By Jennifer Wadsworth, Good Times. Silicon Valley Bank opened in 1982 to serve startups overlooked by big lenders, which saw the fledgling tech sector as inherently risky. Roger Smith and Bill Biggerstaff, the two Wells Fargo defectors who founded the small bank with Stanford professor Robert Medearis, had deep roots in a culture that would turn […]
Alliance organizer Julian Larosa pens a letter in The Mercury News. The California State Assembly voted to pass the Public Banking Act (AB 857), and the bill now heads to the Senate for approval. This important legislation will provide cities a pathway to a safe alternative to Wall Street institutions. It will enable cities and […]
Our Revolution endorses California Assembly Bill 857, Public Banks. The resolution was introduced by Assembly members David Chiu (D – San Francisco) and Miguel Santiago (D – Los Angeles). The bill would make it easier for California cities and towns to establish their own public banks. Our Revolution endorses this bill because we believe that […]
California’s Assembly Bill 857, now called the Public Banking Act, sponsored by the California Public Banking Alliance has made it through three committees, including the “notoriously difficult” Assembly Appropriations Committee, and is now up for a full vote on Assembly floor. Despite heavy opposition from Wall Street’s biggest banks, the bill advanced with “unprecedented” support from over 100 major […]
Santa Clara County’s board of supervisors voted unanimously to study how they might create a county-owned public bank, San Jose Spotlight reports. The move follows one by San Jose, the county seat and largest city, whose council members have also signed on, at least tentatively, to the idea. Why the hesitation? Because publicly owned banks […]
Nomi Prins pens this powerful piece on why #AB857 and public banks can help curb abusive big banks. As a former Goldman Sachs executive, she has witnessed Wall Street’s recklessness firsthand and understands why it’s important to enable localities to create public banks to use local funds for public good, not private profit. By Nomi […]
By Mark Anderson – Staff Writer, Sacramento Business Journal. California lawmakers have considered allowing public banks several times, starting in the depths of the financial crisis. The city of Los Angeles and the city and county of San Francisco on Tuesday approved support for an assembly bill that would allow local governments to form their […]
The public banking revolution has arrived! In Ellen Brown’s latest article, she discusses the I-Bank bill #SB528, our cities and regional public banking bill #AB857, and the momentum gaining around the country as policymakers race to form the first public bank in the United States since the Bank of North Dakota, founded in 1919. Read […]
On Tuesday morning, the Los Angeles City Council passed a resolution introduced by LA City Council President Herb J. Wesson in support of AB 857 – a bill to give California cities and municipalities the option to start their own public bank. Arguing for the measure, City Council President Wesson had this to say: “This […]
Today on Flashpoints: The push for a public bank in California. Trinity Tran and Sushil Jacob with the California Public Banking Alliance talks to KPFA’s Dennis J. Bernstein about the groundbreaking California State Assembly Bill AB 857, the growing public banking movement and why this is a pivotal moment for Californians. Interview starts at 21 […]