By Steve Pleich
People for Public Banking Central Coast is a group of local citizens leading an effort to establish a regional public bank for the California Central Coast. Because no city or county on the central coast is large enough to easily establish its own public bank, a regional public bank will best suit this conglomeration.
Steve Pleich
Potential participating areas include Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Benito, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara.
The regional public bank would serve cities, counties and special districts (such as water districts), but would not be a retail bank for individual customers.
PPBCC is a chapter of the California Public Banking Alliance.
PPBCC was started by a group of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom members. We are strongly supportive of Black Lives Matter and other movements for racial, social and environmental justice.
One of the primary motivations for the establishment of a public bank is to address social inequities in our communities; public banks keep local funds in our communities, rather than letting our dollars get siphoned out to corporate Wall Street banks.
What is a Public Bank?
Public banks are owned by the people through their representative government. This could be a Tribe, City, County, State, or Federal Government. The bank can receive deposits of public funds (such as taxes, fees, fines, or interest earned) from the representative government that owns it, and can also make loans to that same representative government.
Public banks can cut the cost of public infrastructure projects in half by providing loans at much lower interest rates than corporate Wall Street banks. They can also provide low-interest loans for important projects and services like affordable housing, public safety, environmental protection, and humanitarian services.
Public banks spur economic growth and create new jobs by reinvesting their earned interest and profits back into the community. And because the earned interest and profits from public banks are a new form of public revenue, they serve to lower local government debt.
Public banks give state and local treasuries a place to deposit their money that divests from fossil fuels, and instead invests under socially responsible standards.
Public banks can also provide a safe place for banking cannabis earned cash that is currently prohibited by the federal government from being deposited into private banks.
Public banks have no exorbitantly-paid bank executives, thus cutting off the Wall Street middlemen from profiting off of our local tax dollars.
Status: Study Underway
As of February, we are conducting a viability study. We are optimistic that the results will be in favor of establishing a public bank for the central coast.
In the meantime, we are continuing to reach out to county and city council members and rallying even more support for the movement.
So far, three counties and nine cities have agreed to share the funding for the $150,000 viability study for a regional public bank: County of Santa Cruz, County of Santa Barbara, County of Monterey, City of Santa Cruz, City of Watsonville, City of Scotts Valley, City of Capitola, City of Seaside, City of Marina, City of Salinas, City of Del Rey Oak, and City of Monterey.
Santa Cruz County has taken the lead and assigned J. Peter Detlefs, principal administrative analyst to the project. Peter has completed the request for Pproposals from consultants qualified to prepare the viability study. He is currently getting the paperwork done by all participants to arrange for them to pay their share.
Recent Actions
On Jan. 26, Public Banking Institute reported:
“Updates From Around The Country Show Substantial Progress In The Public Banking Movement In The U.S.”
In March 2022, Public Bank East Bay reported: “Viability Study Conducted by Public Bank East Bay”
In October 2019, the governor signed the California AB 857 Public Banking Act into law.
Want to Get Involved?
We have an active local group that meets regularly. If you would like to get involved, contact us at https://peopleforpublicbanking.com/contact-us/ or check Facebook.
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Editor’s note: This movement is similar to the one that created Central Coast Community Energy, a locally controlled electricity provider to deliver cleaner energy with rebates to customers. An initiative of Santa Cruz Supervisor Bruce McPherson, it launched as Monterey Bay Community Power in 2017 and has grown to include 33 communities in four counties.