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Policy Matters Ohio

April 2015 Ohio CASH e-news

April 28, 2015

April 2015 Ohio CASH e-news

April 28, 2015

Second Quarter Ohio CASH Meeting

The second Ohio CASH meeting will be at 11 a.m. Thursday, May 21, 2015, and will be held by webinar. The meeting will feature two presentations. Wendy Patton of Policy Matters Ohio will provide an update on the Ohio biennial budget focused on health and human service programs, including the recent Medicaid proposals. There will also be an update on recent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) efforts to regulate payday lending and ways to engage in this important work. Register for the meeting here.

CFPB Starts Rulemaking Process for Payday Lending

On March 26, 2015, the CFPB announced the agency’s initial proposal regulating the payday lending industry.  The proposal allows payday lenders to decide whether they will focus on a borrower’s ability to pay before the loan is made or ensuring the borrower can make payments after the loan is made. The criteria is complex with several “either/or” propositions. Ohio CASH joined other state and national consumer protection advocates in thanking the CFPB for beginning the process to take action, but challenged the agency to mandate that payday lenders consider a borrower’s ability to repay before and after any loans are made.  Read the joint statement from Policy Matters Ohio, Ohio Poverty Law Center, Neighborhood Housing Services of Cleveland and Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio on the CFPB proposal. More details about the proposal will be shared during the May Ohio CASH meeting.

Policy Matters Ohio Releases State EITC Report

Policy Matters and Ohio CASH continue to advocate for a state non-capped, refundable state earned income tax credit for working poor Ohio families. To that end, Policy Matters Ohio released a report , a state fact sheet and state legislative district fact sheets to make the case for an improved credit to policymakers.  The current state EITC is 10 percent of the federal credit, is non-refundable and has an income cap for families that earn $20,000 or more per year.

The report finds that only 7 percent of Ohio families with incomes $19,000 or less will receive any benefit from the current credit. The report also demonstrates that EITC claimants are from diverse racial, educational, employment and geographical backgrounds. The state fact sheet makes the key points for a better EITC policy. A refundable EITC would help children from EITC-claiming families have better health, educational and employment outcomes; provide more tax fairness to low-income families that already pay a larger portion of their income to taxes than higher-income families, and boosts local economies. The district facts sheets give state legislators a snapshot of how the federal credit affects their district and how a refundable state credit would help their constituents even more. This year alone, the Toledo Blade and Akron Beacon Journal, have called for a state refundable EITC.

Building Financial Capability Guide and Webinar

The Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) recently released Building Financial Capability: A Planning Guide for Integrated Services, an interactive guide to help a wide range of community-based and social-service organizations integrate financial capability services into their existing programs (e.g., housing, workforce development or Head Start). The Guide contains 13 interactive tools — divided into four sections— that walk organizations step-by-step through the process of developing an integration plan. A webinar will be Wednesday, April 29, from 3:30 - 5 pm about how to use tools to develop a deeper understanding of a clients’ current financial capability and how to support them in becoming more financially stable. Register for the webinar.

We’re on Twitter!

Ohio CASH has a presence on Twitter and regularly “tweets” on local, state and national news on family financial stability topics. Follow us at @OhioCASH

Share Your News

Do you have any upcoming events, articles or news you would like to share with other Ohio CASH partners? Send it to Kalitha (kwilliams@policymattersohio.org) and she’ll add it to the next E-news.

Mark your calendars for upcoming Ohio CASH meeting webinars scheduled for 11 a.m. on May 21,  August 20 and November 19.

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