WASHINGTON-Though time did not permit industry representativesfrom commenting during a roundtable on Hurricane Katrina reliefefforts in the House Financial Services Committee, CUNA providedwritten remarks from President and CEO Dan Mica. On Sept. 7, thecommittee held a briefing in the morning to get an idea of what wasbeing done to get the financial services industry back to somesemblance of normal in the aftermath of Katrina. The Senate BankingCommittee held a similar meeting later that afternoon. Among theissues discussed at the roundtable was the possibility oftemporarily raising the federal deposit insurance limits in theaffected area to preempt any potential run on uninsured deposits atinstitutions that consumers may fear will fail, according to NAFCUDirector of Legislative Affairs Brad Thaler. The implications ofthat action, such as setting precedent, need to be weighed, as wellas Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby's (R-Ala.)general opposition to raising deposit insurance coverage. There wasalso discussion of whether any type of regulatory relief isnecessary for the stricken institutions, he said. Thaler explained,"There aren't any hard proposals on the table yet." NCUA Region IIDirector Ed Dupcak, who is heading up the agency's task force onKatrina, represented the agency at the roundtable. "The goal is toensure each credit union member has access to financial service tomeet their immediate needs," Dupcak told the committee members."NCUA has formed staging areas outside the impacted areas to assistcredit unions on an individual basis." Of the 139 impacted creditunions, 32 are non-operational in Louisiana, along with five inMississippi and one in Alabama. The fully and partially operatingcredit unions account for over 90% of assets and members. He alsoinformed lawmakers of NCUA's taskforce and phone and e-mailhotlines. The agency had received more than 1,000 calls at the timeof the hearing, mostly from credit unions asking for access tocash. In related news, NCUA Chairman JoAnn Johnson announced thatshe would be making a trip down South to get a first-hand look atthe devastation and hardship credit unions have endured. Also atthe House Financial Services Committee briefing, NASCUS Presidentand CEO Mary Martha Fortney explained how NASCUS had contacted thestate agencies and examiners following the storm "about how theyare doing and how we can be helpful," she said. Fortney explainedabout the group's `reserve examiner' program, which maintains adatabase of recently retired examiners. NASCUS has contacted themabout helping out and several have responded favorably, but it istoo early in the process to call them up yet because "the stateshave to assess exactly what they need." Individual states have beenvery helpful also, Fortney pointed out. The Georgia stateregulator, where many Katrina evacuees have flocked, is encouragingcredit unions to cash non-member checks. Florida, having sufferedfour hurricanes in a row last year, offered up its emergencypreparedness plans to the affected states in order to try to stemthe chaos among the hard-hit credit unions. CUNA President and CEODan Mica provided written testimony to the committee. He outlinedCU disaster relief efforts following Katrina's destruction-such asPrimeWay FCU and Associated Credit Union of Texas, which have sentin mobile branches, and Barksdale FCU in Shreveport, La., which iscashing checks up to $200 for hurricane [email protected]