Central Coast Webinar

Webinar for Public Banking on the Central Coast – May, 2020

Speakers shared details on the progress of public banking both locally and in the state of California. Speakers included Santa Cruz County 4^th District Supervisor Zach Friend, explaining the unanimous vote of the County Supervisors to pursue a viability study for a public bank with neighboring government entities including San Benito, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Barbara Counties. 

The featured speaker was Trinity Tran, a prominent organizer of Public Bank Los Angeles and the California Public Banking Alliance (CPBA). She described CPBA’s successful campaign for the statewide Public Banking Act (AB 857), which was signed into law in October 2019. She also explained the various benefits public banks can provide in meeting the COVID-19 financial crisis.

Santa Cruz Mayor Justin Cummings welcomed participants from cities and counties throughout the Central Coast area. Randa Solick and Reed Geisreiter provided a brief history of the work done by a Santa Cruz-based volunteer citizen committee called People for Public Banking, joining other such groups around the state to move public banking forward. Geisreiter, a retired banker, explained how a public bank could operate providing reliable financial backing to local banks and credit unions. A Q&A session followed.

A personal situation prevented Valentin Lopez from attending but he continues to support our efforts.