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In the News
Is this the year Washington state starts a public bank?
By Katie Wilson, Crosscut – It’s a high-stakes year in the Washington state Legislature. If you’ve been reading the news, you’ve probably heard about proposals to provide pandemic relief, tax the rich, protect tenants from mass eviction and more. But some transformative bills have been flying mostly under the radar. One of them, Senate Bill 5188, could create a Washington state public bank.
Powerful alternatives to predatory lenders: Postal Service banking and public banks
By Terri Friedline and Ameya Pawar, Chicago Sun-Times – Traditional banking has radically changed in recent decades. In 1985, there were more than 18,000 such banks, but by 2018 there were only about 5,400. Today, just five banks control half of all assets, or about $7 trillion. As these banks have gotten bigger through mergers and acquisitions, they have closed branches in many lower income communities, in Indigenous communities, and in communities of color in urban and rural areas.
New Mexico’s Public Bank Legislation is Running Out of Time
By Peter Strozniak, Credit Union Times – Time is running out for a proposed bill that would establish a public bank in New Mexico, a measure endorsed by the state’s credit union trade group but strongly opposed by the state’s community bankers association. “We’re grateful that we had the two hearings and the opportunity to generate even more awareness and information regarding the benefits of a public bank to our state’s finance system,” Angela Merket, executive director of the Alliance for Local Economic Prosperity (AFLEP), said.
Lawmakers consider state bank for Oregon
By Melody Finnemore, Portland Tribune – Senate Bill 339 would establish the Bank of the State of Oregon and provide more significant support for community banks and credit unions. If created, the state bank would be guided by an advisory board of directors in its management and operation, and would be subject to a mandatory audit by the secretary of state.
It’s expensive to be poor. Publicly owned banks may help
By Geeta Minocha and Ricardo Williams, Orlando Sentinel – We live in a society where the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed existing cracks and exasperated disparities in our economic system. As the gap between the wealthiest and poorest Americans continues to increase and national economic catastrophe looms ever-closer, we can’t afford status-quo solutions. Central Florida must widen its social safety nets and create a public bank.
COVID-19 illustrates why Canada needs more — and better — public banks
By David McDonald and Thomas Marois, The Conversation – In many parts of the world, public banks play a critical role in addressing major social, economic and environmental challenges (such as Germany’s transition to renewable energy), offering everything from retail services in remote communities to multi-billion-dollar financing for transformative projects. The COVID-19 pandemic has served to underscore the importance of public banks.
New Mexico’s Coming Megadrought Highlights Farmers’ Control of Water
By Cody Nelson, Capital and Main – On the Rio Grande, one of the Southwest’s major lifelines, this year is expected to be among the driest in recent history. New Mexico officials project drought conditions to be worse than they’ve been since the 1970s. The upcoming season highlights a difficult reality in this state: Farming and ranching to pay the bills could become an unsustainable way of life in New Mexico, as the water supply dwindles and farms resort to pumping more groundwater to irrigate.
San Francisco draws closer to a public bank with widely supported reinvestment ordinance
By Ian Firstenberg, El Tecolote – As businesses and workers around San Francisco struggle to keep up with the continually ballooning costs of the Bay Area and maintain economic stability in the throes of a pandemic, members of the Board of Supervisors are pushing to establish a public bank. Legislation seeks to establish a working group, made up of four community representatives and three banking experts, that would finalize the details of establishing a public bank.
CUANM names Juan Fernandez Ceballos president/CEO
By Credit Union National Association – The National Association of Latino Credit Unions and Professionals (NLCUP) congratulates the Board of Directors of the Credit Union Association of New Mexico for the naming of Juan Fernandez Ceballos as its new president/CEO. This is represents the first time a Latino professional has been chosen to lead a state credit union association.
Report: Condition of New Mexico roads ‘a complete disaster’
By Daniel J. Chacon, Santa Fe New Mexican – Investing in the deteriorating transportation system will require more money that ultimately will come from the public, said Rocky Moretti. “Motorists in the state annually are paying $2.7 billion in the cost of driving on roads that are deteriorated, that are beating up their vehicles due to traffic congestion, which costs more time and wasted fuel — and then the economic cost of traffic crashes where the lack of adequate roadway safety features, while not the primary cause, are a contributing factor,” he said.
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Episode: Everyone deserves a public bank
“I had the good fortune to work on this initiative before Bernie kidnapped all my time. This is one of those no-brainer initiatives that only the 1% could oppose. It has the potential to save the state millions of dollars by vastly reducing the cost of its bonds to improve infrastructure funding. in a public bank, our state funds can be used to build our local economy and our local infrastructure.”
– Paul Gibson
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