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New Document
New Glass-Steagall Resolution Introduced for Winter Meeting of NCSL
November 16, 2013 • 9:30PM

Rep. Andrea Boland of Maine has submitted a new Glass-Steagall resolution to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). The resolution is now posted on the NCSL website as an upcoming item of business at the Dec. 4-6 Legislative Forum of the NCSL in Washington D.C., where it will come before the Communications, Financial Services and Interstate Commerce (CFI) Committee.

Rep. Boland was a leading figure in the band of legislators at the Atlanta NCSL Summit in Aug. 2013 who refused to take the strong-arm tactics of the Big Bank lobbyists lying down. She led off the fightback by taking the microphone in the final Plenary Session to introduce and read in its entirety, a bold Glass-Steagall amendment to a pre-existing resolution on Federal deficit impacts on the state governments. This began a 30-minute brawl which had the stooges for the Wall St. interests sweating and garnered the support of a substantial number of the delegations present.

Eighteen other legislators, from 15 different states, 9 of them lead sponsors of their respective state resolutions, submitted their endorsement of the new Boland resolution in the following words: "I hereby endorse the 'Resolution Concerning Regulation of Commercial and Investment Banking', introduced by Rep. Andrea Boland of Maine, which states that 'the National Conference of State Legislatures urges the United States Congress and the President of the United States to enact the Glass-Steagall-style legislation now before the Congress...' "

The text of the resolution is as follows:

RESOLUTION CONCERNING REGULATION OF COMMERCIAL AND INVESTMENT BANKING

Sponsor: Representative Andrea Boland

The National Conference of State Legislators believes that a considerable effort needs to be undertaken by the United States Congress and President of the United States to enact legislation that would separate commercial and investment banking functions.
The NCSL recognizes that from 1933 to 1999 the Federal Banking Act of 1933, known as the Glass-Steagall Act, worked effectively to protect the public interest in matters dealing with the regulation of commercial and investment banking.
The NCSL recognizes that the Glass-Steagall Act was repealed in 1999, which contributed to the greatest speculative bubble and subsequent worldwide economic distress since the Great Depression of 1933;
The NCSL recognizes that the impact on the states of repeal of Glass-Steagall and the subsequent financial crash, has been painful, intense, and growing, and that the states have suffered under the loss of revenue due to unemployment, Federal Government cuts and sequester provisions, and increased demands on state budgets for compensatory payments.
The NCSL understands that there is currently legislation before Congress that would reinstate provisions of the former Glass-Steagall Act. Following passage of Glass-Steagall, the federal government will be able to launch emergency infrastructure and water projects, in concert with a vibrant commercial banking sector. This will increase employment by construction of state and federal projects that have been put on hold for too long.
The NCSL recognizes that the Federal Reserve has been issuing $85 billion per month in cash to the “too big to fail” Wall Street banks, to buy their devalued derivatives securities, a thinly disguised bailout. The banks that have received this money have used it to increase their speculation in similar derivatives and failed to increase lending to Main Street. They have decreased lending to businesses and state and city projects by over $1 trillion!
The NCSL understands that state legislatures have joined other organizations and prominent economists and bankers across the nation to demand a restoration of the Glass-Steagall Act.
The NCSL recognizes that 25 state legislatures have filed bi-partisan resolutions urging the United States Congress and the President of the United States to re-enact the Glass-Steagall banking law to return balance to banking activities, and that these resolutions passed in four states thus far.
The NCSL knows that H.R. 129, a bill to restore Glass-Steagall, has been introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives by Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, which currently has 75 bipartisan co-sponsors, and that similar bills have been introduced into the Senate, S. 1282 by Senators Elizabeth Warren and John McCain, currently with 10 bipartisan co-sponsors, and S. 985 introduced by Senator Tom Harkin.
Given the urgency of the economic and banking crisis that has so heavily burdened average United States citizens, their businesses, and their state and local governments, the National Conference of State Legislatures urges the United States Congress and the President of the United States to enact the Glass-Steagall inspired legislation currently before Congress, which will reinstate the separation of commercial and investment banking functions, and prohibit commercial banks and bank holding companies from investing in stocks, underwriting securities, or investing in or acting as guarantors to derivatives transactions.
Upon passage, a copy of this resolution shall be sent to the President of the United States, to presiding officers of each house of Congress, and to each member of Congress.


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