Even with thousands of bills on the docket, each year there are always a few that consume much of the General Assembly’s time and attention. For reasons every Northern Virginian can appreciate, transportation funding has been the dominant of such issues. However, payday lending, Dominion’s proposed transmission line from West Virginia to Northern Virginia, and the re-regulation of the electricity utilities industry are other key issues we have been working on and about which hundreds of constituents have contacted me.
In 2002, the General Assembly passed the Virginia Payday Loan Act, which made it legal for lenders to offer easy access, short-term loans at extremely high interest rates — in some cases as high as 390 percent APR. In theory, these loans fill an occasional emergency need for people living paycheck to paycheck. However, the majority of Virginians who use payday loans take out more than a dozen a year, trapping them into a cycle of long-term debt. Therefore, I have supported efforts this year to require payday lenders to abide by the same interest rate restrictions as banks, credit unions, and other lenders, effectively repealing the law that brought this practice to Virginia.
Last week, I finally had the opportunity to vote on legislation addressing payday loans. While the bill would limit the number of simultaneous payday loans one customer may take out, I was not persuaded that this would effectively prevent people from spiraling into unrecoverable debt. Therefore, I voted against the bill. Some of my colleagues voted for the bill believing that at least it represented some reform. The bill passed, and now Governor Kaine, who shares my concerns about payday lending, will have an opportunity to amend it and make it stronger. You can count on my support for that effort.
I have heard from a great many constituents on both sides of Dominion’s proposal to build a long-range transmission line along a route that crosses some of Northern Virginia’s most scenic and historically significant areas. To the extent that this move helps our fight against the Mirant Plant by undermining Mirant’s claim that it is critical for energy reliability in our area, I am not opposed a new transmission line. However, as a committed environmentalist, I expressed to Dominion my grave concerns about the routing of the line. I was even prepared to vote for a bill that would have forced Dominion to compensate landowners for the loss of view associated with the line, but that bill never made it to a full vote on the House floor. The good news is that Dominion changed course and has agreed to route the line along one of its existing rights of way.
Given our proximity to Maryland and last year’s shocking headlines about the effects of electricity utilities deregulation there, it is no wonder that many constituents have expressed concern about how Virginia will address that issue. Fortunately, Maryland’s experience was a wakeup call to us, so we are working on a solution to re-regulate electricity utilities in a way that will protect consumers.
My overriding concern with re-regulation is that we protect consumers from the massive and unexpected rate increases experienced in Maryland. There are two plans on the table right now, and a conference committee is working to reconcile the differences. One plan provides some protection to consumers by guaranteeing that electricity rates will not increase more than inflation plus two percent. The other plan is a bit stronger, guaranteeing that rates will note increase more than inflation. In other words, if that plan passes, your electricity bill will not increase any more than the price of your groceries. This is an issue I am following closely, and I will only vote for a final plan that includes strong consumer protections.
With the session coming to a close, the Republican leadership in both the House and the Senate still cannot agree with each other on a long-term funding solution for transportation. Thanks to pressure from those of us who voted against the House plan because of its quarter-billion dollar raid on general fund money for education, human services, and public safety, the Senate amended that plan to protect the general fund. I voted in favor of that amended compromise when it cam back to the House, but House Republicans rejected it. I am still hopeful that we will arrive at some solution, but time is running out, and Republican leaders continue the internal bickering that has stalled the process for two years.
As always, if you want to express your opinion about these or any other issues, or if I can be of service in any way, you can contact me at DelDEnglin@house.state.va.us, 702-549-3203, or 804-698-1045.
