Credit union resolution OK'd

Without debate or hullabaloo, one of the most acrimonious fights of the 2005 Utah Legislature came to a close Monday with the passage of House Joint Resolution 1, "A Resolution Related to Financial Institutions."

But, the war is likely far from over.

By a 15-12 vote, the Utah Senate passed HJR1 Monday. The resolution was high on the list of "consent calendar" items handled first thing Monday morning. Consent calendar bills are subject to a vote without debate.

"House Joint Resolution 1 has had more than its share of discussion," said the resolution's Senate floor sponsor, Dan Eastman, R-Bountiful. "I don't have anything further to add to it, except that it is a task force conclusion and recommendation, and I would call for the vote."

The resolution asks the U.S. Congress to re-examine rulings by the National Credit Union Administration regarding fields of membership for Utah's federally chartered credit unions, allow states and local governments to levy the same taxes on federally chartered credit unions as are imposed on state-chartered ones, and provide states with an explanation for maintaining the current tax structure, if it decides to do so.

While HJR1 passed without comment on the Senate floor, the fight in the halls outside was raging.

Scott Simpson, president of the Utah League of Credit Unions, called the Senate's action "disappointing but predictable."

"I wish I was surprised," Simpson said. "I'm disappointed, obviously, in the performance of our elected officials here. This whole process has been full of stunts. What we've seen here is the predictable pattern of behavior on the part of the bank lobby."

The bankers shot back.

"This resolution stood on its own in the face of an unbelievably deceptive million-dollar media campaign," said Howard Headlee, president of the Utah Bankers Association, in a statement released Monday. "The fact that it passed both houses after months of being falsely attacked speaks highly of the work of the independent legislative task force that crafted it.

"In the coming weeks, as the public examines the facts surrounding this resolution, they will no doubt wonder why the credit union lobbyists spent so much of their members' money to mislead the public," Headlee said. "The banking industry supports the credit union tax exemption, we are simply focused on those very large institutions that are no longer operating like credit unions. Nobody here wants to tax real credit unions, but if Congress will focus on the real issue, we are confident they will come to the same conclusion as our Legislature."