Cool: New legislation in WA state goes into effect January 1, 2009 that increases protection for consumers of payday loans. Read about it in the Seattle Times.

While the law, passed last year with the encouragement of Solid Ground’s Statewide Poverty Action Network, does not go as far as advocates had initially wished, it is groundbreaking progress in reining in an industry that has mined poor people to make enormous profits. Advocates plan to monitor implementation and impact of the new law before bringing additional proposals to Olympia.