California’s treasurer and attorney general will study whether the state should create its own publicly owned bank to serve the state’s now-legal cannabis industry.
On a conference call Tuesday, Treasurer John Chiang, a candidate for governor, said his office will look into costs, regulation and other operational issues the state would need to consider before creating such a bank — an entity that would be one of just two in the nation.
Chiang said the office of state Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra also will perform a study looking at legal issues surrounding the creation of a public bank.
A public bank would be capitalized and owned by the state of California, not by private investors. There’s been a growing movement over the last few years to create more public banks, driven by advocates’ dissatisfaction with commercial banks.
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