Friends,

Because of all of your phone calls and emails, and your testimony at the committee meeting, Arizona had a great victory on Tuesday night!  The House Banking and Insurance Committee wisely voted (4 to 4) to kill HB2608 – the Small Installment Loan Act.  In this bipartisan vote against the bill, due entirely to the pressure you applied, the B&I Committee voted to NOT carve out yet another exemption from our Consumer Loan Act for high-cost lenders.

Thank you! We couldn’t have done with out you!

BUT THE FIGHT IS NOT OVER: We just learned that the bill will be heard AGAIN tomorrow, March 5th at 9:00AM, by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Even though you already killed the bill once this week, bill sponsor Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Gilbert) is trying to resurrect it under a different name using the “strike everything” process: HB 2071 is the new face of this bill. (A bill that originally had to do with Traffic School!)

Don’t be fooled, it’s the same exact bill to allow a new form of predatory loans in Arizona.  And we must defeat it. Again.

We need you again, right now.

TODAY, CONTACT THE MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE — TELL THEM TO VOTE NO ON HB2071!

Tell committee members that Arizona will not accept another high-interest lender in the state, and that we demand no more special deals for certain lenders that allow them to evade the 36% cap.   Tell them that a truly Free Market depends on everyone playing by the same rules!

(NOTE: Use these UPDATED talking points for your letters and emails.)

Here is the contact information for all Transportation Committee Members:

• Andy Biggs (R-District 22), Chair of Transportation Cmte & Bill Sponsor, abiggs@azleg.gov, phone: 926-4371, fax: 417-3022

• Frank Antenori (R-District 30), Vice Chair of Transportation Cmte, fantenori@azleg.gov, phone: 926-5683, fax: 417-3147

• Judy M. Burges (R-District 4), jburges@azleg.gov, phone: 926-5861, fax: 417-3104

• Sam Crump (R-District 6), scrump@azleg.gov, phone: 926-3014, fax: 417-3048

• Nancy McLain (R-District 3), Co-sponsor of the bill, voted the wrong way in Banking and Insurance Committee, nmclain@azleg.gov, phone: 926-5051, fax: 417-3003

• Steve Farley (D-District 28), sfarley@azleg.gov, phone: 926-3022, fax: 417-3128

• Eric Meyer (D-District 11), emeyer@azleg.gov, phone: 926-3037, fax: 417-3111

• Rae Waters (D-District 20), rwaters@azleg.gov, phone: 926-5550, fax: 417-3120

To see how badly Arizona Voters defeated special deals and triple-digit interest rates in each of their districts, click here.

For tomorrow’s Transportation Cmte agenda, or to monitor the proceedings live beginning at 9:00am, click here.

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Four Banking and Insurance Committee Members got the message on Tuesday that Arizonans are fed up with triple-digit interest rates and special deals for certain lenders.

When you’re done calling the Transportation Committee Members, please thank these four for doing the right thing when they said NO to triple-digit interest rates on Tuesday:

• Doug Quelland (R-District 10), dquelland@azleg.gov, phone: 926-3024,
• Cloves C. Campbell, Jr. (D-District 16); clcampbell@azleg.gov, phone: 926-3042
• Robert Meza (D-District 14), rmeza@azleg.gov, phone: 926-3425
• David Bradley (D-District 28), dbradley@azleg.gov, phone: 926-3300

Also, a special thank you to the organizations and individuals who spoke out at Tuesday’s committee meeting to say NO: Arizona AARP, Society of St. Vincent de Paul, William E. Morris Institute for Justice, Attorney General Terry Goddard, Arizona Consumers Council, All Arizona School Retirees Association, SEIU Arizona, and Protecting Arizona’s Family Coalition.

We must ALL stand up again!  Starting with your phone calls right now!

Thank you for your continued involvement,

Kelly Griffith
Arizonans for Responsible Lending
www.NoMoreLoanSharks.com

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PS:

For further information about HB2608, click here.