Mary Martha Fortney

At the end of this month, credit union representatives from all over the country will come to Washington, D.C. to make sure the credit union message is heard at the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) Government Affairs Conference (GAC). This is traditionally an important time for the credit union system.

NASCUS will also be busy participating in the GAC and holding its thirdly business meetings of the NASCUS Board, the Credit Union Advisory Council Board and NASCUS Committees, February 24-25. The NASCUS Boards meet in-person three times a year to discuss issues critical to NASCUS as an organization and matters pertinent to the credit union system and to our members. The Education, Performance Standards and Legislative & Regulatory Affairs Committees are also meeting at this time.

This will be the first in-person meeting of the newly merged Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Committee. The group plans to discuss the status of current legislation, regulatory relief, data security, credit union taxation and data collection. The Education Committee will meet and resume its planning of 2006 educational events and the first NASCUS State System Summit, August 10-12 in Dana Point, California. At the meeting of the Performance Standards Committee, the members will discuss the progress and growth of the NASCUS Accreditation Program, which reached a new milestone at the beginning of 2006: NASCUS accredited states now supervise more than 82 percent of state credit union assets.

During CUNA's GAC, February 26-March 1, NASCUS will have face-to-face meetings with representatives from credit union system groups and federal agencies. NASCUS' GAC schedule includes meetings with CUNA, the Credit Union Executives Society (CUES), the National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU), the American Association of Credit Union Leagues (AACUL), the Association of Corporate Credit Unions (ACCU), CUNA Mutual Group and the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA). NASCUS is also meeting with Emil Henry, assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury and with Federal Reserve Board Governor Susan Bies.

The meetings are an invaluable opportunity to address important issues and continue partnerships among credit union groups and federal agencies. NASCUS will discuss our strategic goals for 2006 which include enhancing corporate governance, strengthening state regulatory agencies and minimizing federal preemption. NASCUS will also examine concerns critical to the preservation of dual chartering.

The meeting agendas will also include continued discussion of issues resulting from the House Ways and Means Committee hearing regarding credit unions’ tax exemption. Some of those topics are data collection, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) credit union study and credit union service to members.

In NASCUS’ meetings with NCUA Chairman JoAnn Johnson and Board members Rodney Hood and Gigi Hyland, we will resume discussion on data collection, interstate branching, new proposed regulations and additional ways state and federal agencies can partner on current challenges.

We are looking forward to these upcoming opportunities to represent the state system and advocate for its continued success. As always, if you have any questions or concerns you would like us to address, please don’t hesitate to contact me at marymartha@nascus.org. Full coverage of the GAC meetings will be included in the next issue of Stateline, to be published in March.

To view the Special Message from the President and CEO Archive, click here.