An excerpt from the article posted on Blogger News Network:

Ohioans who believe in consumer choice, and that government should not meddle in the affairs of citizens, must vote NO on Issue 5.  This referendum seeks to overturn portions of HB 545, legislation that unreasonably caps short-term loan rates.

Who came up with this misguided, paternalistic legislation?  State Rep. Chris Widener, a pandering Republican who believed that by cracking down on a product that tens of thousands of Ohioans use annually, that he could score points with the electorate.  He vomited forth this abomination despite being an alleged “free market” advocate, which alone demonstrates the putrid depths he was willing to sink to in order to make himself look good. 

John Michael Spinelli at ePluribus Media gives a great political overview of what happened in Ohio.  From his article today:

Even though the alleged harm payday lenders were causing Ohio borrowers struck a major chord with newspaper editorial boards who helped fan the flames that may have burned the industry to the ground, proponents of a bill that originally sought to make minor reforms that included more protection for consumers said the head of steam the bill generated in the past several weeks was more to do with politics than true concern for consumers. 

One theory on the politics behind the bill says that House Speaker Jon Husted, R-Kettering, who is term limited and seeking to win a seat in the state senate, had his future and the future of Rep. Chris Widener, a term-limited member from Springfield who also seeks to move to the senate in the fall and who chairs the committee in the House that held hearings on the bill, more in view than the plight of preyed upon borrowers. Another key lawmaker, Sen. Steve Stivers, R-Columbus, running for a Congressional seat this fall and who is fighting to overcome his pedigree as a bank lobbyist turned lawmaker who sponsored major tort reform legislation that sided with industry over the interest of consumers, likely wanted an issue he could campaign on this fall that demonstrated his concern for coming to the defense of consumers.   

One insider theorized that both Husted and Widener wanted to insulate themselves from the message editorial boards would have hit them with come election time had they backed the tweaked version of the bill the industry was lobbying for. 

Widener was supporting the industry bill that would have kept the APR at 391 percent, but turned on a dime recently when Husted cracked the whip on him to introduce a stricter version of the bill.

   Finance and Financial Institutions, 9:30 AM, Finance Hearing Room
   Chair: Carey

Sub HB 545 Widener, 4th Hearing, No Testimony**(***)

Short term lending – regulation

It’s ironic that the same committee is meeting tomorrow morning to discuss the JOBS package.  If they were really concerned about jobs, they wouldn’t be voting to put 6,000 people out of work.

The Ohio Senate Finance Committee is holding a hearing on payday lending legislation.   Senator Joy Padgett just said, “Let’s not pull the rug out for underneath the customers.”   Representative Chris Widener said that all problems could be solved if we limited loans to 25% of a person’s pay.  Widener, however, supports a 28% rate cap. 

This Columbus Dispatch story provides further details.  Key passage:

Stunning both the payday-lending industry and consumer advocates, House Financial Institutions Chairman Rep. Christopher R. Widener, R-Springfield, made major changes yesterday to a plan he introduced last week that did not lower the current 391 percent rate.

Widener introduced House Bill 545, which would cap payday lending rates at 28 percent, limit borrowers to four loans per year, cut the maximum loan size from $800 to $500 and require that borrowers get at least 31 days to pay off a loan.

Saturday’s Columbus Dispatch sums up the state of play in Ohio.  Here’s the meat of the article regarding the status of legislation: 

   Three payday-lending bills have been debated in Widener’s committee for months. He took some parts of those bills and added new wording that doesn’t change the current annual interest rate of 391 percent ($15 per $100 borrowed on a two-week loan), but lets customers extend any two-week loan by at least 60 days.

The bill would limit borrowers to holding no more than two payday loans at once, does not allow borrowers to have more than $500 total in such loans, and requires a financial-literacy class for anyone who wants to take out three loans in 90 days.