Milestones in Motion: CPBA’s Spring 2024 Newsletter

CPBA Admin April 16, 2024

Public Banking Advocates Travel to the Capitol

CPBA Advocacy Team: Julian LaRosa, Lovoy Mejia, Trinity Tran, Debbie Notkin, Sylvia Chi, Rick Girling, Goli Sahba, Brett Garrett, Doug MacPherson.

The California Public Banking Alliance Advocacy Team had an action-packed and productive day advocating for public banking in Sacramento. We conducted 20 meetings that we arranged in legislator’s offices and dropped-in on another 30 offices to provide updates on progress we have made with California's public banks and the CalAccount program.

Following the enactment of California’s public banking law, government agencies in five regions — California’s Central Coast, the East Bay, Los Angeles, Sacramento, and San Francisco — have allocated funding and resources to support the implementation of public banks. Advocates in these regions are working hard at developing business plans to set up city and regional public banks in accord with the California Public Banking Act.

NCRC Just Economy Conference and Federal Reserve Board

in Washington DC

California Public Banking Alliance at the NCRC Conference with Rise Economy.

CPBA lead organizer Trinity Tran traveled to Washington DC to meet with Congressional offices and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. She delivered an overview of the California Public Banking Act, updating the Federal Reserve Board on the progress of public bank development in California and discussing the upcoming groundbreaking applications from California’s local governments.

CPBA also attended the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) virtual meetings alongside Rise Economy, presenting updates on California's public banks to federal regulators.

Trinity presented at the NCRC Just Economy Conference in Washington DC on the panel "Banking on a Better Future: How Public Banking Can Transform the Financial Industry." The panel was attended by over 100 people, including NCRC non-profit members from across the country and representatives from Wall Street banks.

CalAccount Town Hall Report

Hundreds of CalAccount supporters took the time to passionately document the extreme hardships that working class Californians face due to the absence of affordable financial services. They arrived at three town halls convened in late February by the California Treasurer’s Office in Fresno, Oakland, and Los Angeles to gauge support for this innovative program to dramatically improve the lives of the unbanked and underbanked.

These town halls drew grassroots community leaders, business leaders, experts in financial services access, labor leaders, and workers. All testified to the overwhelming need for a state administered banking account with no-fees, no minimum balance and no overdraft penalties.

Facilitated by the CalAccount Executive Director, Cassandra DiBenedetto, town hall participants provided powerful testimony supporting the need for the program. Public participation is required to be included in the final report by RAND, the firm conducting the CalAccount Market Study for the Treasurer’s Office.

Once completed, the market study will return to the Legislature for approval. The CalAccount Community Coalition intends to introduce legislation to implement CalAccount in the 2025-26 session, making CalAccount the first state-administered universal banking program in the nation.

Visit the California Public Banking Alliance YouTube page to watch speaker clips from the town halls.

To watch the full video recordings of the CalAccount Town Halls, visit the CalAccount Blue Ribbon Commission page on the State Treasurer’s website.

Read our full report from the statewide CalAccount Town Halls: https://capublicbanking.com/calaccount-2024-statewide-town-halls-event-wrap-up/

Oakland CalAccount Town Hall

Los Angeles CalAccount Town Hall

CPBA Spring 2024 Progress Report

Central Coast
The governing bodies of ten jurisdictions have approved resolutions in support of a viability study to create the bank, and officials from two other jurisdictions have expressed support for a viability study as well.

East Bay
The slate of bank board candidates has been finalized, and the consultant has completed the first draft of the business plan for the public bank. In November 2023, the Friends of Public Bank East Bay hired the veteran credit union executive Scott Waite as the public bank CEO. The Friends are currently negotiating with the three cities and the county regarding capitalization commitments. They have completed a full draft of the business plan and are working with local financial institutions on initial partnership discussions.

Los Angeles
Two prominent think tanks, the Jain Family Institute and the Berggruen Institute, issued a series of five reports and developed lending models for the LA Public Bank covering affordable housing, green energy, and small businesses. The Chief Legislative Analyst released an RFP to hire consultants for the public bank viability study and business plan. The Los Angeles City Council is currently overseeing an RFP process to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed Los Angeles Public Bank.

Sacramento
In March 2023, the Sacramento City Council approved a budget request to fund consultants to develop plans for starting a non-depository financial institution, which will eventually transition into a public bank. An RFQ was released by the City in December 2023.

San Francisco
Plans for the green bank / municipal finance corporation (MFC) and public bank were unanimously approved by the Board of Supervisors in June 2023. Currently, the San Francisco Public Bank Coalition is working with the Board of Supervisors, the Local Agency Formation Commission, and the office of the Treasurer and Tax Collector to implement the plans, including actively engaging with applicants to U.S. EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to seek federal funding available for capitalizing green banks.

Read our detailed city and regional public banks progress report: https://capublicbanking.com/cpba-city-regional-progress-report-april-2024/