Under Unanimous Resolution, San Francisco To Weigh DAPL In Investment, Banking Decisions

Under Unanimous Resolution, San Francisco To Weigh DAPL In Investment, Banking DecisionsPhoto: Peg Hunter/Flickr
Carrie Sisto
Published on March 21, 2017

The San Francisco Treasurer’s Office is working quickly to implement a new Board of Supervisors resolution, which calls on the office to withdraw city investments with financial institutions that are helping to bankroll the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline.

As we previously reported, treasurer Jose Cisneros has been weighing the city's investments against a matrix of socially responsible criteria on a monthly basis since 2005. The matrix takes into account production of firearms, board diversity, predatory lending and global sanctions, among other topics, in choosing financial institutions to invest the city's money.

Now, the DAPL will soon be added to that list, thanks to a resolution that was unanimously passed by the Board of Supervisors on March 14th. 

PHOTO: THE GREAT UNWASHED/TWITTER

The effort to divest San Francisco's money was led largely by the San Francisco Defund DAPL Coalition, which worked with District 1 Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer and District 9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen to introduce the resolution. 

The resolution does not automatically trigger any divestment, "which is why the Defund DAPL Coalition is not yet truly celebrating," wrote Jackie Fielder, the group's spokeswoman, in a recent blog post.

She argues that in order to fully divest from entities that are supporting the DAPL, Cisneros must hire an independent contractor to evaluate the city’s investments against the updated matrix, and assess the idea of withdrawing the city's $1.17 billion in investments in institutions the coalition has targeted for divestment. 

Amounts of money invested by San Francisco in organizations the Coalition to Defund DAPL is targeting for divesture.

Should the city divest any funds, Amanda Kahn Fried, policy and legislative manager for the treasurer's office, says it will apply its underlying investment policy to any new investments, ensuring they “provide a market rate of return while conforming to all state and local statutes governing the investment of public funds.” 

The matrix could also affect non-banking companies that have affiliations with the DAPL. Fried noted that the city applies "socially responsible practices metrics" when entering into contracts with lock-box processing services, remote deposit services, armored car services, electronic payment and deposit services, treasury systems, and web or phone payment services.

Most notably, the resolution could deliver a major blow to Bank of America, which has a five-year commercial banking contract with the city to handle $10 billion in cash flow.

The contract is set to expire August 31st, 2018, and was already in jeopardy under a different San Francisco ordinance, which bars city contracts with companies based in states that have anti-LGBTQ legislation. Bank of America is headquartered in North Carolina, whose state government has been mired in controversy over its anti-transgender "bathroom bill," HB2.

Should San Francisco end its contract with Bank of America next year, it would follow in the footsteps of other American cities that have divested depository funds from banks that finance the DAPL, including Seattle, Wash., and Davis, Calif.