WASHINGTON–Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO) has introduced a pair of bills that would affect credit unions: the first would temporarily prohibit federal financial regulators from requiring compliance with the CECL rule by persons impacted by the coronavirus, and a second would change the leadership structure of the CFPB from a single person to a five-person panel.
The latter legislation is similar to other bills that have been introduced in the past and that have always had the support of credit unions.
Details on bill 6249 sponsored by Leutkemayer, who serves on the Financial Services and Agriculture committees in the House, can be found here.
“This is a smart approach. Congressman Luetkemeyer is correct in seeing the need for action at this time of economic stress, and he takes a smart approach with this bill. FASB doesn’t have to listen to Congress, but federal financial regulators do. Here’s hoping that this moves, and moves quickly,” said John McKechnie, a senior partner in the Washington advocacy firm Total Spectrum.
New CFPB Structure Bill
Meanwhile, CUNA has joined with financial trade groups in support of H.R. 6116, the Consumer Financial Protection Commission Act of 2020. The legislation would ensure the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) political independence by replacing the single director structure with a five-person, bipartisan commission.
CUNA said it continues to maintain that the creation of a multi-member leadership commission would remedy the constitutional defect while preserving the consumer protection benefits of the agency.
“Such a commission would mitigate dramatic swings to the regulatory pendulum and require any official action to be conducted in an open and transparent process to the benefit of consumers and regulated entities,” CUNA stated.
CUNA noted the bill was introduced by Luetkemeyer in the wake of recent oral arguments heard by the by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Seila Law LLC v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau case.