SACRAMENTO, Calif. - California credit unions are well versed and experienced in political lobbying, both on the state and federal levels. CU leaders, gathered here for their annual Government Relations Rally, sought again to flex their political muscle to show elected state officials that they are a force to be reckoned with. Political leaders who addressed the group of more than 150 credit union representatives, and those who were lobbied during the April 11-12 visit to the Capitol, said they were listening. "I know there are many issues that you are interested in that will affect credit unions' ability to service new members," noted Senate President pro-tem John Burton, a San Francisco Democrat. "You will find, I think, that members of the Legislature are very supportive of credit unions. "We will continue to support you," Burton promised. Credit union officials stressed the importance of the meeting, which included legislative updates and discussions on political issues. "I can't stress enough how important this conference is to our political success because at the California Credit Union League our number one priority is legislative and political advocacy," said Richard Ghysels, chairman of the league's Government Relations Committee and president and chief executive officer of First Financial Federal Credit Union in West Covina. "Your presence here today, but particularly the visits we will make to the Capitol . . . are going to send a very clear message to our state legislators that California credit unions are a political force that cannot be ignored and must be listened to," he said. Ghysels warned that credit unions should not rest on past legislative accomplishments, such as winning the Legislature's repeal of the California franchise tax on state-chartered credit unions which came after a three-year battle (CU Times, March 8.) "We cannot say to ourselves when we have a gained a legislative victory that we have won this victory, now let's go home and let's go back to the status quo," he said. "No, rather what we must do and what we must say is that we must maintain the credit union profile. We must maintain the credit union agenda. And we must maintain the credit union message alive and active each and every year." Republican Assemblyman Dave Cox echoed a similar theme, saying credit union officials needed to get "engaged" to deal with the various financial privacy measures being considered this year by the Legislature. "You have your work cut out for you," Cox said. Assemblyman Robert Hertzberg told credit union officials that they provided an example that politicians should follow. "You do in your business what we should be doing in our business, and that's customer service," said Hertzberg, who was sworn in as Assembly speaker two days later. Also addressing credit union officials was Jan Owen, who for the past 15 months has been serving as acting commissioner of the state Department of Financial Institutions. She was replaced only days before the conference by Donald R. Meyer, a San Francisco lawyer and member of both the American and California Bankers Associations (CU Times, April 19.) Meyer was appointed to the post by Gov. Gray Davis. He must still be confirmed by the California Senate. Owen, the luncheon speaker on Tuesday, April 11, made no mention of her future plans with DFI. It was later announced, though, that Owen had accepted the position of deputy commissioner at DFI. Instead, she described the accomplishments of the department and reported that the number of state-chartered credit unions had grown from 199 to 213 during 1999. She said she had 11 federal to state charter conversions pending, with those institutions having some $2.3 billion in assets. Owen said that although the number of conversions was significant, what was truly significant were the double-digit gains that credit unions had made in the previous year. She reported that loans increased more than 40%, member share accounts increased 34%, total assets increased 33% and net income increased 36%. -
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