Consumers CU (CCU) hosted a luncheon for Illinois state legislators earlier this month at the credit union’s administrative headquarters in Gurnee, Ill.

Legislators attending the meeting included State Sen. Terry Link (D-30) and State Reps. Daniel Didech (D-59), Rita Mayfield (D-60), Joyce Mason (D-61), Sam Yingling and his assistant, Luke Turk, (D-62) and Tom Weber (R-64), along with John Lockhart on behalf of Sen. Ann Gillespie (D-27), Ed Gallagher on behalf of Rep. Mary Edly-Allen (D-51), Joshua May, Chief of Staff for Rep. Bob Morgan (D-58) and Karissa Suarez Del Real, Legislative Liaison for U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.).

“The primary goal for the luncheon was for CCU leaders to hear first-hand about issues important to the constituencies of legislators representing our primary service area,” said Sean M. Rathjen, CEO of Consumers CU. “Thanks to the outstanding participation of so many elected officials, we learned a great deal about the needs within their respective Districts while providing our legislators with information about how CCU currently strives to meet those needs. We also had the opportunity to demonstrate how the credit union protects the data of the people they represent, as data security is one of the key issues of our time.”

During the meeting, each legislator talked about issues in their districts, as well as topics important to them personally. There was also a discussion about recently passed legislation, such as the Electronic Lien Titling Act and updates to the Illinois Credit Union Act and touched on legislation expected to be considered in the fall “veto session.”

This open dialogue provided an opportunity for the elected officials to learn about issues important to credit unions and other financial institutions, such as regulatory relief, the impact of blocking “robocalls” and other bills that have been proposed in the General Assembly.

In addition to the state legislators, four representatives of the Illinois Credit Union League also attended the luncheon meeting: Tom Kane, Patrick Basler, Keith Sias, Ashley Sharp and Steve Olson, all of whom meet regularly with legislators on issues important to credit unions throughout the state.

Others at the meeting included CCU Board Member Dr. John Schwab, who serves on the credit union Board’s Legislative Committee, along with Dan Mathews, vice president of lending, Mary Fran Callahan, vice president of strategy and risk, Robin Korom, vice president of commercial lending and Dan Nerroth, chief technology officer.