Bill Text: NJ AR177 | 2010-2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Urges U.S. Congress to reinstate "Glass-Steagall Act."
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-11-21 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee [AR177 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2010-AR177-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman LINDA STENDER
District 22 (Middlesex, Somerset and Union)
SYNOPSIS
Urges U.S. Congress to reinstate "Glass-Steagall Act."
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Assembly Resolution urging the United States Congress to enact legislation to reinstate the "Glass-Steagall Act" in order to strengthen our financial system.
Whereas, The United States Congress enacted section 20 of the "Banking Act of 1933," Pub.L. 73-66 (12 U.S.C. s.377 et seq.) (commonly referred to as the "Glass-Steagall Act") in order to eliminate the speculative activities which caused the collapse of the banking system during the Great Depression; and
Whereas, The "Glass-Steagall Act" curbed speculative activities by erecting a firewall between commercial and investment banking; and
Whereas, Following the repeal of the "Glass-Steagall Act" in 1999, commercial banks were permitted to merge with investment firms, insurance companies, mortgage companies, and other financial services firms to form vast conglomerates; and
Whereas, The newly formed financial conglomerates began engaging in irresponsible financial practices and speculative activities which brought them to the brink of failure and contributed to the collapse of the housing market; and
Whereas, The collapse of the housing market helped trigger the worst recession since the Great Depression, which cost millions of jobs and hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to bailout financial conglomerates considered too big to fail; and
Whereas, The United States Congress enacted the "Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act," Pub.L. 111-203 in response to the speculative activities and irresponsible financial practices which drove the economy into recession; and
Whereas, Although the purpose of the "Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act" was to address the root causes of the recession, the law does little to separate commercial and investment banking; and
Whereas, The reinstatement of the "Glass-Steagall Act" is necessary to strengthen our financial system and to put an end to the irresponsible financial practices and speculative activities that lead to the collapse of the housing market and the subsequent recession; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. This House urges the United States Congress to enact legislation to reinstate the "Glass-Steagall Act" in order to strengthen our financial system.
2. Duly authenticated copies of this resolution, signed by the Speaker of the General Assembly and attested to by the Clerk thereof, shall be transmitted to each member of the United States Congress.
STATEMENT
This resolution urges the United States Congress to reinstate the "Glass-Steagall Act" in order to strengthen our financial system. The "Glass-Steagall Act" was enacted to eliminate the speculative activities which caused the collapse of the banking system during the Great Depression. The "Glass-Steagall Act" curbed speculative activities by erecting a firewall between commercial and investment banking.
Following the repeal of the "Glass-Steagall Act" in 1999, commercial banks merged with investment firms and other financial firms to form vast conglomerates. The newly formed financial conglomerates began engaging in irresponsible financial practices and speculative activities which contributed to the collapse of the housing market and in turn lead to the worst recession since the Great Depression.
The United States Congress enacted the "Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act" to address the root causes of the recession. However, the "Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act" does little to separate commercial and investment banking. The reinstatement of the "Glass-Steagall Act" is necessary to strengthen our financial system and to put an end to the irresponsible financial practices and speculative activities that lead to the collapse of the housing market and the subsequent recession.
