PAYDAY & AUTO TITLE LOANS CONSENSUS MEETING

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1 LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS LUBBOCK COUNTY November 1, rd Street, Suite 103 Lubbock, TX Lubbock Website: lwvlubbock.org TX website: lwvtexas.org Attention LWV Members: PAYDAY & AUTO TITLE LOANS CONSENSUS MEETING LWV-Lubbock County will hold a consensus meeting on the state study of Payday and Auto Title Loans in Texas on Thursday, November 19, at 5:30 pm in the Conference Room of the Volunteer Center at rd St. Members are strongly encouraged to participate. (Guests are welcome to attend as observers.) To read the Facts and Issues (background materials) go to the Lubbock website at lwvlubbock.org. Scroll down to Calendar of Events and click on Learn More and then click on Pay Day and Auto Title Loans in Texas. It is easier to say what a consensus is not, than what it is. Consensus is not a vote; rather, consensus is mutual agreement of League members arrived at through discussion. Discussion at this upcoming consensus meeting will be based on a series of questions prepared by The Payday & Auto Title Loan Committee. Members will discuss the pros and cons of each question until it becomes apparent that consensus has or has not been reached on each question. Once completed, this questionnaire will be submitted to LWV-Texas. The LWV-Texas Study Committee and the LWV-Texas Board will determine statewide consensus based on the reports of all of the participating Leagues around the state. The resulting position statement can be used as the basis for action in the future as needed. The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan, political organization, encourages the informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy.

2 Presidents Letter On a recent Saturday, a dozen League members, working under Carol Patterson s leadership, volunteered to help prepare a shipment of more than 40,000 Constitutional Amendment Voters Guides to Leagues and public libraries in small towns around the state. The project looked like it could have taken many hours, if not days. But thanks to Carol s fantastic organizational skills and the enthusiastic efforts of the volunteers, the last Voters Guide was sealed into a box ready for shipping just two hours later. They looked around the room in amazement at their work boxes, large and small, packed, taped, labeled and ready for pick up and shipping! This is not a one-time event. LWV-TX has hired LWV-Lubbock County to provide this service for every statewide election a project that helps provide funds for us to continue to publish and distribute free Voter Guides citywide, as well as to keep our online voting information site, Vote411 operational. LWV-Lubbock will do this project for every statewide election, but to continue providing this service and earning this money, LWV-Lubbock will need organizers like Carol and volunteers like the twelve who worked a few weeks ago. This will happen again for the Primary Election in March, 2016, and it isn t too early to start getting ready now. This is an example of only one of the ways League members can pitch in and work together to help make the League more successful. It takes many hands to get everything done that the League does publishing and distributing Voter Guides, holding public forums on a variety of subjects, registering voters, participating in studies, producing a monthly newsletter, raising money, and putting out this monthly newsletter, to name a few. Please remember this the next time you are asked to help -if many people donate a little bit of time whether it is a onetime project, a monthly project, or an ongoing one, such as serving on the Board, they will be doing what it takes to keep the League active, strong, and vital. We won t ask you to pack boxes full of Voter Guides very often, but we do have other needs and we will be asking for your help. Carolie Mullan Co-President Board Members Co-Presidents - Isabel Gutierrez, Tavita Dorow, Carolie Mullan V-P Voter Services - Tess Trost V-P Program - Mark Webb Secretary - Virginia Downs Directors - Gail Anderson, Glenda Boverie, Vivian Burke, Sebrina Carroll, Rebecca Ramirez

3 At the LWV Public Forum on Payday Loans Oct. 29, Dean Pawlowic and Clay Ranck did a super job of presenting some of the history, practices, dangers and consequences of payday and auto title loans, and fielded questions from attendees. Co-president Isabel Gutierrez presided. INFORMATIVE AND SUCCESSFUL PUBLIC FORUM LWV-Lubbock County held a very successful and informative Public Forum in October, designed to educate the audience on Payday Loans. Two speakers, Dean Pawlowic, a professor at TTU Law School, and Clay Ranck, an investment analyst with Evensky & Katz/Foldes, shared information about Payday and Auto Title loans, and then answered questions from the audience. As they left at the end of the meeting, numerous members of the audience were heard talking about how much they had learned and how interesting they found the topic. Both speakers commented on how much they themselves had learned while preparing for the forum, and spoke highly of the LWV study materials. LWV-LUBBOCK COUNTY HAS A FACEBOOK PAGE! Thanks to League member, Nehemiah Gutierrez, LWV-Lubbock County now has a facebook page!! Access it through your own page, read about League activities and like us. Are you a LWV member? Want to be on the FB page? nehemiahg23@gmail.com with a picture of yourself for Member Monday where the LWV will profile a member each month. Nehemiah is also keeping our website up to date at lwvlubbock.org

4 The League of women Voters is where hands-on work to safeguard democracy leads to civic improvement. Join us in making democracy work! WATCH THIS SPACE The LWV is planning a holiday get-together for members and friends in December details coming soon. Summary of October Board Meeting The LWV-Lubbock County Board met in the Volunteer Center at 5:30 on October 8. In attendance were Tess Trost, Virginia Downs, Mark Webb, Glenda Boverie, Gail Anderson, Isabel Gutierrez, Carol Patterson, and Tavita Dorow. Carol Patterson discussed final arrangements for the Voters Guide /Fundraising Shipment. Isabel Gutierrez reported that Nehemiah Gutierrez is now maintaining the League s website and has also initiated a Facebook page for the organization. Tess Trost passed around a sign-up sheet for volunteers to help distribute the Constitutional Amendment Voters Guides later this month. She also reported on the recent voter registration effort at Texas Tech University, which was very successful. Carolie Mullan, Co-President League members are always welcome to attend LWV-Lubbock County Board meetings as observers. The next LWV-Lubbock County Board meeting will be Thursday, November 12, at 5:30 pm in the conference Room of the Volunteer Center at rd St. ** Forgot to renew? if you misplaced your LWV renewal form, use the one below. And if you have additions, corrections, news or other items for the LWV newsletter (or if, sadly, you want to be removed from this list), please reply to this message or me at frances.lowe@ttu.edu. To contact the LWV, use the address, phone number, or address at the top of this newsletter.

5 LWV--Lubbock Membership Form PLEASE P R I N T CAREFULLY Name Address City ST Zip Phone(s): Home ( ) Cell ( ) Work ( ) Address Annual Membership Dues begin at $60 and include the levels listed below. Please select your Membership Level: $60 Individual $100 Susan B. Anthony $200 Elizabeth Cady Stanton $250 Suffragist $35 Student $40 Senior (age 65 and older) $90 Household (2 in same house) Additional Support I also wish to support the League of Women Voters--Lubbock with an additional donation of $ for: LWV-Lubbock Education Fund (Tax deductible - please make out a separate check for LWV Lubbock Ed Fund donations.) and/or LWV-Lubbock (NOT tax deductible) My donation is (circle appropriate wording) In Honor of or In Memory of Print name and/or phrase: If you would like an acknowledgement sent to the person or family, please print name and mailing address Please return this form with your check(s) to Lubbock County LWV rd Street, Suite 103 Lubbock, TX 79411