CO Division of Financial Services Sunset bill passes committee  

Posted by Katie March on April 9, 2024

Now in its last month of the 2024 session, the Colorado State Legislature has entered the period where long days and late nights are commonplace. Late last night, the Finance Committee heard a bill of great importance to credit unions. The Division of Financial Services Sunset bill – which updates multiple important regulations impacting credit unions – passed out of committee on an 8 to 2 vote.

Sponsors of the bill, Representatives Cathy Kipp and Matthew Soper spoke to the importance of credit unions. Representative Soper even mentioned in his closing remarks that he has “done his banking with a credit union ever since he was in high school and certainly loved his financial institution, they do a really great job.” The committee voted to send the bill to the Appropriations committee for the next step in the process.

During this hearing GoWest’s Katie March and Brian Holst, General Counsel at Elevations Credit Union, testified on the operational efficiencies that this bill would create within credit unions. There was no testimony presented in opposition to the bill. Five largely technical amendments were added, including one which will shorten the length of time until the next Sunset review hearing. This bill is expected to continue moving through the legislative process without large scale opposition.

This Sunset bill was drafted based off of recommendations from the Department of Regulatory Agencies, which were created after spending many months gathering input from credit union stakeholders based on the recommendations from GoWest’s State Issues Working Group. Many thanks to the members of the SIWG and the many advocates who weighed in on the bill and have worked to support its passage.

Posted in Advocacy on the Move, Colorado Advocacy.