During the 2020 Annual Conference, Minnesota credit unions were recognized for their fundraising and grassroots efforts. Political fundraising and organizing is essential to increasing the political prominence and influence of Minnesota credit unions.

Fair Share
The Fair Share plan challenges each credit union in the state to financially support political fundraising initiatives.

• Top Chapter: Hiawatha Valley Chapter
• Highest Total Contributions: City & County Credit Union

Payroll Deduction Contribution
Payroll deduction is an easy way to contribute to support credit union-friendly candidates at the state and federal levels.​

• Highest Total Payroll Deduction contributor: City & County Credit Union 
• Highest Payroll Deduction Percentage of Employees: United Employees Credit Union 
• Highest Number of Participants: Hiway Federal Credit Union 

GREAT
​The GrassRoots Education & Action Team (GREAT) is coordinated by the Minnesota Credit Union Network and powered by Minnesota credit union employees, volunteers, and members. GREAT provides credit union supporters a way to help preserve, protect and promote Minnesota credit unions.

• Highest Number of GREAT Members: Mid-Minnesota Federal Credit Union 
• Highest Percentage of GREAT Members: Mid-Minnesota Federal Credit Union

To support CU advocacy and participate in these programs, visit the Support CU Advocacy section of the website.

​The Network hosted an in-depth recap and analysis of the November 3rd elections last week. The recording can be viewed on mncun.org.
 
In the recording, Network staff talked about a variety of state and federal election results that could have an impact on Minnesota credit unions, including:

• The partisan breakdown of the federal elections impacts for credit unions, such as:
  • Nomination of a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director
  • Change in leadership at NCUA
  • Return to legislative activity with potential data security and privacy legislation

• Long time DFL Congressman Collin Peterson losing his bid for re-election
• The partisan makeup of the state Senate and House and the implications for policymaking in Minnesota, including:
  • Affecting Governor Walz’s calculus on nominating a new Department of Commerce Director
  • Potentially signaling the end of legislative authorization of Gubernatorial emergency executive authority
  • While unlikely to garner widespread support, with such large projected deficits, increased scrutiny of tax expenditures could lead to attacks on credit union corporate tax exemption to raise revenue from individual legislators

​“Because of the bipartisan nature of our issues and our support of legislators on both sides of the aisle, Minnesota’s credit unions are well positioned going into a new Congress and a new state legislative session to enact our legislative agenda and protect the interests of our members,” MnCUN Chief Advocacy & Engagement Officer Mara Humphrey said. “We look forward to carrying on the work of ensuring the vitality of credit unions in the halls of government at both the state and federal levels in January.”

The Minnesota Secretary of State posted final election results yesterday and there are some interesting things for credit unions to take note going into the 2021 federal and state legislative sessions that will start in January.

Minnesota U.S. Senate Race 
The U.S. Senate race in Minnesota saw incumbent Tina Smith (DFL) pull out a five-point win over former U.S. Representative Jason Lewis (R), 48% to 43%. Having been appointed to the seat and winning the 2018 special election to finish out the remainder of the previous term from the early resignation of Al Franken, Senator Smith now will serve a full 6-year term. CUNA and MnCUN partnered with two credit unions on a partisan communication in support of Senator Smith’s reelection, spending about $250,000.  

Nationally, the Senate is currently still held by Republicans by a slim margin but there are two runoff elections in Georgia on December 5 that will decide final control of the Chamber.
 
Minnesota Congressional Races
In the Minnesota Congressional races, longtime DFL incumbent Colin Peterson lost his bid for a 16th term, losing to former state Senator and Lt. Governor Michelle Fischbach 53% to 40%. All other incumbents won their respective races, meaning the partisan split of the Congressional contingent will now be 4 Democrats and 4 Republicans.

Overall, CUNA’s federal PAC, CULAC, spent over $7 million supporting credit union champions in Congress.
 
State Senate 
In the state Senate, the GOP, holding a 35-32 majority, were able to hold off the DFL and will head into January with a razor thin 34-33 majority. Three GOP seats and two DFL seats flipped party control to account for the current makeup. In the state House, the Democratic majority was whittled down from a 75-59 majority to a 70-64 edge. Republicans were able to build on their more recent successes in exurban and rural areas, flipping five seats to their control.

In the state House and Senate elections, MnCUN’s political action committee, CUPAC, supported a total of 70 candidates for office, with 66 of them winning election.
 
The partisan breakdown of the federal elections will likely have some impacts for credit unions, specifically:

• Nomination of a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director
• Change in leadership at NCUA
• Return to legislative activity with potential data security and privacy legislation

 
At the state level, MnCUN’s analysis of the results will potentially lead to:

• Affecting Governor Walz’s calculus on nominating a new Department of Commerce Director
• Potentially signaling the end of legislative authorization of Gubernatorial emergency executive authority
• While unlikely to garner widespread support, with such large projected deficits, increased scrutiny of tax expenditures could lead to attacks on credit union corporate tax exemption to raise revenue from individual legislators
• Redistricting will likely take place in the courts

 
The Network will be hosting a more in-depth recap and analysis on a webinar at 9 AM on Thursday 11/12. 

While there are elections results still forthcoming and many races could still change as more votes are counted, here is the situation as it stands.

There are still millions of votes to be counted across several states so there is no winner to be announced in the Presidential race, but former Vice President Joe Biden has won the vote in Minnesota by about 8 points. Senator Tina Smith won her re-election bid against former U.S. Rep. Jason Lewis, with about 49% of the vote as it stands now. Nationally, the GOP appears to have held control of the Senate, though seats in Maine, Michigan and North Carolina remain to close to call.

The most notable result of the Congressional races saw longtime DFL incumbent Colin Peterson lose by about 13 points. Incumbent U.S. Representatives Hagedorn (CD-1 R) and Craig (CD-2 DFL) appear to have won their respective races by about three points, while Representatives Phillips, McCollum, Omar, Emmer and Stauber easily defeated their challengers. If the current results hold, the Minnesota Congressional contingent will be evenly split at 4-4 along party lines. The Democrats have held the U.S. House but have lost seats, trimming their majority by at least a handful of seats.

Prior to the election, the Minnesota state Senate had a 35-32 Republican majority. Currently, it appears that 2 DFL and 2 Republican-held seats have flipped, which keeps the GOP-controlled chamber at the same split. DFL incumbents Dan Sparks (SD 27) and Matt Little (SD 58) were unable to win re-election while GOP races in SD 44 (Open) and SD 56 (Dan Hall) came up short.

There are still many races with uncounted votes in the state House, but it appears that the DFL will retain control, albeit with a smaller majority Prior to the election, Democrats held a 75-57 majority. Democrat incumbents in 5A, 6A, 19A, 54A, 55A, 57A and 57B have all either lost or are currently trailing which would leave the DFL with a much slimmer 69-63 margin.

While the state of the race is still in flux, credit unions are well positioned going into the next legislative session in January. Many of our champions won their races and we still enjoy strong support on both sides of the aisle. We’ll have a more in-depth analysis during the Election and Recap Analysis webinar next week on Thursday, November 12 at 9 AM. If you haven’t yet, you can register online. 

The Advocacy Fund is sponsoring Congressional debates, election night results, and election coverage web pages. With all 201 state legislative races on the ballot, 8 Congressional races and a Senate race, it is critical that we educate legislators on the CU Difference. The sponsorships are branded with the "Working for Minnesota" tagline to connect to the website  launched this summer to share credit union stories. 

In addition, MnCUN is sending regular emails to candidates across the state providing info on credit unions.  Check out the sponsorships and track election results with us at: https://www.radio.com/wccoradio/election2020 and https://www.kare11.com/voterstoolkit. 

The Minnesota Department of Commerce has approved MnCUN’s proposed updates to the Standard Credit Union Bylaws. Thank you to the members of the Network’s State Charter subcommittee for providing valuable input and feedback as we worked to revise and make enhancements.

The changes include the following:

• Article II Membership Section 4 Optional – expulsion of members
• Article IV Board of Directors Section 6 Added – common practice
• Article IV Board of Directors Section 10 Optional – indemnification
• Article VII Amendments Section 2 – updated to match statute verbiage
• Other minor verbiage updates

Each credit union has the option of adopting the new bylaws. These documents can also be found on the Minnesota Department of Commerce’s website: https://mn.gov/commerce/industries/financial-institutions/credit-union/

Last week, during a special legislative session the Minnesota House took up and unanimously passed a bill that permits video conferencing to satisfy the requirement to appear personally before a notarial officer for certain conveyances.
​
The bill deems that the requirement to appear in person is met if both the notarial officer and the signer are both in Minnesota and communicate via video conference. The bill also requires that the notarial officer meet several requirements, including:

• Taking reasonable steps to ensure the integrity, security, and authenticity of the audio and video record of the performance of the notarial act
• Maintaining a backup of the audio and video record required in paragraph and protecting the record and the backup from unauthorized access or use.
• Maintaining the recording for at least ten years after the date of the transaction or proceeding.

The full language of the bill can be found online.

Later last week, the Minnesota Senate passed the bill unanimously and goes to Governor Walz, who is expected to sign it. If Governor Walz signs the bill, it would become law immediately but will only remain in effect until January 6, 2021.
Also as part of the special session, the House and Senate both took up and passed a $1.87 billion bonding bill meant to pay for hundreds of infrastructure improvement projects around the state ranging from roads and bridges to wastewater facilities and higher education asset preservation.

Several tax provisions were also part of the package, including a tax break meant to help farmers and small business owners that would increase the deduction on like-kind exchanges from 20% to 100% and make the change retroactive for tax years 2018 and 2019.
​
This would allow small businesses and farmers to deduct the full expense during the first year after buying a piece of equipment and putting it into operation. Changes at the federal level have in the last couple of years required such purchases to be counted as income, which meant a higher tax bill for some. But the federal government allows a full deduction, and the so-called “full section 179 expensing” proposed in the bill would bring the Minnesota tax code into alignment. 

On Monday, in accordance with state law requiring Governor Walz’s most recent extension of his peacetime emergency order to be affirmed every 30 days, the Minnesota legislature convened for its fifth special session since their regular legislative session ended in May.

The state House took up and unanimously passed a bill that permits video conferencing to satisfy the requirement to appear personally before a notarial officer for certain conveyances.

The bill deems that the requirement to appear in person is met if both the notarial officer and the signer are both in Minnesota and communicate via video conference. The bill also requires that the notarial officer meet several requirements, including:

• Taking reasonable steps to ensure the integrity, security, and authenticity of the audio and video record of the performance of the notarial act
• Maintaining a backup of the audio and video record required in paragraph and protecting the record and the backup from unauthorized access or use.
• Maintaining the recording for at least ten years after the date of the transaction or proceeding.

​The Senate is expected to take up and vote on the same bill language on Thursday. Should it pass, this legislation would be in effect during the Governor’s peacetime emergency and for 60 days after its eventual expiration. The full text of the bill can be found on the Office of the Revisor of Statues website.

Credit unions have played a critical role in helping 120 million Americans - and 1.9 million Minnesotans  - manage the financial impact of the pandemic and it’s imperative we share this story with lawmakers at the 2021 CUNA Governmental Affairs Conference, March 2-4.

The Minnesota Credit Union Network is coordinating virtual visits with Member of Congress for CUNA GAC that give you the opportunity to meet with our state’s representatives and share how your credit union is making a difference for your members. Information will be posted on the mncun.org CUNA GAC page.

With a new Congress, and a host of new leaders in Washington this spring, this our chance for us to set the narrative on what people-over-profit means for advancing our communities. Please  join us at this very important event.

Minnesota Credit Union Network Releases Voter Guide 
Earlier this summer, MnCUN contacted every individual aspiring to represent Minnesota in Congress, the Minnesota State Senate and the State House of Representatives to ask them their stance on credit union issues.
​
CUNA, MnCUN Support Sen. Tina Smith’s Re-Election Through Digital Ads and Direct Mail
Last week, the first in a series of digital ads to support U.S. Senator Tina Smith went live on a variety of social media outlets. The ads are part of a credit-union industry partisan communication to some credit union members in support of Senator Smith’s re-election efforts, done in conjunction with several credit unions, MnCUN and CUNA.