Supes unanimously approved public bank plan two years ago. Jackie Fielder wants it to become reality.
by Xueer Lu October 20, 2025 (MissionLocal.org)
Two years after San Francisco officially endorsed its intent to stand up a city-owned and -operated public bank, one supervisor is urging it to follow through.
On Tuesday, District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder will introduce a non-binding resolution asking Mayor Daniel Lurie and city departments to explore and fund a “green bank.”
Like a public bank, a green bank would be controlled by city officials to provide low-interest loans for renewable energy projects, small businesses, and new affordable housing.
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City officials already approved a plan to do just that in 2023. At the time, the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a plan to create a public bank that would, among other things, leverage funding from the Inflation Reduction Act and other sources to provide low-cost loans for projects that reduce emissions, address environmental injustices, or otherwise improve environmental outcomes.
Despite the unanimous approval, that plan, sponsored by then-Supervisor Dean Preston, still awaits implementation. The plan estimated that the process of creating a public bank in compliance with local, state, and federal laws and regulations would cost about $1 million.
According to the plan, the process of creating a public bank would start with the creation of a three-year municipal financial corporation that doesn’t take deposits. After three years, that entity would become a full-service, FDIC-approved chartered public bank.
In 2019, a California state law passed that enables local governments to charter public banks. If San Francisco successfully creates a public bank, it would be the first in the state.
Public banks, which are owned and operated by the government, are exceedingly rare in the United States. The only one in the country handles funds for the state of North Dakota, and has been around since 1919.
Several other cities in California, like Los Angeles, have plans to form public banks, but have yet to actually do so.
The concept is broadly popular in San Francisco, says Fielder. A poll released Oct. 6 showed that 70 percent of participating San Francisco voters were in favor of having a green bank, and 67 percent favored a public bank.
The poll was commissioned by the San Francisco Public Bank Coalition, a group co-founded by Fielder, a longtime public-bank advocate, back in 2017.
This is the first time Fielder is pushing for the public bank as an elected official.
“A green bank is how we take our money back from Wall Street and reinvest it into housing, clean energy and small businesses right here at home,” Fielder said in a statement on Monday. “I hope to see widespread support for it on the Board of Supervisors.”
Preston’s effort to support a public bank was supported by six other supervisors, including Connie Chan, Shamann Walton and Myna Melgar, who still sit on the board.
“It feels really exciting with this new board to have another opportunity to reify this commitment,” said Misha Steier, a lead organizer for the San Francisco Public Bank Coalition.
Steier added that the coalition is also eyeing a ballot measure in 2026.
“We really just feel like the time is now. There’s so many other reasons to do it,” Steier said. “We’ve got this AI boom in San Francisco. I say we bank the boom.”
Fielder told Mission Local in January that she wanted to take the public bank “over the finish line” during her time in office.
“As working San Franciscans struggle with the rising cost of living and the growing threat of climate crisis, we need public institutions that aspire to reimagine how we can invest in our communities and in solutions that address climate change,” Fielder said.
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Xueer Lu
I work on data and cover City Hall. I graduated from UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism with a Master’s Degree in May 2023. In my downtime, I enjoy cooking, photography, and scuba diving.More by Xueer Lu
