Public Banking in a Time of Crisis: How to Rebuild Los Angeles

Wildfires in California. Floods in North Carolina. Disaster recovery shouldn’t leave cities drowning in debt. But right now, Los Angeles sends $1.4 billion a year in interest payments and banking fees to Wall Street instead of investing in climate resilience, affordable housing, and small businesses—funding that could keep families housed, help Angelenos rebuild, and restore neighborhoods after $250 billion in wildfire damages.

A public bank would change this. The Bank of North Dakota moved $70 million into emergency relief within two weeks of a 1997 flood. Mortgage holders got six-month payment pauses. Imagine if LA and California cities had the same power to fund fire-resistant infrastructure, upgrade power grids, and keep families housed—without predatory loans.

We already have the legal framework—the Public Banking Act of 2019 made it possible. Now, we need action. Every crisis costs lives and billions of dollars. A public bank means faster recovery, lower costs, and economic power in local hands.

Public banking is the tool we need to rebuild—faster, fairer, and permanently stronger.

Read Trinity Tran’s op-ed in Common Dreams: Public Banking in a Time of Crisis: How to Rebuild Los Angeles.