Washington Investment Trust: an update

Two years ago I introduced a bill that would establish a publicly owned bank for the State of Washington – known as the Washington Investment Trust (WIT).  The WIT would be a bank that serves as the repository for state deposits and is publicly owned, governed, and operated for the benefit of the people of the state, not for private profit.  It returns a negotiated portion of bank profits to the state – keeping the money in the state rather than sending it off to Wall Street. 

It is a great example of how government can work smartly for the people.  It uses taxpayer dollars for the benefit of our state and rebuilds public confidence in good government, and pride of ownership of the commons.

The Washington Investment Trust can promote agriculture, education, community development, economic development, commerce, and industry in Washington State by: 

§  Building infrastructure and creating JOBS

§  Providing access to capital for businesses to create and preserve JOBS

§  Boosting economic development to create JOBS

§  Working with and supporting community banking system

§  Smart government, smart use of taxpayers’ money

§  Build long term capital for the state

Over the interim I am chairing a task force that is looking at how we should get this off the ground and make it a reality so that we can start investing taxpayer’s money back into our local economies.   If you are interested in finding out what the taskforce has been up to you can visit our legislative website.  We will be making a recommendation to the legislature very soon.