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The first member of Congress from Maine to serve on the House Financial Services Committee in many years, Congressman Bruce Poliquin, garnered strong words of praise from your League for his support of a series of nine regulatory relief bills supported by your League and the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) that passed the Committee last week.
Your League's President John Murphy expressed appreciation to Congressman Poliquin for his votes in favor of all nine bills considered. "Following our recent Breakfast for Maine's Congressional Delegation at GAC, we had an opportunity to meet with Congressman Poliquin's top legislative aide on financial services, Phillip Swartzfager, who listened to our concerns and reiterated the Congressman's support for legislation that helps credit unions operate more effectively and efficiently by reducing cumbersome regulatory burdens. We are pleased that Congressman Poliquin considered these concerns during the Committee's mark-up of these bills, and supported every single piece of legislation that benefits credit unions," Murphy explained.
The nine bills supported by credit unions that passed the House Financial Services Committee are:
H.R. 299, the Capital Access for Small Community Financial Institutions Act corrects a drafting oversight in the Federal Home Loan Bank Act that has resulted in a small number of privately insured credit unions being ineligible to join a Federal Home Loan Bank. This bill passed by a vote of 56-1;
H.R. 601, the Eliminate Privacy Notice Confusion Act would eliminate the requirement financial institutions currently face to send their members or customers privacy policy notifications annually, and instead would only require such notifications when the privacy policy is changed. This bill passed by a vote of 57-0;
H.R. 1195, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection Advisory Board Act, would require the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) by law to establish the Credit Union Advisory Council, as well as the Small Business Advisory Board and the Community Bank Advisory Council. These advisory councils had previously been voluntarily established by the CFPB. The separate Consumer Advisory Board is already codified in statute. This bill passed by a vote of 53-5;
H.R. 1265, the Bureau Advisory Commission Transparency Act would, in effect, open CFPB advisory committee meetings to the public. This bill passed by a vote of 56-2;
H.R. 1259, the Helping Expand Lending Practices in Rural Community Act directs the CFPB to establish an application process determining whether an area should be designated as a rural area if the CFPB has not designated it as one. This bill passed by a vote of 56-2;
H.R. 1480, the SAFE Confidentiality and Privilege Enhancement Act would require that confidentiality protections provided by federal and state laws apply when state and federal regulatory officials with mortgage or financial services industry oversight authority access any information provided to the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry. This bill passed by a vote of 58-0;
H.R. 1408, the Mortgage Servicing Asset Capital Requirements Act requires federal banking agencies to conduct a study of the appropriate capital requirements for mortgage servicing assets for nonsystemic banking institutions. This bill passed by a vote of 49-9;
H.R. 1529, the Community Institution Mortgage Relief Act would exempt mortgage loans made by financial institutions under $10 billion in assets and held in portfolio for three years from RESPA's escrow requirements and would also exempt mortgage servicers that service fewer than 20,000 mortgages annually from a number of requirements of RESPA. This bill passed by a vote of 48-10; and
H.R. 685, Mortgage Choice Act would make an important modification to the Truth-in-Lending Act's definition of "points and fees." This bill passed by a vote of 43-12.
The bills will now be moved to the full House for consideration and a floor vote.
"Obviously, the House Financial Services Committee is an important Committee for credit unions, and it is great to see someone with Congressman Poliquin's financial background, who has previously expressed an interest in looking for ways to help financial institutions better serve consumers by removing unnecessary regulatory burden, serving on this Committee. The Committee is where many of our issues are heard first so developing strong communications, which we have begun to do with the Congressman and his staff, provides us with an opportunity to express our concerns and discuss our issues early on in the process," added Murphy.