Legislation that would eliminate the ATM placard disclosurerequirement was unanimously approved by a House Financial ServicesCommittee voice vote to report it out Wednesday; and, according to CUNA,H.R. 4367 could see a full U.S. House vote soon after the July4 recess.

The bill would eliminate portions of Regulation E that requirecredit unions and other financial institutions that provide ATMservices to display a physical notice on the ATM that a fee will becharged.

Under the legislation, ATMs would only be required to displaythe ATM disclosures on a screen, and give ATM users the choice ofopting in to such a fee.

These ATM disclosure requirements are creating issues for creditunions and other financial institutions that continue to be subjectto frivolouslawsuits.

CUNA said outside notices on ATMs are, in some cases, beingintentionally removed or destroyed, without the financialinstitution's knowledge, and that pictures are then taken of theATM to show noncompliance.

Some ATM users may then use this as evidence of apparentnon-compliance and as grounds for lawsuits, and the number and costof these lawsuits continues to climb.

“Repealing this outdated and unnecessary duplicative requirementwould cause no harm to consumers. They would still benotified on the ATM screen of any fees and still have the abilityto decline those fees and terminate the transaction. However,failing to stem the tide of these baseless lawsuits could threatenconsumers' access to ATMs, especially in rural areas and locationsthat are prone to this vandalism,” said Committee Chairman SpencerBachus (R-Ala.).

H.R. 4367, introduced by Reps. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.) andDavid Scott (D-Ga.), has 127 cosponsors. A similar Senate measure,S. 3204, has 17 cosponsors.

“This bipartisan legislation will prevent nuisance lawsuits thatare being pursued by unscrupulous people across the nation and I ampleased that we are moving forward quickly,” Luetkemeyersaid. “Everyone realizes this is a situation that has to befixed and I look forward to moving this bill through theHouse.”

CUNA President/CEO Bill Cheney said committee approval is “a bigstep toward rectifying a problematic case of regulatoryredundancy.”