Mid-Session Legislative Update: Child Care Licensing and Predatory Lending Reform

Bills on two important issues for women and families have cleared committees with favorable votes. Now the Alabama Senate must pass them.

Please take a few minutes to call your state senators and urge them to VOTE YES on:

HB 76 (child care safety)SB 138 (“30 Days to Pay” – predatory lending reform)

Child care safety

Women in Alabama deserve access to safe care for their children.

However, almost half of the state’s roughly 1,900 child care centers are exempt from licensing and minimum standards because they claim an affiliation with a church or nonprofit religious school.

Too many of Alabama’s youngest children have died or been injured in unregulated child care centers, including a 5-year-old boy just last summer.

This bill has already passed the Alabama House so we are close to a victory in 2018!

Please call your state senator and tell them to VOTE YES on HB 76 to strengthen oversight of faith-based child care centers.

Predatory lending reform

SB 138 is a common-sense bill that would ease financial pressure on struggling families and put payday loans on the same repayment cycle as other debts, such as mortgages, utilities and credit cards.

By increasing the repayment period to 30 days, the bill would effectively lower the maximum APR to from 456 percent to about 220 percent.

Please call your state senator and ask them to VOTE YES on SB 138, the “30 Days to Pay” bill.

Click here to find your state senator’s contact info.