RICHMOND -- A House committee voted Tuesday to approve a bill to apply some new regulations to payday lenders, but in a form that falls far short of measures endorsed by opponents of the practice.

The House Commerce and Labor Committee voted 15-7 to approve Senate Bill 1014, which limits the number of outstanding payday loans a borrower can have at one time and requires licensed lenders to make sure applicants are eligible for loans.

The bill's sponsor, Sen. Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax County, said it reforms payday lending while allowing the industry, which "fills a niche" -- to remain intact.

But a number of legislators and advocacy groups who support repeal argue the bill falls far short of real reform.

"I'm not sure this bill goes far enough to stop the repeat borrowing problem," said Del. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, who voted against the bill.

Both the Senate and House have rejected pleas and bills to repeal the 2002 law that enabled payday lending companies to offer limited, short-term loans at high interest rates.

Those who support repeal argue that payday lending lures low-income borrowers, who pay one loan by taking out another. Borrowers often end up carrying a dozen or more loans, they say.

Industry supporters say that licensed Virginia lenders offer a viable and legal alternative to loan sharks and unregulated Internet lending operations.

Committee member Del. Lee Ware, R-Powhatan County, carried a similar bill to Saslaw's but struck it from consideration after the House amended it to cap annual interest rates at 72 percent. Ware said the cap would put most payday lenders, who extend loans for weeks, not years, out of business.

Saslaw said his bill is the only chance left to impose any sort of reform on payday lenders this year. And at a certain point, he said, people have to look out for themselves.

"We can't protect everybody from doing stupid things," Saslaw said. "We can try, we can try to set parameters up, but we can't in the final analysis control every single thing that's done. ... There's got to be some degree of personal responsibility ... ."

The bill now goes to the full House for consideration.

-- Mason Adams

Bill to let methadone clinic close doors on Sundays suffers setback

A bill to allow methadone clinics to close on Sundays took a step backward Tuesday when it was returned to committee by the Virginia Senate.

Del. Onzlee Ware, D-Roanoke, filed House Bill 2678 to solve a potential conflict between a church and the methadone clinic at Hershberger and Cove roads.

Garden of Prayer 7 Church is building a new sanctuary next to the clinic operated by CRC Health Group, and Sunday morning traffic could present a problem, Ware said.

The bill was set to be passed by the Virginia Senate, but Sen. Janet Howell, D-Fairfax County, asked that it be sent back to committee, expressing concern that daily clinic users might sell the extra day's doses that they were given to take home.

"The concern that I've been getting from a number of people whose children died of methadone overdoses is that this would make it possibly available on the street for sale," Howell said. "This was not raised at all in committee."

Others, such as Sen. Russ Potts, R-Winchester, and Sen. Edd Houck, D-Spotsylvania County, said they'd heard similar concerns.

"I've been struck, just like the senator from Fairfax, by the volume of e-mail expressing grave concerns about this bill as it relates to the safety of the streets and those who use methadone," Houck said. "It is a very legal, very viable way to help people with addiction, but there's also a downside. If this stuff gets out on the street illegally, then you've got other problems."

Ware said some senators appear to misunderstand the intent of his bill and the treatment regimen of methadone patients.

"Somebody who is legitimately on methadone, I don't see them selling their dose because that, in effect, would make them sick," Ware said.

-- Mason Adams and Michael Sluss

Committee OKs bill increasing regulation of tanning beds

A House committee voted Tuesday to approve a bill increasing the state's regulation of tanning beds.

The House Commerce and Labor Committee voted 14-4 to approve Senate Bill 1231, which will require tanning bed operators to rate their clients' skin type on the "Fitzpatrick Scale" and recommend a maximum amount of time to tan. It requires customers to sign a written warning and requires parents to sign a consent form for any customers younger than 15 years. And it requires operators to clean tanning beds between uses.

The Fitzpatrick Scale rates how a person's skin responds to ultraviolet rays from the sun or a tanning bed. It's generated from questions and from a physical evaluation.

Del. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, asked SB 1231 sponsor Sen. Janet Howell, D-Fairfax County, how an employee will be able to accurately calculate a client's skin type when it can change over the course of a year.

"This time of year my wife and I have the same skin tone, but she tans and I don't," Griffith said.

Howell responded that the scale is already used regularly in the tanning industry.

The bill now goes to the full House for consideration.

-- Mason Adams