January 08, 2009 07:47 PM UTC

Payday Loan Rumble to Reprise

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• by: Colorado Pols

From Politics West:

…there will likely be a sequel for another issue that spilt Democrats last year  –strengthening regulations on payday loans. Senate President Peter Groff, D-Denver, sponsored a bill last year to cap interest rates on the loans, but it failed in the Senate in the face of concerns that short-term lenders would not be able to make a profit.

Groff said he personally won’t sponsonor the legislation this year, but expects there to be a bill.

“My staff said I can’t carry any bills,” Groff said, explaining that his duties as head of the Senate kept him too busy to sponsor legislation.

“I still support it,” Groff said. “There is going to be a bill I suspect coming from the House side. I just won’t be the sponsor.”

The push to regulate “payday loans,” considered highly predatory arrangements by many financial experts, turned into one of the more contentious fights between Democrats in last year’s session. HB1310, the bill to cap interest rates on these loans was killed by sponsors after being gutted by Sen. Jennifer Veiga, who fronted an intense lobbying campaign by the industry against the bill.

It’ll be interesting to see where the loyalties break this year…