CPBA City/Regional Progress Report – Spring 2024

CPBA Spring Progress Report

CENTRAL COAST

People for Public Banking Central Coast is a coalition advocating for a regional public bank to encompass the counties of Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, Monterey, and San Luis Obispo, including the cities within those counties. The governing bodies of ten jurisdictions have approved resolutions in support of a viability study to create the bank, and officials from two other jurisdictions have expressed support for a viability study as well.

EAST BAY

Public Bank East Bay is a proposed regional public bank that will be jointly owned by Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond, and Alameda County, and governed by a board consisting of representatives from each of these governmental agencies, as well as financial experts and community leaders. The bank will partner with local financial institutions to provide lending services for affordable housing, small businesses, and green energy. As of March 2023, the slate of bank board candidates has been finalized, and the consultant has completed the first draft of the business plan for the public bank. In November 2023, the Friends of Public Bank East Bay hired the veteran credit union executive Scott Waite as the public bank CEO. The Friends are currently negotiating with the three cities and the county regarding capitalization commitments. They have completed a full draft of the business plan and are working with local financial institutions on initial partnership discussions. They are also working with foundations to secure deposit commitments which will help collateralize public deposits and strengthen the Bank’s bottom line.

LOS ANGELES

Public Bank LA is led by labor groups, CDFIs, and affordable housing groups including SEIU 721, Inclusive Action, and ACCE LA. Two prominent think tanks, the Jain Family Institute and the Berggruen Institute, issued a series of five reports and developed lending models for the LA Public Bank covering affordable housing, green energy, and small businesses. These reports show the bank’s profitability while enabling the creation of over 17,000 affordable units during the first decade of operation. It could substantially reduce costs for the LADWP, the city’s municipal-owned utility, and support large-scale renewable energy projects. The lending models demonstrate that the LA Public Bank not only generates a profit for LA taxpayers but also supports small businesses, including facilitating their transition into worker ownership. The Chief Legislative Analyst released an RFP to hire consultants for the public bank viability study and business plan in September 2022. In June 2023, the City Council voted unanimously to approve funding Phase 1 of the LA Public Bank feasibility study and business plan. The Los Angeles City Council is currently overseeing an RFP process to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed Los Angeles Public Bank.  

SACRAMENTO

Public Bank Sacramento was founded in 2022 and led by the Climate Coalition of Sacramento and the Sacramento Area Congregations Together (SacACT), a coalition of nearly 100 community groups, congregations, and environmental justice organizations. Elected officials including the city treasurer are supportive of the initiative. In March 2023, the Sacramento City Council approved a budget request to fund consultants to develop plans for starting a non-depository financial institution, which will eventually transition into a public bank. An RFQ was released by the City in December 2023. 

SAN FRANCISCO

The San Francisco Public Bank Coalition is a community-led coalition including Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, Council of Community Housing Organizations, and PODER. The SF Board of Supervisors passed the Reinvest in San Francisco Ordinance in June 2021, which initiated a year-long process of creating business plans for an interim green bank, which will later transition into a public bank. The city hired HR&A Advisors as consultants to co-create these plans with representatives from the city, local communities and small businesses, credit unions, and Community Development Financial Institutions. The primary goal of the public bank is to fund affordable housing, small business support, and climate justice projects in partnership with community financial institutions. Plans for the green bank and public bank were unanimously approved by the Board of Supervisors in June 2023. Currently, the San Francisco Public Bank Coalition is working with the Board of Supervisors, the Local Agency Formation Commission, and the office of the Treasurer and Tax Collector to implement the plans, including actively engaging with applicants to U.S. EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to seek federal funding available for capitalizing green banks.