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The Senate on Tuesday voted 74-21 in passing the NAFCU-backed S. 754, the "Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act" (CISA), a bill that would encourage faster sharing of cyber-threat information among the business and government sectors.

NAFCU Senior Vice President of Government Affairs and General Counsel Carrie Hunt responded: "NAFCU and our members thank Sens. Burr and Feinstein for their leadership and commitment to shepherding through the Senate this critical legislation. Today's passage is a positive step forward in safeguarding our nation's cybersecurity."

She continued, "However, we urge the Senate to continue its fight against cyber criminals by advancing legislation that establishes a strong, but scalable, national data security standard to safeguard sensitive and personal consumer data, such as the bill proposed by Sens. Tom Carper, D-Del., and Roy Blunt, R-Mo., the ‘Data Security Act of 2015' (S. 961) and the companion bill, H.R. 2205, proposed by Reps. Randy Neugebauer, R-Texas, and John Carney, D-Del. We look forward to continuing to work with Congress to help advance the cybersecurity and data security legislation."

Last week, the Senate invoked cloture on a manager's amendment, action that set the stage for the chamber to complete consideration and vote on the bill today.

Several amendments were considered, including one offered by Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., that would sunset the bill after 10 years and was agreed to by unanimous consent.

NAFCU also signed on to a joint letter with three other financial trades to raise concerns about other proposed amendments, including those introduced by Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Al Franken, D-Minn., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., regarding the definition of a cyber threat and other aspects of the bill. The trades argue that the amendments would create ambiguities and complications in the bill's language and otherwise undermine the measure. These amendments ultimately failed.

Last week and on Tuesday, NAFCU ran an ad in National Journal supporting House and Senate data security legislation, specifically the "Data Security Act of 2015."

NAFCU's work on data and cybersecurity is ongoing; the association is committed to ensuring credit unions have the resources needed to address the current cybersecurity environment.

In other action yesterday, the House passed H.R. 1090, the "Retail Investor Protection Act," sponsored by Rep. Ann Wagner R-Mo. This bill would prevent the Labor Department from issuing its final fiduciary rule until the Securities and Exchange Commission issues its rule on dealer brokers.