This summary was last updated April 17, 2025
Public hearing – January 28
Work Session – March 6
Includes -3 Amendment
This bill would create a 16 member task force to study and make recommendations regarding the establishment of a state public bank. The 16 members will be appointed by the President of the Senate (2 seats), the Speaker of the House of Representatives (2 seats), the State Treasurer (4 seats) and the Governor (8 seats). The bill specifies details about the required experience of the
appointees, and aims to create a task force that features socioeconomic, linguistic, geographic and experiential diversity.
The task force will adhere to principles that public financing entities and methods should be publicly controlled and operated to the public benefit, serving to save public dollars, spur economic activity in the state, and avoid financial harm to credit unions and community banks.
The task force is charged with exploring the methods by which public bodies in Oregon manage and invest their public funds. It will also look at potential cost savings from public financing practices. Practices to be examined include potential roles for public financing in providing secondary loan markets and depositories for community banks and credit unions. Other practices include financing affordable housing construction, participating in loans from private creditors to Oregonians facing obstacles to home ownership, and functioning as a green bank to capture federal funds and leverage private capital.
The task force is also charged with exploring possible governing and corporate structures for public financing entities, as well as possible means for capitalizing these entities.
The task force will provide a report on its findings and recommendations to the Legislature, by December 31, 2026.
The task force will also explore governing and corporate structures for public financing entities like this bank, and the means for capitalizing these entities – including function as a depository for credit unions and community banks.
The task force will provide a report on its findings and recommendations to the Legislature, by December 31, 2026.
The bill appropriates $400,000, plus additional unspecified monies, from the General Fund, to hire consultants and for staff support to the Task Force. It also declares an emergency, asserting that it is necessary for immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety.