November 28, 2007 (LPAC)--Here is a draft of the HBPA, drafted by a State Representative.

HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. ____,

A RESOLUTION urging Congress to take emergency action to protect homeowners and banks and to enact a Homeowners and Bank Protection Act.

WHEREAS, The onrushing financial crisis involving home mortgages, debt instruments of all types, and the banking system of the United States threatens to set off an economic collapse worse than the Great Depression of the 1930s; and

WHEREAS, Millions of Americans will be faced with foreclosures and the loss of their homes over the coming months; and

WHEREAS, Hedge funds, which spread this financial collapse among markets worldwide by dominating speculation in those markets, are now going bankrupt and demanding government bailout of their securities and derivatives, with the nominal value of the derivatives based on mortgages alone equal to the size of the combined gross domestic product of the nations of the world; and

WHEREAS, This financial crisis threatens the integrity of both federal and state chartered banks, as typified by the run on deposits of Countrywide Financial Corporation in California during August 2007, which could wipe out the life savings of many American people and drastically undermine the economic stability of our states and cities; and

WHEREAS, Under similar circumstances in the 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt successfully intervened to protect banks and homeowners, addressing Congress with a declaration of national policy on April 13, 1933, which stated "that the broad interests of the Nation require that special safeguards should be thrown around home ownership as a guarantee of social and economic stability and that to protect homeowners from inequitable enforced liquidation in a time of general distress is a proper concern of the Government": Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of Kansas: That the Congress of the United States is requested to take emergency action to protect homeowners and banks and enact a Homeowners and Bank Protection Act specifically to:

1. Establish a federal agency to place federal and state chartered banks under protection, freeze all existing home mortgages for a period of time, adjust mortgage values to fair prices, restructure existing mortgages at appropriate interest rates and write off speculative debt obligations of mortgage-backed securities, financial derivatives and other forms of financial pyramid schemes that have brought the banking system to the point of bankruptcy;

2. declare a moratorium on all home foreclosures for the duration of the transitional period, allowing families to retain their homes, and provide for monthly payments that are the equivalent of rental payments to be made to designated banks, which can use the funds as collateral for normal lending practices, thus recapitalizing the banking system. These affordable monthly payments shall be factored into new mortgages, reflecting the orderly deflating of the housing bubble and the establishment of appropriate property valuations and reduced fixed mortgage interest rates. During the interim period needed to achieve these requirements, no homeowner shall be evicted from such homeowner's property, and the federal and state chartered banks shall be protected so that they can resume their traditional functions of serving local communities and facilitating credit for investment in productive entities; and

3. authorize state governors to assume the administrative responsibilities for implementing the act, including the establishment of payment of rental assessments to designated banks, with the federal government providing the necessary credits and guarantees to ensure the successful transition; and

Be it further resolved: That the Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives provide an enrolled copy of this resolution to the President of the United States, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and each member of the Kansas Congressional delegation