Madison Mayor Paul Soglin was recently honored by members of theMadison Area Chapter of the Wisconsin Credit Union League for hisefforts to drum up mayoral support for credit union member business lending legislation.

Soglin convinced a bipartisan group of 187 mayors nationwide whoare members of the U.S. Conference of Mayors to pass a resolutionin support of the bill in June.

“Mayor Soglin understands that credit unions can fill today'shuge void for business credit because they have billions availableto lend, a 100-year history of making business loans safely, thesupport of federal regulators and the support of 84% of Wisconsinvoters who, like Forbes magazine, see this as an absoluteno-brainer,” said Brett Thompson, president/CEO of the WisconsinCredit Union League.

Senate Bill 2231 and its companion bill in the House, H.R. 1418,would increase the current cap on credit union business lendingfrom 12.25% of assets to 27.5%. Supporters like CUNA say in thefirst year alone, the cap increase would make available $14 billionin new credit and 157,000 new jobs nationwide.

In Wisconsin, the league said Monday in a release it wouldprovide $458 million in new credit and create almost 5,000jobs.

Madison-based credit union leaders Kim Sponem, president/CEO ofthe $1.9 billion Summit Credit Union, and Paul Kundert, president/CEO of the$1.6 billion University of Wisconsin Credit Union, educated Soglin about thebill.

Sponem presented the mayor with a plaque during the chaptermeeting and expressed appreciation for his efforts to pass theresolution.

The Conference of Mayors joins more than 30 organizationssupporting the measure, including groups representing small businesses, theself-employed and the insurance, textile, realty, construction,automotive and technology industries.