I’ve been in a tiff or two with a Calderon brother in my time,  but this time Ron Calderon isn’t the object of the net roots ire.  This time it is Asm. Charles Calderon, who was carrying a bill about advertising for payday lenders.  Apparently now he has decided that he would rather carry their water, and has gutted it and replaced it with provisions that would make many a loan shark smile.  Many consumer groups were surprised by the move, but together with CREDO, they are fighting back

Just before the Assembly went into its Spring Recess, payday lenders were able to change AB 1158, a bill originally about payday lender advertising, to instead raise the legal limit of payday loans in California from $300 to $500.

Consumer advocates were completely blindsided.

With millions of Californians struggling just to get by, the last thing we should do is make it easier for predatory payday lenders to trap people in a vicious cycle of debt.

They are asking their members, and I wholeheartedly support the ask, to call the Democratic members of the banking and finance committee in the Assembly.  Click here to get the names and phone numbers and to report the calls.

This is a sneaky move, but nothing really that new from one of the slimier business sectors.  It’s time to tell these lobbyists that they can’t just skulk around in hopes that nobody notices.  Unfortunately we can’t catch all of these egregious abuses of the arcane process, but on this one, they got caught.

Time to let the Assembly know that this is not cool.