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NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger, Senior Vice President of Government Affairs and General Counsel Carrie Hunt and others are on Capitol Hill welcoming returning and new credit union friends in the 114th Congress, advancing issues that are important to credit unions and their members.

There were successes last year, but other measures only made it partway through to fruition. "NAFCU will be working to get lawmakers focused on those measures early on in an effort to expedite passage in both houses so they can go to the president for signature," said Brad Thaler, NAFCU's vice president of legislative affairs.

One of the items on NAFCU's "must-pass" list for the coming Congress is legislation establishing national data security standards for retailers, similar to the requirements already followed by credit unions and other financial institutions under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.

Also a key focus will be passage of legislation to eliminate the redundant, burdensome requirement in federal law for financial institutions to send their privacy policies to account holders each year, even if the policies do not change in a given year. Such legislation was passed by the House in 2013, and a similar bill was offered in the Senate.

NCUA is expected this month to release a second proposed rule on risk-based capital with at least a 90-day comment period. NAFCU has welcomed this new round of review and comments on RBC, but it will also be seeking legislation that would provide capital reform that is fair for all credit unions.

Overall, regulatory relief figures large in NAFCU's 2015 advocacy plan, along with preservation of credit unions' tax exempt status (see all of NAFCU's 2015 top priorities).

Both the House and Senate convene today at noon Eastern.