VPLC is joining with a bipartisan group of legislators asking Governor McAuliffe to overturn 2015 legislation that is harming Virginia’s electricity consumers. The Virginia General Assembly passed legislation in 2015 (SB 1349) that fixed the base rates charged by public utilities, Appalachian Power and Dominion, to its Virginia customers and prohibits the State Corporation Commission […]

 ENERGY EFFICIENCY: WHAT IS IT AND WHY DOES IT MATTER? By Ben Greenberg, Affordable Clean Energy Project The Virginia Poverty Law Center (VPLC) initiated its Affordable Clean Energy Project in 2016. The purpose of the project is to give a voice to low-income Virginians on the impacts of energy costs and the need for energy […]

This past week was crossover at the Virginia General Assembly meaning that the House of Delegates will now consider Senate bills and the Senate will consider House bills.  VPLC advocates reviewed 2,600 bills introduced in the first two weeks of the session and decided to follow 255 of those bills as they made their way […]

 HB1692 (Collins) would make family law litigation more difficult for those without an attorney   Simply put, there are not enough legal aid or pro bono attorneys to meet the need in family law cases in Virginia.   HB1692 relates to family law cases in which some matters may be decided by the Juvenile & […]

Enroll Virginia – Affordable Care Act Update The open enrollment period for the Health Insurance Marketplace ended on January 31st, and millions of Americans were able to renew or gain health insurance coverage before this deadline. In Virginia, demand remained strong throughout Open Enrollment and 410,726 Virginians were enrolled in health coverage through the Marketplace. Navigators with Enroll Virginia […]

 Public Benefits Legislative Update                This year, the leadership of the House of Delegates unleashed a series of attacks against SNAP (food stamps) and TANF programs in the name of “welfare reform.”  These bills were designed to cut access to both programs resulting in irreparable harm to low-income families across Virginia.  VPLC has fought […]

Facts. Car title lenders are deathly afraid of anyone looking closely at what they are doing.  That’s why they are fighting so hard to keep their reports to the Virginia Bureau of Financial Institutions secret.  Who can blame them?  The limited statistics released to the public reveal that Virginia car title loans are a growing […]

Virginia Poverty Law Center filed a class action lawsuit almost 3 years ago after a man called our hotline about a loan he had received from Western Sky/Cashcall. VPLC’s Board Members Kristi Kelly and Len Bennett took on this case and both spent a lot of time and resources litigating this case. Virginia’s Attorney General’s […]