Responsible Banking Act
Posted by Bill Peduto
In 1977, the United States Congress passed the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) as part of a larger push to end discriminatory practices in mortgage and consumer lending that had led to large portions of, primarily, African American neighborhoods to be redlined. Redlining was the practice of banks and other lending institutions literally drawing a red line around certain neighborhoods and dictating that no loans could be made for residents and business owners there.
The CRA effectively ended redlining and led to a renaissance in bank-community relations that lasted several decades. While CRA has been incredibly important, it is federal legislation that doesn’t always capture the unique conditions on the ground in cities and states around the country. It is for this reason that I introduced the Responsible Banking and Neighborhood Reinvestment Act last month.
This legislation builds upon the success of the CRA, requiring that any banks holding City of Pittsburgh deposits provide documentation and reports to the City Controller outlining the ways in which they have reinvested public monies into our neighborhoods. The City Controller will then compile a “report card” showing the City Council and the public which banks we’re doing business with are excelling, which are maintaining steady progress, and which are falling behind in their commitments. The City invests tens of millions of dollars in banks each year and that money must be put back to work for our City and its neighborhoods.
Tags: Bill Peduto, City, Finances, Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh City Council, Responsible Banking and Neighborhood Reinvestment
This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 15th, 2011 at 1:16 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
