Bill aims to help borrowers break cycle, By Cathy McKitrick, January 8, 2010, Salt Lake Tribune: “At his own insurance agency, Rep. Jim Dunnigan, R-Taylorsville, got a first-hand look at the tactics some payday lenders use to attempt to collect debts at a borrower’s workplace. ‘It got my attention,’ Dunnigan said of the multiple calls to one of his employees — even after Dunnigan had asked them to stop. The lawmaker crafted HB15 to restrict that practice and also to extend a hand to folks who are drowning in debt. His bill, backed by the Legislature’s Business and Labor Committee, would limit loan rollovers to 10 weeks instead of 12. It also would allow borrowers to request extended payment plans to get a handle on their debt. Supporters of the effort, including an industry association, praise HB15 as what could be a significant improvement over current law. But critics denounce it as window dressing…”
Poor fall victim to loan sharks over Christmas spending, January 15, 2010, BBC News: “Some of the UK’s poorest people are starting the new year in severe debt after borrowing from loan sharks to pay for Christmas, a report has said. The Financial Inclusion Centre said 100,000 families had borrowed a total of £29m from illegal moneylenders. The think tank said on average it would take a year to pay the money back as lenders recouped three times the value, with some interest rates up to 1,500%. The average amount borrowed was £288, but the average repayment was £820…”
Governor warns of deep fiscal crisis as he unveils California budget plan, By Evan Halper and Shane Goldmacher, January 9, 2010, Los Angeles Times: “Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger warned Friday that the state remained deep in fiscal crisis and proposed steep reductions in almost every major government program, but many lawmakers quickly dismissed his ideas as stale and vowed to push for alternatives such as tax hikes. His proposal, aimed at closing a $19.9-billion gap, and the response to it foreshadow another year of paralysis in Sacramento as the governor and lawmakers struggle with the latest crippling shortfall. The new budget blueprint — the governor’s last before term limits force him from office — comes after the state’s epic financial problems have already become a target of ridicule around the world. Even after $60 billion in program cuts, tax increases and federal stimulus money over the last year, California’s books are so far out of balance that the state is once again in danger of having to issue IOUs…”
Budget proposal ‘disaster’ for the poor, By Troy Anderson, January 12, 2010, Los Angeles Daily News: “The governor’s proposed state budget could mean a record loss of nearly $4 billion for Los Angeles County, putting hundreds of thousands of needy residents at risk of losing welfare checks, in-home care, health care and other services, officials said Tuesday. ‘It’s very stressful for us when we hear the state budget has a $20 billion shortfall,’ said Gloria Molina, who chairs the Board of Supervisors. ‘We know there is going to be an awful lot of cuts made for many of our services… That is terrifying to all of us.’ Under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget, Molina said, nearly 400,000 county welfare recipients could lose $1 billion in benefits…”
Social services cuts worry Bangor, Portland, By Glenn Adams (AP), January 12, 2010, Bangor Daily News: “Lawmakers expressed horror over proposed cuts in the state program that helps some of the most desperate Mainers on Monday as they began reviewing potential social service cuts recommended by Gov. John Baldacci’s administration. The program is called general assistance and it serves as a last resort for the homeless, the hungry and ‘those out on the street,’ Sen. Joseph Brannigan said during a hearing before two committees assessing numerous cuts. The cuts in Baldacci’s supplemental two-year budget seek to address a $438 million gap between revenues and expenses…”
Health Reform, the States and Medicaid, Editorial, January 9, 2010, New York Times: “The country needs health care reform, and Congress should move quickly to pass legislation. But as House and Senate leaders work to forge a consensus bill for final approval, they should look for ways to lessen the Medicaid burden on hard-pressed state budgets – and ensure that relief is fairly apportioned. One of the important goals is to extend coverage to more low-income Americans. The bills quite sensibly require the states to expand Medicaid and offer them generous federal support to do so. Even then, the states – whose Medicaid budgets are already badly stretched – will have to put up substantial money of their own…”
Wary of health care reform, Gibbons weighs rejecting federal Medicaid funds, By David McGrath Schwartz, January 15, 2010, Las Vegas Sun: “In the latest in a series of conservative policy initiatives released by the Republican governor, Jim Gibbons is considering whether Nevada should drop out of the federal Medicaid program, one of the cornerstone safety net programs that provide health care to the poor, disabled and elderly and that cover thousands of Nevadans. Health and Human Services Director Mike Willden was asked to ‘take a serious look’ at opting out of the massive federal program this week. Triggering the interest is concern about the health care reform bill being debated in Congress, said Stacy Woodbury, Gibbons’ deputy chief of staff. The state has estimated that the federal requirement to expand Medicaid under the bill will cost Nevada $636 million from 2014 to 2019, when the 100 percent federal subsidy in the health care reform bill expires…”
Governor suggests state exit Medicaid, By Ed Vogel, January 15, 2010, Las Vegas Review-Journal: “Gov. Jim Gibbons has asked staff members to explore whether the state can drop out of the Medicaid program, which provides free health care to more than 233,000 Nevadans. A Gibbons spokesman said Thursday that because of the bad economy, the state can no longer cover most Medicaid recipients, though the federal government provides most of the funding. He said things will only get worse if Congress approves the health care bill. Under the health care legislation being considered by a Senate-House conference committee, Nevada would pay an additional $613 million between 2014 and 2019, to provide health care through Medicaid for another 328,000 residents. It would pay no additional Medicaid costs in the three years before 2014. Daniel Burns, the governor’s communications director, said if the idea of dropping Medicaid proves feasible, the state would use its own money to continue to provide care for those who might otherwise be left behind, including the seriously ill and disabled…”
Rising costs make Arizona’s health care program a budget challenge and a political football, By Paul Davenport (AP), January 12, 2010, Los Angeles Times: “Arizona’s Medicaid program has become both a budget headache and a political football, with its costly burgeoning enrollment and the possibility that national health care legislation will add even more red ink on the deficit-plagued state’s bottom line. Enrollment in the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment Program has soared in the past decade, thanks to the recession and an earlier voter-mandated lowering of income eligibility thresholds. One in six Arizonans now is enrolled in AHCCCS, or one of every six state residents…”
