McDonnell chose to repeal the provision claiming that it overstepped the bounds of his office to grant protections the VA General Assembly had not yet granted.  This act of cowardice is nothing more than a naked political move to appease his Evangelical Christian base.   Its ironic that a 21 year veteran of the United States Army would shy away from the opportunity to exercise leadership, and move his administration,  his state, and his party to the right side of history.

Enacting protections for people fearing discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation does not create any ‘new rights’ or overstep the limits of his authority.  Instead, it is a basic recognition of our equality before the law.  That’s why Virginia’s previous governors, Democrats Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, explicitly included that language to signal that Virginia has come a long way from the days of out- and-out de facto and de jure discrimination.

Where McDonnell’s action is particularly insidious is that it removes protections against discrimination that have been in place for years.  That is a declaration that LGBTQ citizens are second-class and not worthy of the respect and commitment that a government should display toward its citizens.

Rep. Stephen Webber Speaks on The Floor of the Missouri House

In Missouri, fortunately, we have leaders who will stand up and do the right thing.  One of those is Stephen Webber, (D-23 Columbia), himself an Iraq War veteran, and his bill, HB 1850. Despite having 52 Co-Sponsors,  including another Columbia Rep., Mary Still, the bill has not been scheduled for a hearing yet.  The Republican majority is blocking this every step of the way.

It is because I believe that every citizen has the right to be fairly represented and protected by their government that I ask you to call or write your state Representative or Senator in support of State Representative Stephen Webber’s (D-MO 23) bill in the Missouri house prohibiting discrimination based upon a person’s sexual orientation.  The bill is HB 1850 and with your help,  we can advance this most important cause and lead our state to a better tomorrow.

Mary Still works on Regulating Pay Day Lenders (photo credit: Anne Shifley)

State Rep. Mary Still, D-Columbia, has filed a new payday reform bill (HB 2116) with 71 sponsors. I previously covered a hearing sponsored by Representative Still here in Columbia on the issue, noting that there are some benefits to the existence of unsecured loan providers, though abuses remain common.

It seems that Representative Still’s bill provides some of the architecture necessary to provide legal protections for consumers. Key parts:

• Lenders may not charge interest in excess of the simple rate of 36% nor may they charge any fees greater than $25 per loan
• Caps the number of unsecured loans lenders may make to people to 1; lenders are also prohibited from making loans to customers who have paid off an unsecured loan in the last two weeks
• Changes the term structure of unsecured loans from a minimum period of 2 weeks and a maximum period of a month (RsMo 408.505) to allowing borrowers a minimum of 90 days to repay the loan. Lenders are obligated to amortize payments for a 90 day schedule.

The arguments against regulating payday lenders are fairly simple and worth addressing: people are sufficiently rational in obtaining emergency financing and that regulation of the payday loan business inevitably crushes the industry. However, these arguments neglect an important nuance: poor people and minorities are typically politically weak, meaning that they have great difficulty accessing legal remedies that are available to otherwise average consumers. Under that premise, even rational consumers can be victimized by unscrupulous lenders. The problems poor people are likely to face (lack of education, access to transportation, health problems, etc) are also often likely to exacerbate financial distress particularly when people are locked in on a revolving cycle of high-interest loans.

More importantly, claims about tinkering with the free market and the knee-jerk conservative arguments against regulation do not address a more fundamental issue of market failure: most banking institutions do not offer banking services in areas where there are high numbers of poor people and minorities. This means that under-regulated payday loan providers currently fill a gap that should be filled by traditional banking providers, who are more efficient because of the greater range of services they provide.

Hence I urge your support on this issue and ask that you contact your state representative or senator to show your support on this issue.

There are some deeper issues here and hopefully Representative Still’s efforts to regulate the payday loan industry will provide a focal point for continued reform of our financial system. Some specifics include the failure of ordinary banking institutions to provide financial services for poor people and minorities, the tendency of large banks like Bank of America to gouge consumers with overdraft fees, and how we ought to empower groups that are politically weak.