Follow Up to County Vote to Divest from Banks Financing Fossil Fuels & Detention Centers

[Shelly]

Hello All,

A big congratulations to everyone in getting the county to unanimously vote in favor of divesting from banks that are financing the fossil fuel industry and detention centers. As a follow up and to help keep you all educated on the amount of money the County currently has invested in said banks, I would like to share the information that the Friends of Public Banking Santa Rosa researched and presented that day to the County Supervisors.

First off, for any of you that may have missed it, here is the story that ran in the PD on the County's vote on the Resolution Regarding Socially Responsible Investing:

https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/10445104-181/sonoma-county-supervisors-seek-to?fbclid=IwAR29muAppWRS4ltLgW7bILqD-JfbBl9Qk5Jplkv3PXk034RY6c6c-Z_NaYQ&sba=AAS

1) Attached letter that was read to supervisors on behalf of Friends of Public Banking Santa Rosa and the California Public Banking Alliance.

2) Attached Sonoma County Quarterly Report on Investments - September 2019

3) Attached Page 11 of Sonoma County Quarterly Report on Investments - September 2019 with highlights reflecting investments in 6 banks totaling $287million

4) Fossil Fuel Report Card 2019 reflecting top 33 banks around the world investing in Fossil Fuels:

https://www.ran.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Banking_on_Climate_Change_2019_vFINAL1.pdf

5) Attached is page 7 of the 2019 Fossil Fuel Report Card with highlights reflecting all 6 banks the County is currently invested in that are among the top 33 banks in the world financing the fossil fuel industry.

6) Attached is a spreadsheet showing the total amount of money the County had invested in banks financing the fossil fuel industry and detention centers from their March and September 2019 Investment Reports.

7) Comparison of JP Morgan Chase's response to assisting local customers after 2017 wildfires, vs the Bank of North Dakota response to the fire and flood in Grand Forks (population 57,000), North Dakota in 1997.

You will note that in September, the County had $92million invested in Wells Fargo. The Auditor - Controller - Treasurer - Tax Collector Eric Roeser stated in his presentation to the County Board of Supervisors that since the September report, they had reduced their investments in Wells Fargo to $38million.

Roeser also stated that the County does not currently have any investments in banks that are financing the fossil fuel industry. I pointed out to him that he was incorrect in that statement, as page 11 of the County's September 2019 report reflects that the County has investments in 6 banks, all of which are on the 2019 Fossil Fuel Report Card. And that the actual total of their investments in banks financing the fossil fuel industry in the September report came to $287million, representing 13.6% of the County's total investments of $2.1billion.

He then stated that he did not know at the time he made those investments that those banks are financing the fossil fuel industry.

You will note in the attached spreadsheet of the counties March and September investments that the two main banks financing the detention centers are Wells Fargo and BNP Parabis, both of which are also on the Fossil Fuel Report card as being investors in fossil fuels.

As expressed in the PD article, Roeser also stated that the County no longer has investments in PNB Parabis. The September investment report reflect $75million in investments there, which likely could have also been reduced or terminated since the time of the reporting.

The next County quarterly report will be out in January. Let us all be diligent in continuing to monitor these investment reports that reflect where our tax dollars are being invested and assure that they do indeed divest from the banks that are financing the fossil fuel industry and detention centers.

To our collective best always,

Shelly Browning

Friends of Public Banking Santa Rosa

"Given the magnitude of the task, everyone has to step up their game." ~ Bill McKibben

[Shelly]

Hello Mara,

Thanks so much for this note. I looked back at my calculations and realized that I had mistakenly looked at the Counties September 2018 Investment report, rather than the September 2019 Investment report. My apologies, I was working on this late the night before this went to the Board of Sups on Tuesday and had lots of open docs before me.

Attached are revisions reflecting the County's Sept, 2019 Investment Report:

1) Attached Page 11 of Sonoma County Quarterly Report on Investments - September 2019 with highlights reflecting investments in 7 banks totaling $317million.

2) Attached is page 7 of the 2019 Fossil Fuel Report Card with highlights reflecting all 7 banks the County is currently invested in that are among the top 33 banks in the world financing the fossil fuel industry.

3) Attached is a spreadsheet showing the total amount of money the County had invested in banks financing the fossil fuel industry and detention centers from their March and September 2019 Investment Reports.

Please note, that the County did in fact terminate it's investments with BNP Parabis and congratulations to all who worked to make that happen. As stated, as of the Sept 2019 Report, the County had $317 million invested in banks financing the fossil fuel industry. Let's all look to the January, 2020 report to see how those investments have shifted.

The real point here is that the County will be hard pressed to find a private bank to invest in that is not financing the fossil fuel industry. Let us all be diligent in continuing to ask the question of how these funds could better serve the community if they were instead invested into a public bank.

To our collective best always,

Shelly Browning

Friends of Public Banking Santa Rosa

"Given the magnitude of the task, everyone has to step up their game." ~ Bill McKibben

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Follow Up to County Vote to Divest from Banks Financing
Fossil Fuels & Detention Centers
From: Mara Ventura <ma...@northbayjwj.com>
Date: Fri, December 13, 2019 1:28 pm
To: Shelly <in...@shellybrowning.com>
Cc: "AJR (Alliance for a Just Recovery)"
<alliance4j...@googlegroups.com>, Occupy Sonoma County
<osc_eart...@googlegroups.com>,
climateac...@googlegroups.com

Thanks Shelly! That article in the PD missed a lot, and incorrectly wrote that the County is not planning to divest which is inaccurate. The PD, for obvious reasons, not been supportive of our campaign. We sent them corrections but of course they wont appear. For clarification, the County had $200 million in investments when we launched this campaign last March. Due to our campaign and the pressure we've put on the Treasurer's office and the Supervisors, the treasurer's office sold off those shares and have only $37milion left, which now thanks to our policy will not be renewed when they end this year. We're really happy for this new policy and we hope the State will make necessary changes in the future. 

Shelly, thank you for capturing information re: fossil fuel investments!

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Mara Ventura

Executive Director 

North Bay Jobs with Justice 

541.653.3837 

Pronouns: she/her

"Every moment is an organizing opportunity, every person a potential activist, every minute a chance to change the world" - Dolores Huerta