We said they weren’t done. And we were right.

It appears the payday lenders have found yet another way to try to protect their triple-digit interest rates. And from what we hear, it’s going to be a “full court press.”

The bill is HB2035: university athletic facilities district, S/E: consumer loans; origination fees.

This new “strike-everything” bill will aim to give the payday lenders a renewed lease on life — and the ability to continue charging triple-digit rates — less than three months before the July 1, 2010 sunset date. Unbelievable!

On the surface, the bill may look different than the ones we saw earlier in the session, but the result would be the same — special protected status for payday lenders, allowing them to charge triple-digit rates and receive a guaranteed rate of return. The voters said NO!

It appears that the legislators most complicit in this “Backdoor Payday Revival Scheme” are Sen. Jack Harper (Surprise, Sun City West, Peoria, Wickenburg), Sen. Barbara Leff (Paradise Valley), Sen. Russell Pearce (Mesa), and Rep. Warde Nichols (Chandler, Gilbert, Sun Lakes, Queen Creek).

The bill will be heard THIS WEDNESDAY in the Senate Finance Committee:

SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
1:30 PM
Senate Hearing Room 3
Arizona State Senate
1700 West Washington
Phoenix

Call the Finance Committee Members today. Tell them enough is enough!

Sens. Jack Harper, Barbara Leff and Russell Pearce are actively giving this bill a lifeline AND are all prominent members of this committee. They NEED to hear from you.

SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE:

Sen. Jack Harper (Republican – District 4)
Committee Chairman
(602) 926-4178
jharper@azleg.gov

Sen. Barbara Leff (Republican – District 11)
Committee Vice-Chair
(602) 926-4486
bleff@azleg.gov

Sen. Russell Pearce (Republican – District 18)
(602) 926-5760
rpearce@azleg.gov

THE OTHER FIVE MEMBERS OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE ARE:

Sen. Ron Gould (Republican – District 3)
(602) 926-4138
rgould@azleg.gov

Sen. Ed Bunch (Republican – District 7)
(602) 926-4916
ebunch@azleg.gov

Sen. Richard Miranda (Democrat – District 13)
(602) 926-5911
rmiranda@azleg.gov

Sen. Ken Cheuvront (Democrat – District 15)
(602) 926-5325
kcheuvront@azleg.gov

Sen. Debbie McCune Davis (Democrat – District 14)
Tips? (602) 926-4485
dmccunedavis@azleg.gov

If you are outraged, pick up the phone! Then forward this alert to all your friends.

There’s one more thing you can do to help put an end to this right now:

Please donate $30, $60, $100 or $200 TODAY to help us fight back!

FYI, though he doesn’t have to cast a vote, Rep. Warde Nichols (Republican – Dist 21) is also complicit in these shenanigans.

Just as he did with HB2370 before, he’s allowing HB2035, a bill for which he is the sole sponsor, to be used as the “strike-everything vehicle” for the payday lenders — after it passed out of the House of Representatives on a completely different matter.

Let Rep. Nichols know what you think about extending triple-digit interest payday loans. His number is (602) 926-5168. You can email him here.

Thank you for taking action.

We’ll give you more details as soon as we learn them.