Sens. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, and Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, introduced legislation Thursday to exempt credit union loans made to veteran-owned businesses from the member business lending cap.

“Thanks to Sens. Hirono and Sullivan for their bipartisan bill that would provide credit unions the opportunity to meet the needs of veteran business owners,” said CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle. “America’s credit unions have a long history of improving the financial well-being of our members in uniform, and this important legislation will help us do even more.”

Specifically, the bill would amend the Federal Credit Union Act to exclude extensions of credit made to veterans from the MBL definition. Credit unions are restricted in business lending by current law to 12.25% of their total assets.

“Hawaii's credit unions thank Senator Mazie Hirono for leading on this important bipartisan legislation,” said Hawaii Credit Union League Governmental Affairs Director Paula Sumimoto-Matsushima. “The large number of military installations across the state have Hawaii’s credit unions uniquely positioned to support veteran entrepreneurs. Mahalo for this opportunity to further improve financial well-being in Hawaii and across the nation.”

“Alaska has a long history with the military and is a place many veterans call home. Our veterans have a significant presence in the Alaska marketplace as business owners,” said Alaska Credit Union League President Dan McCue. “Providing veteran business owners access to member business loans through credit unions is good for Alaska and our veterans. We thank Senator Sullivan for cosponsoring this bipartisan legislation to ensure credit unions can serve the needs of veteran business owners.”

The bill is the latest piece of CUNA/League-supported legislation to move forward in the past two weeks. The others include:

• A bill to allow credit unions to increase service and business lending to underserved areas.
• A bipartisan House bill to update credit union board meeting requirements.
• A bipartisan bill to update the credit union branch safety was added to the House-passed omnibus spending package.
• A Senate bill to update e-signature requirements.