State Bank of Oregon Community Forum

State Bank of Oregon Community Forum

A public forum on the Oregon State Bank and a proposal to create a publicly owned bank modeled after the highly successful Bank of North Dakota was held on February 1st.

Forum speakers were Barbara Dudley, Co-Chair of the Oregon Working Families Party; Jim Houser, Co-owner of the Hawthorne Auto Clinic and Co-Chair of the Main Street Alliance of Oregon; Teresa Retzlaff, Farmer at 46 North Farm in Astoria and member of Friends of Family Farmers; and State Representative Jefferson Smith.

Only North Dakota has a state bank.  At the moment, a State Bank of Oregon is only an idea. North Dakota's state bank was formed in 1919.  When Alaska and Hawaii joined the union, they did not have a state bank - and still do not (as with the rest of the 47 states).