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PRINTER'S NO. 739
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE RESOLUTION
No.
83
Session of
2017
INTRODUCED BY FOLMER, MENSCH AND STEFANO, APRIL 24, 2017
REFERRED TO BANKING AND INSURANCE, APRIL 24, 2017
A RESOLUTION
Urging the Congress of the United States to enact legislation to
reinstate the separation of commercial and investment banking
functions in effect under the Glass-Steagall Act and support
repeal of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer
Protection Act.
WHEREAS, An effective monetary and banking system is
essential to the functioning of the economy; and
WHEREAS, Since 1933, a portion of the Banking Act of 1933,
known as the Glass-Steagall Act, protected the public interest
in matters dealing with the regulation of commercial and
investment banking and insurance companies and securities; and
WHEREAS, The Glass-Steagall Act was partially repealed in
1999; and
WHEREAS, The repeal contributed to the greatest speculative
bubble and worldwide recession since the Great Depression; and
WHEREAS, The Comptroller of the Currency reported major banks
in the United States had more than $237 trillion in derivatives
on the books of insured banks and all have superpriority to be
honored in a banking crisis; and
WHEREAS, The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer
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Protection Act (the Dodd-Frank Act) enhances the Federal
Reserve's authority to make broad extensions of credit to
struggling financial entities, sometimes called "bailouts"; and
WHEREAS, Some fear that activity similar to the confiscation
of customer deposits or "bail-ins" could be authorized under the
Dodd-Frank Act; and
WHEREAS, Few depositors realize that banks legally own the
depositors' funds once they are put into a bank, making their
money the bank's money and making depositors' unsecured
creditors holding IOUs or promises to pay; and
WHEREAS, Banks had previously been obligated to pay
depositors' money back on demand in the form of cash, however,
under the plan put forth by the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation and the Bank of England, IOUs are converted into
"bank equity" where the bank gets the money and depositors
acquire stock in the bank; and
WHEREAS, The President of the United States recently issued
an Executive Order directing the Secretary of the Treasury to
issue a report on laws, treaties, regulations, guidance,
reporting and recordkeeping requirements that inhibit Federal
regulation of the United States financial system; therefore be
it
RESOLVED, That the Senate of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
urge the Congress of the United States to enact legislation to
reinstate the separation of commercial and investment banking
functions in effect under the Glass-Steagall Act and support
repeal of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer
Protection Act; and be it further
RESOLVED, That the legislation prohibit commercial banks and
bank holding companies from investing in stocks, underwriting
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securities or investing in or acting as guarantors to derivative
transactions; and be it further
RESOLVED, That the prohibition will prevent American
taxpayers from being asked to fund a bailout of financial
institutions that amounts to hundreds of billions of dollars;
and be it further
RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be sent to the
President of the United States, the presiding officers of each
house of Congress and to each member of Congress from
Pennsylvania.
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