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NAFCU's unrelenting advocacy has led to an agreement between leaders in both the House and Senate to take up additional bills that would provide much-needed regulatory relief to the financial services industry. While details of these measures are in flux, NAFCU has outlined a number of top legislative items still pending before Congress and has asked congressional leaders to work with the association to address these issues.

Specifically, NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger has urged congressional leaders to act on:

• Capital/risk-based capital (RBC) reform: NAFCU is a strong supporter of the Common Sense Capital Relief Act (H.R. 5288), which would allow the NCUA to revisit and reconsider its approach to RBC by delaying the rule's effective date for two years to Jan. 1, 2021.  
• Data and cybersecurity: Since the Target data breach in 2013, NAFCU has advocated for reforms that would create a safer environment and hold retailers accountable for data and cybersecurity breaches that occur on their end, all while not creating burdensome new requirements on financial institutions. Berger asked that NAFCU-backed draft legislation put forth by House Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo., and Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., be advanced later this year.
• Field of membership (FOM): NAFCU wants to see a strengthened federal charter so credit unions' state and federal charters are able to keep pace with each other, Berger wrote. He added the association's support for the Financial Services for the Underserved Act (H.R. 4665), which NAFCU got introduced late last year and would  allow all credit unions to add underserved areas to their FOMs.
• Ending lawsuit abuse: "Credit unions are too often targets of demand letters that seek monetary damages for questionable patents or website 'violations' of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)," Berger explained. He added that Congress must step in and seek to curb these abusive practices and urged the Senate to take action on the House-passed, NAFCU-backed ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017 (H.R. 620).
• Preserving the credit union tax exemption: Thanking Congress and the administration for preserving the credit union tax exemption in the recently passed tax reform law, Berger urged the congressional leaders to continue to protect the exemption as they look to address more tax issues later this year. 

NAFCU remains active on Capitol Hill – meeting with Republican and Democratic members in the both the House and Senate – in an effort to pursue meaningful regulatory relief for credit unions. The House is preparing in the coming weeks to consider the NAFCU-backed Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (S. 2155). NAFCU has been working to advance this bill since it was introduced by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, and several Democratic members of the committee in November. The association also has an active grassroots campaign urging credit unions to contact their lawmakers in support of this regulatory relief effort.