In 1939, as war erupted in Europe, the English professor C.S. Lewis delivered a sermon at Oxford titled, “Learning in War-time.” In it, Lewis articulated a defense of learning even in the most treacherous of times. “If men had postponed the search for knowledge and beauty until they were secure, the search would never have begun. … Even those periods which we think most tranquil … turn out, on closer inspection, to be full of cries, alarms, difficulties, emergencies.”

Lewis’ topic was education, but much the same could be said of any good thing. There is no “right time” to do what is right. Every good we have as individuals and society is the result of the slow grinding work of hope in times both good and bad.

Yet our government seems to be stuck waiting for the right time to do right by kamaaina. In January 2020, 12 years after the start of the Great Recession, Hawaii’s Legislature and governor brought out a legislative package focused squarely on our needs: housing, a living wage, education.

Mere months later, and with those needs only more pressing, we again faced a recession. Again we are waiting for better times to make things better.

Our history and Lewis suggest this is unsustainable. Locals are leaving, in ever increasing numbers, taking with them community, culture and talent. Hawaii cannot afford to continue a system that constantly has us clawing our way back to financial stability only to have some new crisis lay us out on the mat. We need to build resilience into the system.

A public bank, as proposed by state Rep. Dale Kobayashi last legislative session, is a key institution for enabling that kind of resiliency. Indeed, the Bank of North Dakota (BND), the U.S.’s sole state-owned public bank, is credited with doing just that in 2008 by no less than The Wall Street Journal. The bank is further credited for the fact that North Dakota received more per-capita PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) dollars in 2020 than any other state, 25% more per-capita than Hawaii.

So what is it? A public bank is an independent entity that serves as the depository institution for state and local funds and is chartered to serve the public good, rather than maximizing short-term profitability. It uses state and local government deposits and its initial capitalization to both extend the lending capacity of local private banks into key areas, such as affordable housing, and to provide direct loans to private and public projects.

Changing how we finance things hardly sounds exciting. But its impact could be profound. Traditional bond financing can easily double the cost of debt. Hawaii has some $8 billion of outstanding debt. If all of that debt were financed via 20-year, 5% coupon rate bonds — not uncommon terms — the taxpayer would pay a total of $16 billion for that $8 billion debt. Making matters worse, most of our bond payments go straight to Wall Street bankers, leaving our economy for good.

Public banks enable more than just cheaper government project financing. They are a critical partner for local businesses: extending critical credit when times are bad and supporting growth when times are good. In Germany, public banks have allowed local businesses and community organizations to own and develop renewable energy and are critical partners for small-medium-enterprises.

In North Dakota, the BND enables business loans at far below market rates. In Hawaii, among other things, they could prove critical to the marijuana industry as private sector banks are unwilling to provide them with banking services.

There are no good times or bad times to build a better future; there is only our time. As pressing as kamaaina needs were in January 2020, they are only more pressing in January 2021. We can’t let them be put on the back burner again. Public banking will help ensure we won’t have to next time around.

Micah M. Hicks, of Pupukea, holds degrees in finance and management information systems, and is working toward a master’s degree in mechanical engineering while working as an engineer.