As 2023 starts to wind down and before the ramp-up to 2024 begins, it’s important to take a minute to review what happened on the advocacy front for Tennessee’s credit unions.
The first half of the 113th General Assembly saw 20 new lawmakers to state government and mass protests in support of reforming gun laws following the horrific school shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville. The session ended and got its encore with a special session on public safety.
Along the way, your League commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Tennessee State Credit Union Act with a Joint Resolution, built on several successive years of work to keep a harmful interchange bill from receiving a hearing and worked behind the scenes to defeat numerous bills that would’ve harmed credit union’s ability to serve their members.
2024 will see many of the same defensive challenges on the state legislative front. However, one area where we hope to make progress is in giving law enforcement additional tools to fight elder financial abuse, including establishing a 911-style hotline for credit unions to report instances of financial abuse against their elderly members.
While 2023 is ongoing on the federal front, your League has been a leader in bringing Tennessee’s delegation to the forefront of credit union issues. These include Senator Bill Hagerty’s sponsorship of the senate bill to modernize credit union boards, Congressman John Rose’s leadership in taking on more transparency for the CDFI, and continued advocacy to defend overdraft protection programs and credit union interchange income.
Overdraft and interchange are ongoing issues and we will be actively engaging in discussions with lawmakers throughout the rest of this year and into the next and you can be sure that we will continue to need your stories and data to protect these valuable programs you offer your members.
Photo Caption: On March 23, the League and credit union leaders celebrated the centennial anniversary of Tennessee credit unions by having Senate Joint Resolution 159 heard and subsequently passed in the Tennessee House Chamber! The resolution recognized the impact credit unions have had on the financial well-being of Tennesseans for the past century.
