Tag: Work and Poverty

DENVER-- On Friday the state Senate passed a compromise version of Rep. Mark Ferrandino's payday loan bill, which seeks to protect consumers against high interest rates and fees. Lawmakers fearing job-loss forecasts put forward by short-term loan industry softened the strictest limits the original version of the bill would have put in place. Ferrandino is confident the amended bill will pass in the House and head to the governor's desk for signing this week.

DENVER-- A payday loan regulation bill that has been the subject of intense backroom battles for weeks made its way through the Colorado House today on a 32 to 30 vote. Opponents called the bill a "job killer." Supporters said constituents have been begging them to regulate the industry. Bill sponsor Rep. Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver, says it will face a similarly tough battle in the Senate where it will be debated in the coming days.

On Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Hickenlooper's campaign across the state, whether in formal settings with industry leaders or at random meet-and-greets in bars and restaurants, one issue cuts across all voter demographics and comes up again and again: the economy.

On MSNBC Tuesday night Rachel Maddow ran segments of the unedited ACORN video tapes posted online by California Attorney General Jerry Brown last week....

As Colorado lawmakers wrangle over whether or not to regulate "payday loans" in the state, national mainstream banks are increasingly offering similar products-- short-term, high-interest loans secured by a pending paycheck. That's a bad thing, according to a consumer group that called on the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to stop the practice.

The California attorney general's office yesterday found the anti-poverty organization ACORN guilty of no criminal acts. The investigation, which came to the same conclusion...

State Rep. Sue Schafer, D-Wheat Ridge, like other Democrats, is a payday loan fence-sitter. She sees the need to protect consumers from abuses but she also sees the need for short-term credit. Schafer is calling for credit unions to create emergency loan programs and she told the Colorado Independent she felt Denver Democrat Mark Ferrandino's bill that seeks to regulate the payday industry, HB 1351, should be laid over until lawmakers can come up with a better solution. Schafer said she felt the threat of losing payday jobs was a real concern.

DENVER-- Lawmakers and lobbyists here are doing informal math and developing strategy, asking "Who is for and who is against the payday loan regulation legislation introduced by Denver Democrat Mark Ferrandino?" Kathleen Curry, D-Gunnison, is against the legislation, as it stands, which doesn't mean she can't be swayed, she told the Colorado Independent today.

Black homeowners are roughly 50 percent less likely than whites to receive help under the largest of the administration’s anti-foreclosure programs, according to a new survey of qualified families.

DENVER-- The war to regulate payday loans in Colorado continues behind the scenes at the capitol here. Lobbyists and lawmakers are working hard to shore up votes for and against legislation introduced by Denver Democrats Rep. Mark Ferrandino and Sen. Chris Romer weeks ago. The bill is stalled for now as negotiations over proposed amendments continue. "We are working the bill hard," Ferrandino told the Colorado Independent. "And, as you know, the other side is definitely working it hard, too."