Finally, a rare moment of bipartisan accomplishment in this year's contentious, rancorous General Assembly session that ends tomorrow (not counting a likely special session on transportation this spring):
State legislators agreed Thursday to the nation's most stringent reforms of the payday loan industry in hopes of reducing the cycle of debt for financially strapped customers who repeatedly take out high-interest, short-term loans.[...]
The bill limits borrowers to one loan at a time, restricts how many they can get in a year and provides them more time to repay the money. Borrowers who take out cash advances against their paychecks would not pay annual interest rates of more than 36 percent, although other fees would increase.
The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 37 to 2 and, later, the House by 91 to 9. Negotiations continued minutes before the votes.
The bills will be sent to Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D), who has made regulating the payday loan industry a priority. He has 30 days to review the proposal.
Is this bill perfect? Of course not, but "legislators said it was the best deal they could come up with after failing to agree to anything in previous legislative sessions." A "step in the right direction," in other words. That's a lot more than has been achieved in other areas so far this year. Congratulations.