Iowa Lawmakers Target the University of Iowa Community Credit Union with New Law

Iowa became a solidly red state in last year, which has triggered a series of legislative attacks on most of their traditional targets: Planned Parenthood, labor unions, teachers, municipal employees, the environment, the disabled, etc. Earlier this session, Iowa's legislators took aim at the state's credit unions, proposing to raise taxes on them. That ended up not happening, but that didn't stop the Iowa legislature from snubbing Johnson County, yet again.

Iowa's lawmakers added a last minute provision to the end-of-the-season legislation that bans Iowa's credit unions from using the names of state universities in their titles -- which is a direct attack on the University of Iowa Community Credit Union:

It deals a blow to the largest Iowa-based financial institution, which is a frequent target of Iowa bankers. They claim that the UICCU, aided by its nonprofit status, unfairly competes for business by using the name of the state's flagship university, despite having no affiliation with the school. 

Sen. Charles Schneider, a West Des Moines Republican who is chairman of the Senate appropriations committee, said lawmakers included the new rule to officially separate the credit union's name from that of the University of Iowa. "Just as a good business practice, we think it makes sense that they change to a name that doesn't infer or imply that they're somehow related to the university," he said.

Now UICCU's board of directors have until April 30, 2019, to implement this new name-change rule:

"It struck us as a somewhat unusual provision to be thrown in at the last minute," (UICCU  President and CEO Jeff Disterhoft) said. "Most of the conversation leading up to this point involved income taxation at the state level. So it would seem at least plausible that this provision was a way to placate the banking industry in the state of Iowa."

It's not clear if the UICCU will change its name or if they will challenge the new law.