Independent Banker - December 2022 - 37

Pushing back against harmful
credit card legislation. ICBA and
its affi liates pushed back against the
Credit Card Competition Act of 2022
(S. 4674), also known the MarshallDurbin
bill, warning Congress
that the bill would undermine the
safeguards that protect credit card
payments-with consumers and
community banks ultimately paying
the price. The bill would overhaul
credit card lending by creating new
mandates requiring banks with more
than $100 billion in total assets to
enable their credit cards to be used
on at least two unaffi liated networks,
forcing a costly fundamental and,
ultimately, unnecessary change to the
system that community banks would
have to subsidize.
ICBA reached out to Congress and
issued a joint letter signed by all 44
ICBA-affi liated state associations to
make the case for why this legislation
is a bad idea.
Preserving consumer
overdraft protection. ICBA and
its state affi liates continue to oppose
harmful overdraft legislation in the
House and sent a joint letter to the
House Financial Services Committee.
The Overdraft Protection Act of
2022 (H.R. 4277) contains overdraft
restrictions that would force many
community banks to stop off ering
overdraft protection services to
customers, consequently resulting
in bounced checks, declined debit
card transactions and credit rating
harm, among other unintended
consequences.
Standing together against
credit union expansion. Credit
unions have doggedly pursued
expansion, including H.R. 2543,
which passed the House earlier this
year and would expand the fi elds
of membership and commercial
lending powers of tax-exempt credit
unions without ensuring they serve
" The partnership between the state
associations and ICBA is instrumental for
the industry's continued success. "
-COLIN BARRETT, TENNESSEE BANKERS ASSOCIATION
low-income individuals.
ICBA and its state affi liates sent
a joint letter to Congress opposing
this harmful expansion and are
determined to prevent this legislation
from getting a vote in the Senate.
ICBA has also worked closely with
our affi liated state associations by
sharing best practices that states
have used successfully to address
credit union acquisitions of taxpaying
community banks. While ICBA
doesn't directly engage in state-level
advocacy, we facilitate communication
among the state associations to ensure
ideas are shared.
Safe Banking Act. In another
joint letter, ICBA and our affi liates
continued to push for passage of the
SAFE Banking Act in the Senate.
The bill would create a safe harbor
from federal sanctions for fi nancial
institutions that serve cannabisrelated
businesses (CRBs), as well as
the numerous ancillary businesses
that serve them, in states and other
jurisdictions where cannabis is legal.
ICBA is working with the states for
the bill to be taken up during the lame
duck session.
Limiting the impact of climaterelated
risk management. With
regulators discussing climate-related
regulation, ICBA and its state partners
reached out to the FDIC in a joint
letter urging that any climate-related
fi nancial risk management principles
for large banks do not trickle down to
community banks and choke off lawful
but climate-disfavored industries from
the banking system.
Additionally, state associations
work closely with ICBPAC to support
pro-community bank candidates at
the state level. ICBA also worked
closely with the Florida Bankers
Association to raise and disburse over
$200,000 in funds raised through
the ICBA Foundation Disaster Relief
Program to help Florida community
bankers and their families aff ected by
Hurricane Ian.
Heading into 2023, ICBA will
continue to work closely with our
affi liated state associations, meeting
monthly to identify creative ways
to continue to communicate our
collective message to Congress and
the regulatory agencies. The fi ght is
never over. 
Aaron Stetter (aaron.stetter@
icba.org) is ICBA's executive
vice president of advocacy and
strategic engagement.
Joe Schneider (joe.schneider@
icba.org) is ICBA's senior vice
president of state associations.
independentbanker.org Q 33
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Independent Banker - December 2022

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