Introduced Version
House Resolution 1 History
OTHER VERSIONS -
Introduced Version
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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 15
(By Delegates Manypenny, Campbell, Canterbury, Diserio, Eldridge,
A. Evans, Ferro, Fleischauer, Fragale, Guthrie, Hartman, Jones,
Longstreth, Lynch, Moye, L. Phillips, R. Phillips, M. Poling,
Poore, Reynolds, Romine, Skinner, R. Smith, Sponaugle, Stephens,
Stowers, Tomblin, Walker, Walters, Wells, White and Young)
Expressing support of the House of Delegates urging Congress to
enact H. R. 129, the "Return to Prudent Banking Act of 2013."
Whereas, An effective monetary and banking system is essential
to a properly functioning economy; and
Whereas, An effective monetary and banking system must function
in the public interest without bias; and
Whereas, The Federal Banking Act of 1933, commonly referred to
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 firms; and
Whereas, The Glass-Steagall Act was repealed in 1999,
permitting members of the financial industry to exploit the
financial system for their own selfish gain without regard of the
public interest; and
Whereas, Many of the financial industry entities were saved by the United States Treasury at a cost of billions of dollars to
American taxpayers; and
Whereas, Within the hundreds 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 trillions of dollars of derivative
contracts; and
Whereas, The American taxpayers continue to be at risk for the
next round of bank failures with enormous risks undertaken by
financial services conglomerates; and
Whereas, 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; and
Whereas, H.R. 1489, the identical bill in the 112th Congress,
gained eighty-four bipartisan cosponsors; and
Whereas, It is vital that the same bill be introduced in the
United States Senate; and
Whereas, Glass-Steagall has received wide national support, the
AFL-CIO, the American Federation of Teachers, the International
Association of Machinists, from prominent economic and business
leaders, including Thomas Hoenig of FDIC, Sanford Weill, former CEO
of Citibank and economist Luigi Zingales to the New York Times, the
St. Louis Post Dispatch, the Los Angeles Times; therefore, be it
Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the House of Delegates hereby strongly urges the United
States Congress to enact H.R. 129, pending before the 113th
Congress, to reinstate the restrictions of the Banking Act of 1933,
commonly referred to as the Glass-Steagall Act, that prohibited
commercial banks and bank holding companies from investing in
stocks, underwriting securities or investing in or acting as
guarantors in derivative transactions, in order to prevent American
taxpayers from again being called upon to fund hundreds of billions
of dollars to bail out financial institutions; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates
forward a certified copy of this resolution to President of the
United States, the Majority Leader of the United States Senate, the
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives,
congressional delegates of each state in the United States and each
member of West Virginia's congressional delegation.