WASHINGTON (11/17/15)--It's a busy week for credit unions, CUNA Chief Advocacy Officer Ryan Donovan declared Monday.

On the regulatory front, the National Credit Union Administration is tackling major issues at its open board meeting Thursday, including a field-of-membership proposal, and the agency's operating budget for the next two years (News Now Nov. 12).

"As part of our ongoing and comprehensive effort to improve the operating environment for credit unions to serve their members, we've encouraged NCUA to adopt new field-of-membership regulations that recognize and adapt to the changes that have taken place in the marketplace and in how credit unions serve members," Donovan noted.

CUNA has encouraged NCUA to:

• Include a combined statistical area in the definition of well-defined local community;
• Allow a congressional district to be considered a well-defined local community, allowing credit unions to serve an entire state in a state that has only one congressional district;
• Eliminate the population test associated with the definition of "rural district;"
• Reinstate a narrative approach for defining a community;
• Eliminate the geographic limitations on TIP (trade, industry, profession) charters;
• Allow TIP charters to serve independent contractors and others who support the work of the TIP; and
• Allow groups with 3,000 or more potential members to more easily be added to multi-group federal credit unions.

CUNA will issue an immediate reaction to the NCUA's proposal in News Now, as well in its members-only Removing Barriers blog.

In Congress, both chambers are back in session this week. CUNA will be monitoring a House vote this week on a CUNA-supported bill that would remove operating barriers for credit unions by allowing mortgage lenders to count loans held in portfolio toward the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Qualified Mortgage requirements. (See related story: CUNA seeks 'yes' vote on House bill addressing QM loans.)

CUNA also will be following committee hearings relevant to credit unions, including the following:

Today

• The House Financial Services Committee Monetary Policy and Trade Subcommittee will hold a hearing on "Dodd-Frank Five Years Later: What Have We Learned from Conflict Minerals Reporting?"

• The House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Communications and Technology will hold an oversight hearing on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).  All five FCC commissioners are expected to testify.  CUNA will submit a letter for the record of this hearing.

Thursday

• The House Financial Services Committee Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee will hold a hearing on "Oversight of the Financial Stability Oversight Council: Due Process and Transparency in Non-Bank SIFI Designations."