Building Financial Stability and an Equitable Recovery for All Californians
More than 30 percent of Black households and more than 30 percent of Latino households lack access to basic financial services, like checking and savings accounts, that are critical to financial stability.
The California Public Banking Option Act - AB 1177 (Santiago, Carrillo, Chiu, Garcia, Gonzalez, Kalra, Lee, Ting, Wicks, Gipson), or CalAccount, was signed into law by Gov. Newsom in 2021. The California Public Banking Option Act, forms the CalAccount Blue Ribbon Commission comprised of financial access experts, community members, and representatives from the Treasurer’s office and the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation to oversee a market analysis on how the CalAccount program could be implemented.
The CalAccount program, once approved by the legislature, would establish a state-sponsored program that gives every Californian the choice to have a free bank account.
Join the CalAccount Community Coalition
CalAccount provides a stable, accessible financial platform for unbanked and underbanked Californians.
CalAccount creates a new retail banking option provided by the state that would offer every Californian
a zero-fee, zero-penalty debit account and debit card
direct deposit from employers and public benefits
automatic bill pay to registered payees
recurring payments and donations to account holders’ organizations or charities of choice
an infrastructure to support account holders in building credit
tools for financial literacy
Learn more about the unbanked and underbanked in California, as well as other issues related to bridging the racial financial access gap.
Who are the unbanked and underbanked in our state?
1 in 5
California households
More than
60%
of unbanked households make less than $30,000 annually
More than
30%
of Black California Households
More than
40%
of disabled California Households
More than
30%
of Latino California Households
“I would love to have a bank account because I could be saving the money I’m spending to cash my paycheck, but the fees to keep a bank account are too high and I don’t always have enough money to meet the balance requirements. Right now, I spend about $300 a year just to cash my checks, and that’s money I could be using for clothes for my daughters and for food. A little goes a long way.”
— Maria del Carmen Bentancourt, Fast Food Worker, on why she supports AB 1177
