This year's batch of legislation gives consumer advocates more hope than they've had recently.
Part of the reason is the recession's toll has made lawmakers sensitive to financial pressures faced by their constituents. Most legislators feel the pressure personally, especially those with failing businesses of who have been laid off themselves.
Sen. Ed Tarver, D-Augusta, chaired a one-time committee set up to study the issue of bankruptcy last year. And in June, the Senate Banking Committee, chaired by Sen. Bill Hamrick, R-Carrollton, heard testimony about foreclosure-rescue companies and the need for laws protecting consumers from scams.
"Poor loan-underwriting practices resulted in too many unstable and risky loans, such as adjustable-rate mortgages that ended up in default," according to the Senate Research Office.
While consumer groups applaud the legislation Hamrick sponsored, they were frustrated by other bills dealing with Georgia Power Co. rates and health insurance.
"It's a mixed bag," said Allie Wall, executive director of the Georgia Watch, consumer-advocacy lobby.
Here are some of the bills consumer groups have been monitoring:
Foreclosure reforms
Hamrick sponsored Senate Bill 57 and SB 146. The first requires loan brokers to make sure borrowers can repay the mortgage and prohibits brokers from getting bonuses for marketing high-interest loans. SB 146 requires quicker processing of property deeds so that homeowners trying to sell to avoid foreclosure won't still get foreclosed on if a county clerk takes too long. Another Hamrick bill, SB 140, died in committee that would have ensured that tenants in a building subject to foreclosure are notified and given a limited amount of time to move out.
"We really appreciate the willingness of the Senate Republican Caucus to exert leadership in foreclosure reform," Wall said.
Even though a majority of the full Senate voted for both bills that passed with tougher banking provisions, too many of the senators had a conflict of interest, according to Sen. Vincent Fort, D-Atlanta.
"It is troubling that so many legislators who have banking interests were voting on bills about banking and abusive lending," he said.
Electricity ratepayers
The House and Senate passed SB 31 which gives the utility the ability to charge its customers a higher rate to recover some of the cost of financing two reactors at Plant Vogtle near Waynesboro, while they are under construction, a departure from current practice with power plants in Georgia. Consumer groups warned that construction costs could soar with the company being able to pass the increases along to customers, but company executives say they need the steady income to assure investors who will supply the upfront money for construction.
Sen. Tommie Williams, R-Lyons, used his pull as Senate president pro tem to attach an amendment that gives the Georgia Public Service Commission the jurisdiction for determining which expenses are legitimate in passing on to customers.
However, House Bill 568 drew the ire of consumer advocates by changing the commission's practice of rotating the chairmanship just as Commissioner Bobby Baker is due for his turn. Baker often sides with consumer groups in voting against utility requests. HB 568 initially failed on the House floor but was reconsidered with House Speaker Glenn Richardson breaking the tie for it to pass.
"House Bill 568 has the potential to create a permanent PSC chairman, otherwise known as a dictator," Wall said.
Health insurance
Williams suffered a defeat when he tried to pass SB 161, Ava's Law, that would have forced insurance plans to cover autism the same as any other illness. Named for Williams' great niece, the bill was heavily lobbied by the parents of autistic children who were for it and the Georgia Chamber of Commerce who was against it for fear it would boost insurance premiums.
Ava's Law made it to the Senate floor Thursday but was tabled.
Another measure didn't get that far. SB 182 would have extended from three to 18 months the period in which a laid-off worker could buy group health insurance from the former employer. The federal stimulus package enacted last month subsidizes 65 percent of the premium for nine months, but the state extension failed in the Senate Insurance and Labor Committee.
Since neither the state nor the employer would have to cough up funds for the bill, it's failure puzzled many consumer advocates.
"It doesn't cost them anything," said Larry Pellegrini, lobbyist for the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights.
The adult children who don't have their own health insurance could benefit from SB 94, which has passed the Senate. It would allow them to remain on their parents' policies until age 25.
Currently, they are only covered if they are enrolled in college.
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