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San Francisco’s ballot measure to stand up a municipal bank, Proposition B, is in a tight race as of the final results Tuesday: The measure was slightly behind, 50.2% to 49.8%.
But it gained ground between vote drops and, with a difference of just 630 votes and later returns leaning progressive, the measure should clear the hurdle and pass.
The measure is only the first step to creating a public bank — a city-owned, independently operated financial institution meant to serve the public interest by giving out loans to housing and community infrastructure.
It has been official city policy to support a public bank for several years, but Prop. B was the first time San Franciscans got the chance to vote on it.
Prop. B would create a municipal-finance corporation and begin, with the help of banking professionals, the process of putting together a board of directors and overseers for the bank.
The concept of a public bank has long been floated by the city’s progressive politicians, who argue that instead of paying high fees to commercial lenders, San Francisco’s money should be re-invested in housing and infrastructure.
But opponents of the measure said that creating a public bank would be costly, and running such a complicated financial institution poses too many risks to the city.
Prop. B was put on the ballot by a 9-2 vote of the Board of Supervisors, with supervisors Stephen Sherrill and Alan Wong opposing it.
Among the most vocal supporters was Supervisor Jackie Fielder, who co-founded the San Francisco Public Bank Coalition before she was elected to office. The group has been leading the charge since 2017.
Prop. B was backed by $336,000. That included $175,000 from Saikat Charkrabarti, the former congressional candidate who finished in third place in the June primary, $125,000 from the San Francisco Foundation, and $6,000 from the San Francisco Public Bank Coalition.
Mayor Daniel Lurie and political action group GrowSF, a Lurie ally, opposed Prop. B, though they did not spend or campaign significantly against it. GrowSF spent $22,000 opposing the measure.