Next City – October 12, 2021. Out of eight million unbanked households across the country, one million are in California alone. The state is now looking to address this by taking a page out of the former USPS savings account playbook. Assembly Bill 1177, passed in September and signed by Governor Gavin Newsom last week, […]
ABC7 News – October 8, 2021. Los Angeles might be the first major metropolitan city to create a public bank. A public bank would be owned and operated by the city. Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to take the first steps in seeing the viability of a public bank. According to city councilmembers, it […]
The Sacramento Bee – October 4, 2021. California set a course to offer the nation’s first zero-cost, public option platform for personal financial services, under a new law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Assembly Bill 1177, authored by Assemblyman Miguel Santiago, D-Los Angeles, calls for the state to conduct a market analysis of a state-backed […]
September 10, 2021 – Rick Girling, Steve Sittig, Trinity Tran, California Public Banking Alliance. Today the California State Legislature approved landmark legislation guaranteeing universal free banking access to all Californians. 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 […]
Jacobin – August 2, 2021. By Julian LaRosa. The basic functions of investment are too important to be left in the hands of private banks only interested in accruing profits. We need public banks — something the Public Banking Act, introduced by Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, would provide. While only a few dozen […]
Capitol Weekly – July 1, 2021 San Francisco has taken its first major step toward establishing a public bank, and other California municipalities are also moving forward in exploring public banking, including a regional effort by cities and counties on the Central Coast. The moves come nearly two years after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 857, […]
CBS Bay Area – SAN FRANCISCO (BCN/CBS SF) — June 15, 2021 San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved an ordinance that moves the city closer to creating the first public bank in the U.S. The Reinvest in SF ordinance, authored by Supervisor Dean Preston, creates a working group of community leaders and […]
Sacramento, CA – Today, the California State Assembly approved landmark legislation that would guarantee all Californians access to basic banking services without fees or penalties. The California Public Banking Option Act, AB 1177 (BankCal), addresses the inequities in financial services acutely felt by communities that have been hardest hit by pandemic and recession: discrimination, predatory lending, […]
KCET- LOS ANGELES (CNS) – June 1, 2021 The Los Angeles City Council today voiced its support for creating a statewide public banking option for California residents in an attempt to reduce racial and income inequalities in financial services. “There’s no question that there’s a need for a public bank. The simple fact is that […]
LAist – Millions of low-income Californians might be able to bank free of penalties and fees if state lawmakers approve the latest attempt to create public banking. AB 1177 would form a state-supported public bank board, which would partner with private banks to offer the free accounts. The program would be called “BankCal.” “If a […]