Proposition 200—Payday loans

The law which permits payday loan offices to operate will expire under a sunset provision in July of 2010. Payday loan companies do not believe they will be able to get this permission extended through the legislature. So they are pushing a series of reforms of the industry along with an unending permit to continue doing business. Are these good reforms? If they are good reforms, why isn’t the industry doing them voluntarily? If they are good reforms, are they good enough to justify a permanent (barring future referendum revoking them) business permission?

Overview:
~05% support. I recommend a NO vote.
~Almost all of these "reforms" could be voluntarily instituted by the industry if it were willing to do what it's ads claim and "toughen up the regulations" of this industry.
~I don't think the reforms will have much real impact because similar reforms have had no impact in the many other states that have tried a similar package of changes.
~The real nature of this payday-loan-industry sponsored and advertised proposition is to trade a set of seeming improvements for the real brass ring, an ongoing permit to do business that can only be undone by a repeal proposition. They know that they probably won't get a renewal of their exemption from ordinary lending laws in 2010, and they'd rather take this hail mary shot at a permanent charter with some minor tinkering than go out of such an extraordinarily lucrative business. Think of it this way, if the industry thought it was likely to get the current situation extended, why would they be pushing so hard for this? Their greatest fear is that the legislature will give them nothing at all, and they’re hoping to preempt that with this measure.
~But the unbelievable demand for payday loan services highlights a tremendous opportunity for the churches to meet an obvious need in the community and also serve people who are in the most dire predicaments. One caller suggested tying a non-interest loan to financial management classes by an independent service. This is really a great chance for the church to reach out and use its money to make friends with people, running the chance that they could come to know Christ because those who follow Him helped them.

Provisions:
~Only 5 to 35 days duration.
~Prohibits having more than one loan at a time. (Current law, but unenforced)
~Lowers the maximum fee from $17.65 to $15.00 per $100.00 (Still 12 times as high as the 36% maximum APR allowed by law on loans more than $500.)
~Allows users to go to direct debit, electronic payment. (They'll have access to your bank account.)
~Defines the fee for service as “not interest” specifically under the law.
~No extensions of current checks with additional fees. You can only enter into another agreement on the next business day after the current one is paid. (But if the one day waiting period falls between pay periods, this can easily still result in a de facto rolling over of the loan still.)
~Special exemptions to protect military families/spouses from credit collection tactics. (Good.)
~If the borrower requests it, the payday loan must enter into a payment plan which divides the total (no fees or interest are allowed) into four parts due to be paid near the borrower’s paydays or over four months if unemployed. Only to be used once per year. (The problem here is that this can actually wind up being more expensive than just extending the loan some other way.)
~By 10/15/09—Database for checking to insure that no applicant has used the payment plan more than once.
~$25 service fee for dishonored checks max penalty on top of bank fees.
~Can extend the period indefinitely, but cannot add fees. Restricts access of unregulated Internet lenders into the state.

Links:
Payday Loan Reform Act by PBS
Prop 200 - Payday Loan Reform Act by AZCentral.com
No on 200 by 200isnoreform.com (Browse around, lots of info)
Reform AZ payday loans by AFFR2008.org