The House of Representatives is adjourned from June 27th through the July 4th holiday.  Please take this opportunity to reach out to your House delegation and urge support and co-sponsorship of the Communities First Act (H.R. 1697).  

The Communities First Act (CFA) is an extremely important piece of legislation to reduce the regulatory, tax and paperwork burden on community banks.  It includes a number of provisions benefiting community banks and narrowing the competitive gap with tax-exempt credit unions.  Securing as many co-sponsors as possible for CFA is a high priority for IBANYS and we hope that you will join us in spreading the message.

This pro-community bank legislation would:

• Permit community banks to amortize losses on commercial real estate owned over a period of 10 years for regulatory capital purposes.
• Allow the Financial Stability Oversight Council to veto a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule upon finding that it would "adversely impact a subset of the financial industry".
• Require the SEC to conduct a cost/benefit analysis before approving any proposed accounting change.
• Increase the threshold number of shareholders from 500 to 2,000 that trigger SEC registration.
• Amend the Dodd-Frank Act to restore bank reliance upon external credit ratings.
• Extending the 5-year net operating loss (NOL) carryback provision.
• Create a limited tax credit for community banks to offset the competitive advantage enjoyed by tax-exempt credit unions.

Please feel free to reference and use the IBANYS-penned letter found here. 

As you know, Rep. Greg Meeks sits on the House Financial Services Committee, which has jurisdiction over many community banking issues.  We are calling on all Main Street neighbors - bankers, board members, employees, customers and advocates - to contact Congressman Meeks and attempt to convince him to sign on as a co-sponsor of H.R. 1697.  In addition, you may also contact the office of Rep. Yvette Clarke, as she previously co-sponsored CFA.

Let the Representatives know that, not only can co-sponsoring CFA benefit their policy, but that it can also help out the community banks in the areas they represent. 

To contact Rep. Meeks Office:

Milan Dalal, (202) 225-3461, milan.dalal@mail.house.gov

To contact Rep. Clarke's Office:

Mark Lee, (202) 225-6231, mark.lee@mail.house.gov

Click here to contact other Representatives.