Legislative Update

This is the last week that the House and the Senate will be in session until the second week of September.  And, it promises to be an busy week!
 
Floor Schedule
 
Today, the House will convene at 2:00 p.m.  The House is expected to consider a number of bills under suspension of the Rules.  In addition, the House is expected to consider H.R. 8, the “Job Protection and Recession Prevention Act” and H.R. 6169, the “Pathway to Job Creation through a Simpler, Fairer Tax Code Act.”  It is also possible that the House will consider legislation related to programs and disaster assistance under the expiring Farm Bill legislation.
 
The Senate will also convene at 2:00 p.m. today and is expected to consider S.3414, cybersecurity legislation.  We are working with a coalition of partners, including the Banking Industry Technology Secretariat (BITS), to evaluate this new compromise legislation, and to identify and articulate any concerns with this legislation.  As part of the deal to get this legislation to floor, an open amendment process was promised, and we expect several amendments to be considered.  I wanted to give you a head’s up that we have been working with Senators on a couple of data security amendments, which may be offered as part of this process.  As we finalize language and have other information, we will share that with you.  As is always the case with the Senate floor schedule, the situation will be fluid until it concludes; “open” amendment processes often close quickly, and amendments that are expected may not be offered.  We will send additional information as the situation develops, particularly to the extent that any of the amendments affect credit unions.
 
Committee Meetings
 
As usual, we are following several committee hearings and mark-ups on both sides of the Capitol:
 
On Tuesday, the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on the semi-annual report to Congress of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.  In preparation for this hearing, CUNA met with Senate Banking Committee staff last week to discuss credit union concerns and interactions with the CFPB.  This discussion largely followed the points raised in CUNA’s testimony last week before the House Oversight Committee on the impact of the CFPB’s rules on lending.
 
On Wednesday, the Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises Subcommittee of House Financial Services Committee will mark up the following measures:
 
•H.R. 757, the “Equitable Treatment of Investors Act”
•H.R. 2827, To amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to clarify provisions relating to the regulation of municipal advisors, and for other purposes
•H.R. 6161, the ‘‘Fostering Innovation Act’’
 
Also on Wednesday, the House Small Business Committee will hold a hearing titled "Know Before You Regulate: The Impact of CFPB [Consumer Financial Protection Bureau] Regulations on Small Business.”  Finally, the Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing titled "Tax Reform: Examining the Taxation of Business Entities," focusing on the different taxation of business entities structured as corporations versus passthroughs, and to consider proposals to alter those rules.
 
ATM Legislation
 
We continue to urge the Senate to pass legislation eliminating the requirement that credit unions place a physical placard on a ATM disclosing potential fees associated with ATM usage.  H.R. 3476 passed the House of Representatives 371-0 earlier this month, and the Senate version of this legislation (S. 3204) has 52 cosponsors.  It is the present preference of Banking Committee leadership to move the ATM legislation with another bill designed to protect the privilege of information submitted to the CFPB.  However, a Republican Senator has a hold on the CFPB privilege legislation for reasons unrelated to that bill.  To be clear:  we support moving the ATM bill as quickly as possible – whether it is combined with the privilege bill or on its own.  We have been working with others to resolve the hold situation on the combined bill; but we also believe that the ATM bill could move quickly if it was put forward as a stand-alone measure.  We are hopeful that there is resolution one way or another before the end of the week.  As we get more information, we will let you know.
 
Remittance Regulation
 
Representatives Blain Luetkemeyer (R-MO) and Yvette Clark (D-NY) are circulating a Dear Colleague letter encouraging Members of the House to sign-on to a letter encouraging the CFPB to delay and study the impact of its proposed remittances regulation. CUNA has been working with a number of other trades to develop this letter and encourage support for it.  If you are contacted by any Representative’s office, we hope you will let them know that we support the Luetkemeyer-Clark letter.  I have attached a copy of the letter to this email for your information.
 
August Recess Material
 
We know that everyone will be holding Hike-the-Hill at Home meetings with Representatives and Senators during the August recess.  We will be refreshing and updating our legislative briefing material this week, and should have everything updated by the end of the week.  Also, I intend to send you a written legislative update on the various issues we are following next Monday.
 
As always, if you have any questions regarding these or any legislative issues, please do not hesitate to contact John Magill, Sam Whitfield or Ryan Donovan.