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Senate approves bill regulating
payday loans Under
legislation approved May 19 by the Illinois Senate, consumers who
borrow money from payday loan lenders will be better protected from
unscrupulous business practices.
House Bill 1100 sets tougher standards and regulations for the
payday loan industry. Provisions of the legislation include:
- Loan limits of $1,000 or 25
percent of the borrowers' monthly income, whichever is less.
- A cap on the high end of the fee
-- cannot charge more than $15.50 per $100 loan.
- A one-day grace period for the
borrower to back out of a loan agreement without penalty.
- No loan rollovers by the lender,
which increase the amount of debt the borrower owes.
By setting some conditions on these
loans, we are trying to protect consumers so they don't get trapped
in a loan they cannot get out of. This is a good plan.
Lawmakers looking at possible
overtime session
The Illinois General Assembly is
scheduled to adjourn Friday, but suffice it to say, we are no closer
to resolving major issues than we were several months ago.
While it can be expected that there
will be differences in opinion, much of the blame for our lack of
progress is an appalling lack of leadership by Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
A governor should lead, should work
to forge compromise, should bring people together. All this governor
does is make wisecracks about family spats and launch one public
relations stunt after another in an attempt to deflect negative
attention from the scandals plaguing his administration.
Illinois is dangerously adrift. Now
in its third year, the Blagojevich administration has yet to
demonstrate that it can run state government in a timely and
efficient manner.
[to top of second column in this article] |
 Lawmakers approve legislation
protecting children
Protecting schoolchildren by
determining if prospective school employees are registered sex
offenders is the aim of legislation approved by Illinois lawmakers.
House Bill 3451 requires each school district or regional
superintendent to check the Statewide Sex Offender Database to
determine if an applicant for employment with a school district is
identified in the database as a sex offender. Current law already
requires each district to screen prospective employees by conducting
fingerprint-based criminal history records checks with the Illinois
State Police.
House Bill 3451 also states that no
school board should knowingly employ a person who has not been
checked against the Statewide Sex Offenders Database.
The bill now moves to the governor
for further consideration.
Illinois Main Street workshops
Illinois Main Street is among the
nation's largest and most successful Main Street programs, with 58
designated communities and an additional 19 towns in our
introductory program. With an emphasis on volunteerism and building
public-private partnerships, Illinois Main Street has helped
revitalize downtown areas across the state.
Illinois Main Street provides a
tiered level of services to fit a variety of each town's needs. Any
community can apply at any time to be an introductory participant. A
competitive application round is necessary to achieve additional
services at the associate and subsequent designated levels. For more
information, visit
Illinois Main
Street on the Web or contact Wendy Bell, Illinois Main
Street program coordinator, at (217) 782-5990.
[From
Sen. Bill Brady]
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