New Mexico State Legislator Introduces Bill To Move State's Money

New Mexico state representative Brian Egolf has introduced a bill to move the state's money out of Bank of America and into banks and credit unions chartered in New Mexico.

"I saw the Move Your Money video the day it came out and thought it made a lot of sense," Egolf told HuffPost.

So the Santa Fe Democrat wants to move as much money as he possibly can -- that would be $1.4 billion.

Egolf's bill would direct the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration to "give a preference to a community bank to act as the fiscal agent of the general fund operating cash depository account."

Egolf said the account, which is essentially the state's checking account, holds $1.4 billion and is managed by Bank of America. Egolf's bill directs state officials to study the feasibility of dividing up the account and distributing it between community banks and credit unions throughout the state. He said he discussed the measure with Gov. Bill Richardson (D) for an hour on Thursday, and that the governor supported the measure.

Egolf said moving state funds into local banks or credit unions would benefit the New Mexico economy by freeing up local credit. "The potential size and impact of moving this money is monumental. The biggest bank in the state right now has $2 billion in assets."

He added that he hasn't heard any opposition to his proposal from any of his colleagues in either party in the New Mexico legislature and expects the measure to be taken up in the next three weeks. His goal is to move the money by the end of the year.

"The only concern I've heard really is, 'How soon can we do it?'" he said. "I'm not getting any defense of the big banks. There's a huge appeal to keeping our money local. The income Bank of America earns from managing this money goes straight to New York."

Bank of America doesn't seem very intimidated by the bill.

"We are pleased to have the State of New Mexico as a client and look forward to continuing that relationship," said a bank spokesman in an email.

Egolf said he was in the process of moving his own money to the Los Alamos National Bank.

HuffPost readers: Know about a local or state elected official who's jumping on the Move Your Money bandwagon? Make sure we know about it, too!

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Comments

[freelyb]

08:45 PM on 01/25/2010

New Mexico -- fired up and ready to go! Three cheers!

[Mikeeee]

07:37 PM on 01/25/2010

All 50 states do this and it's going to start to have an effect. Get NY and LA to move as well and it encourages citizens of those cities to do the same. Let wall street gamble with their own money for awhile. I'm betting they start to be a little more modest in their strategies.

[Roy Stange]

07:29 PM on 01/25/2010

As a native New Mexican, I say Hear, Hear! Watch out for the "local" banks theybe owned by an entity outside the state. Charter kept it's name but now is now owned by the Beal Financial Corp out of Plano TX.

[darkflite]

07:14 PM on 01/25/2010

I would hate to see a lot of good and innocent people lose their jobs at the big banks if they were to cease to exist some day as a result of this movement but on the other hand I'd love to teach those corrupt and greedy bastards at the top a good lesson. Same goes with the corrupt, greedy and incompetent government regulators who allowed (and perhaps helped) these big banks get us into this mess...and with absolutely no accountability.

[SarahZim]

07:28 PM on 01/25/2010

If a big bank can lose a job with a loss of business than a local bank can create a job from a corresponding increase in business. Perhaps even more so because they offer human customer service.

[fuel4thefire]

07:05 PM on 01/25/2010

i am all in favor of credit unions; i have been using mine for 15 years; and another one before that; as i said today in a reply to Calpirg here in CA,: we need to scrap these banks under a New Deal for 21st Century; we need new banks run by a different set of people; I doubt this will happen -- it is time for a cultural revolution as suggested in the Washington Post today in a commentary on the 5-4 ruling allowing corporations to spend as much as they like on political elections; this is the people versus the oligarchy -- the unfinished business of the 60s; for those of us who lived back then -- we told you so;

a move to using credit unions is good start!!! we must fight oligarchy in America!

[rplite]

06:52 PM on 01/25/2010

Awsome!!! All states should follow this example.

[KevinFitzz]

06:06 PM on 01/25/2010

Oh, and If Caliofornia HAD any money, I am sure Gov. Schwartzennegger would gladly move it!

[PotomacOracle]

06:32 PM on 01/25/2010

California has vast assets. It could monetize those assets, place $50 billion in a state owned bank and using fractional reserve lending rules, create $5 trillon in interest free credit to refinance its debt and fund anything the state needs. They need only fololow the 100 year old example of the state owned bank of North Dakota.

The reason it doesn't do this is because the folks and Bank of America don't want the state to control its own funding mechanism. B of A doesn't want the competition. More importantly B of A wants to continue to receive the billions in interest payments from CA taxpayers.

Go to www.webofdebt.com for the complete story on California's real monetary solution.

[MichaelJ2006]

07:44 PM on 01/25/2010

Are you CRAZY? The rich are his friends, and he craves their acceptance.

What a loser he his.

A Californian.

[KevinFitzz]

06:05 PM on 01/25/2010

Sounds great, people! I moved my $$ from BofA to The Golden 1 Credit Union about 30 years ago. I hate BofA (and all big banks) more now than I did when BofA tried to screw me out of $140. Good peeps, MOVE YOUR DOUGH!

[Japanese Turbo]

06:01 PM on 01/25/2010

I just wrote to the governor of my home stoae (Virginia). Lets hope he sees enough of these requests and petitions and acts upon them. The commonwealth is fairly big and ranks 12th in GDP per 2008 figures. If more big states continue, we are likely to feel some difference in the state of affairs.

[PotomacOracle]

06:56 PM on 01/25/2010

Fanned. i sent the new Gov. a letter with all the details on how to charter a state owned bank here in VA like that of N.Dakota.Go to the www.webofdebt.com site and then visit the N.Dakota site for the Bank of N. Dakota to get great info. Then send what you want to the Gov.

These guys need to be pressured to do the right thing. They are not heroes.

[mikeyman54]

11:48 AM on 01/26/2010

Thanks, PotomacOracle. If this is as good as it sounds, I will start advocating for it in CA.

[Mafdet]

04:35 PM on 01/25/2010

Yes! I'm glad to see the HP bring you back today! I was afraid you had already gotten the smack down from the Party.

[dc2nm]

04:31 PM on 01/25/2010

I love living in New Mexico now more than I did 10 minutes ago. We have a small business and recently moved it from BOA to a New Mexico credit union. BOA refused to research a large fraudulent charge on our account and refused to give us loans even with great credit. The credit union gave us a loan without any problems. I love our credit union!

[fuel4thefire]

07:11 PM on 01/25/2010

I am planning on moving to NM or buying property to setup an art studio-getaway as soon as i recover from the economic tsunami; after 11 years of being a SMB of (1) as a consultant i am broke -- as are many Californians due to high cost of living: we are always 40 cents higher on gas than the national average; we have monopolies that run the utilities (gas and water); health insurance and car insurance also is very high; and the price of everything keeps going higher and higher; we have not had a good Governor since Brown -- Pat Brown, Jerry's father; like the rest of the nation we suffer from the rule of special interests -- developers in particular and the military contractors;

[IAmTheHoiPolloi]

04:23 PM on 01/25/2010

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local News/Regulators-take-over-troubled-Charter-Bank

Local banks are not immune to the follies and foibles of the big banks, as evidenced by the takeover of New Mexico's own Charter Bank, for making the same mistakes with mortgages that the big banks did.

Regulation is the key, so we must demand more accountability. Boycotts work to some extent, but as we see with Goliaths like Walmart, it hasn't really hurt their bottom line, but holding them accountable for their actions is making inroads.

[IAmTheHoiPolloi]

04:46 PM on 01/25/2010

http://shar.es/aSEuO

[KennyJr]

05:33 PM on 01/25/2010

The closing of Charter was just plain dirty. It was a good bank with owners who were known for their philanthropy and for their support of local business. They were solvent. Loans they had provided were being paid back judiciously. But the feds felt that given the right circumstances those loans could go in default and the bank could find itself in an uncomfortable position. Charter was my bank 'til now. That bank is now part of some Texas operation. I'll be moving to a different New Mexico bank. One thing's for sure though, I would never return to Bank of America, a bank that seemed always to be giving depositors good reason for going elsewhere. Why anyone stays is beyond me.

[Aroddo]

04:21 PM on 01/25/2010

1.4 billion in an AIG account ... the overdraft fees must be a killer.

[cplKlyde]

04:20 PM on 01/25/2010

I'm writing my state rep and asking him to do the same in Ohio.

[Misbah Ali]

04:13 PM on 01/25/2010

now if only we could do this on a bigger scale... get other states to do the same thing, particularly richer states like NY and maybe even California.. it might even help the economy of california...

[fuel4thefire]

07:13 PM on 01/25/2010

The state is broke ( CA) BUT if all 38 million people ( adults and children) ponied up $1 that would be $38 million on a "people's account" where the interest could return some modest profit; it is time for a cultural revolution..... i think it has already begun;))