A proposal that would permit reimbursement or direct payment to federal credit union volunteer officials for dependent care was discussed Thursday during an open meeting of the National Credit Union Administration Board, which currently includes only Chairman Kyle Hauptman.
The agency’s draft proposal would define “volunteer official” as a credit union official “who does not receive compensation from the credit union solely for his or her service as an official.” Whether to allow such payments would be up to individual federal credit union boards through policy, the document shows. The payments would be for care costs incurred by the officials while attending board meetings and performing their official credit union duties, the agency said.
The draft says the agency board proposes to define “dependent care costs” as expenses for the care of a qualifying individual. It notes that “qualifying individual” is defined by the Internal Revenue Code generally to include “a dependent under the age of 13 or a spouse or dependent of any age who is incapable of self-care and shares the same residence for more than half of the year.”
The agency, the document shows, is seeking comments on 12 questions focused on things such as conditions and limits of such payments; definitions of “dependent” or “dependent care”; how this may be viewed against the prohibition on payment of lost wages; when and how often federal credit union boards hold their meetings (in-person and virtual); credit union budgetary impacts; impediments to such reimbursement policy; and more.
The proposal was one of two items that were “briefed” to the board in Thursday’s open meeting. The agency’s release makes no mention of the date the proposal received board approval for issuance, but it shows a 60-day public comment period applies.
Hauptman, a Republican, has been the sole NCUA Board member since the president’s firings in April of the two Democrats on the board – Todd Harper (also a former chairman) and Tanya Otsuka, whose suit to regain their seats is on hold pending a Supreme Court ruling regarding a similar firing affecting a separate agency.
The NCUA has maintained that it can carry out its business with just one board member. The agency’s own rules continue to show that “(t)he agreement of at least two of the three Board members is required for any action by the Board.”
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