Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer's (R-Mo.) is re-introducing legislationFriday that would eliminate the current requirement that financialinstitutions mail annual privacy notices to all customersexplaining information sharing practices, even the policies thathave not changed, his office said.

Instead, the Eliminate Privacy Notice Confusion Act,co-sponsored by Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), would require banksand credit unions to provide the information only if privacypolicies have changed.

A similar version of the bill passed the House in December but was not taken up by the Senatein that session of Congress.

“I was extremely pleased that the House previously supportedthis legislation to eliminate unnecessary, costly, confusing andoften ignored mailings that clog up people's mailboxes and I amhopeful that this new measure will ultimately be approved by theU.S. Senate and signed into law by the president,” Luetkemeyersaid.

“Not only will this bill reduce the costs passed onto thecustomers of banks and credit unions but also will make it morelikely that people will pay closer attention to important mailingsthey receive from their financial institutions because they arereceiving fewer,” he said.

CUNA President/CEO Bill Cheney said the streamlined requirementwould reduce the amount of diverted time and resources that creditunion staff could be using to provide services to members.

NAFCU President/CEO Fred Becker lauded the bill as one of thepriorities outlined in his organization's five-point regulatoryrelief plan.