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	<title>Andy Coulouris's podcast.</title>
	<link>http://095.housedems.com/podcasts/</link>
	<description>Andy Coulouris's podcast.</description>
	<pubDate>Mon, 10 Mar 2008 10:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
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	<item>
	<title>Fighting Predatory Lending</title>
	<link>http://095.housedems.com/podcast/listen/fighting-predatory-lending/296</link>
	<pubDate>Mon, 10 Mar 2008 10:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
	<category>Podcasts</category>
	<guid isPermaLink="true">http://095.housedems.com/podcast/listen/fighting-predatory-lending/296</guid>
	<description><![CDATA[I'm really happy to be serving as Chair of the House Banking and Financial Services Committee this session, in particular, because the predatory lending and the foreclosure crisis that's just rocking our state is such a big deal and so important to my constituents that I'm happy to be sort of in a position of power to affect change in this issue. And so what we have in my committee right now is a package of bills that is designed in sort of a forward-looking way, making sure that predatory lenders can't ply their trade in Michigan. We've seen it in the past and we know that predatory lending has contributed to the housing crisis in Michigan and in Saginaw so far. We don't want that to happen again. What we've seen in the past is lenders who give mortgages to people that they know that the borrow can't repay. They know that the borrower is failed from the start. And the tricks of the trade, so to speak are buried in the mortgages that they sell. And so someone takes out a mortgage, happy that they only have a $300 or $400 mortgage payment, and they can afford that, but after a year their mortgage rate goes up to to say $1,500 or $1,800 or $2,000 and all of sudden, they've got to give up their house. 

 Now this is one of those issues, from a consumer standpoint, the cost of doing nothing, the cost of not confronting predatory lenders is too high because look up and down the streets in my community and you'll see many houses that are on the market, not because someone wanted to move, not because someone wanted to sell their house, but because they were snookered into taking out a mortgage that they couldn't afford and now they're having to give up their property, give up their home, because it's in foreclosure. 

 These families are forced to find another place to live, if they can afford one, find a way to repair their credit, and find a way to put a house and roof over their family's head. It's absolutely devastating communities. We want a fair playing field and we don't want a system that allows unscrupulous lenders to take advantage of citizens and consumers. So I'm really excited to be working on this package I think that this is going to really change the playing field in Michigan to make it more consumer-friendly. 

 ]]></description>
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	<item>
	<title>Legislation to Protect Secretary of State Branches</title>
	<link>http://095.housedems.com/podcast/listen/legislation-to-protect-secretary-of-state-branches/297</link>
	<pubDate>Mon, 10 Mar 2008 10:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
	<category>Podcasts</category>
	<guid isPermaLink="true">http://095.housedems.com/podcast/listen/legislation-to-protect-secretary-of-state-branches/297</guid>
	<description><![CDATA[Many of my constituents know we've been active on saving the Secretary of State branch office that's located in Buena Vista Township just outside the City of Saginaw. We got some good news earlier in the year after a long fight. We had many approaches to trying to convince the Secretary of State to keep that office open and she denied us each time. We had a hearing here in the House Appropriations Committee and I brought down several vanloads of constituents and it was fantastic experience both for them and for me because, you know, we were speaking to "truth to power" as they say and it was sort of an exciting moment.

 Unfortunately, the Secretary of State refused to hear us and so we continued to rally in the community and I tried hard to fight the battle in the budget and was somewhat successful in that respect. But what we wanted to do was find a long-term solution to the problem. In the meantime we got a really favorable decision from the U.S. Department of Justice who came in and said that because of BV's Township status, as a Section 5 community under the Voting Rights Act, that the Secretary of State cannot take away from the citizen's of that community, their access to the Secretary of State's branch office because that's where they go to register to vote, potentially and so that was a big win for us. But, I see this as a broader policy dispute with the Secretary and many in our state who continue to abandon the core communities in Michigan. I represent one of the poorest communities, overall, in the state. The urban core of Saginaw County has an exceedingly high rate of poverty, of child poverty, of access to basic government services. And what we've seen over the years is, even government, not just business, but government has begun to ignore the urban cores in Michigan. And so fighting the Secretary of State issue is really taking a stand in that broader fight and saying, "Enough is Enough". We should be putting the bricks and mortar of government, we should be putting those basic core services. You know, I think that anyone would say that the Government agency or department that they interface with most over the course of their life would be the Secretary of State. That should be in the backyards of the people who may not have a car to travel across town, who are older, and poorer and more in need of the basic services, don't have internet access so that they can get online and interface with the Secretary of State in that way. 

 I want to see the Secretary of State take the same approach that the Governor is calling on all state departments to take and that is to retrench, to rebuild in our urban core communities. To help with the revitalization of Michigan's cities. I think it's a tremendous stand that the Governor has taken and so what we want to do, is make sure that the Secretary of State has to take the same stand. 

 I've introduced a bill that would require the Secretary of State to locate branch offices in communities, in cities, that have a population of 60,000 or more. Now, that would include the City of Saginaw and the City of Kalamazoo. Pontiac, I think, is also struggling to keep their Secretary of State office. But it's amazing to me that a city like Pontiac and a city like Kalamazoo, even, wouldn't have a Secretary of State branch office within the city limits. I think that that's sort of a bizarre thing. So what we've done with this legislation is change the law to require her to locate one. Now, the Secretary of State, as it stands, has to locate a branch office in each county. What we're saying is, within those counties, if you've got a city of 60,000 people, you've got to have one. Now we want to create a little bit of leeway for her to accomodate townships like Buena Vista so we've said in the legislation that if you have one of the Section 5, Voting Rights Act communities like Buena Vista and, by the way, there are only 2 in the State of Michigan, if you have one of those communities adjacent to a city of 60,000 or more people, then it would be perfectly fine to locate the branch office in that township. We want to certain create some leeway for that.

 I think it's about time that government reinvests in its cities and if we're going to go and tout cool cities, and if we're going to tell the world that we're a great place to do business, and to live and to raise a family, you've got to shore up your cities and this is just another way to get government in on that act.

 ]]></description>
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	<item>
	<title>Protecting Homeownership for Families</title>
	<link>http://095.housedems.com/podcast/listen/protecting-homeownership-for-families/295</link>
	<pubDate>Mon, 10 Mar 2008 09:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
	<category>Podcasts</category>
	<guid isPermaLink="true">http://095.housedems.com/podcast/listen/protecting-homeownership-for-families/295</guid>
	<description><![CDATA[I was happy to be part of a package, it was bi-partisan, both House and Senate were participating in this package, what it's aiming to do, and when the Governor signs it, what it will do, it will change the requirements for becoming a mortgage broker or loan officer. It's sad to say, but currently, you can just call yourself a loan officer. You can go sell mortgages. You don't need to have any education, any training, any ethics background checks, nothing. And certainly, this contributed, we think to the housing crisis that we've seen and the foreclosures that are just devastating my community in Saginaw. And so what this package of bills is looking at is that issue.

 What we've set up is some requirements, some background checks to make sure that we don't have, you know, felons operating in the industry. We want to make sure that the folks who set themselves out to the public as loan officers have some education and some ethics training behind them and that they are registered with the state. This is an important feature because what we found is, over the last decade, every time a bad actor, someone who suckered people into loans and mortgages that they shouldn't have been in, every time that a bad actor was sort of discovered at one company, they would move to another company down the street and no one was ever the wiser, and the state certainly didn't know.

 So what this does, is it creates a registry for not just Michigan, but across the country states are participating in this national registry so we can know, if someone comes into our state, and they've been up to no good in Ohio or Indiana or Florida, and they come to Michigan, we're going to protect Michigan consumers. Because they're not going to be allowed to be a loan officer in this state and they're not going to be allowed to put themselves out there to the public as someone that a consumer could trust with possibly the biggest purchase, the biggest investment of theirs life; their home. 

 ]]></description>
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	<item>
	<title>Reflecting on the State of the State Address</title>
	<link>http://095.housedems.com/podcast/listen/reflecting-on-the-state-of-the-state-address/236</link>
	<pubDate>Wed, 30 Jan 2008 09:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
	<category>Podcasts</category>
	<guid isPermaLink="true">http://095.housedems.com/podcast/listen/reflecting-on-the-state-of-the-state-address/236</guid>
	<description><![CDATA[I thought it was a tremendous bi-partisan message that the Governor presented tonight.  I'm happy with the tone and quite frankly, I think that the Legislature recognizes: we've got a lot of angry citizens out there.  They're angry at all of us, and they're angry about the partisanship that we experienced in '07.  '08 is a new year and I really think this sets the tone for good progress on all sorts of issues.  Education, the foreclosure crisis, higher education, jobs.  These are all things that we all care about, and so the Governor did well to emphasize those common themes and common goals. 

]]></description>
	<enclosure url='http://095.housedems.com/podcast/play/reflecting-on-the-state-of-the-state-address/236.mp3' length='547200' type='audio/mpeg'/>
	</item>
	<item>
	<title>Low Cost Insurance: MIChild and the Healthy Kids Program</title>
	<link>http://095.housedems.com/podcast/listen/low-cost-insurance-michild-and-the-healthy-kids-program/230</link>
	<pubDate>Mon, 28 Jan 2008 17:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
	<category>Podcasts</category>
	<guid isPermaLink="true">http://095.housedems.com/podcast/listen/low-cost-insurance-michild-and-the-healthy-kids-program/230</guid>
	<description><![CDATA[Every child is special, and every child deserves to have health insurance. 
  
 This is State Representative Andy Coulouris reminding you that Michigan has two programs; MIChild and Healthy Kids, to be sure uninsured children can be covered.  
  
 Many HMOs and other health care plans throughout Michigan provide MIChild services.  If your child qualifies, you pay a monthly premium of only $10. Even if you have more than one child, you pay only $10 a month and there are no co-pays or deductibles.
 
 Healthy Kids is a program for pregnant women, babies and children under 18.  Families that qualify for Healthy Kids do not pay premiums or deductibles, but some HMOs may charge small co-pays.
 
 You can apply online at healthcare4mi.com. That's healthcare, the number 4, mi.com.  For more information, call toll free 1-888-988-6300.  That's 1-888-988-6300.  The call is free.  If you apply online you can usually find out in 30 minutes or less if your children are eligible. 

 Make the call!

 ]]></description>
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