After losing her bid to replace Aaron Schock in the Illinois House, Republican Joan Krupa was chosen to represent the 92nd District for the remainder of Schock's term in Springfield -- all nine days of it.  During this short stint, Krupa has introduced a single measure which has no chance of advancing before the start of the next session.  But that futility aside, Krupa's bill to cap the payday loan rate at 36 percent in Illinois is an important reminder of some unfinished business from last year.

Back in April, we devoted a feature article to the burgeoning and extremely destructive payday loan industry here in Illinois, which Citizen Action's Linda DeLaforgue describes as the "wild, wild west" because of our loophole-ridden regulations.  In that article, we highlighted efforts by State Sen. Kimberly Lightford and State Rep. Julie Hamos to revise the murky language in the 2005 Payday Loan Reform Act to ensure that no lender could charge more than $15.50 on a $100 loan.  But after passing the Senate on April 17, the bill was sent to the House Rules Committee.  It's languished there ever since (no doubt thanks to the $2.5 million in campaign contributions from payday lenders that flowed into Springfield between 1999 and 2006).

Meanwhile, Sen. Dick Durbin tried to do his part at the federal level last year, introducing a bill on July 17 to "establish a federal usury cap of 36% APR on all consumer credit transactions."  So what happened?  That same day, it was referred to the Senate Committee on Banking, where no further action was taken.

Now that new legislative sessions are getting rolling in both Illinois and D.C., we'll be following up with Durbin, Lightford, Hamos, and other lawmakers to see what plans they have to tackle the issue more effectively this year.

UPDATE: Krupa tells WEEK: "I've already talked to some fellow legislators that said they would have some interest in bringing it [her payday loan legislation] up in the 96th session."  One of the good things about this issue is that there appears to be bipartisan interest in it.  On the flipside, the industry knows this and has been sure to spread their contributions on both sides of the aisle.