Senate Passes Half-A-Loaf Reg ReliefBill

WASHINGTON - (05/30/06) – The Senate passed atrimmed-down regulatory relief bill before it broke last week forthe Memorial Day recess. The Senate bill has only four majorprovisions in it for credit unions, compared to a much broader billpassed by the House that includes 15 credit union provisions. Butthe only ones in the Senate version are the provisions that wouldprovide a fix for the new rule for accounting for mergers; allowingcredit unions to serve non-members within their fields ofmembership; maintain discount leases for credit unions on federalproperty; and extend the maturity limit on member business loans.Credit union lobbyists are hoping that lawmakers will add in someof the other provisions, like enactment of a risk-based capitalsystem for credit unions; permission for privately insured creditunions to join the Federal Home Loan Bank system, lifting the capon member business loans; or allowing federal credit unions toretain their select employee groups after converting to communitycharters.