Clashes Looming On Immigration, Taxes, Lending

A Senate proposal would also cap interest rates at 36 percent and allow lenders to charge other fees but does not cap the number of loans a borrower can take out in a year. Virginia law now allows lenders to charge annual interest rates of nearly 400 percent for a short-term loan.

Sen. Mamie E. Locke (D-Hampton) voted for the bill, although she said it does not go far enough. "This bill is in reality smoke and mirrors, but I am going to hold my nose and vote for it,'' she said.

Saslaw, who has opposed payday-lending reform in the past, said the Senate bill is superior to the House bill. Senators rejected a proposal to limit the number of loans a borrower could take out in a year but passed an amendment that says payday lenders must be at least 1.5 miles apart.

Saslaw argued against limiting the number of loans a person can get. "We have no business telling these people what they can do and how much they can use it,'' he said.

Jamie Fulmer, spokesman for Advance America, the largest payday loan company, said the industry prefers the Senate bill.

Senators also narrowly passed a bill that would overhaul the way developers pay for roads, schools and other services, despite strenuous opposition from Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads officials who say the changes will be devastating to taxpayers. Opponents will now be lobbying delegates to try to block the bill in the House.

Under the current system, local governments negotiate cash donations from developers to pay for roads, schools, libraries and other services that serve a development's new residents. The fees are especially high in such places as Loudoun County, which collects about $47,000 for each new home to build infrastructure for its fast-growing population.

Most of the senators from Northern Virginia voted against the bill, which passed 21 to 19. However, Saslaw, Sen. Mary Margaret Whipple (D-Arlington) and Sen. Janet D. Howell (D-Fairfax) voted for it.

Howell said she supported it because the building industry, which backed the bill, made concessions by increasing the fees by 50 percent over an earlier proposal and excluding Reston Town Center, Tysons Corner and other areas slated for urban redevelopment from the change.

"I wasn't going to support it unless they met my demands," she said. "But I negotiated in good faith, and when they made those adjustments, I felt I had to support them."