The Credit Union Side of H.R. 3505

WASHINGTON-The House has overwhelmingly passed regulatory relief legislation a couple of times and now the Senate appears poised to move on its bill with a markup of the legislation occurring just after press time May 4. While the House bill contains more than a dozen provisions tailored to credit unions-and many more for their for-profit brethren-the Senate bill is very limited. Here’s a review of the credit union-specific provisions included in the Financial Services Regulatory Relief Act (H.R. 3505): *Section 301-allowing privately insured credit unions to join the Federal Home Loan Bank System; *Section 302-permitting minimal lease fees on federal facilities, namely military bases; *Section 303-expanding federal credit unions’ securities investment authority; *Section 304-increasing the general 12-year loan maturity limit to 15 years; *Section 305-increasing permissible investments in CUSOs from 1% to 3%; *Section 306-excluding member business loans to nonprofit religious organizations from the business loan cap; *Section 307-permitting check cashing and money transfer services to be offered to anyone within the field of membership; *Section 308-allowing for voluntary mergers of multiple common bond credit unions; *Section 309-permitting multiple common bond credit unions to maintain select employee groups upon conversion to a community charter; *Section 310-providing credit unions more power in their internal governance; *Section 311-providing NCUA greater flexibility to respond to market conditions; *Section 312-exempting credit unions from Hart-Scott-Rodino pre-merger notification requirements; *Section 313-treating credit unions equally under depository institutions security laws in specific areas; *Section 314-clarifying the definition of net worth for Prompt Corrective Action purposes; *Section 315-updating the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvements Act for Federal Trade Commission implementation of disclosure regulations regarding privately insured financial institutions.