Supervisors Approve A Public Bank For San Francisco

Image: SFPublicBank.org

San Francisco has a $13 billion annual budget, but we don’t actually have that money. Bank of freaking America has that money, which they reinvest in bombs, prisons, fossil fuels, and exploitation of the working class to create endless shareholder profits. Here’s Jackie Fielder to explain how fucked up the current system is.

The movement to start a San Francisco Public Bank, or technically a “non-depository municipal finance corporation,” hit a humongous milestone Tuesday night. The SF Board of Supervisors  unanimously approved the first step to giving San Francisco the nation’s first ever municipally owned bank. 

One big step closer to the first municipal public bank in the nation! Unanimous BOS vote for our Reinvest in San Francisco Ordinance!

— Dean Preston (@DeanPreston) June 15, 2021

“Public banks are fundamentally financial institutions that are accountable to people, and not existing for private profit,” the proposal’s sponsor Sup. Dean Preston said at Tuesday’s board meeting. If created, Preston said the bank would “invest in communities of color instead of exploiting communities of color, as our banking system has done for too long.”

SF supervisors unanimously voted to pass the Reinvest in SF Act, the first step to creating a blueprint for a public bank in San Francisco!

We are proud to be a part of the @sfpublicbank coalition & grateful for @DeanPreston's leadership on this issue!https://t.co/jNFfqCsH6f

— Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights SF (@lccrsf) June 16, 2021

“I really believe public banking is a powerful tool to regenerate our economy based on shared values, investing deeply in affordable housing, struggling small businesses, underserved communities, and green infrastructure,” he added.

The proposal that passed does not create the bank, it just establishes a “San Francisco Reinvestment Working Group” that would figure out how the bank would work.

https://t.co/w5a3z4PoDL pic.twitter.com/Y53DlSsa0A

— SF Public Bank Coalition (@sfpublicbank) January 27, 2021

But the fact that it was passed by a unanimous vote is key. An 11-0 vote is veto-proof, so if Mayor London Breed vetoes the measure, it can still move forward. And while it’s unclear what it will look like as it moves forward, you can follow the SF Public Bank Coalition on Twitter to keep up on it.