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The House Financial Services Committee today begins its mark-up of more than a dozen bills, among them a NAFCU-backed bill to repeal the NCUA's risk-based capital rule (RBC) now set to take effect Jan. 1, 2019, and others addressing examination fairness and use of consumers' identification cards.

Ahead of the mark-up, NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger sent a letter urging committee members to support the Common Sense Credit Union Capital Relief Act of 2017 (H.R. 4464) in order to stop the RBC rule, as well as additional regulatory relief efforts.

"If the rule is allowed to take effect without changes, over 400 credit unions would see a total decline of $1.4 billion in their capital cushions and 40 credit unions would see their capital category downgraded," Berger wrote. "This could lead a number of credit unions to constrain lending in 2018 to come into compliance with the new RBC standards."

NAFCU is also encouraging grassroots action to stop the RBC rule. Through the association's Grassroots Action Center, credit unions can contact their representatives to urge support of H.R. 4464 as it moves through the legislative process.

Last week, Brian Ducharme, president and CEO of MIT Federal Credit Union (Cambridge, Mass.), testified on behalf of NAFCU before a House Financial Services subcommittee hearing and focused his comments on this bill.

Over the past three years, NAFCU has consistently opposed the NCUA's RBC rulemaking and urged its withdrawal because of the adverse effects it would have on the credit union industry – particularly as a result of regulatory burdens and costs. NCUA Chairman J. Mark McWatters has indicated that revisiting this rulemaking is on his list of priorities for this year.

Other NAFCU-backed bills in today's mark-up, set for 10 a.m. Eastern, include:

• Financial Institutions Examination Fairness and Reform Act (H.R. 4545), which would set standards for examination fairness for federal financial institution regulators, including the NCUA, including clear guidance from regulators, consistency from exam to exam, timeliness of reported exam results and an independent appeals process free of examiner retaliation.
• Making Online Banking Initiation Legal and Easy Act of 2017 (H.R. 1457), which would establish requirements for financial institutions to use and electronically store a person's driver's license or ID card information when opening an account or obtaining other financial services in order to prevent fraud or criminal activity.