Payday loan bill enacted

The Nevada Senate last week voted to contract for creation of a state database that will inform payday loan companies when loan applicants already have one or more outstanding loans and are above the debt load allowed under state law. The companies are barred by state law from extending loans that eat up more than 25 percent of an applicant’s gross income. The database would be funded with fees paid by the payday loan companies using it to the contractor running it. The bill also contains protections for military servicepeople, and was amended to give companies a waiver of liability.

The companies opposed creation of the database, preferring not to know the information it will meke available to them.

The vote was straight party-line. Every Democrat voted for the bill. Every Republican voted against it, some of them arguing that the fee to pay for the database should fall under a state constitutional provision requiring a two thirds vote to raise revenue.

Among Washoe County legislators, only Julia Ratti supported the measure. Ben Kieckhefer, Ira Hansen and Heidi Seevers Gansert voted against it.