Weekly Report

Another week of stalled negotiations concerning our ELL problem. While the Governor sent what she called a compromise, there really wasn't much changed from her previous positions.

In the meantime, the latest controversy is her veto of a portion of the pay raise for state employees passed by the legislature. Using the excuse that considering new hires at Pay Level 24 and above (about $44,000/year) who were to be classified as non-covered employees might accrue vacation time at a greater rate than covered employees and would therefore cost the state more money, she used the line-item veto power over appropriations to strike that part. Both the House and Senate passed resolutions authorizing the Speaker and President to act for both bodies to sue the Governor over her ability to stretch her authority in this way. Should this effort fail, it is fair to say that the Governor will be able to line-item just about anything she wants, as almost everything we do can conceivably be tied to a money issue in some way. In the meantime, the raises will go into effect, and that is important for our employees.

The day to day work of the legislature goes on. In the Financial Institutions and Insurance committee we have listened for two meetings to testimony concerning HB2498, which deals with reforms to the "payday lending" industry. Their business is growing rapidly, as anyone can see from the number of stores that are popping up. But increasingly there are stories of abuses by some of these companies. People who use their service find themselves locked into a cycle of paying only the service charges, never reducing the principal owed, and taking out loans from more that one company at a time (which is not supposed to happen). We are trying to work out reforms that will allow these companies to continue operating, yet protect those who are in need of short term loans and cannot get them from traditional sources. This Monday, the bill was held again at the request of the sponsor while negotiations continue.

I really enjoyed my visit to Meadview last Friday. I was surprised to find that there are so many community organizations in such a small town, all very active and involved. I was warmly received, and you can be sure I will be visiting again.

Until next week,

Nancy