A Brief History of Public Banking in Massachusetts
Building a movement for a Massachusetts Public Bank
Our Origins: In October 2012, the Public Banking Institute held a conference in Philadelphia to bring together activists, economists, and elected officials to learn about, and learn how to promote, public banking.
After a day of talks, workshops and conversation, participants were invited to eat together by region. It turned out that the conference had attracted several people not just from New England, but from Massachusetts. We decided to keep meeting after the conference, and the campaign for a Massachusetts public bank was born.
Getting Started: Early organizing brought together people with diverse interests in changing financing, money, and banks. Those of us who were focused on public banking created the Hub Public Banking working group. We set our sights on a bank for the City of Boston or the Boston metropolitan area, and began to approach groups and elected officials to better determine community needs and what kinds of financing a bank should offer.
In 2015, longtime community activist and state Representative Mel King proposed that our group focus on a statewide public bank. In consultation with Charles Grigsby, the former director of Mass Growth Capital Corporation, who would go on to be a Public Banking Institute advisory board member and member of our steering committee, we decided to write a bill that would provide public bank financing for the many infrastructure needs of towns and cities in the Commonwealth. After proving a need for more flexible and lower-cost infrastructure funding, we filed legislation for a Massachusetts infrastructure bank in the 2017-2018 session, sponsored by Rep. Byron Rushing. This bill was revised and refiled for 2019-2020. You can read it here.
Expanding our mission. In response to the challenges of COVID-19 and the economic disruption it has caused, we began talking with community development experts and working with legislators and our advisory committee on an expanded bill for 2021. This bill was S.665/H.1223, “An Act to Establish a Massachusetts Public Bank.”
With input from bankers, regulators, the Treasurer’s office, and others, we tweaked the bill for reintroduction in the 2023-24 session. The current bill, S.632/H975, was presented by Sen. Jamie Eldridge, Rep. Mike Connolly, and Rep. Tony Cabral. You can read it here.
We are confident that a public bank can help to meet the needs of municipalities, small businesses, and land trusts, and that our bill will enable the creation of a responsive, transparent, and thriving public financial institution, ready to serve Massachusetts for generations to come. We welcome partnering with community banks, CDCs and CDFIs on innovative financing to build the “common wealth.”
Building Together. Now we want to hear from you about what access to affordable loans can do for to improve infrastructure, build small business, and protect agriculture in your community. And we will be sharing more information with you how you can help advance the campaign. We look forward to working with you!
Building a movement for a Massachusetts Public Bank
Our Origins: In October 2012, the Public Banking Institute held a conference in Philadelphia to bring together activists, economists, and elected officials to learn about, and learn how to promote, public banking.
After a day of talks, workshops and conversation, participants were invited to eat together by region. It turned out that the conference had attracted several people not just from New England, but from Massachusetts. We decided to keep meeting after the conference, and the campaign for a Massachusetts public bank was born.
Getting Started: Early organizing brought together people with diverse interests in changing financing, money, and banks. Those of us who were focused on public banking created the Hub Public Banking working group. We set our sights on a bank for the City of Boston or the Boston metropolitan area, and began to approach groups and elected officials to better determine community needs and what kinds of financing a bank should offer.
In 2015, longtime community activist and state Representative Mel King proposed that our group focus on a statewide public bank. In consultation with Charles Grigsby, the former director of Mass Growth Capital Corporation, who would go on to be a Public Banking Institute advisory board member and member of our steering committee, we decided to write a bill that would provide public bank financing for the many infrastructure needs of towns and cities in the Commonwealth. After proving a need for more flexible and lower-cost infrastructure funding, we filed legislation for a Massachusetts infrastructure bank in the 2017-2018 session, sponsored by Rep. Byron Rushing. This bill was revised and refiled for 2019-2020. You can read it here.
Expanding our mission. In response to the challenges of COVID-19 and the economic disruption it has caused, we began talking with community development experts and working with legislators and our advisory committee on an expanded bill for 2021. This bill was S.665/H.1223, “An Act to Establish a Massachusetts Public Bank.”
With input from bankers, regulators, the Treasurer’s office, and others, we tweaked the bill for reintroduction in the 2023-24 session. The current bill, S.632/H975, was presented by Sen. Jamie Eldridge, Rep. Mike Connolly, and Rep. Tony Cabral. You can read it here.
We are confident that a public bank can help to meet the needs of municipalities, small businesses, and land trusts, and that our bill will enable the creation of a responsive, transparent, and thriving public financial institution, ready to serve Massachusetts for generations to come. We welcome partnering with community banks, CDCs and CDFIs on innovative financing to build the “common wealth.”
Building Together. Now we want to hear from you about what access to affordable loans can do for to improve infrastructure, build small business, and protect agriculture in your community. And we will be sharing more information with you how you can help advance the campaign. We look forward to working with you!