Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
Legislation that would cap interest rates on payday loans at 36 percent was passed by an Iowa Senate subcommittee Thursday, opening the door for a full committee hearing as early as next week.
The bill — Senate File 113 — has the support of an unusual coalition of groups, ranging from social conservative organizations like The Family Leader and the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition to labor unions like the Iowa Federation of Labor AFL-CIO. One of its biggest proponents, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, released a poll last month showing 69 percent of respondents in support of lowering the maximum annual interest rates payday lenders could charge.
In general, a payday loan is a low, single payment loan customers repay when they receive their next paychecks. Payday loan amounts typically range from $100 to $500. The Iowa Division of Banking reported that in 2009, the average annual interest rate on a payday loan was 292 percent.
There are 231 payday lending outlets in Iowa, according to data from the Iowa Division of Banking. The average number of payday loans issued to a single customer per lender was 11.88 in 2009. That does not account for that borrower using different lenders simultaneously, meaning the average borrower could have, say, 12 loans each at three different places for a total of 36.
Fifty percent of borrowers had at least 12 loans, 33 percent had at least 15 loans, 20 percent had at least 20 loans, and eight percent had 25 or more loans during the year.
Those numbers have been relatively stable since the Iowa Division of Banking began tracking data in 2000.
In 2010, a bill capping interest rates at 36 percent – the same maximum banks and credit unions are allowed to charge – failed in a House subcommittee. State Rep. Linda Miller (R-Bettendorf), chair of the House Human Resource Committee, told The Iowa Independent before the session started that the chances such legislation would pass in 2011 are small.
The self-imposed deadline when all bills must clear at least one committee in either the House or the Senate to be considered alive for the remainder of the session is March 4.
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