…it’s clear…that COUNTY governments can set up their own banks and use Eminent Domain as a tool to stop foreclosures.

Our sovereign currency and credit has been usurped for private gain instead of public good. Let’s take back control of our money from Wall Street and build prosperity on Main Street by creating state, county, and municipal public banks. Public tax monies should be leveraged by public officials, not speculators and swindlers. Check out the Public Banking Institute for more information.

Link to the video (part 1 of 2)here.
Link to the video (part 2 of 2)here.

HB1840
Measure Title: RELATING TO STATE-OWNED BANK.
Report Title: Financial Institutions; State-owned Bank; Task Force
Description: Establishes a task force to review, investigate, and study the feasibility and cost of establishing a state-owned bank. Requires a report to the Legislature.
Introducer(s): OSHIRO, TSUJI

Status:
1/13/2012 Prefiled
1/18/2012 Introduced and Pass First Reading.
1/19/2012 Referred to ERB, CPC, FIN, referral sheet 2
1/20/2012 Bill scheduled to be heard by ERB on Tuesday, 01-24-12 8:30AM in House conference room 312.

Status of the Bill is here.
Text of the Bill is here.

‘EMPOWERMENT’: Backers say move would cut ties with big banks; skeptics ask where money would come from

State government stores money at Bank of America, buys goods with U.S. Bank cards, and distributes welfare aid through JP Morgan Chase ATMs.

Supporters of cutting such ties to big banks say the first step is creating the state’s own bank.

The idea of a state bank – a favorite of the Occupy movement that sees it as an alternative to Wall Street – has strong support among the Democrats who control the state House. Speaker Frank Chopp called it a top priority last week in a speech opening this year’s session of the Legislature.

Read the article here.

Washington state lawmakers are considering forming a state bank that would be able to make student loans, distribute welfare aid and help finance public works.

The idea is championed by state Rep. Bob Hasegawa, whose district from from Renton to south Seattle. He introduced a bill last week he says won’t run afoul of the state constitution’s prohibition against lending the state’s credit.

The Olympian reports the state bank idea is endorsed by House Speaker Frank Chopp of Seattle who calls it the Washington Investment Trust.

Other lawmakers say it would add to the state bureaucracy and compete with private banks. State Treasurer Jim McIntire says there already are a number of agencies that have similar goals.

Read the article here.

An electronic database called MERS has created defects in the chain of title to over half the homes in America. Counties have been cheated out of millions of dollars in recording fees, and their title records are in hopeless disarray. Meanwhile, foreclosed and abandoned homes are blighting neighborhoods. Straightening out the records and restoring the homes to occupancy is clearly in the public interest, and the burden is on local government to do it. But how? New legal developments are presenting some innovative alternatives.

…The neoliberal model that says banks can govern themselves has failed. It is up to county governments to restore the rule of law and repair the economic distress wrought behind the smokescreen of MERS. New tools at the county’s disposal—including eminent domain, land banks, and publicly-owned banks—can facilitate this local rebirth.

Read the article here.

The Washington Business Journal reported Wednesday that Del. Bob Marshall, a Republican, introduced legislation this week to study the viability of opening a bank that would be modeled after Bank of North Dakota, the only state-owned bank in the country. Marshall introduced a similar bill in 2010, but that bill failed to make it out of committee.

The idea of creating a state-owned bank has been gaining traction in a number of state legislatures of late. Lawmakers in California, Massachusetts, Oregon, Hawaii and several other states all introduced bills last year that sought to establish a state-owned bank or study the idea of creating one and it is expected that similar bills will be reintroduced early this year when state legislatures convene. (Virginia’s legislative session begins Jan. 11.)

Read the article here.

In 2006, Congress passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA), which forced the USPS to put aside billions of dollars to pay for the health benefits of employees, many of whom hadn’t even been hired yet. Over a mere ten-year period, the USPS was required to pre-fund its future health care benefit payments to retirees for the next 75 years, something no other government or private corporation is required to do. As consumer advocate Ralph Nader observed, if PAEA had never been enacted, USPS would now be facing a $1.5 billion surplus.

The USPS is a profitable, self-funded venture that is not supported by the taxpayers. It is funded with postage stamps – one of the last vestiges of government-issued money. Stamps are fungible and can be traded at par, and they are backed, not by mere government “fiat,” but by labor. One stamp will buy the labor to transport your letter 3,000 miles.

…Banking in post offices is not new. Many countries, including Germany, France, Italy, Japan and New Zealand, have a long and successful history of it – and so does the United States.

Read the article here.

Try to find a bank president that’s beloved by supporters of the Occupy Wall Street movement. It’s not impossible. You’ll just have to travel to North Dakota.

Meet Eric Hardmeyer, who bears the unlikely distinction of being perhaps the only banker in America who, in addition to being embraced by Wall Street protesters, has been exalted by the likes of Michael Moore, Mother Jones magazine, and the Progressive States Network, among other progressive stalwarts.

That’s because Hardmeyer heads the Bank of North Dakota (BND), the country’s only publicly-owned state bank. The institution, located ironically enough in a solidly red state, has become the darling of progressives who have become frustrated with corporate banks they say helped cause the financial crisis and resulting credit crunch.

Read the article here.

Spurred by the recession, bank bailouts and the difficulty consumers are having getting loans, members of the Occupy movement and others are stepping up calls for a public banking option.

North Dakota currently has the nation’s only state-run bank. Supporters point out that the state is the only one to have had a budget surplus since the economic crisis began, and has an unemployment rate below 4%.

“People are becoming more aware that our existing banking system isn’t serving us,” said Ellen Brown, one of the founders of the Public Banking Institute, a non-profit formed in January to advocate for public banking.

Read the article here.

The campaign to “move your money” has gotten a groundswell of support. Having greater impact would be to “move our money” — move our local government revenues out of Wall Street banks into our own publicly-owned banks.

Occupy Wall Street has been both criticized and applauded for not endorsing any official platform. But there are unofficial platforms, including one titled the 99% Declaration that calls for a “National General Assembly” to convene on July 4, 2012 in Philadelphia. the 99% Declaration seeks everything from reining in the corporate state to ending the Fed to eliminating censorship of the Internet. But none of these demands seems to go to the heart of what prompted Occupiers to camp out on Wall Street in the first place — a corrupt banking system that serves the 1% at the expense of the 99%. To redress that, we need a banking system that serves the 99%.

Read the article here.