#2023-15, June 23, 2023

Financial Services Committee Holds Public Hearing on Credit Union Legislation & Consumer Protection Bills

Earlier this week, the Joint Committee on Financial Services held what is expected to be its only public hearing on credit union related bills this session. The hearing agenda consisted of a total of 30 bills including several bills seeking authority for credit unions to receive public deposits and other expanded credit union powers.

All told, the Association commented or submitted testimony on more than 20 other bills, including voicing our lasting concerns and strong opposition to several measures seeking to expand credit union powers to accept public deposits (H 1034, H 1163 & S 652) and to merge with or buy a bank (H 1033 & S 720), bills mandating foreclosure mediation (H 942, H 1083 & S 653), burdensome ATM security requirements (H 929), amongst others. Senior Vice President, Brad Papalardo, testified in opposition to these bills on behalf of the Association.

The Association also testified in support of H 974, an act to protect consumers by further defining subprime loans, to address the recent rapidly changing interest rate environment as well as H 1097, a bill filed on behalf of the Association to establish a statutory process governing credit union membership eligibility and ensuring that state-chartered credit unions in the Commonwealth focus on their traditional mission. MBA’s testimony on H 1097 focused on the major areas of the bill: strengthening the historical role of the member-owners at the annual meeting and in certain transactions; modernizing member voting abilities in the Commonwealth’s largest credit unions; and mandating that state-chartered credit unions be subject to a CRA investment test for all geographic areas from which it takes deposits from members based on their eligibility of living in a by-law included community.

To view the Association’s testimony, click here.

Mid-June Revenues Show Continuation of May Rebound

Earlier this week, Revenue Commissioner Geoffrey Snyder informed lawmakers that total tax collections for the month-to-date period were $2.277 billion, $36 million or 1.6 percent more than the collections during the same period in June 2022.

Many individuals and corporations are required to make estimated payments in June and an average of 11.1 percent of annual receipts arrive in June, Snyder wrote, adding that month-to-date increases in withholding and sales taxes were partially offset by decreases in corporate and business taxes.

As previously reported, tax revenues beat expectations in May after a steep nosedive in April. After adjusting for the net impact of a pass-through entity excise, the Department of Revenue said in early June that year-to-date tax collections are running $583 million behind benchmarks used to craft the fiscal 2023 state budget.

State financial documents show tax collections have dropped from record fiscal 2022 levels in five of the last eight months and are down $1.93 billion from fiscal 2022 levels with one month left in the fiscal year.