WASHINGTON-While overall support for the Credit Union RegulatoryImprovements Act (H.R. 3579) is strong and continues to grow, somestates are doing better than others at getting their members ofCongress to sign on as co-sponsors. Chris Kerecman, California andNevada Credit Union Leagues Vice President of Federal GovernmentAffairs, attributed his states' success to ".our people. We havesuch great CEOs who get it. They look at what we tell them we needand they do it." He added that about 25 to 30 credit unions havehired political professionals for their staffs, though they mayperform other duties as well. In California, 16 of the state's 53delegates have signed on to the bill, with more to come, accordingto Kerecman. Nevada has 100% of its three-member congressionaldelegation co-sponsoring the bill. The lobbyist said that theleagues' goal for the legislation, which it was involved indrafting with main sponsor Congressman Ed Royce's (R-Calif.)office, was to get a hearing and garner support. "I see CURIA, atthis stage, as an unqualified success," Kerecman stated. New Jerseyhas also been successful in getting four of 13 of their lawmakersto sign on. New Jersey Credit Union League President and CEO TomShaughnessy said this is due "to the hard work of New Jersey'scredit union members and the League's Governmental AffairsDepartment in explaining the benefits to New Jersey consumers andbusinesses if certain unneeded regulatory burdens are removed fromcredit union operations." He added that they are continuing toencourage member credit unions to contact their legislators. Butfor some other state league's the going has been rough, even thoughmany generally enjoy a positive relationship with theirrepresentatives. Right now, Georgia has none of its 13 delegatesco-sponsoring the bill. Georgia league Senior Vice President ofAdvocacy Cindy Connelly said that even though CURIA is a priorityfor the league, "We're not asking [representatives] to make it anelection year priority." She added that some of the Georgianmembers of Congress have expressed support for the legislation indiscussions, and the league plans to refocus on gaining co-sponsorsin January, after the election season. Connelly also pointed outthat not many of the Georgia delegation cosponsored H.R. 1151, butall of them voted in favor of it. More than half the states, 27,currently have no co-sponsors on CURIA. Pennsylvania, the statewith the most credit unions, is also lagging behind many otherswith just two of its 19 members of Congress signed on asco-sponsors. Of course, they do have the main Democratic cosponsor,Paul Kanjorski, in their corner. Pennsylvania Credit UnionAssociation Senior Vice President of Communications Mike Wishnowsaid, "We have asked a number of key contacts, like chapterleaders, to visit or write their congress people." The league iscontinuing to work on adding a number of other lawmakers as well."Part of the hesitancy, if there is any, with campaign season beingwhat it is, you never want to anger a friend," Wishnow said,explaining that some are concerned about angering the bankers atelection time. The league will be Hiking the Hill twice inSeptember and recently met with some of the delegation duringCUNA's Governmental Affairs and Communicators [email protected]