House to look at credit unions

In his motion to pass the matter on to the full House, Rep. Michael Morley, R-Spanish Fork, said: "I am confident that both sides are right. There is not going to be a resolution in-state. We have basically acquiesced our authority, our ability to regulate the larger credit unions, to the federal government. And we don't have a clear direction at this point as to what they're intending to do.

"I think that it is appropriate to ask that we get some clarification and direction as to what the regulation is going to be and what it will ongoing be. With that information, I think we may be prepared to maybe model some legislation to be in concert with federal legislation so that we could, in fact, have some opportunity to have harmony and perhaps get some of those federally chartered credit unions under state control."

Rep. Jackie Biskupski, D-Salt Lake, a member of both the Business and Labor Standing Committee and the task force that approved the resolution late last year, opposed the motion and expressed concern that lawmakers were being "used" to further the cause of a few.

"I also share a concern that we're being used to send this resolution when . . . the chairs of this committee, who feel so strongly about this resolution, could be writing a letter to our congressmen and to our senators asking them do the exact same thing," Biskupski said.

"Yet, we're all being used to play in this, as a Legislature. And so it will appear that as a Legislature we all agree on this when this goes forward, if it goes forward, when that is, in fact, not true," she said.

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