WASHINGTON-The Credit Union Regulatory Improvements Act (H.R. 3579) gained five additional supporters in Congress recently. On May 5, Representatives Ed Case (D-Hawaii), Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), Dale Kildee (D-Mich.), and Jon Porter (R-Nev.) added their names to the list of cosponsors. Cosponsors for CURIA now total 43, plus the bill's primary sponsor, Congressman Ed Royce (R-Calif.), of 435 members of the House. "We're very pleased by [the number of cosponsors]. This is the way the legislative process works," CUNA Senior Vice President of Governmental Affairs John McKechnie said. He emphasized that many members of Congress do not know and understand credit union issues, so this year has been a major educational effort in the legislative "building block process." He added, "Several members appear to be close to signing on." NAFCU Director of Legislative and Political Affairs Brad Thaler said he too had heard that a number of legislators are considering signing on to the bill. In many cases, he said, "the legislative assistant has to get the boss to take a look at the bill." Though more Democrats than Republicans have signed onto the bill, Thaler stressed, "We've gotten supportive comments from both sides of the aisle." He added that some Republicans could be looking to see what the committee leadership does first. Though the leadership has not signed onto the bill right away, they have been supportive of the efforts, according to Thaler. H.R. 3579 includes many of the credit union-related provisions in the H.R. 1375, the Financial Services Regulatory Relief Act, plus expands credit union business lending authorities, allows credit unions to rent unused office space to groups in low-income communities, and modify Prompt Corrective Action to a risk-based system. [email protected]