2007 REPORT CARD  

•  HB 1621: Payday Lending Reform   As you may have seen on the news, I have been a leader in proposing payday lending reform in Virginia.  When I first began to work on this issue, I thought I understood the depth of the problem.  However, the more I see and hear from those who have been caught in a virtually impossible to escape from web of debt, the more convinced I am that significant action is needed to repeal or severely restrict payday lending in Virginia.  This year I was a patron of HB 1621 which was designed to enact the most significant payday leaning reforms in the country.  As the legislative process unfolded, the principles of HB 1621 were included in Senate Bill 1014.  This bill has passed the Senate and I expect it will pass the House.  If signed into law by the Governor, Virginia will now have the most significant payday lending restrictions in the country.  If these reforms do not curtail the debt trap then I will return with even more vigor to introduce legislation to end the payday lending practice in Virginia.

• HB 2189 & Red Light Photo Enforcement   As a result of my discussions with local law enforcement officers, as well as my visit to a photo enforced intersection, I became convinced that photo enforcement is the best way to stop red light running.  As I know you have witnessed, this is a serious problem in Newport News.  In my discussions with the insurance industry I learned that the intersection of Jefferson Avenue and Oyster Point Road is the third most dangerous intersections in Virginia. This year I proposed legislation to allow photo enforcement of intersections in Newport News and I worked with other legislators to resolve the political impasse on this issue. The result was HB 1778, which is a bill that provides statewide photo enforcement of traffic signals.  HB 1778 passed the House and the Senate and I expect the Governor to sign it into law. Now local governments will have the option to have photo enforced intersections.  I hope you will contact the members of the Newport News City Council and ask them to support this traffic enforcement opportunity in Newport News.

• HB 5061 Too Tall Trucks Transportation Special Session (2006)   Late last year during the Special Session, I had one of the few bills that passed that had the sole purpose of reducing congestion in and around the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel.  House Bill 5061 imposed a mandatory fine of $1,000 on trucks that were repeatedly stopping traffic because they were too tall.  This bill also requires a second offense to carry a mandatory $2,500 fine.  One truck company had 57 violations in a (time period).   As a result of this legislation, I have already learned of significant reductions in the number of stoppages at the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel resulting from too tall trucks.  This spring, I will host a meeting with the Virginia Department of Transportation personnel and Virginia State Police Officers to talk about how to better ensure over height trucks are prevented from stopping traffic at the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel.  

• In 2007, Delegate Glenn Oder passed 7 of his 10 bills

For a full listing of Delegate Oder's bills, please click on the link below:

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?071+mbr+H154C