Tag: economic justice

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Economic Justice

Los Angeles City Council Authorizes Public Bank Action Plan

Los Angeles City Council votes to

From Public Bank Los Angeles:

“BREAKING! Back-to-back wins in CA & LA. Los Angeles City Council unanimously approves motion authorizing public bank action plan, the 1st municipal bank in the U.S.

#PublicBankLA will reinvest profits in the public interest, putting the power of capital in the hands of the people.The LA public bank will keep capital local by investing in community enterprises and public projects.

By increasing the availability of productive capital, public banks give cities access to more funding,empowering citizens to transform their local economies for the greater good.

(ABOVE, October 5, 2021: PANA members join a press conference shortly after the Los Angeles City Council vote to move forward with a Public Bank action plan)

The City will now solicit proposals to hire a consultant to write the public bank’s business plan, ensuring that the bank will be economically viable. The consultant will engage with community stakeholders to gather input on lending priorities and design a democratic public bank.

This win was a people-powered effort. We did this with the support of @UFCW770 @LALabor @SEIU721 @[email protected], coalition leads @LosAngelesFwd @[email protected] @InclusivAction. Thank you to the 100 supporting orgs and electeds, from #MeasureB to now.”

http://publicbankla.com/

Categories
Economic Justice

Gov. Newsom Signs AB 1177, the California Public Banking Option Act!

From the California Public Banking Alliance, October 4, 2021:

AB 1177 Signed Into Law

HISTORIC! Today Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1177, the California Public Banking Option Act, a historic step which sets into motion the creation of the nation’s first public banking option. AB 1177 creates the opportunity to transform our financial services system and to center it on the needs of our local communities and build a more inclusive economy.

In the months ahead, the CalAccount Blue Ribbon Commission will convene to conduct a market analysis and to determine the best way to implement the CalAccount program. There will be opportunities for advocates to take part in shaping the CalAccount program and co-hosting public outreach forums.

It’s up to the people to make sure that the CalAccount program reflects our values of equity and inclusion, and that it succeeds in bridging the financial access gap that’s left 1 in 4 Californians, and nearly half of Black and Latino California households unbanked and underbanked. Stay tuned for more updates and opportunities to ensure the success of CalAccount, the nation’s first public banking option program.

We’re proud to stand with 250 racial and economic justice groups, climate justice organizations, labor unions and elected officials who worked tirelessly to make AB 1177 possible. We thank the authors of AB 1177 for their vision and courage to end the discriminatory, predatory high-cost financial services that target low-income communities and communities of color.

AB 1177 was championed by lead author Assemblymember Miguel Santiago, and authors Assemblymembers David Chiu, Ash Kalra, Buffy Wicks, Mike Gipson, Lorena Gonzalez, Wendy Carrillo, Eduardo Garcia, Alex Lee, Phil Ting, and Adrin Nazarian. Co-authors include Assemblymembers Laura Friedman, Reggie Jones-Sawyer, Luz Rivas and Senators Ben Hueso, Maria Elena Durazo, Lena Gonzalez, Scott Wiener, and Josh Newman. We thank the Governor and California State Legislature for their leadership in rebuilding an economy that reflects our California values of equity and inclusion.

Thank you to our fellow co-sponsors of AB 1177, SEIU California and California Reinvestment Coalition and to the Californians who spoke truth to power about the realities of being un/underbanked.

This is the second public bank law the California Public Banking Alliance has won, following the passage of AB 857, the California Public Banking Act, signed by Governor Newsom at the end of 2019. Since the passage of AB 857, legislation to create local and regional public banks is moving forward in city halls across the state.

Thank you for making history with us.

Read the CA Public Banking Alliance press release on the historic AB 1177 win.

SOCIAL MEDIA TOOL KIT

Help us amplify the AB 1177 victory to provide universal banking services to all Californians.

Here are sample Twitter and Facebook posts to amplify our win:

AB 1177 Social Media Tool Kit

Thank You, Authors and Co-Authors

DONATE

The California Public Banking Alliance is a 100% grassroots, volunteer-powered organization.

Please consider donating to support our critical work to revolutionize finance.

With your support, we can make public banking a reality in California.


CA Public Banking Alliance

CaliforniaPublicBankingAlliance.org

Categories
Economic Justice

Join the List of BankCal Endorsers!

Build the movement for economic justice: Endorse AB 1177, the California Public Banking Option Act! bit.ly/endorse1177

AB1177 Endorsers 210502

For more information about BankCal, Assembly Bill 1177, please visit https://bankcalnow.com/

Categories
Economic Justice Solidarity

House Panel Approves Bill To Study Slavery Reparations

Get your citizen lobbying gloves on to help right the wrongs of history and win justice. #SolidarityInAction

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/house-judiciary-slavery-reparations_n_6077b2bde4b0e554e81b2575

“Here we are today, marking up for the first time in the history of the United States of America any legislation that deals directly with the years and centuries of slavery of African American people who are now the descendants of those Africans,” Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), the bill’s new sponsor since Conyers’ retirement in 2017, said Wednesday. “We’re asking for people to understand the pain, the violence, the brutality, the chattel-ness of what we went through.”

House Lawmakers Advance Historic Bill To Form Reparations Commission

https://www.npr.org/2021/04/14/986853285/house-lawmakers-advance-historic-bill-to-form-reparations-commission

The House Judiciary Committee took up the bill on Wednesday evening. The vote was the first time the committee has acted on the legislation since former Democratic Rep. John Conyers initially introduced it in 1989. This year, the legislation has the support of more than 170 Democratic co-sponsors and key congressional leaders.

A bill on studying reparations is getting a House vote 30 years in the making

https://www.vox.com/2021/4/14/22384080/hr-40-black-reparations-vote-house-judiciary-committee

Briefly, what’s in HR 40, the House’s bill to study reparations

If passed, HR 40 would establish a “Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans,” composed of 13 members, with three to be chosen by the president, three by the speaker of the House, one by the president pro tempore of the Senate, and another six by “major” civil rights groups “that have historically championed the cause of reparatory justice.”

The commission would be charged with determining institutional culpability against former enslaved Africans and their American descendants across the public and private sector. It would also be required to interrogate how practices such as redlining, educational funding discrepancies, and predatory financial practices — alongside enslavement — have exacerbated racial opportunity and wealth gaps.

At the conclusion of their work, the commission would then report “appropriate remedies” to Congress, based on its findings on institutional enslavement and racism.

Categories
Economic Justice

Visualizing “Wealth Inequality”

When progressives talk about “wealth inequality,” “fair taxation of the wealthy,” or “wealth redistribution,” what do we mean? Here is a website that attempts to demonstrate the disparity with graphics: https://mkorostoff.github.io/1-pixel-wealth/

Average U.S. weekly wage in 1973: $872.44

Average U.S. weekly wage in 2021: $840.08

Jeff Bezos wealth in 2001:
$1.5 billion

Jeff Bezos wealth in 2021:
$193 billion

What an Amazon worker made yesterday: $120

What Jeff Bezos made yesterday: $3,900,000,000

PANA advocates for a living wage, the rights of workers to unionize and major reform to force those who accumulate tremendous wealth via exploitation to pay their fair share of taxes. 

We support initiatives that seek to improve the lives of the people which can begin to offset this tremendous gap in wealth, such as the establishment of public banks, healthcare for all, social housing, environmental justice and a just transition to a Green Jobs Economy, ending the attacks on public education by the Charter School industry, and securing the rights of voters.

Ultimately we must win a society that serves the interests of the majority of people not the oligarchy that we are suffering under today.

Wage Theft

Categories
Economic Justice

Support AB 1177, the California Public Banking Option Act

https://bankcalnow.com/faqs

Why BankCal?

One in two Black and Latino households, and 1 in 4 California households, are currently unbanked or underbanked, meaning that they lack access to basic financial services. The unbanked and underbanked are paying disproportionately more to access the money they earn, lack secure means to save, and have fewer opportunities to build credit.

Unbanked and underbanked Californians lack access to basic financial services we take for granted, such as the direct deposit of paychecks to automatic bill pay and recurrent contributions to their organizations or charities.

BankCal bridges the financial services gap that disproportionately impacts low-income workers and communities of color. By providing zero-cost access to financial services, BankCal reduces the risk of poverty and homelessness facing communities by addressing the financial exclusion of Black, brown, immigrant and low-income people.

From:  https://bankcalnow.com/faqs

https://youtu.be/_7DCOwK2l1w

If you belong to an organization, or know of one that would like to join the growing list of endorsers of AB 1177, please direct them to this form:

  https://bit.ly/2QVw6RJ

Keep up to date with the AB 1177 Movement:

Twitter:
@publicbankla
@calpba
For more, search: #PublicBank

https://www.facebook.com/SEIUCalifornia

https://www.facebook.com/californiapublicbankingalliance

Digital Toolkit: Share and tweet your support for AB 1177.

AB 1177 meme 01

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