RTO Legislative Activity - APRO's Legislative Conference

APRO’s 2008 Dave Egan Legislative Conference was held February 11–13 in Washington, D.C., at the L'Enfant Plaza Hotel.

Rental dealers and other industry supporters from around the country met on Capitol Hill to address issues facing the rent-to-own industry. During three days of strategizing, networking and over 350 meetings with elected officials, attendees pushed for federal definition of the rent-to-own transaction as a lease while providing greater protections for their customers.

The federal rent-to-own bills currently active in Congress,  S 1012 in the Senate—sponsored by Senator Mary Landrieu—and HR 1767 in the House of Representatives—sponsored by William Lacy Clay would regulate the rent-to-own industry and define the RTO transaction as a lease. HR 1767 and S 1012 are similar to 47 state rent-to-own statutes but offer greater consumer protections in the areas of price disclosures and reinstatement rights than in 32 states. A House bill with 218 co-sponsors has a majority of the body supporting the bill and it should be able to be passed quickly.  On the Senate side, a bill ideally needs 60 co-sponsors in order to be able to overcome a filibuster threat and get a floor vote by the full Senate.

The momentum toward a federal bill was greatly enhanced during the APRO Legislative Conference as evidenced by a steady increase in the number of House co-sponsorships for HR 1767 and commitment from the Senate for additional S 1012 co-sponsors since the conference. It is imperative in this election year that the rental industry continues to urge members of Congress to pass these bills.

To see a current list of rent-to-own bill co-sponsors, please click here.

For more information about the APRO Legislative Conference, contact Jeannie Hutchison at 800/204-2776, ext. 108.

For more information about the rent-to-own industry’s legislative history and goals, click here to visit APRO’s Congressional Legislative Web site.