The Eliminate Privacy Notice Confusion Act passed the House lateTuesday, by voice vote.

H.R. 749 would amend the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act by eliminating arequirement that privacy policy notices be mailed to consumersannually. Should the bill pass the Senate and be signed byPresident Barack Obama, the privacy mailing would only be requiredof financial institutions if the policy had changed.

Similar legislation, which like H.R. 749 was sponsored by Rep.Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.) and Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.),passed the House during the lame duck session last year, but itwas not considered by the Senate.

Financial institutions, including banks, support the bill, butsome consumer advocates have opposed it, saying it erodes consumerprotections.

“For the second time, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle inthe House of Representatives have supported this common senselegislation that would eliminate unnecessary, costly, confusing andoften ignored mailings that clog up people's mailboxes and I amconfident that the Senate will embrace this legislation as well,”Luetkemeyer said in a statement.

“This bill will reduce costs passed onto the customers ofbanks and credit unions and will make it more likely that peoplewill pay closer attention to important mailings they receive fromtheir financial institutions,” the Missouri Republican said.

After the bill passed the House, NAFCU sent a letter to SenateMajority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader MitchMcConnell (R-Ky.) urging their swift action to pass thelegislation.

CUNA President/CEO Bill Cheney issued a statement late Tuesdaysaying, “We will next urge the Senate to take note of today'sstrong House vote and act promptly in similar fashion to enact thisimportant piece of legislation.”