“What Utah credit unions want is a powerful, efficient and effective voice at the state and national levels,” Simpson said. “What they don't want is a fracturing of focus and voice in Washington, and they see in this trend a strong potential for fractures.”

Simpson said he informed CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle of the board's decision.

At the CUNA board's December meeting, Nussle is expected to propose new bylaws to modernize the trade association's membership structure that may include membership choice recommended by the task force recommended.

However, Sterling Nielsen, president/CEO of the $4.8 billion Mountain America Credit Union in West Jordan, said that plenty has been made of the upside of membership choice, but very little has been shared about the task force's thorough examination and reporting of the risks.

“Look, I hate the idea of having a limitation of choices on any decision my credit union makes,” Nielsen said. “But I hate dissonance in advocacy more. We need constant, unrelenting effort to unite our strength. A la carte advocacy doesn't provide that.”

The CEO of Utah's largest credit union agreed with Nielson, according to the Utah league's prepared statement.

“No trade association efforts or offerings are going to perfectly meet the needs of every member all of the time,” John Lund, president/CEO of the $7 billion America First Credit Union in Riverdale, said. “Can we be better? Sure. But I know that we have this fully-tiered government relations model that is envied. Are we, in fact, prepared to have it unstitched in this ad hoc way by hasty noise from the blogosphere?”

Other leagues that have publicly supported maintaining CUNA's dual membership requirement include the Wisconsin Credit Union League, the Cornerstone Credit Union League, the Mountain West Credit Union Association, the Northwest Credit Union Association, the Maine Credit Union League, the Credit Union Association of New Mexico and the Credit Union Association of the Dakotas.

Since the CUNA board's controversial decision on Sept. 18, the boards for the Michigan Credit Union League, the League of Southeastern Credit Unions, the Ohio Credit Union League and the Carolinas Credit Union League voted to allow their credit union members to join their state trade organizations without requiring them to join CUNA beginning in 2016.

The Georgia Credit Union League, the New York Credit Union Association and the California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues said they are also considering whether to allow membership choice.

Leagues that are providing their credit unions with membership choice said they will encourage member credit unions to maintain their CUNA membership to support the CUNA/league interdependency.

However, league CEOs have said membership choice creates accountability for both CUNA and state trades so that both organizations can improve on how they get results for their members. That accountability, in turn, also can improve membership engagement and advocacy on both state and federal levels.