Guest Blog: Observations from the General Assembly

  The following is a blog post from a VPLC intern on her observations during a committee meeting this week at the General Assembly: As a law student in Virginia, one of the most impressive lessons and warnings repeated by professors and practitioners is the important practice of respect toward all. As an attorney and […]

In Session: “Tabled by Voice Vote”

We want to focus this week’s recap of the General Assembly Session on five Bills we supported that were before the House Commerce and Labor Committee Tuesday afternoon.  These Bills dealt with protecting consumers from predatory lending practices.  We want to give you an inside look at what happened to these Bills to show that […]

Virginia Panel Quickly Kills Proposal to Limit High-Rate Loans

By Dave Ress, Daily Press It took less than five minutes for a House of Delegates committee to kill a bill to shut down a kind of high interest rate loan that keeps piling on debt even when borrowers make their basic monthly payments. The sponsor, Del. David Yancey, R-Newport News, figured that was progress. “The […]

In Session: Week Two of the General Assembly

We just wrapped up week two of the General Assembly Session and we want to let you know what issues and Bills we’ve been watching during the past week: Retaliatory conduct by a landlord: Hard work by the legal aid community, the Virginia Association of Realtors, AOBA and VPLC paid off yesterday when the House […]

In Session: “Deflategate” & Virginia’s Payday and Car Title Lenders

By now most of us have heard about “deflategate”-the discovery that the New England Patriots deflated the footballs in the AFC championship game in order to gain an unfair advantage.  Some say they cheated and others say they just did an end-run around the rules.  Either way, the rules have been broken and this needs […]

In Session: Long-term Enhancements for Temporary Assistance are Overdue

This morning, the Senate Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services will consider two bills to improve Virginia’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, also known as TANF.  One of those bills, SB 802, would pave the way for periodic increases in benefit amounts.  TANF provides cash assistance for Virginia’s poorest families with children.  However, benefit […]

In Session: VPLC at the General Assembly

And we’re off … The General Assembly is in session, and our advocates are analyzing bills to make sure the interests of low-income Virginians are considered by lawmakers. We’d like to open a little window on our life here at VPLC during the session, through regular updates on this blog.  With more than 1,500 bills […]

Transparency Virginia

VPLC recently joined TV.  Not television, but Transparency Virginia.  TV is a coalition that seeks to bring the people’s business closer to the people.  We want to make the legislative process in Virginia as open and transparent to the public as possible. During the 2015 session we will: Meeting notices: Notice should give the public adequate time to […]

Payday Lenders are Using the Internet to Evade State Law

By Hunter Stuart, Huffingtonpost.com Borrowing from any payday lender can be a risky endeavor. Borrowing from one online can be downright perilous. The pitfalls of borrowing from storefront payday lenders — companies that offer short-term loans with high interest rates — are already well-documented. Regulators and consumer groups have long warned such loans can trap people in vicious […]

2015 Legislative Session

The General Assembly adjourned in late February.  We want to update you on how some of our legislative priorities fared during the Session: Access to health care Yet again, the General Assembly failed to expand Medicaid.  Without Medicaid Expansion, hundreds of thousands of Virginians will go without healthcare coverage.  Read our previous blog post on […]

Affordable Care Act Health Enrollment in Virginia ‘on track’

By Prue Salasky, Daily Press The government released the first state-by-state numbers for health-insurance enrollment through the federally run state marketplace Tuesday. In the first month, by Dec. 15, the deadline for Jan. 1 coverage through Affordable Care Act plans, Virginia had 164,884 enrollees, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, CMS. Of those, […]

Read more