CUNA said Tuesday it is "watching very closely" a legislative battle brewing in Virginia over banker-backed proposals for banks to buy credit unions.

"We can say the Virginia League is doing it right and using their best tools to communicate with lawmakers the structural differences between non-profit credit unions and banks," said a CUNA spokesman in commenting on a CU-backed grassroots campaign being waged to defeat the proposal, which has strong backing of the Democratic leadership in the Virginia Senate and House.

Companion Senate and House bills, drafted by the Virginia Bankers Association as a means to open financial barriers between the industries are opposed by the league in their present form on grounds they are unworkable and open to abuse by large Virginia banks rolling over CU members. The bills also allow CUs to buy community banks but league officials contend that is a smoke screen since there are few CUs financially capable of buying banks.