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California public banking bill advances through committees

7/3/2019

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PicturePublic banking advocates in Sacramento; AfD co chair Nancy Price second from left in front row.
Thanks to the California Public Banking Alliance's coalition building, AB 857, which authorizes California cities, counties, and the state to create their own public banks, has advanced through the state Assembly and two of three Senate committee hearings. Just yesterday, July 3rd, the Senate Governance and Finance Committee voted 4-3 to send this bill to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

AB 857 needs more support, so we ask our California alliance members to visit the California Public Banking Alliance homepage and scroll down to Sign the Petition, Send a Letter to Your Representative, or Sign an Organization Endorsement Form. Want to know more? You can access a factsheet here.

There are still hurdles as Wall Street banks and the US Chamber of Commerce increase efforts to defeat the bill. Because AB 857 was amended in the Senate Governance and Finance Committee, if it gets through Senate Appropriations and passes on the Senate floor, it was go back to the Assembly floor for a concurrence vote.

Alliance Co-chair Nancy Price has been among CA Public Banking Alliance campaigners meeting with committee members over the past months. As she says, “The combined efforts of Coalition members and endorsers of this bill, as well as calls to the legislature and committee members and in-district visits have led to success to date. There’s more to do to get AB 857 to the Governor’s desk and signed into law which would give a huge push to Alliance sponsored campaigns in Massachusetts, Oregon, and Washington DC.

Basically AB 857 provides for a city or county, or a Joint Powers Authority, a combination of cities and counties together in a large geographic area, to apply to the state for a charter to establish a public bank. Already groups are working on city or county bank organizing in many parts of the state. A related Senate bill could set up a state public bank by changing the state’s revolving infrastructure loan program to a depository bank.

The California effort is part of a constantly growing movement for public banking, with Alliance-affiliated campaigns active in Oregon, Washington DC, and Massachusetts.

In Massachusetts, H935/S579, which creates a public bank to fund municipal infrastructure projects, had its first hearing before the legislature’s Joint Committee on Financial Services in late May. Advocates for the bank explained how it would work, the difference between a bank and a revolving loan fund, and the low risk in making these types of loans.

Alliance national campaigns coordinator Barbara Clancy told the committee that the bank builds on recent advocacy, including a push to divest Boston pension funds from fossil fuels and corporations involved in the prison industry, and to move $250 million of the state’s pension’s operating funds to impact investments and local banks. “We have the need, expertise and values to be one of the first states to successfully establish a public bank… a model of public finance which is flexible, cost-effective, and rooted in the community-minded values of voters,” she said.

The Spring 2014 issue of Justice Rising focused on Public Banking: Creating Jobs, Building Communities. You can read it online here, or request printed copies by contacting afd@thealliancefordemocracy.org or calling 978-333-7971.



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Building the economy for the common good in Mendocino County, CA

7/1/2019

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PictureEmily Kawano and Jim Tarbell
by Jim Tarbell

After the rousing launch of our map of the Economy for the Common Good in Mendocino County on April 29 with Emily Kawano and Keith Taylor, we quickly began the process of capturing that energy and launching the whole project into the future. On May 19, over two dozen citizens dedicated to fulfilling the promise of the Economy for Our Common Good, gathered to outline all of the issues, projects and campaigns that need to be part of the new economy. These themes were then taken up by a larger public gathering on June 15 that covered many issues involved in Building the Economy for Our Common Good. 

We began with a great communal singing of the Melanie DeMore song Lead with Love, which led into testimonials from organizations already on the map and a community-base media group aiming to be citizen-driven and worker-owned. From there we broke into three groups looking at:
  • Issues around the availability and affordability of housing and the viability of establishing a Community Land Trust to ensure long-term affordable housing;
  • Our natural commons and the state of restoration forestry, including pushing the County to enforce a publicly passed ordinance that “put a wrench in the longstanding timber-management practice” of using carcinogenic chemicals to kill hardwood trees. We also discussed how to support the County’s newly formed Climate Action Advisory Committee; 
  • Establishing co-ops and collectives in the County and organizing a regular media presence for presenting current news on our progress  in Building the Economy for the Common Good in Mendocino County.
At the conclusion of the gathering we also outlined plans to hold more workshops at Mendocino College, concentrating on both adding organizations to and expanding our Map of the Economy for Our Common Good, as well as exploring new issues and campaigns necessary for a robust Economy for the Common Good and the development of new organizations to fulfill that promise.

As we ere breaking up, one enthusiastic participant exclaimed, “this is the best meeting I have been at in years. We did not just talk, we came up with actions to do.”

Not in Mendocino County? Visit this page for information on the Grassroots Institute's solidarity economy mapping curriculum, and consider organizing to create a similar map where you live. 

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