From 1999 to 2005, Utah credit unions found themselves embroiled in a punishing, bare-knuckled legislative battle with banks. For six years, credit unions mobilized every effort possible to defend their very existence in the face of legislation that would threaten their foundation.

During those years, Lynn Kuehne served as executive vice president of the Utah League of Credit Unions. He spent countless hours engaged with policy makers and researching the facts about credit unions in libraries and online. He compiled a significant body of articles that defended the credit union business model, and corrected banker misinformation.

In 2021, as Lynn retired from his service in credit unions, a one-year effort was undertaken to update and gather his text. The result is the book Credit Unions in Utah and the Nation: A Personal View of the Battle to Survive.

This 530-page book, roughly in the format and style of a college text book, details credit union history and philosophy, and the bank/credit union legislative battles of 1999 to 2005. It contrasts the way the Utah legislature dealt with Utah’s credit unions with how it treats industrial loan corporations and payday lenders. It’s a telling story of how public policy makes it into the law books because of political favoritism and expediency.

The book is available at the print-on-demand service, Lulu.