CUNA: Bank Tax Rhetoric Tired, But Threat's Real
Banks have ramped up their attacks on the credit union tax status, taking their credit union-bashing arguments to President Barack Obama and administration officials as members of the U.S. Congress are preparing to develop comprehensive tax reform legislation.

The banks urged Obama to examine the credit union tax status in letters sent last week. Read More

Floor Schedule
The House and the Senate are back in Washington for one final week before the Independence Day District Work Period.  The Senate returned Monday to resume consideration of S. 744, the immigration reform bill.  The Senate is expected to complete consideration of this bill before recessing.  The House returned on Tuesday and considered several bills under Suspension of the Rules, including H.R. 2383, a bill to designate the new Interstate Route 70 bridge over the Mississippi River connecting St. Louis, Missouri, and southwestern Illinois as the “Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge”.  Later in the week, the House is expected to consider H.R.1613, the "Outer Continental Shelf Transboundary Hydrocarbon Agreements Authorization Act";  and H.R.2231, the "Offshore Energy and Jobs Act". 

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Legislation Calling for Commemorative Coins To Mark National Park Service Centennial Introduced
Bipartisan legislation has been introduced to the U.S. Senate calling for the U.S. Treasury to issue gold and silver coins of varying denominations to mark the centennial of the National Park Service in 2016. Read More

Menendez, Enzi Introduce Legislation to Boost US Commercial Real Estate Industry
U.S. Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY) today re-introduced legislation to promote access to private capital that will help boost America’s commercial real estate in the face of decreased property values and limited loan opportunities. This legislation will help communities avoid more vacant storefronts, lost jobs and lower tax revenues which would make full economic recovery more difficult.  Read More

Five of 7 Colorado House Members Vote to Kill Farm Bill
Call it the contradictory — or confounding — nature of American politics that elected officials can enthusiastically tout ideas they successfully got tucked into a massive agricultural bill — and then turn around and vote against the actual piece of legislation.

Such was the story Thursday for five of Colorado's seven House members — all of whom supported critical parts of the massive $940 billion farm bill but ultimately cast a vote to handily kill it.  Read More

Supreme Court's May Not Be Last Word On Arbitration
The Supreme Court last week ruled in favor of giving financial services companies the right to include mandatory arbitration clauses in contracts with customers. The high court is set to discuss another case this Fall with potential ramifications for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and credit unions: A case addressing the constitutionality of President Barack Obama's recess appointments. Read More

Credit Unions Back Regulatory Overhaul
The National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU) is throwing its support behind Senate legislation requiring independent agencies to measure the costs of proposed regulations before they are enacted.

Existing rules require executive branch agencies to weigh the benefits of major proposed regulations against the expense of enacting them. But independent agencies — including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) — are exempt from the requirement. Read More

Credit Unions in Auto Loan Fast Lane as Banks Stall
When it comes to the amount of auto loans they’ve recently originated, some banks have apparently stalled out.

According to data from tracking firm SNL Financial, the top 100 lenders increased their total auto loans by just 0.64% over the fourth quarter of 2012. Among these, the top 16 lenders didn’t budge from their spots compared to a quarter earlier. Read More

Arizona Congressmen Want More Flexible Voter Law
Arizona lawmakers at the state and federal level are working on separate efforts that would make it harder to vote in what Democrats are calling an attack on low-income and Latino voters.

Arizona's Republican U.S. Reps. Matt Salmon, Paul Gosar, David Schweikert and Trent Franks announced on Tuesday legislation that would allow states to verify voters' U.S. citizenship after a Supreme Court ruling struck down a state law targeting voters in the country illegally. Read More

Arizona Gov. Brewer Signs Election Overhaul Bill
Gov. Jan Brewer signed a sweeping election bill Wednesday that will overhaul the early voting process in Arizona and make it more difficult for third-party candidates to get on the ballot.

The legislation backed by state and local election officials seeks to trim Arizona's permanent early voting list and limit who may return mail ballots for voters.  Read More

Banks and Credit Unions Weathered Financial Storm
Four- and five-star financial institutions are classified as “recommended” by Bauer Financial, which said that more than 70 percent of U.S. banks and almost 76 percent of federally-insured federal credit unions now have that status.

One bank and one credit union in the Tucson region have joined the ranks of the most financially sound and healthy financial institutions in the U.S., according to quarterly rankings issued by Bauer Financial, an independent research firm known for its “star ratings.” Read More

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper Opens Office in Washington
Gov. John Hickenlooper has launched a Colorado office in the nation's capital to push the state's agenda in front of Congress and federal agencies.

The state is now among 32 other states that have offices or advocates in Washington. Read More

Rebellious Colorado Counties Move Forward With Plans To Secede
Representatives of 10 rural Colorado counties met Monday in the sleepy plains town of Akron, about a half an hour from the Kansas border, to advance a plan that has been both hailed and ridiculed in recent weeks: A bid to split from Colorado and form the country’s 51st state.  Read More

Districts introduce in-school credit unions
Students in several area high schools can now make a bank deposit or withdraw some cash in between classes without leaving the building.

The school districts of Dallas, Pittston Area, Wyoming Area and Wyoming Valley West have all opened credit union branches at their high schools in the past couple years to give students the opportunity to open an account and learn some real world money-managing skills.  READ MORE

Last year CUNA (with generous assistance from CUNA Mutual and COOP Financial Services) submitted an application for a “creditunion” top level domain. Top level domains are the designations added to the right side of website addresses, like “.com,” “.org” and “.coop.” CUNA is in the last stages of securing the necessary approvals, and we expect the domain to be ready to go live by early 2014.  READ MORE & Take Survey