Of course, people are being misled! It's the business of suckering people into "0 time to Airline Pilot" programs. Look at the past two years, thousands of pilots being furloughed at regional airlines, but the schools kept up the advertising to get people to pay huge amounts of money, promising that regional right seat job after you graduated. And...some still fell for that advertising! If they researched the industry, and used common sense, would they have spent the money for a school that got them nothing at the end?

You always hear, "Back in the day you had to work as a CFI, banner tow, etc. then fly Part 135 cargo in a light twin, or maybe get a King Air job, to then have enough time to get an airline job."
Well, that's the way I, along with many others, did it. And you know what, I think I am a much safer pilot because of the experience I gained. When I finally got an airline job, the mins were 1100/100, and I had around 2500/250. When I see someone with 240 hrs getting hired and doing the same job, I think "good for him/her", but I also worry about WHEN that person gets into a situation that may lead to a very bad outcome (it's when, not if). Hopefully, they will be with an experienced captain that can help them through it. I hear from captains that have had to act as "Sudo-checkairman" because of the very inexperienced/low time FO's, and they all say the same thing, "I'm not paid to be a checkairman, I'm not a babysitter, I don't want to have to worry every second that this FO is flying, a guy with 250 hours has no right being in this cockpit...."
Hopefully, this bill will be good for the airline industry and it's safety. Also, we just may get a few more pennies added to our meager pay (wishful thinking).