HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 89

(By Delegates Manypenny, Ambler, Barker, Boggs, Canterbury, Caputo, Cooper, Diserio, Eldridge, Ellem, Ellington, Espinosa, A. Evans, D. Evans, Ferro, Fleischauer, Folk, Fragale, Gearheart, Guthrie, Hartman, Iaquinta, Kinsey, Longstreth, Marcum, Marshall, Moore, Moye, Paxton, Perdue, Perry, Pethtel, R. Phillips, Pino, D. Poling, M. Poling, Poore, Reynolds, Romine, Skaff, R. Smith, Sponaugle, Storch, Swartzmiller, Tomblin, Walker, Walters, White and Young)

Respectfully urging Congress to reenact provisions of the Glass-Steagall Banking Act.

    Whereas, From 1933 to 1999 the Federal Banking Act of 1933, known as the Glass-Steagall Act, worked effectively to protect the public interest by separating the functions of commercial banking, from investment banking, insurance, and securities trading; and

    Whereas, The Glass-Steagall Act was repealed in 1999, expanding the ability of financial entities to exploit the financial system for their own gain in disregard of the public interest, and contributing to the greatest speculative bubble and subsequent worldwide economic distress since the Great Depression; and

    Whereas, Many of the financial services entities were saved by the United States Treasury at a cost of billions of dollars to American taxpayers; and

    Whereas, The Federal Reserve continues this bail-out process today, issuing $85 billion per month in cash throughout 2013 to the “too big to fail” Wall Street banks, to buy their devalued derivatives securities, and these banks have used the money to increase their speculation in financial derivatives, and have decreased lending to Main Street by $700 billion since 2008; and

    Whereas, Within the thousands of pages of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act, there are no prohibitions preventing “too big to fail” financial services organizations from investing in or undertaking substantial risks in hundreds of trillions of dollars of derivative contracts; and

    Whereas, A new set of financial bubbles are in full swing, and the American taxpayers are at renewed risk of being forced to cover for losses incurred by derivatives gambling of the financial services conglomerates; and

    Whereas, Reenactment of Glass-Steagall provisions would protect the public from these bail-out costs, and free credit resources to be directed into large-scale infrastructure and other physical economic investments, with attendant restoration of skilled employment and the tax base; and

    Whereas, Bipartisan resolutions urging the United States Congress to reenact the Glass-Steagall banking provisions have been introduced into twenty-five state legislatures as of December 2013, and these resolutions have passed in four states thus far; and

    Whereas, In the United States House of Representatives, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur has introduced H.R. 129, known as the Return to Prudent Banking Act of 2013, to reinstate the provisions of the Glass-Steagall Act, with 78 bipartisan cosponsors as of December 2013, and Reps. Walter Jones and John Tierney have introduced H.R. 3711, the “21st Century Glass-Steagall Act of 2013”; and

    Whereas, In the United States Senate, Sen. Tom Harkin has introduced S. 985 to restore Glass-Steagall provisions, and Senators Elizabeth Warren, John McCain, Maria Cantwell and Angus King have introduced S. 1285, the “21st Century Glass-Steagall Act of 2013”, with six cosponsors as of December 2013; therefore, be it

    Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:

    That the West Virginia Legislature urges the United States Congress and the President of the United States to enact the Glass-Steagall inspired legislation currently before Congress, which will reinstate the separation of commercial and investment banking functions, and prohibit commercial banks and bank holding companies from investing in stocks, underwriting securities or investing in or acting as guarantors to derivatives transactions; and, be it

    Further Resolved, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates forward a certified copy of this resolution to the President of the United States, to presiding officers of each house of Congress, and to each member of the West Virginia Congressional Delegation.