General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., June 18, 2014
The most DIY Edition ever. I almost never have to go to work this early. But, today I do. It’s up to you, dear readers to provide content, snark, context, and that je ne sais quoi that I bring. Here are the raw materials I work with on a daily basis:
Tuesday’s Session Activity Report
Today’s Senate Committee Meetings
Today’s House Committee Meetings
That should be 1200 words, easy. Without even checking the news outlets for additional legislative news, which I usually do.
There’s all kinds of juicy stuff in there, pipples. Show me what you’ve got. You could well earn a spot as a fill-in correspondent. I’ll pay you twice what I make per article. Channel your inner El Somnambulo. I promise, for once, nothing but positive feedback. Would I lie to you?
Cub reporters, bring me the big scoop! Great Caesar’s Ghost!
Without clicking on those links, I’m going to say that someone is proud of his/her bill to add an additional $10.00 to fines for crimes against Veterans and/or Old Ladies.
Check out HB 410, introduced yesterday: It would abolish Newark’s alderman’s court, a ham-fisted attempt to blackmail the city into accepting the power plant.
410 came out of nowhere… someone was sniffing gas. Just when many of us are succeeding in our efforts to elevate unions out of the smokiness of thuggery, they go right back and put that cloak right back on…
I would imagine a Republican block of votes in favor of this proposal for if it were to pass, Newark’s majority would flip from blue to red…
Losing your Alderman’s court over 248 megawatts?
This is the best thing that could have happened to Greenville’s elite this decade……
This is just plain stupid…. Really. No other word for it. It blemishes unions in the eyes of the public and for all those listening to why we need unions, it sends a signal that Republicans were right… We don’t need unions; not when they act like this… The rank and file union people just got sold out by their leadership… Unions, get the old farts out. Time to put young turks in….
No one over 40 should be running a union…..
HB 286 is a bad bill. It will be voted on today by the Senate Judiciary Committee. This “lets have the state of Delaware intercept your tax refund to pay a debt you may not owe” bill is an example of how our system is broken.
Call state senators on the Judiciary Committee and let them know how you feel.
Senate Republicans 302 744 – 4214
Senate Democrats 302 744 – 4286
• HB 286 gives debt collectors a pass to utilize tax refunds to satisfy debt, including illegitimate debt that consumers may not owe.
• The debt collection industry is a rapidly expanding business, with revenue increasing up to 600 percent between 2003 and 2012. Private companies buy billions of dollars of charged-off debt from banks each year. The most common type of debt purchased comes from credit cards, but debt buyers also buy student loans, medical debt and more.
• As the industry has grown, abuses and illegal — predatory — practices have proliferated. Companies are using abusive and unlawful methods to collect on debt — too often on debt that the targeted consumers do not even owe.
• Here are the facts:
o In the U.S., more than 1 in 7 adults is being pursued by debt collectors. The average amount of debt is $1500.
o In 2013, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) received over 200,000 complaints about debt collection—the highest number of complaints on any topic other than identity theft.
o According to an FTC analysis, only 6 percent of debt accounts purchased by some of the largest debt buyers in 2009 came with any documentation.
o Overwhelmed courts make the problem worse by awarding judgments to debt buyers based on false, forged, or misleading information.
• While consumers should be responsible for legitimate debts, predatory collection on erroneous debts is unfair—and it means less money for saving and spending.
• HB 286 will carve out a vessel for abusive debt collectors to attach frivolous judgments and seize tax refunds from hard working Delaware families.
• Illegal debt collection hits lower-income and older Americans particularly hard.
• Many consumers are financially vulnerable to predatory debt collection practices, but low-income Americans in particular cannot afford illegal or inflated payments , or job loss or other non-financial harms.
• The elderly may be even more vulnerable – Fifty percent of seniors face debt collection, and may pay debts they do not owe or have already paid out of fear, a sense of honor, or because they do not have the paperwork to show they already paid the debt.
New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced recently that his office has secured settlements of $16M with two major debt collectors who he says were bringing improper debt collection actions against New York consumers and continuing to collect on default judgments after the state changed relevant rules in 2010. This further demonstrates the magnitude and national attention given to this issue – http://www.insidearm.com/daily/debt-buying-topics/debt-buying/two-huge-debt-buyers-to-vacate-16-million-in-judgments-in-ny-ag-action/
Here “OCC slams Chase debt collection,” September 19, 2013, about lawsuits and sales of credit card debts with numerous errors:
http://www.bankrate.com/financing/credit-cards/occ-slams-chase-debt-collection/
The FTC’s 2010 report, “Repairing A Broken System: Protecting Consumers in Debt Collection Litigation and Arbitration,”
http://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2010/07/ftc-issues-report-reforming-debt-collection-litigation-and
Here’s a new study by the Center for Responsible Lending on debt collection.
http://www.responsiblelending.org/state-of-lending/debt-collection/
Here’s the latest update on the DE bill.
http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis147.nsf/vwLegislation/HB+286?Opendocument
Bill:
http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis147.nsf/vwLegislation/HB+286/$file/legis.html?open
Amendments:
http://www.legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis147.nsf/vwLegislation/HA+1+to+HB+286/$file/legis.html?open
http://www.legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis147.nsf/vwLegislation/HA+1+to+HA+1+to+HB+286/$file/legis.html?open
Thank God for Bennett and HB 260, which seeks to criminalize revenge porn. Anthony Weiner is moving to Delaware.