Legislative Update with Jay Kruse

South Dakota accounts for 4th most Action Alert messages in the country from our latest MAP campaign! Is your CU playing an active role in
​credit union advocacy? 

​Good Morning!
I want to send out a huge thank you this morning to those that have taken part in our IRS Action Alert reaching out to our Dakotas’ congressional delegation to oppose proposed new provisions that would require financial institutions to report additional detailed account holder information to the IRS.  Over 134,000 messages have been sent by credit union advocates and members from across the nation, and as of this morning, 8,403 of those important messages came directly from here in the Dakotas!  As you can see from the map below, South Dakota accounted for the 4th most messages of any state in the nation!

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You might be wondering why there is such a large difference between the South Dakota and North Dakota numbers, and the answer is quite simple.  It all has to do with the power of CUNA’s Member Activation Program, or MAP as we like to refer to it.  MAP gets your members engaged in credit union advocacy!  CUNA provides plug-and-play customizable content, you deliver the content to members, and your members discover ways to play an active role in credit union advocacy.

Last week, Black Hills FCU, which serves over 78,000 member owners located all across the state of South Dakota, reached out directly to members asking them to take action and make their voices heard.  Black Hills FCU is just one of roughly 25 credit unions from across the nation to raise this issue directly to their membership through the Member Activation Program.  We would love to see even more credit unions in the Dakotas and across the nation consider activating their members!  If you haven’t yet asked your members to Take Action, there is still time!
The first step to getting started with MAP is to join the MAP Community.  The MAP Community is a space for credit union advocacy professionals to connect with peers, ask questions, solve problems, get the latest information and build knowledge.  All the latest campaign templates and resources are also housed here.  If you have any specific questions about MAP, or getting signed up, feel free to contact me or reach out directly to Adam Engelman with CUNA.

The House Ways and Means committee continues its markup this week of the tax portion of the proposed $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill, so contacts to your lawmakers are most impactful in the next two weeks. You can find more background on this proposal here.
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As always, don't hesitate to contact me with any questions or comments.