The Southern California Credit Union Alliance (SCCUA) recently held a two-day conference at Coyote Hills Golf Course and Country Club in Fullerton, CA to tighten collaboration among credit unions, confront the technology gap together, and discuss district-level impact data that connects with state and federal legislators.

A fireside chat on day-two of the conference gave California’s and Nevada’s Credit Unions President and CEO Jeremy Empol an opportunity to discuss one important question: How do the leagues work, and where are member credit unions’ dues dollars going? Nikkei Credit Union CEO John Hernandez and Cabrillo Credit Union CEO Kevin Posey facilitated the discussion, titled 60 Days in 60 Minutes.

Empol spent 16 years in the league’s advocacy division, including a term as chief advocacy officer, then three years as senior vice president of public affairs at the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco. He described his current leadership role as holding “three hats”: CEO and decision-maker, league president serving member credit unions, and chief advocacy officer.

Empol also discussed his three goals:

• “Building champions.” Develop advocates inside credit union staff ranks, across league membership, and among elected officials at every level — local, state, and federal.
• “Own our narrative.” Stop letting the banking industry define what credit unions are. “What you’re willing to do for your members, no bank will do,” Empol said. “I know their programs. They don’t hold a candle to credit unions.”
• “Show our value.” Replace broad-positioning statements with district and specific data — the kind a state legislator can cite.

He also shared three programs in development:

• First Call: Once California’s and Nevada’s Credit Unions hires a grassroots director, local credit unions become the default referral when district lawmakers receive constituent calls about financial services — a simple, high-value and underutilized model.
• Advancing Communities Together (ACT): A focused effort to clearly communicate the credit union difference to key policymakers and community engagement groups. You can view the ACT Resource Center for all marketing, creative, and communication tools.
• Project Zip Code (PZC): Counts your members and matches them to a congressional district, state legislative district, and county. It aids in federal and state advocacy efforts and participation. Ultimately, PZC helps demonstrate the strength of credit union membership across your state and the entire nation, displaying the power of advocacy.

Empol said credit unions’ political capital is still strong, but last year’s overdraft legislation stung because legislators specifically called out credit unions — not banks, and not fintechs. He went further back to 2020, when a legislative vote to halt debt collection for all state-chartered institutions stayed open for two hours before failing. That kind of fight doesn’t get easier if local credit union leaders haven’t been building relationships between sessions.

California’s and Nevada’s Credit Unions build and document relationships with lawmakers, tracking progress through accountability, clarity, and transparency. If this slips, credit unions get isolated, and the odds of last-minute legislative battles get worse with each cycle.

Recent wins worth noting are when the California and Nevada leagues recently restructured its flagship member newsletter publication — CU Weekly — to lead with advocacy content. In particular, the California league escalated a Northern California compliance dispute to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) through a joint letter that 31 state leagues and America’s Credit Unions co-signed. Additionally, league’s PAC declined to endorse any candidate in the California governor’s race because none met the internal viability threshold, which was a transparency call worth making publicly.

Empol concluded by spotlighting the advocacy and networking support infrastructure the leagues have in place, including the Mid-Sized Credit Union Fly-In, virtual roundtables, grants, Shapiro-specific resources, the Shapiro Summit, education and development pipelines, and the NextGen Network Immersion and Crash programs.

Credit union leaders left with a clearer picture of advocacy strategy, a shared-services model that’s producing results (Fuel Solutions), and a community advocacy model that generates district-level data to tell lawmakers the credit union story. The annual California Government Relations Rally (GRR), bi-annual Nevada Government Relations Rally, yearly Governmental Affairs Conference (GAC), and Hike The Hill are tools that produce results when credit union staff show up and use them.

“Advocacy is not a spectator sport,” Empol said. “Together, we’re better.”