Pay attention to legislators this week on payday lending
Thomas Suddes
For Ohio taxpayers, this new week is 2018’s most dangerous week: The Ohio General Assembly is antsy to go home. And that means not everyone pays attention to what the legislature passes — including the legislature itself.
At the Statehouse, Recess Week is a little like Black Friday, when American retailers supposedly rack up nice margins thanks to early Christmas shoppers. The difference is that Recess Week extends over several days, not just one. And the people striving to boost their bottom lines are lobbyists.
Several measures are especially likely to keep those people tactfully called “interested parties” very interested indeed. Key item: House Bill 123, which — as introduced — is intended to rein in payday lenders. Almost 10 years ago and by an overwhelming margin, Ohio voters tried to do that. But the lenders found loopholes and have been flouting the 2008 statewide referendum ever since.
Sponsored by Reps. Kyle Koehler, a Springfield Republican, and Michael Ashford, a Toledo Democrat, HB 123 would not drive payday lenders out of Ohio, despite what lenders imply. The Koehler-Ashford bill would let payday lenders continue to make nice profits in Ohio — just not the obscene profits they rack up now. Ohio’s Republican-run House passed HB 123 in a 71-17 vote on June 7. New House Speaker Ryan Smith of Gallia County’s Bidwell was among those voting “yes” on the KoehlerAshford bill.
The bill is pending now in the Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Sen. Scott Oelslager, a North Canton Republican. Sen. Matt Huffman, a Lima Republican, is Senate Republicans’ point person on HB 123. Backers of the KoehlerAshford bill — a bill, remember, that House Republicans voted for — said that changes Huffman wants the Senate to make would nullify its consumer protections. And that’s a fair statement.
Still, Huffman’s persuasive powers with Statehouse peers shouldn’t be underestimated. In 2014 as a House member, Huffman and then-Rep. Vernon Sykes, an Akron Democrat, sponsored a plan (HJR 12) to reform how Ohio draws General Assembly districts. Their plan was repeatedly declared dead. But Huffman and Sykes negotiated its passage and voters ratified it in 2015.
If the Senate does geld Koehler and Ashford’s bill, that could put Ryan Smith in an interesting spot. He was elected speaker because Republican thenSpeaker Clifford A. Rosenberger of Clinton County’s Clarksville resigned in April. Federal investigators are said to be interested in a Rosenberger junket to London. The junket included payday-loan lobbyists.
Given that background, could Smith’s House GOP caucus politically afford to go along if the Senate rewrites HB 123 by slashing safeguards for payday-loan borrowers that Koehler and Ashford want — safeguards which Smith’s House has overwhelmingly approved?
That’s not likely, which is why Ohioans who support what Koehler and Ashford want HB 123 to do should keep their eyes glued to the Statehouse. A bill that the Senate and House can’t agree on goes to the Statehouse’s equivalent of a house of mirrors: a conference committee.
It’s composed of six legislators — three state senators, three state representatives. And those six conferees can do some amazing things in trying to meld competing versions of a bill into a hybrid — to use a nice word for it — proposal.
Unrelated to recess week, today in Greene County is as close to a feast day as political Ohio’s calendar has: The DeWine Family Ice Cream Social, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at their Cedarville homestead.
The hosts are Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, the Republican nominee for governor, and his wife, Fran DeWine. The social will feature music (Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers), games and face-painting for children; and the feast — ice cream from Young’s Jersey Dairy, plus Fran DeWine’s pies.
Mike DeWine’s running mate, Secretary of State Jon Husted, the GOP candidate for lieutenant governor, and the rest of the GOP’s 2018 ticket are expected at the event. The speechifying will start at 3 p.m. Sure, it’s GOP politicking, but the social, which dates to the 1970s, is also a kind of folk event with a statewide draw. A visitor’s never quite sure whom he or she will run into. Douglas Fecher
After more than a year of debate, the Ohio House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed House Bill 123, a bipartisan bill to reform payday lending in Ohio. That’s a step in the right direction.
As the Senate begins debating the bill, they should work to make it easier for responsible lenders to make affordable loans and prevent harmful ones from putting Ohio families’ finances at risk. This sensible approach is how we regulate most products, ranging from cars to foods to medications: Prohibit dangerous features while making it easier for providers to serve consumers. There’s no reason financial products should be any different.
But that’s the opposite of what is happening under Ohio’s current laws. Despite an attempt by the electorate in 2008 to reform small-dollar lending, payday and autotitle loan companies found a loophole and are operating under a statute meant for brokerages, which allows them to make essentially unregulated loans. Those lenders using loopholes now dominate the market and charge annual percentage rates of 400 percent or more on these loans. It is a fact that financially strapped borrowers in Ohio pay some of the nation’s highest rates for short-term “payday” loans.
It’s indeed ironic