Note: Women In Government provides sample legislation as an educational resource, and does not endorse any specific piece of legislation.

To recommend sample legislation for this page, contact the Family Economic Success Resource Center.

Asset Building and Financial Literacy 

• Pennsylvania HB 101. Introduced in 2009. Amends the Public School Code of 1949. Provides for development of economic education and personal financial literacy programs. Establishes the Economic Education and Personal Financial Literacy Fund for private and public schools.

• Illinois SB 2387/Public Act No. 95-863. Introduced in 2008. Amends the School Code. Adds homeownership, including the basic process of obtaining a mortgage and the concepts of fixed and adjustable rate mortgages, subprime loans, and predatory lending, as part of the financial literacy component of consumer education for public school pupils.

• Connecticut SB 248. Introduced in 2006. Provides funds to a non-profit human services agency for an asset building program. In the Committee on Planning and Development.

• Georgia HB 1441. Introduced in 2006. Provides for income exclusions and tax credits with respect to individual development accounts and increases independence of low-income households through asset building program.

• Washington HB 1408/SB 5469. Introduced in 2005. Savings, Earning, and Enabling Dreams Act (SEED Act) that develops an individual development accounts program for low-income individuals.

• Washington HB 3156. Introduced in 2006. Creates a pilot program to assist in asset building for low-income individuals.

• National Conference of State Legislatures, 50-state chart tracks pending and enacted financial literacy legislation for 2009

Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)

• Illinois HB 2319. Introduced in 2009. Amends the Illinois Income Tax Act. Makes a technical correction in a Section concerning the short title.

• Washington SB 6809. Introduced in 2008. Provides a tax exemption for working families measured by the federal earned income tax credit. Signed by the Governor in April 2008.

• State EITC, list of more than 30 state EITC bills from throughout the country

Home Mortgages and Foreclosures

• Arkansas SB 396/ Act 661. Introduced in 2009. Creates the State Housing Trust Fund; creates a housing trust fund advisory committee; provides for the administration of the fund by the State Development Finance Authority; specifies that the fund shall be used for eligible activities including rehabilitation of rental housing, rental assistance, and housing and foreclosure counseling.

• Michigan HB 4453 / Act 29. Introduced in 2009. Provides that a party may foreclose on a mortgage by advertisement under certain circumstances; provides that a party may not foreclose by advertisement if notice has not been mailed to the mortgagor, the time for a housing counselor to notify the party of a request by the mortgagor has not expired, the mortgagor has requested a meeting or both parties have agreed to modify the mortgage loan and the mortgagor is not in default.

• Michigan HB 4454/ Act 30. Introduced in 2009. Provides that before foreclosing, the mortgagor shall provide written notice to the borrower that contains the reason the loan is in default, information concerning the mortgagor, a list of housing counselors and the borrowers rights; provides that the borrower may contact a housing counselor and meet with the mortgagor.
   

• Michigan HB 4455 / Act 31. Introduced in 2009. Creates a mediation program for mortgages of certain residential properties that are in default; provides that if a borrower has contacted a housing counselor but an agreement has not been reached, then a housing counselor shall work to determine if the borrower qualifies for a loan modification; provides that a mortgagor may not foreclose if the borrower qualifies for a loan modification unless the borrower does not accept the modification.
   

• Michigan HB 4596 / Act 72. Introduced in 2007. Provides for the registration of mortgage loan officers; creates a special fund for the registration fees from the registration of mortgage loan professionals.
   

• Michigan HB 5287 / Act 59. Introduced in 2007. Revises compensation provisions regarding the regulation and registration of mortgage loan officers.
   

• National Conference of State Legislatures, 50-state chart tracks pending and enacted foreclosure legislation for 2009

Pay Disparity

• Pennsylvania HB 44. Introduced in 2009. Directs the Joint State Government Commission to study the issue of workplace pay disparity, to reexamine existing Federal and State laws relating to that issue and to make recommendations to the General Assembly.

• Michigan House Bill 4609. Introduced in 2005. Requires equal compensation for comparable work.

• California A.J.R. 66. Introduced in 2003. Proclaims April 20, 2004 as Equal Pay Day.  Urges Congress to protect the right of women in the United States to recieve equal pay for equal work and to prevent wage discrimination based on gender.

Predatory Lending/Payday Lending

• Illinois SB 1435, House Amendment 1. Introduced in 2009. Amends the Consumer Installment Loan Act. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning a license required to engage in the business of making loans of money in a principal amount not exceeding $ 25,000.

• Illinois HB 3901. Introduced in 2009. Amends the Payday Loan Reform Act. Changes the definition of "payday loan" to include any loan with a finance charge exceeding an annual percentage rate of 36%. Deletes a provision that a specified charge is considered fully earned as of the date on which the loan is made. Provides that no lender may make a payday loan with installment payments unless the installment payments are substantially equal term payments, and when a consumer repays a payday loan in full before its due date, the lender shall rebate. 

• Rhode Island SB 2851. Introduced in 2006. Rhode Island Home Loan Protection Act that protects borrowers from predatory lending practices.

• Georgia HB 808. Introduced in 2005. The Georgia Predatory Lending Prevention Act.

• Illinois HB 4050. Creates the predatory lending database pilot program.

 Workforce Development

• Maryland HB 644. Introduced in 2009. Establishes a State Apprenticeship Training Fund in the Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation in the State of Maryland. The bill was signed into law on May 19, 2009. The purpose of the fund is to promote pre-apprenticeship programs and other workforce development programs in the State’s public secondary schools and community colleges. The programs should prepare students to enter apprenticeship training programs. The fund’s revenues consist of payments made by contractors and penalties collected due to violations of the bill’s provisions. This bill requires contractors and some subcontractors on public works contracts that are subject to the prevailing wage law to either participate in an apprenticeship training program or contribute to the fund.

• Texas HB 1935/Chapter No. 654. Introduced in 2009. Creates the Jobs and Education for Texans Grant Program; provides grants to junior colleges, public technical institutes, and nonprofit organizations; prepares low-income students for occupations, defrays the costs of new career and technical education programs and provides scholarships for students in career and technical education programs; creates the Green Job Skills Development Fund and Training Program; provides that a portion of the development fund must serve unemployed and low income persons.
   

• Texas HB 2169/ Chapter No. 1289. Introduced in 2009. Relates to additional job incentive programs by the Workforce Commission using the Skills Development Fund to create incentives for partnerships with public community and technical colleges and employers to provide workforce training; provides for commitment of money to a prospective employer contingent on the employer's establishment of a place of business in this state.

• Texas HB 394/Chapter No. 1254. Introduced in 2008. Provides for the use of the moneys in the Texas Enterprise Fund to benefit small businesses.
   

Last updated: September 2009