{"id":11332,"date":"2019-03-14T10:15:41","date_gmt":"2019-03-14T17:15:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=11332"},"modified":"2019-03-14T10:15:42","modified_gmt":"2019-03-14T17:15:42","slug":"state-legislation-could-help-pave-the-way-for-a-public-bank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2019\/03\/14\/state-legislation-could-help-pave-the-way-for-a-public-bank\/","title":{"rendered":"State legislation could help pave the way for a public bank"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

San Francisco Assemblymember David Chiu on Monday introduced legislation authorizing local governments to create public banks. <\/h4>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The San Francisco Examiner<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

(Kevin N. Hume\/S.F. Examiner) By\u00a0Victor Tence<\/a>\u00a0on March 11, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legislation introduced Monday could lay down the foundations for the creation of public banks in California and provide an alternative to San Francisco\u2019s use of profit-driven commercial banks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently there are no public banks in California, and no legal avenues to create one. But Assemblymembers David Chiu, D-San Francisco, and Miguel Santiago, D-Los Angeles, hope to change that with the introduction of Assembly Bill 857, which would allow jurisdictions to create public banks through a charter process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea of a publicly-owned bank has gained traction in recent years as advocates and elected officials have called upon The City to divest its $11 billion budget out of commercial banks and into community centered projects that would better reflect San Francisco values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWall Street banks have invested in oil pipelines, gun manufacturers, private prisons and companies with unfair labor practices,\u201d Chiu said at a news conference Monday. \u201cThe opposite of what our state stands for.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill was introduced on the heels of a Board of Supervisors resolution, introduced by Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer, that won unanimous approval last month supporting publicly-owned banks and calling upon state legislators to do the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEE RELATED: Task force assembled to lead SF toward public bank launch<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have seen the behavior of these wall street banks, we have seen the predatory lending, the targeting of the black and brown communities\u2026.and a hand slap is not enough,\u201d Fewer said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public banks, free from a profit driven model, would be able to service the community by financing local infrastructure projects, affordable housing and small business loans, according to Chiu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The legislation requires any local governments applying for a charter to create a public bank to follow steps similar to those outlined for the creation of a credit-union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is not meant to have public banks compete with community banks and credit unions,\u201d Chiu said. \u201cWhere possible a public bank will partner with those entities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The legislation marks the latest development in San Francisco\u2019s exploration of the possible creation of a publicly owned financial institution. A policy report presented to the board of supervisors as early as November 2017 tackled the issue at the urging of Fewer and former Supervisor Malia Cohen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By February of 2018, a 16-member task force was assembled by the City to study the feasibility and costs of creating a public bank that would provide low-interest loans for low-income residents and affordable housing development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The task force\u2019s draft report, issued earlier this year, stated that the goals of creating a public bank to divest from Wall Street banks and reinvest in the community could be met only decades after the initial significant startup and capitalization costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CORRECTION: This story has been updated to reflect that the public bank task force has issued a draft report but has not finalized it yet.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

San Francisco Assemblymember David Chiu on Monday introduced legislation authorizing local governments to create public banks. The San Francisco Examiner (Kevin N. Hume\/S.F. Examiner) By\u00a0Victor Tence\u00a0on March 11, 2019 Legislation introduced Monday could lay down the foundations for the creation of public banks in California and provide an alternative to… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11332"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11332"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11333,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11332\/revisions\/11333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}