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LA budget season is here, and the Public Bank LA coalition showed up at the UCLA Worker Center Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, Los Angeles Controller Kenneth Mejia, and community leaders from BLM, RepresentLA, LA Forward, IDEPSCA, to demand a 2026 City budget that matches the people’s priorities, including immigration services, care-first budget investments, and prioritizing the public bank plan. Inclusive Action for the City and Public Bank Los Angeles Coalition’s Luz Castro put it powerfully: “Investing in a public bank is immigrant justice. With federal attacks on sanctuary cities escalating, a public bank helps protect local resources and put public dollars to work here at home, supporting entrepreneurs with fair loans and financing and investing in community stability, not systems that criminalize and harm our neighbors.”

MEDIA ADVISORY Event Date: Thursday, February 5, 2026, 10:00 A.M. Contact: Naomi Roochnik, cd1comms@lacity.org Councilmember Hernandez, City Controller Mejia, and Advocacy Organizations to Unveil 2026 Budget Priorities LOS ANGELES — As Los Angeles approaches a crucial budget season, Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, alongside Los Angeles City Controller Kenneth Mejia, will join a broad coalition of community groups at the UCLA James Lawson Jr. Worker Justice Center to demand a 2026 City budget that reflects the people’s priorities. Following a year of successful advocacy that secured vital funding for the Unarmed Model of Crisis Response (UMCR), preserved immigration services through RepresentLA, and restored hundreds of city jobs in neighborhood services, the press conference will outline the next push for continued reinvestment in a care-first vision for Los Angeles. Each participating organization will outline its priorities and urge Angelenos to engage...

What an exciting year for LA’s public banking movement. We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished and grateful for the work of our community supporters and partners who kept pushing, even through a challenging year for our city and nation. From the fires to ICE raids and a volatile federal landscape, we’re so moved by your commitment in the face of adversity and proud to have you standing by our side. Enjoy the latest updates on our recent work and accomplishments. We’ll see you all in the new year! Support for the public bank is growing at Los Angeles City Hall. Nine LA City Councilmembers have now committed their discretionary dollars to fund the Public Bank feasibility study, ensuring this work continues at full speed. Spectrum News covered this milestone in “Momentum Grows as LA Moves to Create Public Bank.” Watch the short excerpt from the segment here. As Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez put it: “Our taxpayer dollars are paying for these projects and at the same time, [could...

Watch the excerpt of the new clip here. Watch the full clip on Spectrum News. Spectrum News captured a major milestone in the movement for an LA public bank: nine Los Angeles City Councilmembers have now committed their own discretionary dollars to fund the Public Bank feasibility study, ensuring this work continues at full speed. As Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez put it, “Our taxpayer dollars are paying for these projects and at the same time, saving hundreds of millions of dollars that we currently pay in interest to Wall Street banks.”Trinity Tran grounds it in the long view: “This bank will start small and will lend conservatively, and it will grow as loans are repaid and interest supports the bank. But that is exactly what the feasibility study will lay out.”

The LA County Democratic Party (LACDP), representing over 3 million registered Democrats, has officially endorsed the LA public bank  — the Municipal Bank of Los Angeles. Special thanks to the Culver City Democratic Club for championing the resolution. In its adopted measure, LACDP supports a nonprofit, city-owned, tax-exempt public bank designed to: Manage and deploy the City’s funds Partner with mission-aligned local lenders Finance affordable housing, green infrastructure, and community resilience All with one goal: keeping public dollars circulating in our neighborhoods rather than leaving Los Angeles.