Federal Advocacy Update

​The DakCU Advocacy Team is tracking federal bills to expand loan maturities; protect mortgage data; and support crypto clarity for credit unions.

Your DakCU Advocacy Team is tracking several key developments and working closely with America’s Credit Unions to keep our movement informed and engaged. Here’s what’s happening in Washington, D.C., that impacts credit unions.
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Loan maturities bill introduced in House: A bipartisan group of lawmakers, led by Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-Wis.) introduced legislation, Expanding Access to Lending Options Act, last week to extend credit unions' loan maturity limit to 20 years and give the NCUA authority to extend loan maturity even longer for certain loans.

• This is a combination of two bills that were introduced last Congress.
• America's Credit Unions & Wisconsin Credit Union League statements of support were featured in bill release.
• Updated handout ready find in our Resource Library soon.
• We've received some press inquiries related to language within the legislation related to principal residence vs. owner-occupied.
  • This provision builds off a previous law that provided regulatory relief by exempting 2nd homes or rental homes from the MBL cap. They still face a 15-year limit which made them less desirable, so this specific provision is designed to help open up full relief from that provision. One example is military service members wanting to purchase a home where they plan to retire while still serving and stationed elsewhere. We mention this use case in our letter of support and it's on our one-pager.

Mortgage trigger leads: Following Senate & House passage, we are monitoring for the two chambers to reconcile differences between the bills.

• Credit unions support the legislation as it will protect consumers' privacy when buying a home and preserve the importance of relationship banking.

 ​GENIUS Act/stablecoin legislation: 

• House is expected to advance the Senate’s GENIUS Act next week, alongside its broader crypto bill.
  • Senate Banking Committee has indicated it would work on broader crypto market-structure bill later this fall.
  • America's Credit Unions, league, and credit union advocacy helped keep GENIUS Act clean (without interchange or credit card rate cap amendments).
  • Supportive of efforts to provide more clarity and framework to cryptocurrencies to ensure credit unions can offer these services to members.

Caucus keynotes announced: Political strategists Stephanie Cutter and Kellyanne Conway will deliver keynote addresses Monday of Congressional Caucus. Registration is open!

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Reach out with any questions or for more details to Jeff Olson or John Alexander.​