SFGate.com
David R. Baker, Chronicle Staff Writer

California regulators handed electric utilities $82.2 million in bonuses Thursday for improving energy efficiency, even though the state isn’t sure the companies saved as much power as they claim. (more…)

Samuel Kang
Managing Attorney-Consumer Protection
510-926-4004 office
415-317-5946 cell
samuelk@greenlining.org

San Francisco, CA - Over 150 ratepayers packed the auditorium at the California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday to protest billions of dollars in pending utility rate increases. Nearly two dozen community leaders and ratepayers testified at a Commission meeting to demand rate freezes until the end of the recession in California. (more…)

Contact:
Christian González-Rivera
Program Manager, Research
Tel.: 510-898-0507
christiang@greenlining.org
www.greenlining.org

Today, the Greenlining Institute released its annual report card ranking the performance of top financial institutions in SBA lending to minority entrepreneurs in fiscal year 2008. The report will be sent to the top management of the nation’s largest SBA lending institutions in order to foster competition in lending to minority-owned small businesses. The findings are based on the verified data for fiscal year 2008 provided to Greenlining by the SBA through a Freedom of Information Act request. (more…)

American Banker | Friday, October 24, 2008
By Robert Gnaizda and Jorge Corralejo

Last week the secretary of the Treasury and the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board decided to save the American banking industry from its follies by partially nationalizing the banks through an infusion of $250 billion of taxpayer funds. (more…)

By KELLY BENNETT
Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2008

City Attorney Mike Aguirre made a big splash last week with his plans to sue Washington Mutual for predatory lending, but questions have been raised whether a local official has the authority to challenge the federally chartered bank. (more…)

Berkeley, CA – The Greenlining Institute, a national public policy and advocacy center that has been highly critical of Countrywide’s predatory subprime lending, had urged Attorney General Brown to bring suit at a December 2007 meeting. The organization labeled the so-called $8.7 billion dollar settlement “ far less than appears on the surface.” (more…)

California - The House of Representatives joined the Senate’s vote on Wednesday in affirming the $700 billion dollar bailout of financial institutions. The bailout contains virtually no language that will compel financial institutions to effectively address the foreclosure crisis or to embrace adequate measures to keep people on Main Street in their homes. The bailout also includes a wide range of benefits for big business but nothing for the small business community that will keep our economy going through a recession. (more…)

Berkeley, CA – Today, in response to the strong opposition from Main St. and the heavy Congressional criticism of the $700 billion dollar bailout, Greenlining Institute has proposed to the Secretary of the Treasury and the federal banking regulators an alternative or supplement to any future bailout. The proposal entitled the “$200 Billion Dollar Sovereign Wealth Fund Investment in Homeownership” could be headed by the two most respected Americans knowledgeable about housing and investments, Sheila Bair the Chair of the FDIC (listed by Forbes magazine as the most powerful woman in the United States) and Warren Buffet, the world’s most respected investor. (more…)

Main Street Homeowners Propose 150-Day Moratorium and Cap on CEO Compensation as Part of One Trillion Dollar Wall Street Bail-out

Berkeley, CA - Today, September 22, 2008, The Greenlining Institute called for a 150-day foreclosure moratorium and a cap on CEO compensation to be included in the Bernanke/Paulson one trillion dollar bail-out of Wall Street (see attached letter to Bernanke and Paulson.) (more…)

LAST PUBLIC HEARING on Edison’s Three Billion Dollar Rate Hike BEINg HELD IN COMPTON AFTER COMMUNITY demands respect

Berkeley, CA – The California Public Utilities Commission is holding the last in its series of public hearings after numerous community members demanded the opportunity to be heard publically on their concerns regarding Southern California Edison’s application $2.898 billion dollar in increased revenue during a recession.    (more…)