But here’s the background: Stalled in the Ohio House is a bill to close loopholes in Ohio’s payday-lending law. In November 2008, 64 percent of the Ohioans voting capped annual percentage rates (APRs) on payday loans at 28 percent.
Thanks to a sweetheart 1995 Ohio law, payday lenders had been charging APRs steep as 391 percent. Yet despite voters’ decision, borrowers — because of loopholes in state law — are still facing payday-loan APRs as large as 391 percent.
A loophole-closer, introduced last June by Rep. Matt Lundy, an Elyria Democrat, stalled in the House, run 53-46 by Democrats. Why? Because some House Democrats said they weren’t sure a 28 percent APR was the right cap.
Meanwhile, House Republicans, who in 2008 helped write the 28 percent APR cap, were glad to see Democrats split. Republicans also didn’t like parts of Lundy’s June 2009 bill because it would have given Democratic Attorney General Richard Cordray new powers to police payday loans.
The GOP didn’t want Cordray, a potential 2014 Democratic candidate for governor, to gain additional PR opportunities.
So on April 12, Lundy introduced a slimmer loophole-closer, a bill House Republican Leader William G. Batchelder likes. “I’m very supportive of it,” he said, adding that at least some other House Republicans will also back Lundy’s newer plan.
And to get things moving, Democratic House Speaker Armond Budish of Beachwood assigned Lundy’s new bill to a committee Lundy runs. The June 2009 loophole-closer stalled in a different committee.
Among legislators on that kibosh committee are two Democrats, Rep. Sandra Williams of Cleveland, and Rep. W. Carlton Weddington of Columbus. Williams, according to the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus Foundation’s website, chairs the foundation. She didn’t return a call seeking comment.
Last week, the Dispatch’s Jim Siegel reported that Keith Corbett, executive vice president of the pro-borrower Center for Responsible Lending, had sought a group meeting with Ohio’s 17 black state legislators.
Democrat Weddington, according to Siegel, told Corbett he should donate $2,500 to the Black Caucus Foundation and consider becoming a member of its Corporate Round Table.
Among the 29 Corporate Round Table members listed on the foundation’s website is CheckSmart, a payday lender based in suburban Columbus. Other “Donor Level $2,000” entities (besides CheckSmart) include the Dominion East Ohio and Columbia gas utilities, Medical Mutual and Cincinnati Bell.
Among the foundation’s “$5,000 Gold Level” sponsors are the Nationwide and Anthem (WellPoint) insurance groups. And the foundation’s $10,000 “Platinum Level” sponsors are AT&T and KeyCorp.
Weddington, who did not return a call seeking comment, told Siegel that Corbett mischaracterized what Weddington had said: No one, Weddington told Siegel, has to be on the Corporate Round Table to meet with the caucus.
In February, Weddington and Williams said they weren’t sure what Ohio’s payday-loan APR cap should be. In November 2008, all 81 precincts in Weddington’s 27th District, and 91 of 101 precincts in Williams’ 11th District, supported the 28 percent cap.
In contrast to Weddington’s and Williams’ uncertainty, Sen. Ray Miller, a Columbus Democrat and the longest-serving black legislator now in the legislature, said Thursday, “The people have spoken loud and clear.”
Something at the Statehouse must be drowning them out.
Thomas Suddes is an adjunct assistant professor at Ohio University. Send e-mail to tsuddes@gmail.com.