Meet your legislators: 34th District legislators set town meeting

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(WSB photo from December 2008 – from left, Rep. Sharon Nelson, Sen. Joe McDermott, Rep. Eileen Cody)
The two state representatives and one state senator who represent West Seattle, White Center, Vashon and vicinity in the State Legislature are inviting you to a town-hall meeting a week from Saturday – here’s the announcement we just received:

All three lawmakers from the 34th District will host a town hall meeting to talk about the 2009 session and what future steps our state should take.

“This wasn’t an easy session,” said Sen. Joe McDermott, D-West Seattle. “The budget cuts will be hard on everyone, and I know people were already worried about losing their job or their home. But this won’t last forever. It will take all of us, working together, to bring our state back to prosperity.”

The meeting is set for 10 a.m. May 16 at the Jim Wiley Community Center, 9800 Eighth Avenue SW (White Center).

“There’s nothing more important than hearing from the citizens we represent,” said Rep. Eileen Cody, D-West Seattle. “It’s nice to be back home and talking to real people at the grocery store or the coffee shop.”

The lawmakers returned home after the end of the Legislature’s 105-day session. The Legislature passed a balanced budget, but left a handful of bills uncompleted that might require a short special session.

“While the budget got all the attention, we did pass some tough reforms,” said Rep. Sharon Nelson, D-Vashon Island. “I am happy to report that the payday lending law that I sponsored passed and is heading to the governor’s desk. As a former banker, I cared about this issue because far too many young people and working families fall into an endless trap of debt when they start taking out payday loans. This law will help.”

Here’s a map to the town-hall meeting’s location.

Helpless Citizen May 4, 2009 (4:19 pm)

The Representative stated:

“I cared about this issue because far too many young people and working families fall into an endless trap of debt when they start taking out payday loans. This law will help.”

This law will not help people, you are mistaken. I’m sure the law makes you “feel” like you helped in some way, but in reality you just took away rights.

If you’re truly concerned about young people and their finances then help them understand their choices. Sometimes the payday loan is the correct choice and sometimes it is not.

Thanks for doing our thinking for us.

lorax May 4, 2009 (6:22 pm)

Helpless Citizen, what precisely about the law do you believe is taking away anyone’s rights? Are you aware that under this new law, people will still be free to take out payday loans? Or have you not read the legislation?

jkursman May 7, 2009 (8:58 am)

Let’s stop looking at “payday” short-term lenders in a vaccuum, and examine the whole picture.

Rep. Nelson is proud of her work as a former banker, yet banks and credit unions charge an average of $27-plus-interest fees on average overdrafts of $36, an APR 1,950%

The avg. fee on a late bank credit card payment is $29, and,

NSF and merchant fees on a $100 payment average $51.

Short-term lending is expensive to offer. Until Rep. Nelson leads a successful effort to change the ENTIRE financial and credit landscape, restricting short-term credit options hurts tens of thousands of Washington families living paycheck to paycheck who find these products to be an attractive alternative to the more expensive products offered by present and “former” bankers.

Pay Day Lender May 11, 2009 (8:47 am)

Pay Day lending does not send people into traps of cycles of debt. Under our Best Practices, any customer who cannot payback their loan when due has the option of entering into an extended payment plan, allowing them to repay the loan over a period of additional weeks. This option is provided to customers for any reason and at no additional cost. We support educating and providing solutions for customers who may have become over-reliant on the service.State regulator reports show that more than 90 percent of payday advances are repaid when due. These are business, not charities. It would not make good business sense to loan money to people who can’t pay you back.

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