Restoring Economic Sovereignty

The growing movement to establish local economic sovereignty through state-owned banks has been a grassroots effort that has grown spontaneously in response to unmet needs for local credit. In Oregon, the push has come from an active volunteer group called Oregonians for a State Bank working with the Working Families Party. In Washington, the Main Street Alliance has played a major role. The Alliance is a project of what is now called the Alliance for a Just Society (formerly NWFCO), a coalition of several northwest states’ Citizen Action Networks and others.

The chief legislative champion in Washington State is Rep. Bob Hasegawa. In Maryland, the campaign was initiated by the Wisconsin-based Center for State Innovation (CSI), theService Employees International Union (SEIU) and the Progressive States Network. Progressive Maryland is a prominent NGO supporter. Detailed analyses of the Washington and Oregon initiatives and their projected benefits have been done by CSI. For grassroots efforts in other states and for petitions that can be signed, see:

http://publicbankinginstitute.org/state-info.htm