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As Congress returns to Washington, NAFCU has launched its 2020 legislative and regulatory priorities to ensure credit unions operate in an environment in which they can thrive. Throughout the week, NAFCU's award-winning advocacy team will be on Capitol Hill sharing the priorities with lawmakers to keep credit union issues top of mind.

"As your Washington Watchdog, NAFCU takes seriously the charge to stand up for credit unions and the communities they serve," said NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger. "To accomplish this, NAFCU will advocate for a legislative and regulatory environment that allows credit unions to grow and continue to deliver affordable financial products to their members.

"We look forward to meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to highlight issues critical to our industry, ensuring credit unions are considered at every turn where policies are being made or passed."

Building upon NAFCU's five tenets, which have steered the industry toward countless wins in recent years, NAFCU's 2020 priorities include:

• Growth: Supporting legislation and regulation that helps credit unions grow membership, loans and retained earnings.
• Fair and Innovative Market: Fighting back against meritless banker attacks, promoting innovation and establishing regulatory standards for fintech and data security.
• Regulatory Relief: Providing clear rules of the road and streamlining regulation that allows credit unions to put more resources towards serving members.
• Strong NCUA: Pressing for the NCUA to be the sole industry regulator and fostering a strong relationship with NCUA to ensure credit unions' voices and concerns are heard.
• Tax Exemption: Preserving credit unions' federal tax exemption in order to keep focus on members, not profits, and save U.S. consumers $16 billion annually.
• Transparency: Encouraging government transparency and accountability to ensure taxpayers' and credit unions' dollars are used responsibly and rules are tailored appropriately.

Learn more about NAFCU's 2020 priorities.

Credit unions achieved some big wins in 2019 as a result of NAFCU's bold advocacy efforts:

• the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) delayed its current expected credit loss (CECL) standard by an additional year, pushing credit unions' implementation date to 2023;
• lawmakers removed a harmful provision from the fiscal year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would have treated big banks the same as local, not-for-profit credit unions when it comes to nominal leases on military bases;
• the NCUA delayed its risk-based capital (RBC) rule until 2022 and indicated it will consider further revisions, for which NAFCU has pushed, during the delay;
• the House passed NAFCU-sought legislation that would help modernize Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and anti-money laundering (AML) requirements, as well as a bill to provide a safe harbor for financial institutions that serve marijuana-related businesses in states that have legalized the drug; and
• Congress prevented fee raises to the Small Business Administration's 7(a) loan program, which a NAFCU representative had advocated against during congressional testimony.

NAFCU will remain personally invested in credit unions' growth and success by providing members with exceptional advocacy and member service, as well as access to the resources and connections needed to keep growing.