Delegate Morgan Griffith has introduced a bill to stiffen the penalties against extorting people without documentation. Introduced as HB 1841, it provides that a person who extorts money or property by threatening to report someone to the authorities for being an illegal alien or threatens to withhold immigration documents is liable to that person for damages in the amount of $10,000 as well as attorney fees.
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Some advocates may not have known that bi-partisan redistricting bills were being heard at 7am in the elections subcommittee of the House Privileges and Elections committee on Monday January 19th, Martin Luther King Day. The committee normally meets on Friday mornings.
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By Joe Stanley
This Monday at 7am, three efforts to increase voter turnout in the Commonwealth will almost assuredly meet its death in the House of Delegates.
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Chris Flores, formerly of the Daily Press, has a new blog out. He covered the payday lending battle in Virginia extensively for the past few years and is now free to tell us what he really thinks about the predatory lending institutions in the Commonwealth. Check out his article HERE!
Delegate Jeff Frederick’s health care solution for employees of Virginia’s small businesses is to get rid of all their state mandated health insurance benefits (filed as HB 2209). Ostensibly this will result in cheaper health plans and increase “access” to health care for these employees.
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A moving piece in the New York Times that crystallizes what is at stake in this debate. You can read it by CLICKING HERE.
A quote from the piece is below:
The Times reported that federal immigration prosecutions had soared in the last five years, overloading federal courts with misdemeanor cases of illegal border crossers, who are tried and sentenced in groups of 40 to 60 for efficiency. At the same time, prosecutions for weapons, organized crime, public corruption and drugs have plummeted. The Arizona attorney general called the situation “a national abdication by the Justice Department.”
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When we speak to legislators and citizens about the abuses of payday and car title lenders, the numbers we use are so hard to believe that they seem, well unbelievable. This contract from Advance America not only proves that they are making open ended loans like title lenders, but it also points out that the interest rate is 456%APR unless you are willing to give them access to your bank account electronically. Additionally, you will note that while Virginia used to have a $500 cap on payday loans, Advance America is now making up to $750 loans by joining the car title lenders in misusing open-ended credit laws.
Senator Whipple, the Center’s 2006 Legislator of the Year, explains in this video how the 2008 Payday Lending reform was supposed to work…..before the payday lenders realized they could mis-use the same open-ended credit statute that Car Title lenders use to charge triple digit interest. It will be interesting to see, given how happy Senator Whipple is with the outcome of the 2008 debate, if Senate democrats will actually take leadership in ending predatory lending in Virginia.
Even before the Virginia General Assembly begins, Commissioner Joe Face this week sent a letter to the Daily Press asking readers to not blame him for predatory lenders continued attack on vulnerable Virginians. In an attempt to not be drawn into Virginia’s perennial, “Opps, they did it again,” with payday lenders, Commissioner Face reminds us all that it is not the SCC’s fault that so many in the GA are uninterested in resolving the Car Title and Payday Lending industry abuses. The next few weeks should give Virginians an idea of the continued strangle-hold lenders have – a handy of list of the industry is among the names listed on VPAP.
A great piece in the Richmond Times-Dispatch about the “Truth in Lending” bill that the Virginia Interfaith Center supports. This bill will reform the law around mortgage brokers to make it harder for them to cheat buyers.
CLICK HERE to read the full article at the RTD website.
This bill is referred to as the “Truth in Lending” bill. It has been filed as HB 1776 introduced by Del. Jennifer McClellan (D-Richmond). Visit the “Housing/Homelessness” under the “Issues” tab to read more about the housing policy supported by the Virginia Interfaith Center.
