A year ago, legislators and foes of the payday loan industry celebrated as House Bill 545 -- which slashed the lenders' allowable annualized percentage rates from 391 percent to 28 -- was signed into law by Gov. Ted Strickland.
Payday lenders in Richland County and throughout Ohio largely remain in business by operating under old laws.
"They're getting around the law using old statutes that were never designed for this kind of lending," said Bill Faith, Executive Director of the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio. "It's the same kind of product as payday lending was."
I think an investigation is in order to see how these lenders are ignoring the law. If individuals were breaking laws, we'd certainly get caught and have to pay for it. How are these predatory lenders able to survive without obeying the law? It might be time for a statewide investigation.
**** Democratic Rep. John Boccieri (OH-16) is taking a leadership role to improve aviation safety.
Aviation Week:
...In a May 13 letter to Colgan Air President George Casey, Rep. John Boccieri (D-Ohio) emphasized that the carrier deserves “a significant amount of scrutiny regarding its policies and practices.” Boccieri asked for a rundown of company policies as well as an extensive report of the minimum flight time requirements.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) Airline Division and the Business Travel Coalition (BTC) have joined forces in petitioning Congress to adopt a “coherent” national air transportation policy and set a single regulatory standard for all carriers.
The current regional airline model comes under fire in the IBT/BTC’s joint analysis of the Colgan Air accident in which 50 people died. The analysis notes that regionals operate more than half of all commercial aviation departures, which are expected to increase to 268 million in 2025 from 154 million this year.....
Boccieri's work in aviation will help improve safety which had been ignored for far too long.