April
2024
1
[Download PDF] Comment Intake—2024 NPRM Overdraft c/o Legal Division Docket Manager Consumer Financial Protection Bureau 1700 G Street NW Washington, DC 20552 Re: Overdraft Lending: Very Large Financial Institutions Docket No. CFPB-2024-0002 To whom it may concern: We write in strong support of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) proposed rule governing Overdraft Lending: Very […]
March
2024
8
Today’s hearing on the impact of financial technology within New York’s banking sector presents a vital opportunity to begin reshaping our state’s approach to financial services policy and economic justice. My testimony will address the dangers posed by predatory financial technology, or ‘fintech,’ and the urgent need for New York State to advance structural reforms. This includes closing loopholes in our usury law exploited by fintech companies and other predatory financial services companies, as well as supporting initiatives and institutions such as public banking and Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) to expand access to equitable financial services in New York State.
January
2024
31
[Download PDF] January 30, 2024 In this year’s budget, New York has a tremendous opportunity – thanks to federal funding made available through the Worker Ownership, Readiness, and Knowledge (WORK) Act – to align with 22 other states by establishing a NYS Worker Ownership Center. The WORK Act is a new federal law designed to […]
September
2023
18
We, the undersigned labor and community groups and Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), write to urge you to take immediate actions, as outlined below, to repair and restore the NYS CDFI Fund to its intended purpose.
May
2023
30
Today’s hearing poses two urgent questions for New York State policymakers: “Why did Signature Bank fail?” and “What can be done to prevent future bank failures in New York?” My testimony primarily will focus on how public banking can strengthen New York’s financial sector in ways that promote responsible lending, equitable reinvestment, and racial and economic justice.
May
2023
25
Where the City places its public deposits is a fundamental matter of public concern. Our testimony will focus on how the City should use its considerable leverage to ensure that our public money works for the public good.
May
2023
16
The undersigned 113 organizations call on you to enact the Community Land Act, an urgently-needed set of bills that gives community land trusts (CLTs) and other nonprofits tools to develop and preserve permanently-affordable housing, community and commercial space, and other neighborhood assets. By taking land off the speculative market, CLTs protect public investment in affordable housing and maintain affordability over generations.
May
2023
3
We write to express our strong opposition to A5053, an act relating to regulating so-called earned wage advance (“EWA”) services. This bill is a direct threat to New York’s long-standing usury protections and would authorize predatory loan products, undermining consumer and worker protections and exacerbating wealth extraction from our state’s low income communities and communities of color.
April
2023
26
Over the past fifteen years, New York City’s CLT movement has grown significantly. Amidst the city’s growing housing affordability and homelessness crises, several grassroots movements coalesced around CLTs. We collaborated with the Pratt Center for Community Development to showcase the powerful and growing movement for CLTs in NYC.
April
2023
19
This year, the City of New York will collect more than $100 billion in revenue, from taxes and other sources, to fund public services. Currently, most of this money is placed on deposit with large, commercial banks that systematically harm New Yorkers and finance fossil fuels, speculative real estate, and other destructive industries. Public banking offers a bold alternative, and we urge the City Council to take immediate steps toward establishing a public bank, starting with swiftly passing “The People’s Bank Act.”