Fresno just entered the public banking chat! And the community is driving it. From local organizers to small-business owners, folks packed the West Fresno Center to keep public dollars working for Fresno’s working families. @fresnoland has the story.
California is facing budget deficits, federal rollbacks, and deep cuts to housing, climate, CDFI funding, and small business programs. Just as our communities need support, the federal government is pulling back. Californians cannot depend on the Trump Administration to help solve these problems. We must assert our State’s authority to manage our substantial financial resources for addressing critical needs. For nearly 40 million Californians, the time to act is now.
The California Public Banking Alliance has released a new State Public Bank Brief to show a path forward. A State Public Bank would keep Californiaâs money working for Californians by protecting public funds, expanding credit to our communities where it is needed and lowering borrowing costs. View and download here: California Needs a State Public Bank
Local public banks are already moving forward across the state. City-and-regional-level public banks keep dollars circulating in neighborhoods, supporting small businesses, housing, and community projects. A State Public Bank creates an ecosystem of public financial infrastructure. It brings the strength of the worldâs fourth-largest economy, pooling deposits, providing liquidity, and technical assistance to help local banks launch and grow. The state bank provides the scale, support, and reach to finance housing, climate resilience, and infrastructure on a statewide level. This is how California can build lasting economic power and resilience in the face of a hostile federal administration! Join the fight and be part of the team building the State Bank campaign. This is only the starting point. Legislation is still being developed, and core details on capitalization, governance, and oversight will be shaped with coalition leaders, stakeholders, and legislative champions. Our aim is simple and urgent: build a strong, lasting movement and a financial system that truly serves the people of California! Volunteer with us!Â
Our new brief, âPublic Banking in California: Learning from the Bank of North Dakota,â with the University of Michigan is out! This is the most comprehensive U.S. economic report focused on CA public banks, and the first academic, data-driven analysis to use the BND as a case study for how public banks can save money, expand affordable housing and access to capital for small businesses, and help close racial wealth gaps.
We would like to thank Terri Friedline and the University of Michigan team, Trinity Tran and Rick Girling with the California Public Banking Alliance, Erin Kilmer-Neel and the Beneficial State Foundation team, Bianca Blomquist and the Small Business Majority team, and Lydia Casmier at Demos.
Our goal with this report was to give Californiaâs public banking movement a data-driven foundation. It provides clear, evidence-based findings that support what we as advocates have been saying for years and helps lay the groundwork for policy frameworks to establish public banks across the state.
Weâre excited to share that CalAccount is moving forward this year through the state budget process, and was included in the budget deal agreed to by the Governor, Senate, and Assembly, a strategic path forward made possible by the leadership of Assemblymember Avelino Valencia (D-Anaheim), Governor Newsom and his legislative staff, the Chiefs of Staff for Senate President pro Tempore McGuire and Budget Chair Wiener, Speaker Rivas, Assembly Budget Chair Gabriel, and State Treasurer Ma, along with her Chief Deputy Treasurer.
This yearâs state budget provides $1 million toward implementation in the CalAccount Commission process. Once approved, CalAccount will become the nationâs first state-administered, fee-free public banking option. It builds on the groundwork laid by the California Public Banking Option Act (AB 1177), passed in 2021, and the CalAccount Blue Ribbon Commission, chaired by State Treasurer Fiona Ma, which produced the market analysis in 2024. This is another major step toward ending financial exclusion and reducing economic inequality across the state.
CalAccountwill provide a safe and free public banking alternative for over 7 million unbanked and underbanked Californians, including 2.5 million households. Each year, California families lose $4.5 billion to financial fees. Thatâs money that should go toward rent, groceries, and bills, not bank profits. As costs rise, CalAccount provides real relief for low-wage workers and vulnerable communities, providing a practical alternative to the predatory fees and penalties of big banks.
Thank you to everyone who sent emails and letters to the Governor and budget leaders. Your support helped make this happen!
Why it matters:
CalAccount could save underbanked households upwards of $1,000 per year.
Itâs projected to deliver over $45 million in economic stimulus in its first year alone.
The program is designed to be cost-neutral over time, funded by user swipe fees, not taxpayer dollars.
CalAccount is an urgently needed path forward to keep more money in peopleâs pockets and ensure every Californian has access to basic financial services, especially as consumer financial protections are being dismantled at the federal level.
Weâre proud to help lead this effort with SEIU California and the CalAccount Community Coalition, and to see California once again set the national standard for economic justice.
CalAccount Community Coalition gathers at the Capitol Rotunda.
CalAccount Community Coalition and California Fast Food Workers Union with Assemblymember Avelino Valencia.
Sylvia Chi – California Public Banking Alliance (CPBA), Cynthia Amezcua – FreeFrom, Trinity Tran – CPBA, Rick Girling – CPBA, Anneisha Williams – California Fast Food Workers Union (CFWU), Erika Connor – CFWU at the Capitol.
heila Ainsworth with California Fast Food Workers Union – CFWU, Michael Jones – CFWU, Trinity Tran – California Public Banking Alliance, Lilian Hernandez – CFWU, Pedro Loera – CFWU, Erika Conner – CFWU, Lio Sanchez – CFWU meeting with State Legislators.
Sylvia Chi – CPBA, Michael Jones – CFWU, Erika Conner – CFWU, Sheila Ainsworth – CFWU, Pedro Loera – CFWU heading to legislative meetings.
CalAccount Advocacy Training Session with California Fast Food Workers Union at SEIU State Council.
Sarah Zimmerman, Cecille Isidro – SEIU at the CalAccount Advocacy Training.
Thanks to everyone who joined The New School’s Public Banking Panel featuring Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and CPBA’s Trinity Tran! Watch the recording and hear about how Public Banking and Guaranteed Income can work together to tackle income inequality, provide immediate relief, and build long-term structural change!
– Representative Rashida Tlaib, U.S. Representative, 12th Congressional District of Michigan
– Terri Friedline, Professor of Social Work, University of Michigan
– Darrick Hamilton, University Professor and Founding Director, Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy, The New School
– Amy Castro, Co-Founder and Faculty Director, Center for Guaranteed Income Research, and Associate Professor, University of Pennsylvania
– Trinity Tran, Executive Director, Co-Founder, and Lead Organizer, California Public Banking Alliance
– Graham Steele, Academic Fellow, Rock Center for Corporate Governance, Stanford Law School/Stanford Graduate School of Business, and Fellow, Financial Regulation, Roosevelt Institute
As federal support for climate and infrastructure shrinks, cities are turning to bold tools to build local economic power. Public banking is one of them.
Join us for a virtual roundtable, featuring our very own Trinity Tran, on how public banks can support guaranteed income programs and help build more inclusive, community-rooted economies. The event will spotlight new research from the Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy at The New School and feature leaders in public banking, economic justice, and guaranteed income. Featuring:
Terri Friedline, Professor of Social Work, University of Michigan
Darrick Hamilton, University Professor and Founding Director, Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy, The New School
Amy Castro, Co-Founder and Faculty Director, Center for Guaranteed Income Research, and Associate Professor, University of Pennsylvania
Trinity Tran, Co-Founder and Lead Organizer, California Public Banking Alliance
Graham Steele, Academic Fellow, Rock Center for Corporate Governance, Stanford Law School/Stanford Graduate School of Business, and Fellow, Financial Regulation, Roosevelt Institute
Hosted by: The Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy, The New School.
Read and download two new reports on how public banking can support economic equity and strengthen financial infrastructure for guaranteed income programs.
At a national convening in Washington, D.C., marking the launch of Demos and New Economy Projectâs report, Public Banks for Racial Equity: Democratizing Finance to Build Community Wealth,CPBAâs Executive Director Trinity Tran and Legislative Director Sylvia Chi presented Dispatches From the Field: Wins, Lessons, Whatâs Next for California, a look at the statewide public banking movementâs milestones and future trajectory.
The report covers the California Public Banking Allianceâs leadership in passing the California Public Banking Act (AB 857), the first legislation in the nation to create a pathway for municipal public banks. CPBAâs work is cited as a model for how public financial institutions can âmove public dollars out of extractive banking institutions and into investments that benefit working-class communities of color.â
CPBA is proud to be featured alongside organizers and public banking advocates from across the country committed to reimagining finance for racial and economic justice. As Trinity Tran notes in the report, âA public bank must be rooted in public interest and accountability to the communities it serves. Weâre building the financial architecture to fund affordable housing, small businesses, and green infrastructure in communities that Wall Street has long ignored.â
The report features insights from CPBA along with Public Bank LAâs Legislative Director David Jette, showing how California is laying the groundwork for a network of socially and environmentally responsible public banks, designed to build economic power in low-income communities of color.
The California Public Banking Alliance’s Executive Director Trinity Tran led the passage of the first law in the U.S. to let cities and regions form public banks, backed by our California alliance of activists. We did this not by playing by Wall Streetâs rules but by organizing across the state to build people power. Trinity then helped lead lead the passing of a second public banking bill now on its way to becoming to first universal banking services program in the U.S. Now we’re building the next phase: public banks that move billions into affordable housing, climate infrastructure, and community resilience.
CPBAâs Rick Girling writes in his latest op-ed: public banking advocates stand with the CFPB and against efforts to gut the few safeguards working people have left. Wall Street and billionaire tech moguls are coming for financial protections, but weâre not backing down. Read Rickâs piece in Stansbury Forum:
âSince 2012, consumers have been credited or saved more than $23 billion due to CFPB actions. The CFPB won a suit against Wells Fargo for $3.7 billion for decades of mismanagement of auto loans, mortgages, and deposit accounts harming more than 16 million Americans gaining them justice after suffering fraud. The CFPB recovered $363 million from lenders who scammed service members and veterans by violating the Military Lending Act. The CFPB instituted a rule limiting overdraft fees to $5 instead of the customary $20-35 that banks charge customers who have the least in their accounts, a projected savings of $5 billion to consumers. Unfortunately, Congressional Republicans killed this rule in April allowing banks to go back to charging whatever they want.
Organizations working to democratize finance such as the California Public Banking Alliance, the San Francisco Public Bank Coalition and Americans for Financial Reform strongly support the work of the CFPB. They are also strongly opposed to billionaire tech moguls and bankersâ attempts to defang these effective regulators and consumer advocates.â â Rick Girling, The Stansbury Forum
Our work is featured by world renowned progressive economist Gerald Epstein in his book Busting the Bankers Club: Finance for the Rest of Us! California has been a hub for the public banking movement, inspiring efforts nationwide. From the foreclosure crisis to the fight against Wall Streetâs role in the Dakota Access Pipeline, our roots run deep in people power.
With the passage of our California Public Banking Act bill (AB 857), California became the first state to authorize municipal public banks, turning the vision of keeping public dollars local into law. AB 1177 followed, paving the way for CalAccount and universal fee-free banking access.
The book captures our work:
On Page 259, Epsteinâs book captures our fight: âCalifornia has been a center of the public banking effort in the United States, and its recent successes have inspired public banking activists in other states. These efforts evolved first from the foreclosure crisis following the Great Financial Crisis in 2007-2009, and then received new energy from the grassroots movement advocating for divestment against the Wall Street banks supporting the Dakota Access Pipeline Project. The idea of divestment brought up an important question: where could local governments keep their funds instead? The lack of alternatives to Wall Street banks gave rise to the Public Bank LA initiative, which began a campaign to establish a municipal bank that would be owned by the city of Los Angeles and would manage city funds in the public interest.â
Page 260 â…this momentum was translated into the formation of the California Public Banking Alliance, a coalition of ten public banking grassroots groups across the state. In 2019, this coalition won a great victory: the state of California passed the first municipal banking legislation in the country, AB 857, authorizing the state to charter ten municipal banks over seven years. This victory set in motion actions by public banking organizations in multiple California municipalities and several regions to attempt to establish municipal and regional public banksâĶ
âThis legislation was followed by a second victory, the passage of the Public Banking Option Act (AB 1177), which, according to the California Public Banking Alliance, is âlandmark legislation guaranteeing universal free banking access to all Californiansâ. AB 1177 sets into motion the creation of the CalAccount program guaranteeing all California residents access to basic banking services without fees or penalties. The California Public Banking Option Act addresses the inequities in financial services acutely felt by communities that have been hardest hit by the pandemic and recession, inequalities such as discrimination, predatory lending, and vicious spirals of debt.
âThe passage of these two pieces of legislation has inspired public bank groups in other states. An important lesson from California is that a broad coalition with intensive organization and persistent activity is necessary to pass and implement such legislation over the opposition of the Banker’ Club going up against the inertia of the ideological prejudices and risk aversion characteristics of many key officers in legislatures and state and local bureaucracies.â
