California’s Big City Mayors Urge Stronger Financial Protections
Aug. 4, 2020 (Sacramento, CA) — In the face of the current COVID-19 recession, mayors from California’s seven largest cities are urging state lawmakers to protect Californians and small businesses by enforcing laws prohibiting financial companies from engaging in unfair, abusive, and deceptive practices that harm consumers. The Assembly Banking & Finance Committee and Budget Subcommittee 6 are expected to hold a joint hearing on Thursday, August 6th on Governor Gavin Newsom’s proposal to overhaul the Department of Business Oversight into the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) and empower the Department to cement California’s consumer protection leadership in a time of great economic uncertainty.
“The world’s fifth largest economy deserves and needs a designated state regulator adequately staffed and clearly empowered to protect its residents,” said seven mayors in a July 31 letter. “We urge you to approve this legislation and ensure that California will for the first time have a state watchdog that is clearly empowered, specifically tasked, and sufficiently resourced to protect our most vulnerable communities. New Californians, people of color, and under-resourced communities are suffering disproportionately and their suffering makes them easier targets for these bad actors. These Californians need robust consumer protections and they need them urgently.”
Mayors Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles, Sam Liccardo of San Jose, London Breed of San Francisco, Darrell Steinberg of Sacramento, Libby Schaaf of Oakland, Robert Garcia of Long Beach, and Michael Tubbs of Stockton penned the letter to California’s Senate President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins, Speaker Anthony Rendon, Budget Committee Chairs Holly Mitchell and Phil Ting, and Members.
“The need for these reforms is urgent with so many consumers in vulnerable circumstances due to the COVID crisis,” said Richard Cordray, former director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. “California can lead the way in this crucial moment to protect people and their families against harm from financial predators.”
More than seven million Californians have filed unemployment claims since the pandemic hit, according to the Employment Development Department. Unscrupulous financial service providers are using the pandemic to market risky loans and use illegal debt collection tactics, adding insult to injury for desperate families. Since the DBO’s supervisory powers are currently limited it cannot monitor industries that are not expressly written into the Financial Code. The Department of Financial Protection and Innovation Budget Trailer Bill would give the state enforcement powers to protect Californian’s from lenders that prey on those in financial distress.
“As the largest economy in the United States, California can set precedent by standing up a strong state consumer watchdog that champions its consumers and small businesses against the worst excesses of the financial system,” said Kat Taylor, Co-Founder and Board Chair of Beneficial State Bank, a Community Development Financial Institution. “It’s no secret the Trump administration has been anemic when it comes to protecting Americans from harmful financial practices, so California needs to step in and act now.”
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About the Office of Kat Taylor
Kat Taylor is active in a variety of social enterprises, public benefit and philanthropic ventures. Concurrently, she serves as co-founder and board chair of Beneficial State Bank, a Community Development Financial Institution whose mission is to bring beneficial banking to under-resourced communities in an economically and environmentally sustainable manner. Taylor is also the owner of TomKat Ranch, a cattle ranch that uses environmentally beneficial practices and research to demonstrate, inspire, and teach the adoption of regenerative agriculture. Taylor serves and has served on many nonprofit boards, including CuriOdyssey, Ecotrust, Good Samaritan Family Resource Center, the Harvard Board of Overseers, Insight Prison Project, KQED, ProPublica and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.
