Rent-to-own News - House bill continues momentum

On May 7, three additional members of the U.S. House of Representatives joined a growing list of co-sponsors in support of H.R. 1767 – the Consumer Rental Purchase Agreement Act – bringing total co-sponsorship of the legislation to 89.

 

APRO members are encouraged to continue to communicate and follow up with their Congressional offices to generate even more co-sponsors. The number of co-sponsors is important to show support for legislative movement.

"Typically when a bill has 50 or more co-sponsors that represent both Democrats and Republicans, it shows to Congressional leaders and all members of Congress that the bill has popular appeal," says Richard May, APRO public affairs director. "One hundred co-sponsors is considered a true marker of national grassroots support. We're getting closer, so we need rental dealers to continue to be vigilant in their grassroots communication. Timing is crucial."

Co-sponsorship of a bill is not just a public statement that the member of Congress will vote in favor of the bill, but a public statement to the rest of Congress that the bill needs to be addressed and passed into law. So, typically the greater the number of co-sponsors represents the higher priority a bill should receive from the U.S. Congress.

The bill currently sits in the Financial Institutions and Consumers Credit Subcommittee where H.R. 1767 sponsor Rep. William Lacy Clay is an active member. Any legislative movement on the House side would begin at the subcommittee.

Freshman Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota (6^th district), Democrat Danny Davis (7^th district) and Republican Tim Johnson (15th district), both of Illinois, officially signed on to the bill in the Congressional Record and represent the diverse bipartisan support that the legislation continues to gain in the House.

 

Bachmann, is the first Republican woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Minnesota and she is also a member of the House Financial Services Committee – the committee of jurisdiction for H.R. 1767.

Davis, who represents Chicago's west side, is serving his sixth term in the House, is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus and serves on the Education and Labor and Oversight and Government Reform committees.

Davis voted against favorable rent-to-own legislation in 2002.

Johnson is serving his fourth term in the House and is a member of the Agriculture, Transportation and Infrastructure committees.

The addition of the new co-sponsors this week brings to 27 the number of House supporters recruited since the conclusion of the APRO Legislative Conference in February. These new co-sponsorships are a direct result of the grassroots activism undertaken by rent-to-own dealers and industry supporters in their home districts.

Co-sponsorship for the Senate version of the bill, S. 1012, remains at 21.

mevans@rtohq.org