Rate Cap Campaign Announces Enough Signatures to Put Initiative on Michigan Ballot

Earlier this month, a campaign dedicated to capping annual interest rates on loans at 36 percent in the state of Michigan announced it had collected more than 575,000 signatures and submitted 405,625 to the Michigan Secretary of State, which it hopes will eclipse the 340,042 valid voter signatures needed to get the initiative on the ballot.

The signatures were submitted on June 1, 2022 and they will now be validated by Michigan’s Board of State Canvassers. The Michigan Legislature will then have 40 days to approve the initiative as submitted, according to a blog post by Ballard Spahr.

Proponents of the initiative are opposed to the current system in which interest rates on short-term loans, when extended out over a year, can reach more than 300 percent. In addition to Michiganders for Fair Lending, the group pushing the proposal, the campaign lists partner organizations like the Community Economic Development Association of Michigan (CEDAM), Project GREEN, Lake Trust Credit Union, ACLU, NAACP of Grand Rapids, Habitat for Humanity, United Way of Michigan, Michigan League for Public Policy, the Center for Responsible Lending, the Center for Civil Justice, and the Black Impact Collaborative.

If the measure makes the ballot and is approved by voters, Michigan will join 18 states and the District of Columbia in implementing a 36 percent rate cap.