CPBA organizer David Jette writes about our journey, the future of the movement and the transition to a equitable and sustainable economy on the path paved by public banks.

The California Senate has voted to enact AB 857, the Public Banking Act, which sets the standards and opens the door for municipal public banks throughout the state.

A second vote on the amended bill in the Assembly, which advanced it by a narrow margin last month, should follow tomorrow. If Governor Gavin Newsom signs the bill into law, California will be the first state since North Dakota in 1919 to enact a statewide public banking statute, and the first in history to define and regulate the formation of public banks under an ongoing licensing regime. And while these banks are likely to start small in cost, number, and competitive scale, these first steps toward a new horizon will hasten the dawn of a new American economy, one that is accountable to the wellbeing of the people and the planet.

Lobbyists from the California Bankers Association and their affiliated industry groups tried their best to kill this bill, and they succeeded in pressuring moderates in the legislature to water it down, by limiting the ways public banks can compete with private banks. But in the end, they failed to overcome the urgent desire of Californians to divest from banks which finance extractive and exploitative businesses, defraud their customers, and take risks that lead to trillion dollar, taxpayer funded bailouts and global economic collapse. Lawmakers recognized the need to declare independence from Wall Street and establish publicly-owned, public-purpose banks with more transparency, more accountability, and with an unshakeable commitment to local, equitable, sustainable and restorative investment.

As a hired security force hired by Dakota Access LLC descended on the protest at Standing Rock, they coordinated with state and federal authorities to provide “counterterrorism measures” to protect the pipeline project from the threat of peacefully gathered Lakota water protectors and their allies, who were camping in freezing temperatures and whose rights to tribal autonomy and free speech were being presently litigated at the UN. Folks traveled from all over the country to stand with Standing Rock, and when the state and fossil fuel industry united to snuff out that resistance, those folks went back to cities all over America with a bone to pick with the financiers and enablers of that attack.

Wells Fargo was a co-financier on the project, although as the bank itself points out, it contributed just 4.8% of the project’s credit facility, while 17 other banks provided forms of financing. That Wells Fargo was also the subject of investigation for illegally cross-selling products to customers without their consent (for which it has paid hundreds of millions in settlements to customers and shareholders) widened the target. And the bank’s involvement in the illegal foreclosure of homes following the financial crisis made them a target for housing justice activists all over the country.

Continue reading on Sydiot.

Sonali Kolhatkar​ on Rising Up With Sonali talks with Trinity Tran with the California Public Banking Alliance on the Los Angeles Measure B initiative and the #AB857 campaign barreling its way through the California State Legislature.

A local measure in Los Angeles, California, last year to establish a public banking system failed. But organizers did not give up and instead set their sights even higher. A bill, AB 857, introduced by Assemblyman David Chiu to allow municipalities in California to establish their own public banking system has now gained steam and is working its way through various committees. Based on the idea that public money should be held in public institutions rather than private Wall Street banks, organizers are more hopeful than ever for a public banking system to become a reality.

Watch on Rising Up With Sonali.

California Public Banking Alliance Press Release, August 30, 2019. AB 857 advances to full Senate vote after week of big-name endorsements. 

SACRAMENTO – Today the Public Banking Act (D-Chiu, D-Santiago) passed through its sixth and final committee, the California State Senate Appropriations Committee, in a historic victory for the public banking movement. The bill, AB 857, now heads to a full vote on the Senate floor.

“The momentum for public banking in California is growing by the day,” said Assemblymember David Chiu (D-San Francisco). “The public’s money should serve a public purpose instead of lining the pockets of Wall Street investors. This bill brings us closer to that goal.”

The vote positions California to be the first state in the nation to enable city and regional-level public banks as an alternative to predatory Wall Street megabanks. AB 857 empowers local governments to charter democratically-accountable banks rather than depositing taxpayer funds with Wall Street. The only existing public bank in the United States is the Bank of North Dakota, which serves a state population roughly the size of San Francisco.

“Today marks another landmark win for California’s fight to mobilize public revenues to serve public interest,” said Trinity Tran, co-founder of Public Bank LA, a founding member of the California Public Banking Alliance. “We thank Senator Portantino and the Committee for standing with millions across the state representing organized labor, local government, environmental, and community groups in support of AB 857. The Public Banking Act is a crucial step towards maximizing the impact of profits in our local communities instead of maximizing profit for out-of-state big banks.”

The final committee vote comes after a week of endorsements from presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders, labor unions, city governments, environmental groups, and Democratic central committees. AB 857 has been endorsed by the California Democratic Party as well as county parties representing Alameda, Contra Costa, Fresno, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, and Sonoma.

Continue reading on lccr.com.

California Public Banking Alliance Press Release, August 28, 2019. Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders announced his support for California’s Public Banking Act (AB 857) this morning, sharing a Twitter post from the California Public Banking Alliance just days ahead of the bill’s final Senate committee vote.

“It makes a lot more sense to me for cities and states to establish banks that invest in local communities instead of handing over taxpayer dollars to Wall Street banks whose business model is fraud,” Sanders wrote on Twitter.

Sanders retweeted a post from the California Public Banking Alliance (CPBA), the sponsor of AB 857, which represents public banking activists across 10 cities and regions in the state.

Continue reading on LCCR.com.

By Haley Munguia, Long Beach Press-Telegram. The Press-Telegram talks to CPBA’s Ben Hauck and Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia on what a public bank could mean for Long Beach.

It’s time for local government to put its money where its mouth is.

At least, that’s what a fledgling group of activists from across the state will call on lawmakers to authorize when they descend on Sacramento this Monday, Aug. 26. There, the advocates will lobby for a wonky cause that’s quickly gaining traction in California’s progressive circles: public banking.

Though Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia won’t be in the state capitol for the occasion, he stands with the organizers in spirit.

Garcia said this week that if Assembly Bill 857 – which would grant cities and counties the authority to establish their own government-run banks – becomes law, he hopes Long Beach would be the home of one of the state’s first public banks.

The prospect isn’t unlikely; the bill has already sailed through six legislative committees and was approved on the Assembly floor in May. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who gets the final say, has also signaled support for the concept.

Continue reading on Long Beach Press-Telegram.

California Public Banking Alliance, Medium. Cities and counties across California are stepping onto the public banking bandwagon! From San Diego to Eureka, 17 cities and counties have passed resolutions endorsing Assembly Bill 857, joining with the California Public Banking Alliance in pushing for state legislation to create a state sanctioned charter for public banks.

City dwellers in San Francisco and Los Angeles agree that the time has come for the billions of tax dollars collected by municipalities to be put to use building affordable housing in the communities that pay the taxes. Berkeley and Beverly Hills want public funds to be divested from harmful fossil fuel companies and rerouted to small businesses badly in need of capital to succeed. People of Richmond, Long Beach and Oakland want to enable their elected officials to put their money in financial institutions accountable to the public, not to distant shareholders.

Continue reading on Medium.

California Public Banking Alliance, Medium. This week, Alameda County Democratic Party, San Mateo County Democratic Party and Sonoma County Democratic Party added their names to the long list of Democratic governing bodies endorsing Assembly Bill 857, the Public Banking Act. This follows past endorsements by the California Democratic Party, 550 delegates of the California Democratic Party, as well as Contra Costa, Fresno, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz County Democratic Parties.

Democrats statewide realize the importance of establishing a public banking option for municipalities. Currently, local jurisdictions are forced by the limitations of local banks and credit unions to entrust their funds to Wall Street banks. These are the very same banks that drove the US and global economies to the edge of collapse in 2008 with their greedy speculation and, often fraudulent, banking practices.

Continue reading on Medium.

By Robert R. Raymond, Truthout. It may not come as a surprise to hear that the majority of Americans don’t trust the banking system in this country. Only 27 percent of those surveyed in a 2016 Gallup poll said they had “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in the institution — less than half of the record high set in 1979. And the lack of trust is spread relatively evenly across the political spectrum — it’s not just liberals or those on the left: Almost everyone is fed up with the banks.

And if banking institutions don’t exactly spark joy, their lead characters — morally bankrupt investment bankers whose greed and arrogance almost singlehandedly collapsed the entire country’s economy — certainly don’t spark joy either. It’s an old story: Bankers made obscene amounts of money destroying the economy, we bailed them out, they walked away from it all without a shred of accountability and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. But that’s not where the story has to end. Spurred by the need for an alternative to the for-profit, extractive model of finance exemplified by Wall Street, there is a budding movement in the United States that is working to reimagine banking as an institution that truly serves the public.

Public banking is an old idea, but it has never been very common in the United States. The first and only public bank in the country was founded exactly 100 years ago in North Dakota, and it wasn’t until relatively recently that the idea has begun to find new life in cities and states across the country. Growing largely out of the need for more democratic ownership over capital, the aim of this budding movement is to create a robust public banking infrastructure across the nation that is rooted in the principles of economic, environmental, racial and social justice.

Continue reading on Truthout.

By Chase DiFeliciantonio, North Bay Business Journal. A bill that would allow some municipalities to establish their own banks in California edged through a state committee Wednesday.

The legislation, Assembly Bill 857, passed the Senate Governance and Finance Committee on a 4-3 vote with the support of Chairman Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg.

Authored by Assemblymen David Chiu, D-San Francisco, and Miguel Santiago, D-Los Angeles, the bill would allow local governments of a certain size to create publicly owned banks with the goal of divesting from large banks invested in the fossil fuel industry, private prisons, and other industries while investing local tax money back into communities.

Municipalities could also band together to create joint powers authorities under the bill.

Continue reading on North Bay Business Journal.