Maryland Lawmaker Introduces State-Bank Bill

A Maryland legislator has introduced a bill that would open the way for the creation of a state-run bank.

On Feb. 8, Delegate Ana Sol Gutierrez of Montgomery County presented a bill to the state's General Assembly that would create a task force to consider whether to create a Maryland state bank. The purpose of the state bank would be to promote local economic development, lower the government's banking costs and bring in profits, the legislation says. The 13-member task force would be composed of government officials, banking experts and representatives of the banking industry and labor.

The next step for the proposal will be hearings in the general Assembly's committees and subcommittees. The bill has not yet been assigned a date for a hearing, a spokesman for Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez introduced a similar bill to create a state-run bank in 2011, said the Baltimore Business Journal, which first reported on the legislation. The previous bill was killed in the committee stage in the face of opposition from the Maryland Bankers Association. The Maryland Bankers Association remains "adamantly opposed" to the bill, a spokeswoman said.

The Bank of North Dakota is the only state-run bank in the United States, though other state legislatures have proposed establishing similar banks in recent years.