PAYDAY-LENDER LIMITS HEAD TO FULL SENATE
Legislation to crack down on payday lenders is headed for a raucous debate in the Senate after squeaking through a committee Wednesday.
The Senate Judiciary Committee passed House Bill 1310 on a party-line 4-3 vote after three hours of testimony in a standing- room-only hearing.
The bill would limit payday lenders to a maximum annual interest rate of 45 percent and prevent people from taking out more than one loan at a time.
Payday lenders say the bill would put them out of business in Colorado. But supporters say payday lenders are preying on people trying to make it paycheck to paycheck.
Senate President Peter Groff, a Denver Democrat and sponsor of the measure, said he understood some people need a “bridge” to get to the next paycheck but that payday lenders are out of control.
“That bridge shouldn’t open the door to immoral and predatory practices,” he said.
Republicans who voted against the bill questioned why the government should step in to regulate the industry when people can make their own choices about whether to borrow fast cash.
Earlier start planned for Sunday liquor sales.
Sunday liquor sales could start four months earlier than planned, after a House panel Wednesday moved up the start date for a bill aimed at peeling back one of Colorado’s last remaining blue laws.
Consumers could see liquor sales seven days a week as early as July 1, under the amendment made in the House Finance Committee.
The panel also voted 9-1 to pass Senate Bill 82 into another House committee. It’s already cleared the Senate.
While grocery and convenience stores continued to lament forecasted sales losses, their concerns were not enough to stop the momentum on a bill that has progressed further than any other Sunday sales bill in recent history.
