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Letter: "Oregon should investigate the benefits of creating a public state bank"

6/29/2020

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​Alliance co-chair David Delk has written a great letter to the editor in support of public banking, looking to the success of the public Bank of North Dakota in making Paycheck Protection Program loans to struggling businesses in that state.

Economic forecasts predict long-term unemployment and business closures as the result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Until there's a widely available and safe vaccine, there will be no hoped-for "V-shaped" recovery. In fact, what we have seen so far is the largest corporations getting bigger and the rich getting richer, as they take over market and services from smaller and locally-owned retailers, restaurants, and service providers.

As financial institutions committed to putting the public good first, public banks would be a key component of a broad economic recovery, if there were more of them! Fortunately there are active campaigns to establish public banks in cities and states across the US. The Massachusetts and Oregon campaigns are Alliance-sponsored projects.

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Plans for Portland OR Public Bank focus on city officials, state campaign

4/28/2020

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by David Delk
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Portland Public Banking Alliance is moving forward with a dual focused plan to advance creation of a Portland (OR) municipal public bank while at the same time beginning the process for a state-wide initiative campaign to amend the state constitution to allow formation of a state public bank.
 
Language in the Oregon state constitution has been interpreted to prohibit such a bank. We are working on the initiative language now with a view to getting this on the ballot in November 2022.
 
In the city of Portland we have identified several candidates running for Mayor and City Council positions who support a municipal bank formation. Happily those candidates are in a strong position to join the council next year to give us a majority of council members, and a likely strong partner voice in the Oregon legislature.
 
Organizing at the state level continues as we need to change state law to facilitate municipal bank formation. While the state constitution is said to prohibit a state public bank, no such language exists regarding municipal bank formation. But a couple of changes need to be made to state law to ease the path to achieving that goal. We continue our outreach to current members of the Oregon legislature as well as candidates running for those positions. And we will reintroduce the Municipal Banks Bill in the new legislative session.

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Campaign for a public bank in Massachusetts moves forward

3/16/2020

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by Barbara Clancy

The Massachusetts Public Banking campaign, a sponsored project of Alliance for Democracy, is organizing for a 2021 refiling of our bill to create a public bank to fund municipal infrastructure projects. We are also assessing potential changes to the bill to help the state build a more just and resilient economy following the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
Our steering committee is looking at how to broadly define infrastructure in order to win more municipal and public support, as well as considering whether the bank should be empowered to lend directly to small businesses as well as cities and towns. Steering committee members are also very aware that the economic crisis brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic could easily be a precursor for more long-lasting disruption caused by climate collapse. That realization makes our work all the more urgent.

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"Money and Democracy"

12/17/2019

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In 2013, Dave Lewit, active with the Massachusetts Public Banking working group and a former Alliance chapter coordinator, looked at the aftermath of the "Great Recession" and what organizations and theorists were proposing to address systemic problems with our global and national financial systems. 

He wrote this article, which was first published in Empirical magazine. It looks at the link between money and rebellion, and some of the groundbreaking changes advocated by those working to democratize finance and money, including public banks, unemployed worker co-op formation, government-created credit bypassing private banks, and a trillion-dollar coin to jump start the economy and shrink public debt. Just as in 2013, it's time for popular education to lay out these issues and solutions. 
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Win on California's public bank bill can advance other state's campaigns

10/21/2019

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​Public banking activists in California and across the country are celebrating the passage of AB 857, authorizing California cities, counties, and the state to create their own public banks. The bill was signed into law in October by Governor Gavin Newsom after being filed at the start of the session by Assembly members David Chiu and Miguel Santiago.  But the bill’s filing was preceded by years of city-level advocacy, with local public bank groups in Los Angeles, Oakland, Humboldt County, and San Francisco, among others. These groups worked with city councils and county government and built connections across issues to bring a diverse coalition together in support of the bill once it was filed.
 
With San Francisco and Los Angeles both working on filing bank plans under the new bill, look for these cities to join North Dakota and American Samoa, as well as dozens of other countries where public banks are established, in being able to provide non-profit, transparent, accountable and affordable finances for public purposes—putting public money to work for the common good, rather than Wall Street profits.
 
Alliance Co-chair Nancy Price was one of dozens of CA Public Banking Alliance campaigners who met with Assembly and Senate committee members in the spring and early summer to help shepherd the bill through several committee hearings and votes, and to help fend off unfriendly amendments. “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 led to success,” she said. “And this California win will give a huge push to Alliance sponsored campaigns” for public banks, currently underway in Massachusetts and Portland OR.


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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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Portland OR Alliance welcomes Ellen Brown, works for campaign finance disclosure and limits

5/29/2018

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PicturePortland Chapter members meet with Ellen Brown, right.
The Portland OR Alliance for Democracy chapter recently welcomed Ellen Brown, founder and chair of the Public Banking Institute. Ellen participated in a Strike Debt Debtors' Assembly as well as a public talk on how Portland and Oregon would benefit from formation of public banks. In addition, chapter members arranged for her to visit with the Portland City Attorney's office, and to meet with candidates running for city council.  

The Portland chapter has not just been working on public banking. They're organizing to enact a city charter change to end political bribery in city elections.  Using their local initiative process, they are trying to enact limits on political contributions/expenditures and to require that political ads disclose the top five entities paying to run the ad.

In working for these reforms, the chapter is going up against a state Supreme Court that has declared all such limits to be an unconstitutional infringement on individual free speech rights.  Individual is understood to include corporations.  But the proposed charter change would ban all corporate contributions, directly challenging the OR Supreme Court rulings.  

Chapter activists have also begun the process for a state-wide initiative to amend the state constitution to allow limits.  When they are successful, we will have this initiative on the ballot in Nov. 2020. 

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Alliance-sponsored public banking campaigns advance

4/5/2018

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The Alliance's three sponsored campaigns for public banks—the DC Public Banking Center, the Portland Public Banking Alliance, and Hub Public Banking—made progress this winter on democratizing finance in their cities and state.

In Washington, the DC Public Banking Center is keeping an eye on the request for proposals process for the city's public bank feasibility study, as well as continuing to reach out to constituents through a recent forum on “Banking for the Public Good, Not Private Profit.” The forum participants, including Alliance co-Vice chair Ruth Caplan, looked at what a public bank could do for Washington, the ethical concerns around the business practices of large banks, especially Wells Fargo, and the potential impact of a proposed revolving loan fund for environmental projects.

In Portland, public banking advocates have met with city council candidates and expect to have a majority on the five-person council who are friendly to the idea of a public municipal bank.

In Massachusetts, a bill to create a state infrastructure bank has been moved from the legislature's joint committee on Small Businesses to the committee on Financial Services, and advocates are mustering support for it from mayors, town managers, advocacy groups and citizens. Since the Finance committee's deadline for either moving bills to Ways and Means or asking for an extension on a decision is this week, proponents should know soon whether their bill has a chance of passage this term. 

The Alliance's campaigns were also part of the discussion at a recent strategy meeting on public banking, organized by the Public Banking Institute, which brought advocates from across the country together in Colorado. The vitality of many of these new campaigns is inspiring, especially those that have drawn a connection between municipal divestment from Wall Street banks and fossil fuels, and reinvestment in local economies and environment via a public bank.

Check out our public banking campaign page for more resources and links to individuals projects online and on social media.
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Public Banking Spreading Across the US

1/3/2018

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Alliance for Democracy's Co-chair and founder of Portland Public Banking,  David Delk, is featured in two articles about the spreading of public banking across the United States. 

First article: 
Public Bank Fans Want to Get Portland City Council on BoardFirst up, money for a feasibility study.

Second article:  
Public Bank Movement Gains Ground in Cities and States across the US - N...Cities and states pay billions in interest to fund capital projects. They also face other shortfalls in local fi...

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How to fund Universal Basic Income without upping taxes or inflation

11/2/2017

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The policy of guaranteeing every citizen a universal basic income is gaining support around the world, as automation increasingly makes jobs obsolete. But can it be funded without raising taxes or triggering hyperinflation?

Ellen Brown, author of Web of Debt and other books on public banking, says it can and tells us  how.  Read more.
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