The Wisconsin Credit Union League praised a regulatory reformpackage signed into law by Republican Gov. Scott Walker onWednesday.

According to the league, the State Assembly FinancialInstitutions Committee's “Right the Rules” review process began thedialogue for Senate Bill 520, which amends a variety of credit union regulations, including permitted investments andincidental powers.

“Under the Office of Credit Unions' current rules, credit unionsmay make investments in securities issued by hospitals, churches,dioceses and similar institutions (institutional investments),subject to various restrictions,” the bill said. “Among therestrictions on these investments, an individual credit union maynot invest more than $50,000 in securities issued by any oneindividual institution without OCU's prior approval. This billincreases this investment limit from $50,000 to $100,000 andprovides that this amount increases biennially to adjust forinflation,” the bill also said.

“The overall regulatory burden – what some describe as a crisisof creeping complexity – is generally accepted as perhaps thesingle biggest challenge to Wisconsin's member-owned credit unionstoday,” said Tom Liebe, vice president of government affairs at theWisconsin league.

“That's why introducing and passing a package of proactive,pro-credit union reforms and updates is only half the battle;having them become law is the real end-game for us,” he added.

State Reps. Dave Craig (R-Big Bend) and Gordon Hintz (D-Oshkosh)were the primary authors of the bill. The league said the reformswould allow credit unions to spend more time serving their members.

“Passage of reforms such as this yield regulatory improvementsand allow operational changes that provide state credit unions ameasure of relief and flexibility going forward,” said leaguePresident/CEO Brett Thompson.

“We applaud the legislature for passing and the governor forsigning these common-sense reforms that let credit unions spendless time unraveling regulatory requirements and more timeproviding consumers and communities with services that haveconsistently earned them recognition for their socialresponsibility,” Thompson said.