Silicon Valley / South Bay

2023 Campaign Updates:

Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors

Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors will vote on a Referral to have county staff study public banking then in 2 months report back to the Board of Supervisors what options are available. There have been two delays so as of the time of this report, we do not know when this item will be on the agenda. We expect that it will be in March. We have been organizing public support to sign our Letter of Support which we will hand to the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors and to get people to speak during public comment when the Board of Supervisors vote on the Referral.

San Jose City Council

San Jose City Council received a report back from city staff in June 2020 regarding their study of public banking. Communication with the lead city staff person for this task revealed that they do not believe that there are any Feasibility Studies from any cities comparable to San Jose so their report is going to be negative. We need to communicate with our city council members who are in favor of public banking to determine what our strategy needs to be between now and June.

About South Bay Progressive Alliance – Public Banking Action Team

The South Bay Progressive Alliance is an independent, politically unaffiliated organization with a mission to unite diverse individuals, communities, and organizations into an inclusive coalition that fights to elect local corporate-free candidates, enact progressive policies, and build institutions and a society based on democracy, equity, cooperation, compassion and sustainability.

The Public Banking Action Team will promote public banking for local control of funds, investment and credit committed to thriving communities and a healthy planet.

The Public banking Action Team will focus on:

• Educating the community members and elected officials about public banking for fiscal sustainability, social and environmental justice, local reinvestment and community development.
• Building new and expand existing coalition partnerships to enact legislative changes at the state, county and municipal levels to implement public banking.
• Raising awareness in our community about the social and environmental injustices perpetrated by the private for-profit mega banks.
• Providing any preliminary plans, examples of the actions and activities, or ideas on how to get started.

Some of the preliminary plans of the team include:

1. To organize educational outreach events about public banking and community investing.
2. To engage local officials at the state level to sponsor a bill to remove language in the state Financial Code requiring California banks to hold FDIC Insurance as this requirement is not relevant to public banks.
3. To build an outreach strategy for engaging progressive community organizations in the South Bay and establish public banking partnerships with a broad range of organizations that represent the diversity of our community.
4. Ask City Councils in Santa Clara County to convene a task force to study the feasibility of a public bank for their banking operations.
5. Ask City Councils in Santa Clara County to divest from major banks (Wells Fargo, CitiBank, Bank of America, Chase Bank and US Bank) and to implement human rights screens on their city investments as possible, and to also invest in education, affordable housing and clean energy projects in our communities

To join the Public Banking Action Team and take part in a statewide public banking effort join the team!

Legislative Resources:

Sept. 2018 – Tipping the Scales: Divestment and Public Banking (Video)
Oct. 2018 – Proposal to Santa Clara County Commission on Consumer Affairs – (Passed)
Nov. 2018 – Break the Mold: Building the Next System – Corporate Free Politics, Worker-owned Cooperatives and Public Banking

Press:

San Jose Inside: As Community Lenders Sell Out or Go Under, Can Publicly-Owned Banks Restore Local Control?