The House-passed, anti-big bank public funds bill geared to funnel $5 billion in state funds into credit unions and community banks cleared a new hurdle this week in the New Mexico Senate.

The measure, which lately has drawn national media attention because of its sentiment against Bank of America and Wells Fargo, was unanimously vote out of the Senate Corporations and Transportation Committee Wednesday night.

The proposed bill is now before the Senate Finance Committee and once it makes its way through that panel the next step will be the Senate floor eventually heading to Gov. Bill Richardson who is expected to sign it, said a spokesman for the Credit Union Association of New Mexico.

The bill, being pushed by House Rep. Brian Egolf (D-Santa Fe), is an outgrowth of the "Move Your Money" campaign of Arianna Huffington, the New York pundit who has railed against anti-consumer, big bank practices in online vehicles. National coverage of the New Mexico bill appeared Wednesday on ABC World News with Diane Sawyer and on National Public Radio.

In supporting the bill, which would permit New Mexico CUs to bid for the first time on state agency funds, the CUANM has teamed up with the New Mexico Bankers Association, which has membership from both small banks and money centers.