Senate Vote Ushers In New Era in Oversight of Lending Practices New York Times, July 17, 2013 WASHINGTON — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was conceived by a Harvard professor, embraced by the Obama administration and pushed into law by Congressional Democrats determined to expand the federal government’s authority to protect borrowers from abusive lending practices — all in the space of just three years. Richard Cordray was confirmed as the Consumer Financial Pro ...
Tag Archives: News Coverage
Laclede Agrees to Forgo Gas Rate Hike
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 1, 2013 Gas-distribution rates would remain unchanged for Laclede Gas Co. customers under a settlement between the utility and consumer advocates that was submitted to the Public Service Commission on May 31. The St. Louis-based gas utility had sought a $48.4 million rate increase in December that would have raised the typical residential customer bill an average of $4.93 a month. But Laclede said it can live without an increase for now. In ...
Testimony: CCM Cautions St. Louis on Contract for City Water Division
CCM Board Member Renee Marver presented the following testimony before the Public Utilities Committee of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen on Wednesday, July 2: Good evening. My name is Renee Marver. I am a resident of the City of St. Louis and member of the Consumers Council of Missouri Board of Directors. Consumers Council of Missouri is a statewide membership organization that focuses much of its advocacy on protecting utility consumers -- consumers who deserve safe and ad ...
Limiting the 401(k) Finder’s Fee
New York Times, June 22, 2013 Given the speed with which 401(k) accounts have been replacing pensions, workers can only hope that their employers have assembled a low-cost diversified portfolio that will keep earning money over time — perhaps a long time, given the number of people living to their 90s and beyond. It is an employer’s legal duty, after all, to look after their employees’ interest in overseeing the accounts. A series of lawsuits making their way through the c ...
Commentary: Achieving Middle Ground on Medicaid in Missouri Still Possible
By Timothy McBride in the St. Louis Beacon, June 11, 2013 The Missouri legislature closed its 2013 legislative session without resolving what was likely the most important question facing it: whether to adopt the proposal put forward by Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, to expand the Medicaid program to a projected 260,000 uninsured people in Missouri. While a bipartisan solution did not pass, the legislature appointed a committee to consider this question further. Recent signals su ...
Carmakers Throw Up Roadblock to Prevent Rental of Defective Vehicles
Sen. McCaskill's Subcomittee on Consumer Protection Holds Hearing St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 21, 2013 WASHINGTON • After working for two years to get rental car companies on board, safety advocates encountered a new obstacle today to legislation banning rental of recalled vehicles: opposition from car manufacturers. With representatives of Clayton-based Enterprise Holdings looking on, the CEO of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers testified in a Senate hearing that ...
Editorial Urges Veto of Gas Surcharge Bill
Excerpted from St. Louis Post-Dispatch Editorial, May 30, 2013 The Utility Handouts Early in the session, before lawmakers were fully educated on the dangers of single-issue rate-making in the case of monopoly gas and electric utilities, the Missouri Senate passed SB 240, which would do two bad things for consumers. First, it would expand the existing ability of gas utility companies to charge consumers an extra surcharge to pay for underground pipes and other infrastructure. ...
Despite Likely Accord, Gas Hearings Set
Although a tentative agreement on Laclede Gas Co.'s rate case has been reached witht he company, the Public Service Commission staff and the Office of Public Counsel, hearings are still scheduled to be held in the St. Louis Region. Click here for the calendar of hearings. ...
Editorials Decry Legislature Killing Missouri Medicaid Expansion
Capitol Watch: Failure and Inertia in Jefferson City Kansas City Star, May 17, 2013 Missouri Medicaid Expansion Too Important to Die St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 22, 2013 ...
Laclede Gas: Rate Case Settlement Near
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 20, 2013 Laclede Gas Co. has an agreement in principle with the Missouri Public Service Commission staff and Office of Public Counsel to settle its request to boost natural gas rates by $48.4 million. The utility filed notice of the agreement with the PSC on Monday, and said it would “resolve all outstanding matters” in the case. Terms were not disclosed. A formal stipulation and agreement or an update on the status of negotiations with PSC sta ...
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