Legislative Battles Top Ticket at Texas League's Annual Meeting

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – At the Delegate Session on opening day of its 69th Annual Meeting & Convention, April 9-12, the Texas Credit Union League reported that its legislative team had successfully halted a recommendation that would reduce funding for the Texas Credit Union Department and another that would consolidate all of the state’s financial institutions under one agency. However, passage of TCUL-supported home equity reform measures looks grim because of intense lobbying efforts by the real estate industry, according to TCUL president Dick Ensweiler. In line with its annual meeting theme, “Surfin’ to Success,” TCUL reported 2002 to be a good year financially, due in part to the success enjoyed by its service corporation, Credit Union Resources, Inc. According to TCUL Chairman of the Board Watt Prichard, every department of Credit Union Resources was profitable in 2002, and the service corporation paid TCUL a dividend in excess of $98,000. Annual meeting delegates easily passed the League’s 2004 Dues Schedule, with only one dissenting vote. Another resolution that would have allowed any credit union delegate in attendance at a TCUL annual meeting to “request, receive, consider and discuss information on the investment status of any companies owned by the Texas Credit Union League” was, after much discussion, defeated by a vote of 71 to 45. The issue surfaced at last year’s annual meeting when one faction wanted to discuss the financials of Credit Union Resources and the other upheld that the annual meeting was not the proper place to conduct that type of discussion. Asset category directors elected to serve two-year terms were: Carol Murray, Southeast Community CU; Suzanne Chism, Texas Health Resources CU; Jennifer Naughton, Dallas County ECU; Jada Kelley, DuPont Beaumont FCU; and Harriet May, GECU. The following awards were announced: Chapter of the Year, Fort Worth Chapter of Credit Unions; Marketer of the Year, Jennifer Edwards; SCMS Alumni of the Year, Gary Davis, Chocolate Bayou Community FCU, and Dean Bourland, Texans CU; Herb Wegner Memorial Individual Achievement Award, Rufino Carbajal, Jr., West Texas CU; and Hall of Fame, Calvin Phillips, Neighborhood CU and Art Shaw, Complex Community FCU.