BILL REQ. #:  H-4775.1 

Read first time 01/28/10.   Referred to Committee on Financial Institutions & Insurance.

     TO THE HONORABLE BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED, AND TO THE HONORABLE TIMOTHY GEITHNER, SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, AND TO CHRISTINE GREGOIRE, GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
     We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:
     WHEREAS, For more than 150 years, Washington's community banks have played a significant role in their communities, and currently provide jobs for more than 12,000 of Washington's citizens; and
     WHEREAS, The current financial crisis and economic climate have placed many banks, both community and national, at risk; and
     WHEREAS, In the last year, the Washington department of financial institutions has been forced to close five banks, after not closing one for more than ten years; and
     WHEREAS, Some of the "one-size-fits-all" inflexible actions taken by federal regulators during this crisis have had a harmful effect on community banks and exacerbated the difficulties they face, reducing credit availability and slowing economic recovery; and
     WHEREAS, Washington community banks have had no role in causing the financial crisis and did not engage in subprime lending; and
     WHEREAS, Concern exists that banks in some regions of the nation are being subjected to stricter examinations than others; and
     WHEREAS, Sources of traditional capital for bank investment are significantly reduced and many community banks have little or no access to funds under the standards that have been applied by the capital purchase program (CPP) of the troubled asset relief program (TARP); and
     WHEREAS, Community banks are an economic backbone of Washington's communities, the lending lifeblood for "main street," and are best positioned to help our small businesses lead us out of current, poor economic conditions; and
     NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that the President of the United States, the Secretary of the Treasury, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and the United States Senate and House of Representatives actively support policies and legislation to:
     (1) Develop a new capital purchase program for community banks that does not require banks to prove their viability before receiving TARP funds;
     (2) Develop and expedite an efficient small business lending program of adequate size and scope and with appropriate incentives that will allow community banks to participate and to begin making loans to deserving small businesses otherwise unable to obtain financing;
     (3) Facilitate lending by community banks to the residential and commercial real estate sectors;
     (4) Permit community banks to seek alternative sources of capital; and
     (5) Ensure that examination standards are applied evenly to all banks in the United States, regardless of size or primary federal regulator, and not more stringently in some regions than others.
     BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of the United States, the Honorable Timothy Geithner, Secretary of the Treasury, the Honorable Christine Gregoire, Governor of the State of Washington, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.