$2 billion in profit! That’s what it would look like if California had owned a state public bank. Christopher Armitage ran the numbers. Using public cash the state already holds, a Bank of North Dakota-style public bank would’ve earned California $2.26 billion in 2025 alone, and $20.1 billion over 10 years. That’s without cutting essential services or raising taxes.
With budget deficits squeezing states across the country and an affordable housing crisis, this is the conversation our leaders should be having. Read the latest in The Existentialist Republic.
We lost a dear friend and colleague this September. David Cobb, our Onboarding Director and North Coast Regional Rep, passed away on Labor Day. David gave over 30 years to social justice and the fight for democracy, and he’d been with this Alliance since 2019. Much of what we’ve built carries his fingerprints, from onboarding new organizers to representing our coalition up north and nationwide.
Beyond CPBA, David spent decades working across the movement, including with The Democracy Collaborative, the Green Party, and the US Solidarity Economy Network.
His longtime friend Jim Reed wrote a beautiful tribute to him, shared at the request of David’s partner, Ruthi Engelke. Read it here: link.
A celebration of life will be held Saturday, October 3 at 2pm at the Arcata Playhouse, 1251 9th St, Arcata, CA.
We’ll miss him. And we’re grateful for every year we got to work alongside him.
With that grief also comes gratitude for the movement he helped build. Here’s what’s been happening across CPBA… Public Banking Listening Session
Hella Bees, a Black-owned restaurant and bar in Oakland, was buzzing Thursday evening August 27 when community members from the East Bay and San Francisco came together to talk about public banking and what it could mean for their communities. Four small groups of 8-10 people, mostly people of color, dug into the financial challenges they face and discussed how regional public banks might work.
Jointly organized by End Poverty in California (EPIC), SF Public Bank, Public Bank East Bay, and the California Public Banking Alliance, this roundtable showed how organizations can collaborate to make positive change. Many people new to public banking learned about public banking ballot measures this November: Berkeley’s Measure Z, a parcel tax to capitalize a regional public bank, and San Francisco’s Proposition B, which would authorize a Municipal Finance Corporation now and a public bank later.
Special thanks to Michael Tubbs, Founder of EPIC and former Mayor of Stockton, and to Nikki Fortunato Bas, Alameda County Supervisor for joining the listening session, and to Rick Girling of CPBA and Reina Tello of PODER SF for facilitating.
Photos: End Poverty in California
TED Films: Who Controls Your City’s Money
Take 5 minutes to watch Trinity Tran, 2026 TED Fellow and the Executive Director of CPBA, explain why public banking is critical in building a community-led financial ecosystem. With visuals that amplify her message, Trinity presents an overview of public banking that educates and provides public banking advocates with tools to succeed in establishing public banks.
It’s already at 200,000+ views, help us spread the word and push past 300,000!
To get a deeper dive on the public banking movement, listen to Who Controls Your City’s Money, a TED Talks Daily podcast featuring an interview with Trinity where she discusses how her meditating combined with her protesting against the Dakota Access Pipeline led her to a growing commitment to democratizing finance. Trinity emphasizes that money is power, the power to decide which investments should be prioritized and that this power should not be exclusively in the hands of Wall Street bankers. The history of the nation’s only state public bank, the Bank of North Dakota, and the broad system of public banks in Germany are explored as inspirations for the burgeoning public banking movement in California and beyond.
Welcome Thomas Hanna, CPBA’s Legislative and Policy Advisor
We’re excited to welcome Thomas Hanna to CPBA as a volunteer Legislative and Policy Advisor! Thomas is VP of Research at The Democracy Collaborative and a longtime ally of the California and national public banking movement. He’s spent years studying public ownership and banking, and he’s been in the trenches with us before, co-authoring “Constructing the Democratic Public Bank,” a governance proposal for the Los Angeles public bank published after the California Public Banking Act passed.
Thomas is also the author of Our Common Wealth: The Return of Public Ownership in the United States (Manchester University Press, 2018), and of “The Crisis Next Time: Planning for Public Ownership as an Alternative to Corporate Bank Bailouts” (Next System Project, 2018), both foundational reads if you want to dig deeper into the case for public finance and public ownership. We’re grateful to have his expertise on our team as we push this work forward.
Take 5 minutes to watch Trinity Tran, 2026 TED Fellow and the Executive Director of CPBA, explain why public banking is critical in building a community-led financial ecosystem. With visuals that amplify her message, Trinity presents an overview of public banking that educates and provides public banking advocates with tools to succeed in establishing public banks.
It’s already at 200,000+ views, help us spread the word and push past 300,000!
To get a deeper dive on the public banking movement, listen to Who Controls Your City’s Money, a TED Talks Daily podcast featuring an interview with Trinity where she discusses how her meditating combined with her protesting against the Dakota Access Pipeline led her to a growing commitment to democratizing finance. Trinity emphasizes that money is power, the power to decide which investments should be prioritized and that this power should not be exclusively in the hands of Wall Street bankers. The history of the nation’s only state public bank, the Bank of North Dakota, and the broad system of public banks in Germany are explored as inspirations for the burgeoning public banking movement in California and beyond.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted 9-2 Tuesday to place a measure on the November ballot that would be a step towards creating the first city-run public bank in the country.
A public bank would let the city issue low-cost loans to affordable housing developers, small businesses, green infrastructure projects, and other entities that struggle to get loans from traditional banks.
“We can build a public bank that prioritizes reinvesting back into what we all need to sustain our local communities,” said Supervisor Chyanne Chen, who sponsored the measure. It will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot and requires more than 50 percent of the vote to pass.
Corporate monopolies don’t just control what we buy — they control the infrastructure that connects and sustains our communities. But people are fighting back.
We’re thrilled to be part of “The Corporate Power of It All,” a special edition from Liberation in a Generation and The Forge. In the conversation, the California Public Banking Alliance’s Trinity Tran breaks down how communities are organizing for public banking and building alternatives to corporate control.
As federal funding streams face cuts, the idea of public banks is gaining ground as a tool for states and localities to finance community development.
As Shelterforce writes, the California Public Banking Alliance is building a public financial ecosystem: public banks to finance community priorities & CalAccount to ensure people can actually access it.
Statewide Rally + Press Conference! April 22 | 12:30 PM | West Steps, State Capitol, 1315 10th Street, Sacramento, CA 95814 RSVP here:Eventbrite link
Join us at the historic launch and show your support for public banking!
Speakers will share brief, 30-minute remarks, including
Assemblymember Matt Haney (San Francisco)
Assemblymember Ash Kalra (San Jose)
Trinity Tran, Executive Director, California Public Banking Alliance
Michael Tubbs, Founder, End Poverty in California
Tristan Brown, Legislative Director, California Federation of Teachers (CFT) AFT, AFL-CIO
Max Vargas, CEO, The Greenlining Institute
Dr. Flo Cofer, Leader, Sacramento Area Congregations Together (SacACT), Sacramento Climate Coalition
Celebrate and Connect! Enjoy multicultural performances, shaved ice with organic fruit purées, and more as we celebrate community and change. Why It Matters for Main Street California faces budget deficits, a housing crisis, and major infrastructure needs, while billions in public dollars flow to Wall Street. AB 2243 starts the process to create a state public bank through a State Bank Commission and Plan.
A public bank would work with community lenders to lower borrowing costs, expand financing for housing, climate projects, infrastructure, and small businesses, and keep more public dollars working in California. Endorsed by 100+ organizations statewide.
Confirmed orgs attending, including co-sponsors: California Public Banking Alliance (CPBA), End Poverty in California (EPIC), The Greenlining Institute, California Federation of Teachers – CFT–AFT, AFL-CIO, Indivisible CA: StateStrong, Climate Action California, Third Act Sacramento, 350 Sacramento, Sacramento Area Congregations Together (SacACT), Sacramento Climate Coalition, Indivisible Sacramento, Sacramento Poor People’s Campaign, Friends of the Earth, and CPBA regional leads from San Francisco, Los Angeles, East Bay, Sacramento, Central Coast, and Yolo County. More groups are joining at the Capitol as we build turnout! Sign on to endorse: https://forms.gle/NSFTtXHknHsQd2GX6
California Democratic Party Delegates: sign-on here. RSVP for the Earth Day Launch of AB 2243:Eventbrite link
We’re excited to share a soft launch of the California State Bank Act (AB 2243), jointly authored by Assemblymember Matt Haney and Assemblymember Ash Kalra, ahead of our official campaign kick-off next month!
At a time when California is facing budget deficits and rising borrowing costs, this bill creates a structured process to develop a state public bank that can help stretch public dollars further and better support housing, climate, and small business priorities.
AB 2243 establishes a State Bank Commission that will work with independent experts to develop an actionable State Bank Plan. That plan will look at different options, including building on existing infrastructure like IBank or creating a new entity, and lay out what a workable model would require. That includes governance, how it’s capitalized, risk management, how it connects with existing state financing programs, and a five-year business plan. The process also includes public hearings and interagency coordination to ensure the work builds on existing capacity and stakeholder expertise.
A state bank would work in synergy with the local public banks we’re building across California, and help leverage the state’s billions in existing public funds at scale.
Once approved, the State Bank Plan becomes the state’s official roadmap to building a public bank!
We’re grateful to have strong co-sponsors helping lead this effort, including End Poverty in California (EPIC), The Greenlining Institute, 350 Sacramento, Indivisible California: StateStrong, and Friends of the Earth, along with over 80 organizations supporting AB 2243 pre-launch.
Are you a CA ADEM (Assembly District Election Meeting) Delegate? Endorse here!
Call to Action!
We’re heading to the Capitol to push for the California State Bank (AB 2243), and we need you with us as we work to build a new banking system that supports Main Street!
This Thursday, join us at the State Capitol in Sacramento, March 26th from 9am to 11am for the AB 2243 Lobby Day and meet with legislators and staffers as we prepare for our Assembly committee hearings.
Join the Lobby Day co-sponsors & endorsers team: California Public Banking Alliance, The Greenlining Institute, End Poverty in California, 350 Sacramento, Sacramento Climate Coalition, Sacramento Area Congregations Together (SacACT), Indivisible California: StateStrong
Save the Date!
Mark your calendars! Join us at the State Capitol on Wednesday, April 22 (Earth Day) at 1pm for the official campaign launch with joint authors Assemblymembers Matt Haney and Ash Kalra, coalition leaders, endorsers, and the statewide public banking coalition. Details will be announced soon…
We’re marking Earth Day by kicking off this next phase of work together on building a more sustainable, people-centered financial system!
“What if the money cities spend on interest and banking fees were reinvested in their communities? That question drives a growing public banking movement across California, including in Sacramento, where community leaders and residents gathered to discuss creating a publicly owned bank.”
“The question isn’t just is there enough money,” said Trinity Tran, executive director of the California Public Banking Alliance. “The question is who decides where our common dollars go today, how they’re used, and whether they stay in communities and benefit our localities, or [whether] they keep getting signed out to private institutions that don’t answer to our communities.”
Dr. Flojaune Cofer, an epidemiologist and progressive organizer, described public banks as part of the infrastructure that determines whether communities thrive.
“The strongest drivers of health are not the 15 minutes you spend with your health care provider,” Cofer said. “It’s everything else happening in your community: housing stability, income security, safe neighborhoods.”
The California Public Banking Alliance (CPBA) is covered in a Dec. 9, 2025 article in Crain’s Chicago Business. California is on the leading edge of this fight, and CPBA’s Trinity Tran puts the stakes plainly: many funding streams will be hit by federal volatility, which is why public banking feels urgent right now. “The power of a public bank is that you can maximize the impact of public dollars at scale.” For CA, that’s the promise of building on the California Public Banking Act and turning public money into long-term community capacity.
