Co-ops Urge Legislature to Reject
Anti-credit Union Proposal in Budget Bill
 MADISON, Wis. (May 31, 2011) – A state budget provision that changes the method for converting a not-for-profit credit union into a commercial bank has cooperative businesses firing back. Cooperative Network and The Wisconsin Credit Union League launched a joint advertising campaign that’s already showing up in newspapers across Wisconsin.
Cooperative Network, a Madison-based statewide trade association, is rallying co-ops of all varieties in support of credit union cooperatives that provide financial services for more than 2 million members in Wisconsin. Advertisements designed to energize co-op members—especially credit union members—to oppose the budget language began appearing this week in Green Bay and Baraboo, and were scheduled for publication in La Crosse during the next few days.
Several hundred individual constituents had already contacted state lawmakers by the end of last week asking that the credit union provision be removed from the budget bill, according to the Wisconsin Credit Union League, a membership organization that’s affiliated with Cooperative Network.
“Credit union members need to know that banking interests are toying with their ownership equity, and also that the Legislature still has the ability to make things right,” said Brett Thompson, President and CEO of the League.
“A credit union amendment that wasn’t asked for by credit unions should have been a red flag to the Joint Finance Committee,” Thompson added, saying he hoped the provision, added earlier in May by the 16-member budget-writing panel, would be removed as lawmakers caucus on details of the budget package before advancing it to floor debate.
The proposal would change current law governing conversions of member-owned credit unions into commercial banks, potentially with the support of a small minority of a credit union’s member-owners. A similar provision passed in the Democrat-controlled Legislature during the 2009-10 session but was vetoed by then-Governor Jim Doyle. This year, it first appeared as an amendment adopted by the Republican-controlled Finance Committee.
“This isn’t a partisan fight for us. We opposed this idea when Democrats were promoting it; we oppose it now, with Republicans advancing it; we’ll oppose it no matter who brings it up,” said Cooperative Network President and CEO Bill Oemichen.
Co-op interests are hoping it won’t go any farther, according to Oemichen.
“We hope members of the Legislature will want to fully understand the effect of a proposal with this much potential to harm institutions that serve more than two million Wisconsin residents,” Oemichen said. “We’re concerned it could open the door for an equity grab that would reflect poorly on all types of cooperatives.” |
