In summary Lawmakers should look hard at both sides of the ledger sheet of a possible public banking option before approving AB 1177. By Kerry Jackson, Special to CalMatters Kerry Jackson is a fellow with the Center for California Reform at the Pacific Research Institute, kerryjacksonPRI@gmail.com. Nearly 200 local and national banks operate more than 6,500 branches in California. But lawmakers believe the state needs one more. A bill in Sacramento establishes a public bank with “a zero-fee, zero-penalty public option for basic financial services.” Assembly Bill 1177, the California Public Banking Option Act, would create BankCal. BankCal would strengthen “the financial stability of the state’s most vulnerable residents,” “unbanked and underbanked,” who tend to be minorities, and “pay proportionally more for their financial services, lack secure means of saving, have fewer opportunities to build credit, and are rejected for loans at far higher rates.”