WASHINGTON–With NCUA having announced last week a public budget briefing on Nov. 16 for its staff draft budget for 2024-25, CUNA is expressing concerns over the short time period to prepare comment, the overall 9.5% proposed increase in spending, and its plans to hire more consumer protection specialists.
As CUToday.info reported here, NCUA’s proposed budget for the next two years is now available on the agency’s website for review and comment.
The Nov. 16 briefing will begin at 2 p.m. ET and be livestreamed on www.ncua.gov.
In response, NAFCU called the proposed increases “unreasonable.”
The draft budget, which has been submitted for publication in the Federal Register, with a comment period to run through Nov. 21, includes a proposed combined 2024 budget of $394.5 million.
‘A Little Bit More Time’
“We do have concerns it represents a 9.5% increase over the 2023 budget,” said Luke Martone, senior director of advocacy and counsel with CUNA. “We are going through the budget detail now, working to make sure we represent all of the issues.”
CUNA said it plans to offer comment during the briefing before the board, which could have its newest member, Tonya Otsuka, as part of the panel by that time.
“Another issue we are concerned with is just the time frame in which the agency is providing the public to send comments on the draft budget. It was released (Oct. 25) and the presentations for those who are presenting are due Nov. 8,” said Martone. “…We think the board can provide a little bit more time…The budget overall represents s $34 million increase, and in particular we have concerns with the agency’s focus on consumer protection issues, including 13 additional consumer compliance specialists.
‘No Concrete Evidence’
“This is nothing new, as this is an issue that Chairman (Todd) Harper has raised over the past several years,” Martone continued. “It's also something that we have pushed back on over the past several years. We feel that there's no need and there's no concrete evidence there is the need for additional consumer compliance specialists, as well as any sort of a dedicated consumer compliance examination.”
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