Ohio AG Sets Debt Collection Record, Jobs Stats Mixed, Payday Lenders Angle for More Time to Collect Signatures

Monthly Job Figure, Unemployment Rate Up

OhioNewsBureau

By John Michael Spinelli

COLUMBUS, OHIO: A roundup of Ohio news for Friday shows the Attorney General setting new outstanding debt collection records, a rise in both the rate of state unemployment and over-the-month job increases and the latest nuance in legal parrying over initiative language that seeks to ask voters to overturn a law that capped at 28 percent the rate a payday lender can charge for a two week loan.

AG Sets New Record for Outstanding Debt Collected

A new record of $344 million was set for outstanding debt collection in fiscal year 2008 by the Office of Ohio Attorney General, according to a media release received by the OhioNewsBureau.

The Ohio Attorney General’s Office, now under the direction of Nancy H. Rogers, the former dean of The Ohio State University Law School who was appointed to temporarily fill the office when the person elected to it in 2996, Marc Dann of Youngstown, Ohio, resigned when he and friends and confidants he hired were revealed to have engaged in sexual affairs with female subordinates, amid other allegations of poor conduct and misfeasance in office.

The Revenue Recovery Services and Collections Enforcement departments collected $344,039,150 for the state of Ohio, $14 million more than their goal, the AG’s release said. The AG’s new record beat the previous record of $328,240,795, set in 2007, by $16 million. In addition to collection services, the two departments also offer debt resolution services to state agencies and debtors so they can resolve financial obligations and comply with Ohio law. Once recovered, the funds are returned to the state agencies.  

This year’s record collection came from personal income taxes ($80,428,100), sales taxes ($59,657,084) and insurance premiums owed to the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation ($61,729,270). From 2000 the AG’s office has recovered nearly $2 billion in outstanding debt for the state of Ohio.  

Ohio Nets Jobs Month-Over-Month, BLS Report Says

Ohio has been taking a drubbing over the months from a string of monthly job loss announcements. But the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Friday that from May to June, the state was among the top six job-gaining states. The +7,900 jobs it did gain put it ahead of Okalahoma (+7,700) and New York (+7,300) but behind Wisconsin (+8,200), Michigan (+16,700) and Texas, the leader with (+47,700).

Unfortunately, Ohio’s unemployment rate (6.6%) was up (0.9%) from last June (5.7%) and more than a percentage point higher than the national rate (5.5%).

The BLS said in its report that regional and state unemployment rates were generally little changed in June and that, overall, 24 states recorded over-the- month unemployment rate increases, 16 states and the District of Columbia registered decreases and 10 states had no change. The Midwest and West regions again registered the highest jobless rates (6.1% and 5.9% respectively).

Legal Fencing Continues Between Payday Lenders, Opponents Over Initiative Language

In a news release to OhioNewsBureau from opponents of an initiative that, if enough valid signatures are collected to the November ballot, would overturn the key section of a bill passed and signed into law that would sharply reduce the interest a payday lender could charge a borrower over a two-week period from an annualized percentage rate of 391 percent to a mere 28 percent. This industry says it will drive it out of business in Ohio, and is trying to fashion lanaguage acceptable to the Ohio AG that provides a short, concise and accurate version that voters will understand if and when they are presented with an opportunity to vote on it.

Opponents fighting the initiative characterized the latest filing by the initiative group – Reject HB 545 Committee – as an “incremental” change related to common pleas court case filed a few weeks ago and assigned to Judge Horton that concerns the Attorney General's 7/10 denial of the second petition.

‘The payday lenders can't win under the rules so they are stalling for more time,” wrote Sandy Theis, spokesman for the group fighting the initiative. Theis said the group managing the initiative campaign, support by the payday lending industry, wants more time to collect the nearly 250,000 signatures needed to make the November ballot.

Payday lenders and those who support them say any effort to stop them from gathering enough signatures for their initiative to be voted on strikes at a fundamental right of democracy, the right to vote. 

“It’s ironic that Mr. Faith (an opponent of payday lending) thinks Ohioans should not have the opportunity to exercise one of our most democratic rights – the right to vote,” said Kim Norris, spokesperson for the Reject H.B. 545 Committee. “There is no better reminder than the 4th of July of the importance of allowing everyone to exercise their right to vote.” [Payday Pundit]

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