Measure B: B - Establishing a Municipal Finance Corporation and a Public Bank
San Francisco County · San Francisco County · November 3, 2026
The question on your ballot
Shall the City amend the Charter to authorize the City to establish a municipal finance corporation and a public bank?
In plain language
Measure B would change San Francisco's Charter to let the city create a municipal finance corporation and a public bank. A YES vote allows the city to set these up. A NO vote means the city cannot create them.
Impartial analysis
The Way It Is Now: A municipal finance corporation (MFC) is a government-owned non-profit corporation that makes loans but does not take deposits. A public bank is a government-owned non-profit corporation that both makes loans and takes deposits. There is no local law authorizing the City to create a municipal finance corporation or a public bank. The Proposal: Proposition B would amend the City Charter to authorize the City to establish a municipal finance corporation if the City has sufficient funding and resources. After three years of operation, the municipal finance corporation may become a public bank. The MFC would make loans but would not take deposits. If the MFC becomes a public bank, the public bank would make loans and also take deposits. The MFC and public bank would provide services to support: • affordable housing development, • affordable homeownership, • small business development, • environmental sustainability, and • environmental justice. These services would be available to individual City residents and to projects and businesses located in the City. Under Proposition B, the MFC and public bank would each be governed by a board of directors. Each board would be appointed and overseen by its own oversight commission. The members of each oversight commission would be appointed by the Board of Supervisors, Mayor, Treasurer-Tax Collector, Controller, and City Attorney. A “YES” Vote Means: If you vote “yes,” you want to authorize the City to establish a municipal finance corporation and a public bank. A “NO” Vote Means: If you vote “no,” you do not want to authorize the City to establish a municipal finance corporation and a public bank.
Official ballot arguments
Filed for the official voter guide by each side, printed as submitted.
Argument in favor
Prop B will ensure that a San Francisco Public Bank is fiscally responsible, independent from political influence, and serves San Francisco’s priorities. A Public Bank puts the people of San Francisco over private profits to finance the things we need. The shareholders would be the people of San Francisco, so we benefit not only from our bank’s profits but also the San Francisco projects it supports. Prop B is a crucial step in creating a Public Bank. A Public Bank will provide affordable loans for: • Affordable housing development, • Affordable homeownership, • Small business development, • Environmental sustainability, and • Environmental justice. Prop B ensures that the Public Bank will be run by banking professionals, not politicians, and creates a public oversight body, so every San Franciscan has the opportunity to monitor and provide input. A public bank is about making sure San Franciscans’ money benefits San Franciscans. Passing Prop B now allows us to take advantage of the time-limited state law that enables local cities to create public banks. A public bank creates a powerful new tool to address some of our city’s most urgent priorities. Public banking is a proven development model. Globally 25% of banking assets are held in public banks, and Germany holds 40% of its banking assets in public banks. Prop B establishes the purpose and structure of a public bank. Prop B is not a tax, and will not raise taxes for San Franciscans. The San Francisco Foundation San Francisco Public Bank Coalition District 11 Supervisor Chyanne Chen District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton San Francisco Labor Council San Francisco Climate Emergency Coalition Affordable Housing Alliance San Francisco Tenants Union — The San Francisco Foundation; San Francisco Public Bank Coalition; District 11 Supervisor Chyanne Chen; District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood; District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar; District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman; District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder; District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton; San Francisco Labor Council; San Francisco Climate Emergency Coalition; Affordable Housing Alliance; San Francisco Tenants Union
San Francisco’s financial support for housing, infrastructure and small business is limited for good reason. Proposition B empowers the far left to dismantle and politicize those limits. A “public bank” is a politically directed lending machine that puts billions of taxpayer dollars at risk. The Controller estimates $310-$460 million just to capitalize and operate it. Once the Bank takes deposits, the City can park rainy-day funds and investment-pool reserves inside it, multiplying the risk by lending and leverage. The Bank can issue securities bought by the City itself. High-risk loans inevitably go bad; the losses land on taxpayers. Public banking has a litany of failure. The Los Angeles Community Development Bank collapsed under a mountain of bad loans. Any bank whose mission is climate-justice, racial preferences and loans refused by private lenders is fundamentally unsound. California law requires FDIC insurance; no public bank has successfully obtained it while pursuing this radical agenda. Nothing in Proposition B meaningfully checks the Bank’s political priorities. Pressure will build for reparations-style lending and loans to non-citizens, unleashing a smear of red ink across the general fund. This is the same socialist model in Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib’s Public Banking Act, co-sponsored by Ilhan Omar and the Squad. Don’t be a piker. Vote No on Proposition B. Larry S. Marso, Esq. Mr. Marso, a Nob Hill resident, ran financial institution M&A practices at two Wall Street investment banks, represented banks and insurers as a New York attorney, and served as an economic analyst at the Federal Reserve Board.
Argument against
Vote No on Proposition B. Proposition B asks San Francisco voters to create a City Hall-controlled public bank and municipal finance corporation — without any dedicated funding, without proven demand, and at a time when the City already faces massive budget shortfalls. Supporters claim this will unlock affordable housing and small business lending. In reality, it creates a new politically appointed entity with the power to take significant financial risks using public resources. The City’s own working group previously estimated hundreds of millions of dollars would be needed to capitalize such an institution. Proposition B provides none of that capital. It simply builds the structure and leaves taxpayers holding the bag later. San Francisco already has tools to support housing and small businesses through existing programs, nonprofit lenders, and credit unions. Creating a new City-controlled bank adds bureaucracy, political risk, and potential conflicts of interest without solving the underlying problems of high costs and slow permitting. We cannot afford another ambitious, underfunded experiment. Vote No on Proposition B. — No on Prop B – San Franciscans for Fiscal Responsibility — Leslie Huang, Dorothy Joan Leone, Stephanie Jeong, and Kathleen Louise Trewin — — No on Prop B – San Franciscans for Fiscal Responsibility; — Leslie Huang, Dorothy Joan Leone, Stephanie Jeong,; and Kathleen Louise Trewin
Proposition B is a simple measure. It establishes a San Francisco Public Bank, which could help fund housing, green energy, and small businesses, and sets rules to prevent the bank or its funds from being misused. As the opponents point out, Prop B is NOT a tax and will not raise taxes on residents or businesses. Opponents claim that the bank would be rife with political instability and risky lending, but that is untrue. Instead, it would be the most regulated bank in America, subject to all typical banking regulations of private banks, in addition to California regulations and the oversight systems of Prop B. Prop B empowers San Francisco to pursue funding for our bank from state, federal, and philanthropic sources. Opportunities like the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund in Biden’s Climate bill present billions of dollars San Francisco could access. These are opportunities we have missed out on because we do not have a MFC or Public Bank. We must pass Prop B to be ready for these generational opportunities. A Public Bank would support our existing nonprofit, city, and credit union ecosystem, making the most efficient use of taxpayer money. We can’t afford to miss this opportunity to build an economic engine to stabilize San Francisco and make sure money is going where it’s needed, for housing, green energy, and supporting our small businesses. Matt Dorsey, Supervisor Chyanne Chen, Supervisor San Francisco Labor Council San Francisco Public Bank Coalition The San Francisco Foundation — Matt Dorsey, Supervisor; Chyanne Chen, Supervisor; San Francisco Labor Council; San Francisco Public Bank Coalition; The San Francisco Foundation
What supporters and opponents say — outside sources (not official ballot arguments)
Statements by campaigns, officials and news coverage, quoted with attribution and linked to the original. VoterDecoder did not write them and does not endorse either side.
Supporters say
No public statements in favor were found.
Opponents say
No public statements against were found.