Several banking and credit union bills are being marked up anddebated in Congress in the final days before congressional membersleave for August recess.

Among them is a bill, S.1799, by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) called the Community BankSensible Regulation Act of 2015 that will be a “game changer” forcommunity banks, according to American Banker.

The bill was added to a financial service appropriations billlast week and would allow financialregulators to exempt community banks, with fewer than $10billion of assets, from what would be considered unnecessary orburdensome requirements. The bill would primarily excludesmall banks from complying with the Volcker Rule, which prohibitscertain speculative investments. It would not exclude banks fromcomplying with CFPB regulations.

Credit unions are not mentioned in the bill, but the NCUA saidMonday that it already has that authority and puts it to use.

“NCUA has been attentive to targeted rulemaking, providingcredit unions with relief in the form of exemptions or tieredobligations in several areas, including the rule on liquidity andcontingency funding, in which only credit unions with assets of$250 million or more must meet all provisions, or the stresstesting rule, which applies only to credit unions with at least $10billion in assets,” NCUA Public Affairs Specialist John Fairbankssaid.

NAFCU, however, said the bill by Collins goes “well beyond” theexisting authority currently in place. Senior Vice President ofGovernment Affairs and General Counsel Carrie Hunt said thelegislation would give the banking regulators the ability to exemptbanks from statute, mot just regulations.

“NCUA does not have that authority,” she said.

The bill would also allow the banking regulators to exemptinstitutions from any statute that touches the banks they regulate,she added, not just the FDIC Act or the Federal Reserve Act.

“NCUA exempts small credit unions from some of itsregulations; we want to [be] clear that credit unions of allassets sizes deserve relief from unnecessaryrules,” NAFCU Vice President of Legislative Affairs Brad Thalersaid.

A phone request for comment from Collins went unreturned as ofTuesday afternoon.

On Tuesday, the House Financial Services Committee marked upfour bills that could provide regulatory relief for credit unions.They include H.R. 3192, the Homebuyers Assistance Act, whichwould provide temporary safe harbor from the Truth in LendingAct/Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act integrated disclosurerule; H.R. 1941, the Financial Institutions ExaminationFairness and Reform Act, which would establish anombudsman outside of the NCUA to handle exam appeals, requirethat examiners provide credit unions with documentation to supportexam exception write-ups and codify examinationsstandards; H.R. 1210, the Portfolio Lending and MortgageAccess Act, which would provide a safe harbor from certainqualified mortgage requirements for residential mortgage loans heldon a mortgage originator's portfolio; and H.R. 766, theFinancial Institutions Customer Protections Act, which wouldrequire federal regulators to provide a material reason forordering financial institutions to terminate account relationshipsthrough the Justice Department's Operation Choke Pointinitiative.