STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          5060
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
                    IN SENATE
                                      April 5, 2019
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  Sen.  PARKER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Banks
        AN ACT to amend the banking law, in relation to establishing the  office
          of financial resilience
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1. The banking law is amended by adding a new  section  46  to
     2  read as follows:
     3    §  46.  Office of financial resilience. 1. There is hereby established
     4  within the department the office of  financial  resilience.  The  super-
     5  intendent shall appoint the chief financial resilience officer and chief
     6  cooperative  economist  who  shall  appoint staff and perform such other
     7  functions to ensure the efficient operation of  the  office  within  the
     8  amounts made available therefor by appropriation.
     9    2. The office of financial resilience shall have the power and respon-
    10  sibility to:
    11    (a) develop and implement new programs and initiatives for the purpose
    12  of  supporting local economies and promoting resilient financial models.
    13  Such programs and initiatives shall assist local communities in:
    14    (i) creating community currencies;
    15    (ii) building blockchain-backed solutions to support local growth;
    16    (iii) learning how to implement cooperative  and  peer-to-peer  econo-
    17  mies;
    18    (iv)  implementing strategies that will help communities connect unmet
    19  needs with resources; and
    20    (v) coordinating efforts to turn student debt into functioning curren-
    21  cies;
    22    (b) conduct workshops on financial topics and offer financial  assist-
    23  ance  and  guidance  to local communities interested in building cooper-
    24  ative and peer-to-peer systems; and
    25    (c) advocate on behalf of blockchain startups and companies focused on
    26  building and supporting local economies.
    27    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD03975-01-9