A bill that would establish an ombudsman outside of the NCUA to handle examappeals was reintroduced in both the House and Senate onMonday.

Sens. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) againsponsored the Exam Fairness and Reform Act in the upper chamber,designated S. 727. During the 112^th Congress, the Moranand Manchin-sponsored bill picked up 14 co-sponsors, allRepublicans except for Manchin. So far this year, the two are theonly sponsors.

The bipartisan team of Reps. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) andCarolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) also returned from the112^th Congress to sponsor H.R. 1553. The bill hasalready picked up 27 co-sponsors, and like in the last Congress,the support is mostly Republican, with 22 Republican co-sponsorscompared to five Democrats.

In the 112^th Congress, of the 192 House co-sponsorsthat signed on the legislation, 147 were Republicans and 45 wereDemocrats.

The bill would apply to federal bank regulators, including theNCUA and CFPB, and in addition to the ombudsman position and astronger appeals process, would require that examiners to provideinstitutions with documentation to support exception write-ups, andcodify examinations standards.

“In our national exam survey, completed earlier this year, acommon concern expressed by credit unions was that examiners tendedto focus too much on their own views of best practices, rather thanon legal and regulatory requirements,” said CUNA CEO BillCheney.

“Regulators should address the supervision and examination ofcredit unions in a professional manner, taking into full accountlegal requirements credit unions must meet as well as the need forcredit unions to have reasonable flexibility to serve their memberswell,” Cheney said.

“This bill takes firm steps in the right direction toward makingthe examination process fairer and more consistent,” he said.

NAFCU Executive Vice President of GovernmentAffairs Dan Berger said the bill supports his trade'sfive-point plan for regulatory relief.