to provide check cashing and wire transfers to non-memberswithin their fields of membership; and several provisions easingcorporate governance rules. "We're very pleased with it. It has anumber of provisions that will be very helpful to credit unions,"CUNA lobbyist Gary Kohn told The Credit Union Journal. The bill nowgoes for a vote by the full House, which overwhelmingly approvedthe measure in the last Congress, when it died for lack of actionby the Senate.