San Francisco's public bank measure narrowly leads in a count that is not yet final

San Francisco's Proposition B, a charter amendment on the 3 November 2026 ballot, would authorise, but not require, the city to set up a nonprofit municipal finance corporation if the treasurer-tax collector finds enough funding. The corporation could later seek state and federal approval to become a public bank after operating for at least three years. The measure itself does not create a bank, raise taxes or provide start-up money. A nine-member commission would oversee it. Its lending priorities are affordable housing, economic opportunity and environmental sustainability, with exclusions including fossil fuels, tobacco, weapons, prisons and detention centres, predatory lenders and businesses that violate labour laws. The City Controller said the amendment would not directly affect the cost of government, but that if the city went ahead with the corporation and then a bank, costs would be about USD 310m to 460m over eight years, based on 2023 working-group estimates, and could be significantly higher or lower. In the Department of Elections' preliminary Summary Report 9 of 8 November, Yes led with 164,430 votes (52.31%) to 149,904 (47.69%), after trailing on election night. The count is not yet certified. Mayor Daniel Lurie opposes the measure.

Supervisor Chyanne Chen said a public bank "would open the doors to build an engine for affordable housing"; Supervisor Stephen Sherrill called it "a slow, costly answer". The measure builds the institution in stages rather than creating a bank at once. In Berkeley, Measure Z, which would have set up a city tax to fund a public lender, was losing 58% to 42% at the end of election night, according to American Banker.