Ohio Poverty Law Journal
This week state representatives Mike Foley (D) and Terence Blair (R) introduced House Bill 422 (HB 422)
March 2014It would provide key consumer protections and rate caps for tenant-consumers of electric, natural gas and water service who now obtain electricity from their landlords, mobile home park owners, or third party billers such as submetering companies. The sponsors worked with consumer groups such as the Ohio Poverty Law Center to come up with the […]
Continue ReadingLoan Sharking and Payday Lending
March 2014In the struggle to regulate the short term, small dollar loan industry, one theory regularly pops up. This theory states that if such loans are capped and regulated, violent loan sharks will take the place of legitimate small loan businesses that would not be able to survive under such onerous regulation. The violent loan shark […]
Continue ReadingAtuto Title Lending Can be Detrimental to Consumers – OPLC attorney Linda Cook and other advocates talk about the problems of auto title lending
February 2014Story in the Akron Beacon Journal highlights one woman’s nightmare after being trapped in an auto title loan. OPLC attorney Linda Cook talks about the problems with the business model and consumers not opting out of arbitration. A follow up story has a happy outcome for the borrower who was able to pay off her […]
Continue ReadingIn a letter to the Columbus Dispatch, OSLA excecutive, Tom Weeks, encourages COTA to plan buss routes
February 2014The solution to poverty, which plagues many families in our community, is jobs — good jobs — and public transportation plays a key role in achieving that solution. I hope that as COTA reviews its service map and schedules, it will pay close attention to the needs of reverse commuters going to work from the […]
Continue ReadingMicahel R Smalz’, Senior Attorney, Ohio Poverty Law Center, testimony on H.B. 333 before the House Judiciary Committe
February 2014Mr. Smalz states in his testimony: “OPLC strongly opposes H.B. 333 because it undermines state disability discrimination law and ostensibly undermines the federal ADA, is both overbroad and unnecessary, would reward unscrupulous property owners who intentionally violate disability discrimination laws, and would mislead property owners and business into thinking they have a legal immunity under […]
Continue ReadingOPLC director, Eugene King, spoke on the risks created by recent changes in Ohio’s ABAWD eligibility criteria
February 2014Gene King, director, Ohio Poverty Law Center speaks at a press conference Tuesday at Trinity Episcopal Church on E. Broad St. King and others highlighted a recent Policy Matters report as advocates, religious leaders, private donors and community foundations called on Governor John Kasich to accept the federal waiver that extends to all of Ohio […]
Continue ReadingOhio Supreme Court Will Decide the Future of Payday Lending in Ohio – Or Not
December 2013On December 10, Ohio legal aid advocates, represented by Julie Robie from the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland, participated in an oral argument before the Ohio Supreme Court in the case of Ohio Neighborhood Finance, dba Cashland v. Scott. What is notable about our participation is that legal aid did not represent any party involved […]
Continue ReadingAdvocates Call on Govenor to Waive Food Stamp Work Requirments
December 2013On Tuesday, December 17, OPLC Director Gene King joined other low income advocates in a press conference calling on Governor Kasich to request the available federal waiver that would exempt as many as 134,000 poor Ohioans from program work requirements. To read NBC4i’s news coverage, click here.
Continue ReadingOPLC Cosponsors “Outstanding Warrants Day” in Porstmout, Ohio
December 2013See article from Portsmouth Daily Times here See video and article from WSAZ here
Continue ReadingColumbus Dispatch quotes two OPLC attorneys in commentary on short-term high interest loans
November 2013Jack D’Aurora, regular contributor to the Columbus Dispatch Opinion page, takes on payday and other forms of predatory consumer loans. To read the story, click here.
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