CA Legislative Session Adjourned

As the 2024 California State Legislative Session recently ended, credit unions across the state benefited from legislative victories, meetings, urgent alerts, and robust grassroots advocacy-in-action that crafted better policies to positively impact their operations and members.

The League is the only association in Sacramento representing the credit union movement’s voice.

“It truly was a busy year in Sacramento,” said Robert Wilson, senior vice president of state government affairs for the California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues. “Outside of our top-ticket items, we engaged on nearly 30 bills altogether, while also working on budget issues and the homeowner insurance crisis.”

The 2024 California State Legislative Session was particularly impactful for credit unions, with the introduction, ensuing fight, and eventual defanging of Senate Bill 1075 (Senator Steven Bradford). This bill dealt with overdraft fees for state-chartered credit unions.

• As introduced, SB 1075 would have required a five-day waiting period before assessing an overdraft or non-sufficient funds (NSF) fee and would limit the credit union from charging more than three of these fees per month. After months of hard work, grassroots efforts, and direct lobbying at the California Credit Union League’s Government Relations Rally (GRR), the League was able to have the bill completely amended. Now, the bill will require credit unions to notify members when they have been assessed a fee, and then in 2026 to not charge more than $14 dollars per fee or whatever dollar figure the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) chooses for its pending regulation.

• The League had been in yearlong negotiations on Senate Bill 278 (Senator Bill Dodd), the bill dealing with financial elder abuse liability. It originally would have held a credit union liable for the financial abuse if it “should have known” the abuse occurred, which would have led to a great deal of litigation. After a year-and-a-half, the League was able to finally remove the opposition. The bill set up an emergency financial contact requirement and would have allowed credit unions to hold a transaction over $5,000 for three days. It was ultimately vetoed by Governor Gavin Newsom, citing concerns with the three-day hold. His veto message can be found here.

• The League also achieved major wins in two important issue-areas for credit unions: reform to California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) and guaranteed financial literacy for students. After years of advocating for PAGA reform and financial literacy, the legislature finally gained the political will to pass these monumental bills due to increasing pressure from qualified ballot initiatives.

• The League supported Assembly Bill 2288 (Assemblymember Ash Kalra) and Senate Bill 92 (Senator Tom Umberg), the two bills containing the PAGA reform agreement that was reached between the business community, legislative leadership, and Governor Newsom. For years, credit unions have been targets for predatory lawsuits under PAGA, where workers ended up receiving very little while lawyers collectively made billions of dollars. The reform agreement ensures workers retain tools to resolve labor claims and receive fair compensation, while limiting shakedown lawsuits that hurt both employers and employees.

• On the financial literacy front, the legislature passed not one — but two bills this year! The League supported Assembly Bill 2927 (Assemblymember Kevin McCarty), which adds a one-semester standalone course in personal finance to state high school graduation requirements, beginning with the 2031 graduating class. The League also supported Assembly Bill 1871 (Assemblymember Juan Alanis), which incorporates personal finance into the social sciences area of study for school grades 7 to 12.

• League-sponsored legislation Assembly Bill 2062 (Assemblymember Tim Grayson) will help continue modernizing the industry’s state charter. Additionally, the League was successful in helping defeat Assembly Bill 2930 (Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan), which would have led to overregulation of automated decision systems and tools at credit unions.

• Click here for a full recap of the nearly 30 engaged bills, wins, and victories in the California State Assembly and California State Senate on behalf of credit unions statewide.

“We want to thank every member-credit union of the League for helping achieve a successful legislative session in Sacramento this year,” Wilson said. “We are ready for any challenges 2025 may bring as we look forward to serving credit unions next year.”