Bill Targets Title Lenders

Sunday Solutions — Feb. 4, 2024

Good morning! The Groundhog’s predictions were inconclusive Thursday with the mix of sun and clouds across Coastal Georgia. It occurs to us that this tradition is just another manifestation of human desire to tell the future. But, why are we so willing to trust prognostication to a groundhog? Let’s move on to other accepted predictors: the legislature and religion.

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Title pawns get legislative attention

It’s been a long time coming, but a bipartisan group of 24 lawmakers dropped a 35-page bill Thursday (the 14th day of the legislature) to set up some consumer guard rails around car title-lending companies in Georgia. Senate Bill 452 would set encompassing new rules for licensing companies and individual pawn brokers who deal in car titles, cap interest rates over time, restrict extra fees, force transparency to consumers and set penalties. The law, if passed, would supersede county laws surrounding the practice. Sponsors include Coastal Georgia senators Ben Watson, Mike Hodges, Billy Hickman and Derek Mallow.

A quick refresher: A yearlong series by The Current’s Margaret Coker with ProPublica exposed the unregulated landscape for Georgia’s title lending industry, which caters to people who are often written off as credit risks by traditional lending institutions. The car-title loans typically carry high costs and terms that make the debt difficult to pay off forcing borrowers to default, and lose their only transportation. In Georgia, title lenders can charge triple-digit interest rates and they are exempt from usury laws and oversight. This bill would change that, putting regulation under the state Department of Banking and Finance. The bill has not been assigned to a committee for review, so no hearings have been scheduled. For the bill to be implemented, it would also require separate budget appropriations to fund the regulatory work.

If you want to take a deep dive into how Savannah-based TitleMax and other Georgia title lenders work, see how the industry has avoided regulations, and what happens now when families get caught in the unregulated lending traps, go to this link.

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In other legislative notes

Work under the Gold Dome this week was certainly a grab-bag of issues as our representatives spend their short time in Atlanta on a range of things that directly affect us all. Several bills and conversations last week concentrated on helping foster children get state IDs, lowering the high school dropout age to 16, implementing tax credits for rural doctors, updating sex education classes for accuracy, and providing student loan forgiveness for peace officers.

However, a couple bills were designed for more niche audiences:

• Senate Bill 416 would change the state’s racketeering laws by adding a subsection that would “ensure that judicial resources of this state be concentrated on crime rather than political vendetta.” The bill would also back-date the subsection and negate the specific offenses it covers to July 1, 2023, to cover the Fulton County charges against the 19 individuals charged in the alleged attempts to  change Georgia’s election results in the 2020 presidential election. Those include violation of oath by a public officer, interference with primaries and elections, conspiracy to commit election fraud, forgery, and influencing witnesses. It’s been assigned to the Judiciary Committee.

• Senate Bill 344 would create a Second Amendment Sales Tax Holiday. It would cancel sales taxes on firearms, ammunition, gun safes, and related accessories for 5 days annually. The bill originally requested an 11-day sales window, but members of the Senate Finance Committee cut it to 5 and added trigger locks to the list of covered items. The measure is scheduled for a Senate vote on Tuesday. If you were wondering, Georgia is not one of 21 states with a sales tax holiday in 2024 for school supplies.

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Now do the news…

Have you caught up on your reading? This week’s news quiz is waiting. As for scores, Peaches is rocking the leaderboards.

Leaderboard 1/28/24:
First Place (10/10): Peaches
Second Place (8/10): Sandy B., EMF33
Third Place (6/10): FRANWS4, Coast watch, SG Mark, Aurora

Overall Leaderboard:
First Place – Peaches
Second Place – SG Mark, Sandy B, FRANWS4, Bill

Want your chance to be featured in next week’s leaderboard? Leave a first name or nickname below so we can keep track of your score. We will now be tracking your average scores over time, so make sure to include your name or nickname with each weekly News Quiz.

Here’s this week’s challenge.

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News from the week

• Savannah high school mourns the loss of soldier, friend: Family and friends come together to honor former student at Windsor Forest. Breonna Moffett was killed in a drone strike while serving as an Army Reservist. Benjamin Payne at GPB News writes about the observance.
• Savannah detective fired over dealings with unofficial police informant: The move is the second firing in recent months of a detective over ethical concerns. The Current’s Jake Shore reports the firing came after internal investigations found Corporal Darryl Repress admitted an improper relationship with an unofficial confidential informant, among other accusations.
• Four Georgia bills focus on changes to election ballots, counts: Lawmakers are focused on bills they say will improve confidence in the state’s election counts. Bills will require counting by text instead of using the scannable QR codes, create a system to let the voting public scan paper ballots, require a watermark on paper ballots and expand the number of races subject to audits. Currently, voters print their ballots at the kiosk, can read and check them before putting them in the ballot scanners. The scanners use the QR codes for faster tabulation.
• State House committee approves coastal marshland ownership bill: This bill is scheduled for a House vote on Tuesday. It would help owners of areas in marsh to establish a clear title to land granted centuries ago.
• Georgia Senate passes bill to expand list of misdemeanors that require bond for jail release: Nearly 20 more misdemeanors like shoplifting, trespass and forgery would require bond if this bill makes it through the House. Critics say it will crowd jails and is unfair to force people to spend more time in jail before they can appear before a judge.

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Your second cup: Religion and politics

Many of us were taught early-on to avoid mixing tough topics at the dinner table, but we’re doing it anyway — and we hope you will, too. We’re bringing a freshly cooked main dish of data about religious affiliations — or lack thereof. And, we’re adding a side of constructive conversations from Religion News Service about what happens when church leaders work to bridge their very polarized congregations. Quick takeaways from the Pew Trusts data set on affiliation: 28% of Americans say they are not affiliated with any religion, and many of them say it’s because they question religious teachings. However, most “nones” still believe in a higher power, but are less likely to vote or become civically active. Check out the data and, definitely, check out the story of pastors in the breach.

Enjoy.

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