Staying up to date on emerging credit union issues

Credit union advocacy priorities—and how to engage policymakers on them— was the focus for members of America’s Credit Unions’ Emerging Issues Committee Wednesday during their latest meeting.  

The group discussed implementing the GENIUS Act, which establishes a framework for issuing stablecoins, as well as sharing questions and thoughts on NCUA’s proposed rule to establish the process for approval and licensure of permitted payment stablecoin issuers. The proposal would limit federally insured credit unions to utilizing NCUA-licensed issuers.

America’s Credit Unions is accepting member feedback through March 30 and will incorporate input in its submitted comments. Those are due April 13 to the NCUA.

The committee members also examined draft data privacy legislation released last week by the House Financial Services Committee. Not yet officially introduced, the bill would update the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act addressing consumer privacy. America’s Credit Unions is analyzing its full impact to inform its engagement with the House Financial Services Committee.

The discussion also touched on emerging state-level issues facing credit unions, particularly the Illinois Interchange Fee Prohibition Act (IFPA), set to take effect July 1. It would ban the collection of interchange on tax/gratuity portions of card transactions in Illinois. Mistakes or failures in implementing the law would result in a $1,000 fine per incident.  

Credit unions not based in Illinois will be affected by the law, as it would apply to any card transaction made in the state. In just one example, an East coast-based credit union shared that it had tracked more than 20,000 monthly transactions in Illinois.

In an ongoing effort to fight the IFPA in court, America’s Credit Unions and the Illinois Credit Union League most recently filed an appeal stating the law unlawfully restricts credit unions’ ability to be compensated for services. The organizations also highlighted the consequences of the bill in an ad published in a special edition of USA Today.