New VA Laws/Possible Earlier Effective Date On Puppy Mill Regulations

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-- PLEASE FORWARD AND CROSSPOST!! "Karen Loveless" <klovelessThursday, April 17, 2008, 11:11 PM Read the red

parts! VA Gov. Kaine Announces Action on Dogfighting, Payday Loan Bills Last Edited: Monday, 14 Apr 2008, 5:11 PM EDT Created: Monday, 14 Apr 2008, 5:11 PM EDT RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Gov. Timothy M. Kaine announced action Monday on a slew of bills, including $8.9 million in additional spending in the state budget and a few technical amendments to legislation tightening regulations on payday lenders.Kaine also signed legislation toughening the law against animal fighting and proposed an earlier

effective date for a measure regulating so-called "puppy mills," concluding his action on the 889 bills passed by the 2008 General Assembly. Lawmakers will reconvene April 23 to consider Kaine's amendments and previously announced vetoes.Neither the payday loan industry nor its critics were entirely happy with legislation extending the amount of time borrowers have to repay the high-interest, short-term loans and effectively limiting how many borrowers can get each year. The measure will take effect Jan. 1.The Virginia Organizing Project, a nonprofit social justice group that lobbied to reign in the payday lenders, had urged Kaine to offer amendments substantially toughening the compromise legislation."In response to legislative expectations and agreements made, however, it appears that Governor Kaine considered his hands to be tied and could only offer clarifying amendments," the group's leader, Janice "Jay"

Johnson, said in a statement. She said the organization "deeply regrets this decision."Jamie Fulmer, spokesman for industry leader Advance America, Cash Advance Centers Inc., said he appreciated Kaine resisting pressure to propose even tighter regulations in legislation that already threatens to put some lenders out of business."The end result is still one of the most restrictive payday lending laws in the country," Fulmer said in a telephone interview. "It's quite certain some lenders are going to be forced to close as a result of this new law, and others will be significantly impacted."The bill establishes a database to track loans. Borrowers will be limited to one loan at a time and will have two pay cycles to repay it.A borrower who takes out five loans over six months would either be barred from getting another loan for two months or enter into a 60-day extended payment plan, then be prohibited from taking out another loan for an

additional 90 days. One of Kaine's amendments makes clear that the borrower, not the lender, chooses which route to take on the fifth loan.At any time, a borrower can request the extended payment plan and its 150-day lockout, but only once per year.Fulmer said the legislation complicates what is now a simple transaction in which borrowers pay $15 for every $100 borrowed, then repay the loan on their next payday -- typically two weeks.Under the new law, lenders will charge 20 percent of the loan, plus 36 percent interest and a $5 fee to cover the cost of the database."We think it will present some acute operational challenges," Fulmer said. "We don't know what the ultimate acceptance by consumers will be of this new product. That's one of the big uncertainties."Johnson said, however, that the bill "only accomplished limited improvements while maintaining extremely high fees" that can trap vulnerable borrowers in an endless cycle of

debt. She said the organization will continue to push for tougher regulations.The governor also offered only modest revisions to the state's two-year budget. The biggest increase is $5 million for grants to private nonprofit organizations to preserve endangered Civil War sites. Kaine also proposed $4 million in incentives to bring pharmaceutical and biomedical research company SRI International to the Interstate 81 corridor.There are several smaller increases, but savings elsewhere in the budget bring the net spending increase down to $8.9 million – a tiny fraction of the budget's $77 billion total. Along with the spending amendments, Kaine offered dozens of technical or clarifying changes.Kaine also signed legislation making cockfighting a felony and giving authorities more tools for investigating and prosecuting dogfighters. The measure gained broad support after the federal

dogfighting conspiracy conviction of suspended NFL star Michael Vick.The governor proposed making the puppy mill legislation effective Jan. 1 instead of July 1, 2009. The legislation requires large commercial dog breeding operations to get a business license and submit to inspections by local animal control officers. It also imposes strict record-keeping requirements.The bill was prompted by problems last year at several puppy mills, including a fire that killed nearly 200 animals in Bland County and the discovery of more than 1,000 dogs at a Carroll County dog-breeding operation. http://www.myfoxdc.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=6302749 & version=1 & locale=EN-US & layoutCode=TSTY & pageId=3.2.1 Karen Loveless NC Voters for Animal Welfare Board member www.NCVAW.org FACT - The number one cause of death in healthy animals in the US is euthanasia. Please adopt! Patricia Breen www.petstorecruelty.org

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