by Chesney Garnos, Director of Political & Grassroots Affairs National Legislative Update Over the past week, America’s Credit Unions’ Jason Stverak and Greg Mesack sent a message to Congress pushing back against the Big Box Bailout bill; they also explained why interchange works for consumers, financial institutions, and small businesses. To help amplify this messaging, we have been sharing stories of small business owners and credit union members, including a member of Black Hills Federal Credit Union – Cindy Carver. Cindy shares her story in a compelling video illustrating why interchange works for her and her small business. You can check out that video here and dive deeper into the research on interchange from the Cornerstone Advisors here. Want to take action on interchange? Send a message to your U.S. Senators or U.S. Representative from South Dakota or North Dakota through our grassroots action center here. This week, lawmakers are back in Washington with one primary goal on their agenda: funding the government! Legislation needs to be passed by March 1st to avoid a partial government shutdown. While Congress tackles this major legislation and tries to come to an agreement, there are a few items I want to put on your radar that are also happening this week:
South Dakota Legislative Update Last Wednesday was Crossover Day in the South Dakota Legislature. Crossover Day serves as the final deadline for bills to leave their chamber of origin and be sent to the other chamber or be defeated. There’s a tradition on Crossover Day for individuals in each chamber to wear black attire, because if the bill is not passed out of the chamber of origin on Crossover Day, it means the bill is dead. This year, legislators found unity on a day that often brings the opposite. This year, legislators wore blue in honor of Sen. Mike Diedrich, the Rapid City lawmaker who has been absent from session since January as he continues to battle colon cancer. Blue is the ribbon color for colon cancer. As we head into the eighth week of the South Dakota Legislative Session, Governor Noem has now signed 86 bills into law this session. The final legislative day will be held on March 25th, which is a day reserved for consideration of gubernatorial vetoes. Of the 17 bills we have been tracking, you can view our stance and the status of each bill at DakCU.org/bill-tracking.html or click the image below!  Upcoming Advocacy Events!
Don’t forget to mark your calendars and participate in our upcoming advocacy events!
Access to Financial Opportunities Last but certainly not least, I wanted to flag a recent article by Forbes Advisor which discussed access to banking services across the United States. Access to safe and affordable banking services to manage finances is something I would argue we are all passionate about here in the credit union industry! North Dakota scored 86.48 out of 100 and South Dakota scored 86.12 out of 100! Overall, the Dakotas both performed in the top 10 when it comes to access to credit unions and banks per capita. Read more on the Dakotas’ rankings and the five metrics used to examine all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Have a wonderful week and make sure to tune into next week's Memo for a special update from Washington, D.C. Comments are closed.
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