To: Sen. Dick Sears (VT-2), Sen. Richard Westman (VT-8), Sen. Robert Starr (VT-5), Sen. Jane Kitchel (VT-3), Sen. Alice Nitka (VT-13), and Sen. Anthony Pollina (VT-11)
Move S.55 for a full vote of the Senate
S.55, which would set up a task force to examine state government banking and financial functions to determine such issues as how much risk current practices place our public money under and exploring other ways of conducting activities which might be less risky and provide better outcomes for the state and its citizens, has been approved by two senate committees with 11 senators voting in favor of it and 0 voting against it. Currently this bill is stuck in the Appropriations Committee with no action on it scheduled.
I urge you, members of the Appropriations Committee, to act expeditiously in releasing this bill to the Senate floor for a vote of the full Senate.
I urge you, members of the Appropriations Committee, to act expeditiously in releasing this bill to the Senate floor for a vote of the full Senate.
Why is this important?
Currently, S.55 is stuck in the State Senate Appropriations Committee. This bill would set up a task force to study state government banking and financial activities and determine if the present way of performing them is the best that can be done or if there are better ways of conducting these activities in a manner that will better benefit the state and its citizens. Many state government agencies currently do business with several financial institutions that engage in questionable activities. One of the possible outcomes of the study by the task force as currently configured in this bill is determining how much risk our public money is placed under by continuing to do business with these systemically important (AKA Too Big Too Fail) financial institutions.
One example of possible risk is Citigroup’s efforts to unload its investments in shipping companies which are losing money. Citigroup is the lead administrator of the state municipal bonding program.
There is also some evidence that there are efforts at the federal level to turn deposits at these big institutions into property of the banks which could be used to bail them out in the event of failure of any of these banks resulting in the possible loss of these deposits to the depositors.
It is very important that the Senate Appropriations Committee acts promptly to release S.55 so that this very important study can be undertaken. Signatures to this petition will be sent directly to members of the Appropriations Committee. Please sign this petition as soon as you can and thank you for your efforts.
State/Public Bank Committee
Jim Hogue, Chair
http://vtpublicbank.com
One example of possible risk is Citigroup’s efforts to unload its investments in shipping companies which are losing money. Citigroup is the lead administrator of the state municipal bonding program.
There is also some evidence that there are efforts at the federal level to turn deposits at these big institutions into property of the banks which could be used to bail them out in the event of failure of any of these banks resulting in the possible loss of these deposits to the depositors.
It is very important that the Senate Appropriations Committee acts promptly to release S.55 so that this very important study can be undertaken. Signatures to this petition will be sent directly to members of the Appropriations Committee. Please sign this petition as soon as you can and thank you for your efforts.
State/Public Bank Committee
Jim Hogue, Chair
http://vtpublicbank.com