PRESS RELEASES
SMALL BUSINESS BACKS MEASURES TO CLEAN UP CITY HALL
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 15, 2026
Contact: press@cleanupcityhall.org
Small Businesses Join Broad Coalition Backing Props D, E and F
SAN FRANCISCO — Today, Mayor Daniel Lurie announced a wave of endorsements from small businesses across the city for Props D, E, and F, the Clean Up City Hall measures, adding to a rapidly growing coalition supporting November’s charter reform measures to demand transparency at the ballot, end corruption in city contracting, and deliver faster city services and permits.
“No one has suffered more under our broken and corrupt system than small business owners. For too long, running a small business in San Francisco has meant wasting time and money fighting City Hall instead of getting the service they deserve. My administration is changing that,” said Mayor Daniel Lurie. “I’m proud to stand with the small business community to pass these common-sense reforms and make city government more accountable.”
In 2024, Mayor Lurie was elected by a wide margin on a promise to fix a broken system that works for insiders and special interests at the expense of San Franciscans. Passage of these three measures delivers on that mandate and turns the page on a failed status quo.
“Running a small business is hard enough without having to fight City Hall just to get things done. Small business owners need clear rules, faster decisions, and someone who is actually accountable when the system isn’t working. That’s why I am proud to support Props D, E and F,” said Bernie Melvin, owner of Bernie’s.
The package of common sense reforms is backed by Noe Valley Businesses including: Bernie's, Novy, Angela's Ice Cream, Valley Tavern, Mamahuhu and many more across San Francisco. The small business endorsements join a broad coalition of supporters including: Supervisors Sherrill, Sauter, Wong, Mahmood, Dorsey, and Mandelman, as well as labor, community, and good governance leaders.
“Small businesses are what make San Francisco’s neighborhoods special, but too often the city makes it harder than it needs to be for us to succeed. I’m proud to support Props D, E, and F because they will make City Hall more accountable and responsive to the people who keep this city running,” said Ben Moore, co-owner of Mamahuhu.
The Clean Up City Hall package includes three parts:
Prop D - Demands transparency at the ballot.
San Francisco has the loosest rules of any city in the state for getting initiatives on the ballot. The result: voters weighing in on more measures, many of them confusing and competing. This additionally creates an unstable operating environment for small businesses. In 2024 alone, San Franciscans faced 15 ballot measures — compared with just one in San Jose.
Prop D would bring San Francisco closer to the standards set in the rest of the state: raising the supervisor threshold from a minority to a simple majority, eliminating the mayor's unilateral authority, and increasing the signature threshold to a number still below, but closer to, the state standard. It would also let proponents withdraw their own measure after signatures are submitted, encouraging compromise and a way to pull flawed measures from the ballot.
Prop E - Ends corruption in city contracting.
San Francisco’s contracting system is politicized and inefficient. The status quo rewards insiders and special interests, and, at its worst, it breeds corruption. About $6 billion in annual contracts are governed by a maze of rules scattered across more than 100 sections of code. To simplify the process and make it more transparent and accountable, Prop E would give the City Administrator sole authority over changes to the City's purchasing laws, with any rule changes taking effect unless rejected by the Mayor or a majority of the Board of Supervisors. The measure would also raise the dollar threshold for City contracts requiring Board approval to keep pace with the consumer price index — a threshold that hasn't been adjusted for inflation in nearly 40 years and adds weeks of delay to routine contracts.
Prop F - Faster city services and permits
As written, the City's Charter locks in bureaucracy, weakens accountability, and protects the status quo. Prop F would allow the Mayor to hire and remove most department heads he or she oversees, and give the Mayor authority to reorganize department reporting structures, subject to rejection from the board. With these tools, the Mayor can end the era of departments operating as independent fiefdoms, and ensure agencies are working toward shared goals. This would eliminate the conflicting guidance that residents and small businesses too often receive from multiple departments, while improving accountability, delivering measurable results, and providing consistent communication to all San Franciscans.
At more than 500 pages, San Francisco's City Charter is the longest municipal charter of any major American city. Its tangle of rules drives up costs — producing absurd outcomes like the $1.7 million public toilet in Noe Valley — and makes it far too difficult to hold city officials accountable, even going so far as to interfere with the removal of officials who betray the public's trust.
To learn more about the effort to reform San Francisco's charter, click HERE.
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SF CHRONICLE: CITY COMMISSIONER ACCUSED OF SUPPLYING METH, COERCING WOMAN INTO SEX AS SHE OVERDOSED ON FENTANYL — BUT CITY CAN’T IMMEDIATELY REMOVE HIM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 21, 2026
Contact: press@cleanupcityhall.org
New report underscores need for Prop F so public officials aren’t shielded from accountability
SAN FRANCISCO — As reported by the San Francisco Chronicle today, William Palmer, president of the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department Oversight Board, is under investigation over allegations that he supplied a woman in a mental health crisis with methamphetamine and coerced her into sex, and used his official title to try to gain access to her at San Francisco General Hospital. The allegations follow accusations against Palmer by multiple women of sexual assault, domestic violence, stalking and other physical violence, as well as separate allegations that he misused his public position for personal benefit and improperly obtained thousands of dollars in city parking and towing waivers intended for homeless or low-income residents. Despite the mounting, serious allegations facing Palmer, he can only be removed by the city following a lengthy, convoluted process enshrined in the city’s charter.
"Our broken and corrupt system was created by insiders to protect insiders," said Mayor Daniel Lurie. "San Franciscans deserve a government where responsibility is clear, accountability is real, and the people entrusted to serve this city are held to the highest standards. This November we’re going to change it to end the excuses and deliver accountability and results.”
According to the Chronicle, the 26-year-old woman was in an acute mental health and drug crisis when Palmer picked her up off the street — a condition Palmer himself described by saying she was a “zombie.” She was reported missing by her family and spent five days at Palmer’s apartment, where she alleges that he supplied her with methamphetamine and that they had sex four times over those five days; she says she felt pressured and was too impaired to know whether she was consenting. During the stay, she overdosed on fentanyl in his apartment but was revived. After police found her with Palmer and placed her on an involuntary psychiatric hold, Palmer acknowledged trying to use his official title to gain access to her at San Francisco General. SFPD’s Special Victims Unit is investigating the incident.
"Someone in a position of power who displays this type of behavior is dangerous to the city's most vulnerable,” said Beverly Upton, Executive Director of the San Francisco Domestic Violence Consortium.
The Chronicle reported that Palmer was also charged in 2023 with raping a woman he picked up near a BART station; prosecutors later dismissed the case, citing concerns about the alleged victim's credibility. He was arrested again last August at his apartment on suspicion of domestic battery and false imprisonment, in an incident police described as a possible attempted sexual assault; no charges were filed.
In addition, the broader Chronicle investigation found a pattern of Palmer leveraging his official title for personal benefit. He accumulated nearly $10,000 in parking tickets in the same BMW he used to drive the woman to his apartment. During a traffic stop, he invoked his city title to question why he was pulled over, conduct that city law prohibits.
Currently, Palmer, a Board of Supervisors appointee, can only be removed for “official misconduct,” a high threshold that involves a lengthy process to prove he misbehaved in his official capacity. The last time San Francisco tried removing an official on such grounds was in 2012, when then-Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi faced allegations of domestic violence. The effort failed.
This November, San Franciscans will vote on Mayor Lurie’s Clean Up City Hall measures to make government more accountable and effective. Prop F would create clearer lines of accountability across City Hall by giving the mayor greater authority to hire and fire department heads, and by allowing appointing authorities–including the mayor and the Board of Supervisors–to remove the commissioners they appoint. The measure would replace a fragmented system that too often makes it difficult to determine who is responsible and even harder to hold them accountable.
To learn more about the effort to make San Francisco’s government more accountable, click HERE.
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EFFORT TO CLEAN UP CITY HALL QUALIFIES FOR NOVEMBER BALLOT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 29, 2026
Contact: press@cleanupcityhall.org
Broad coalition of labor, small business, and neighborhood leaders champion measures to take politics out of contracting, make city government accountable, and fix San Francisco's broken ballot system
SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Department of Elections has announced that the three “Clean Up City Hall” measures have each qualified for the November 3, 2026, general election ballot. Following a random sampling verification of the signatures submitted for each measure, the Department of Elections determined that the measures have met the threshold required for ballot qualification under California election law
“For too long, politicians and city hall insiders have used the broken system they created as an excuse for their failure to deliver,” said Mayor Daniel Lurie. “The system breeds corruption and wastes taxpayer dollars. San Franciscans are stepping up and demanding more accountability, better results and no excuses from their government. That’s exactly what we’re going to deliver in November.”
“Voters are deeply frustrated by the parade of good projects, small businesses and contracts that get tangled up for months in a bureaucratic process that serves no one," said Supervisor Rafael Mandelman. "These reforms give city government the structure to actually do its job, and give voters a ballot they can make sense of. That's worth fixing, and I'm glad to support it."
In 2024, Mayor Lurie was elected by a wide margin on a promise to fix a broken system that works for insiders and special interests at the expense of San Franciscans. Passage of these three measures delivers on that mandate and turns the page on a failed status quo.
Together, the measures would modernize city contracting, make city government more accountable, and fix a broken ballot system. The Clean Up City Hall campaign is championing all three measures as part of a historic opportunity to make city government more accountable, deliver better results, and end the era of excuses and finger-pointing.
"San Francisco is globally renowned as an innovative and forward-thinking city, but for small business owners, crawling through the bureaucracy can be confusing and frustrating. It wastes time and taxpayer dollars, and we need to do better for those creating the pulse of the city and stop taking the wind out of their sails,” said Michelle Delaney, owner of 111 Minna Gallery and Red Door Coffee. “These reforms will help restore accountability and enable the city to move at the pace of the people it serves.”
The package of common sense reforms is backed by a diverse coalition, including the San Francisco Building Construction and Trades Council, LiUNA Local 261, Teamsters 665, Teamsters 350, Operating Engineers Local 3, the San Francisco Sheriffs Association, Police Officers Association, and Firefighters 798 — and is endorsed by Mayor Daniel Lurie, Supervisor Mandelman, Supervisor Sauter, Supervisor Dorsey, Supervisor Sherrill, Supervisor Mahmood, Supervisor Wong, and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and the SF Democratic Party, alongside a growing list of good governance leaders and small businesses.
The Clean Up City Hall package includes three parts:
1) Modernize City Contracting
San Francisco's contracting system has become slow, fragmented, and overly politicized, driving up costs and delaying projects. The contracting reform measure would give the City Administrator sole authority over changes to the City's purchasing laws, with any rule changes taking effect unless rejected by the Mayor or a majority of the Board of Supervisors. The measure would also raise the dollar threshold for City contracts requiring Board approval to keep pace with the consumer price index — a threshold that hasn't been adjusted for inflation in nearly 40 years and adds weeks of delay to routine contracts.
"I've run my stores in Chinatown for over 28 years, and I've spent days going department to department just to get a permit — time I could have spent with my family or at my business. I've watched friends go through even worse, waiting for years because our city's bureaucracy is so complicated,” said Nancy Yu Law, Chinatown small business owner and President of Chinatown History and Culture Association. “Small business owners like us deserve a City Hall that works as hard as we do. These reforms will streamline that process and bring real accountability to how our city is run — that's why I'm standing with Mayor Lurie to support this effort."
2) Make City Government Accountable
As written, the City's Charter locks in bureaucracy, weakens accountability, and protects the status quo. This measure would allow the Mayor to hire and remove most department heads he or she oversees, while retaining strong checks and balances. It would also let appointing authorities — the Mayor or the Board of Supervisors — remove the commissioners they appoint at will, and give the Mayor authority to reorganize department reporting structures, subject to rejection from the board. In addition, it would allow the Mayor to appoint Deputy Mayors to coordinate city departments, end the era of departments operating as independent fiefdoms, and ensure agencies are working toward shared goals. This would eliminate the conflicting guidance that residents and small businesses too often receive from multiple departments, while improving accountability, delivering measurable results, and providing consistent communication to all San Franciscans.
3) Fix a Broken Ballot System
San Francisco has the loosest rules of any city in the state for getting initiatives on the ballot. The result: voters weighing in on more measures, many of them confusing and competing. In 2024 alone, San Franciscans faced 15 ballot measures — compared with just one in San Jose.
San Francisco is the only city that lets a minority of its governing body, or the mayor, unilaterally place a measure on the ballot, and it requires by far the lowest number of signatures to qualify. That incentivizes politicians and special interests to flood the ballot with poorly conceived, divisive, and often contradictory measures — forcing San Franciscans to fill out lengthy, confusing ballots that too often produce unintended consequences.
This measure would bring San Francisco closer to the standards set in the rest of the state: raising the supervisor threshold from a minority to a simple majority, eliminating the mayor's unilateral authority, and increasing the signature threshold to a number still below, but closer to, the state standard. It would also let proponents withdraw their own measure after signatures are submitted, encouraging compromise and a way to pull flawed measures from the ballot.
At more than 500 pages, San Francisco's City Charter is the longest municipal charter of any major American city. Its tangle of rules drives up costs — producing absurd outcomes like the $1.7 million public toilet in Noe Valley — and makes it far too difficult to hold city officials accountable, even going so far as to interfere with the removal of officials who betray the public's trust.
To learn more about the effort to make San Francisco’s government more accountable, click HERE.
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SPEAKER EMERITA PELOSI BACKS MAYOR LURIE’S HISTORIC EFFORT TO CLEAN UP CITY HALL
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 23, 2026
Contact: press@cleanupcityhall.org
Broad coalition backs November measures to modernize contracting, make city government accountable, and fix San Francisco’s broken ballot system
SAN FRANCISCO — Today, the Clean Up City Hall campaign announced the support of Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi. The Speaker Emerita voted to endorse all three measures at last night’s San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee (SF DCCC) meeting, along with Lt Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, Senator Scott Wiener and Assemblymembers Matt Haney and Catherine Stefani. At the meeting, the Democratic Party voted overwhelmingly to back Mayor Lurie’s three Clean Up City Hall measures, making historic changes that will ensure city government is more accountable, delivers better results, and end the city’s longstanding era of excuses and finger-pointing.
“For too long, city hall insiders have used the broken system they created as an excuse for their failure to deliver,” said Mayor Daniel Lurie. “I’m grateful to Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic Party for joining our growing coalition, and for their strong support of our effort to make city government accountable to the people.”
Speaker Pelosi and the SF DCCC join a diverse coalition backing the three reform measures, including the San Francisco Building Construction and Trades Council, LiUNA Local 261, Teamsters 665, Teamsters 350, Operating Engineers Local 3, the San Francisco Sheriffs Association, Police Officers Association, and Firefighters 798 — and is endorsed by Mayor Daniel Lurie, Supervisor Mandelman, Supervisor Sauter, Supervisor Dorsey, Supervisor Sherrill, Supervisor Mahmood, Supervisor Wong, alongside a growing list of good governance leaders and small businesses.
The Clean Up City Hall package includes three parts:
1) Modernize City Contracting
San Francisco's contracting system has become slow, fragmented, and overly politicized, driving up costs and delaying projects. The contracting reform measure would give the City Administrator sole authority over changes to the City's purchasing laws, with any rule changes taking effect unless rejected by the Mayor or a majority of the Board of Supervisors. The measure would also raise the dollar threshold for City contracts requiring Board approval to keep pace with the consumer price index — a threshold that hasn't been adjusted for inflation in nearly 40 years and adds weeks of delay to routine contracts.
2) Make City Government Accountable
As written, the City's Charter locks in bureaucracy, weakens accountability, and protects the status quo. This measure would allow the Mayor to hire and remove most department heads he or she oversees, while retaining strong checks and balances. It would also let appointing authorities — the Mayor or the Board of Supervisors — remove the commissioners they appoint at will, and give the Mayor authority to reorganize department reporting structures, subject to rejection from the board. In addition, it would allow the Mayor to appoint Deputy Mayors to coordinate city departments, end the era of departments operating as independent fiefdoms, and ensure agencies are working toward shared goals. This would eliminate the conflicting guidance that residents and small businesses too often receive from multiple departments, while improving accountability, delivering measurable results, and providing consistent communication to all San Franciscans.
3) Fix a Broken Ballot System
San Francisco has the loosest rules of any city in the state for getting initiatives on the ballot. The result: voters weighing in on more measures, many of them confusing and competing. In 2024 alone, San Franciscans faced 15 ballot measures — compared with just one in San Jose.
San Francisco is the only city that lets a minority of its governing body, or the mayor, unilaterally place a measure on the ballot, and it requires 80% fewer signatures than the state average. That incentivizes politicians and special interests to flood the ballot with poorly conceived, divisive, and often contradictory measures — forcing San Franciscans to fill out lengthy, confusing ballots that too often produce unintended consequences.
This measure would bring San Francisco closer to the standards set in the rest of the state: raising the supervisor threshold from a minority to a simple majority, eliminating the mayor's unilateral authority, and increasing the signature threshold to a number still below, but closer to, the state standard. It would also let proponents withdraw their own measure after signatures are submitted, encouraging compromise and a way to pull flawed measures from the ballot.
At more than 500 pages, San Francisco's City Charter is the longest municipal charter of any major American city. Its tangle of rules drives up costs — producing absurd outcomes like the $1.7 million public toilet in Noe Valley — and makes it far too difficult to hold city officials accountable, even going so far as to interfere with the removal of officials who betray the public's trust.
To learn more about the effort to make San Francisco’s government more accountable, click HERE.
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LEADING LABOR UNIONS ENDORSE MAYOR LURIE’S “CLEAN UP CITY HALL” CAMPAIGN
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 7, 2026
Contact: press@cleanupcityhall.org
Broad coalition backs November measures to modernize contracting, make city government accountable, and fix San Francisco’s broken ballot system
SAN FRANCISCO — The Clean Up City Hall campaign today announced a new round of labor endorsements, adding to a rapidly growing coalition supporting November’s charter reform measures to modernize city contracting, strengthen city government accountability, and fix San Francisco’s broken ballot system. The first round of labor endorsements include the San Francisco Building Construction and Trades Council, LiUNA Local 261, Teamsters 665, Teamsters 350, and Operating Engineers Local 3.
“San Franciscans deserve a City Hall that works for them, not for insiders or special interests. Our city charter is so bloated that it slows down basic services, breeds corruption, and wastes taxpayer dollars,” said Mayor Daniel Lurie. “San Franciscans elected me to clean up City Hall, and these reforms will strengthen accountability, deliver better results, and end the excuses. We’re building a broad coalition of small businesses, neighborhood groups, and labor unions to make these reforms a reality in November.”
“Our members build the housing, schools, and infrastructure that makes San Francisco work–but the city’s charter has enshrined the bureaucracy and red tape that creates unnecessary delays, slows projects, and costs jobs,” said Rudy Gonzalez, Secretary & Treasurer of the San Francisco Building & Construction Trades Council. “A system that works effectively and efficiently is good for workers, good for taxpayers, and good for San Francisco. Our members are all-in to get this done in November.”
“No one can say with a straight face that the system we have now is working for working people,” said Tony Delorio, Principal Officer of Teamsters Local 665 and Vice President of the Film Commission. “We’re proud to stand with Mayor Lurie, our sisters and brothers in labor, small business owners and community leaders to Clean Up City Hall in November.”
“San Francisco is on the rise, but we can’t be complacent. We’ll never fully realize the City's economic recovery and thrive once again unless we shake up a system that incentivizes political warfare over coalition building and results,” said David De La Torre, Business Manager of LiUNA Local 261. “Our members are excited to stand with Mayor Lurie to root out corruption and keep San Francisco moving forward.”
At more than 500 pages, San Francisco’s City Charter is the longest municipal charter of any major American city. It contains rigid rules that limit the City’s ability to operate efficiently or hold leaders accountable. Many of these rules lock in bureaucracy, delay projects, enable corruption, and prevent elected officials from responding quickly to the needs of residents.
Mayor Lurie’s charter reform package includes three distinct proposals:
1) Modernize City Contracting
San Francisco’s contracting system has become slow, fragmented, and overly politicized, driving up costs and delaying projects.
The contracting reform measure would give the City Administrator sole authority over changes to the City's purchasing laws, with any rule changes taking effect unless rejected by the Mayor or a majority of the Board of Supervisors. The measure would also increase the dollar threshold for City contracts requiring approval from the Board of Supervisors to keep pace with the consumer price index. The current threshold has not been adjusted for inflation in nearly 40 years and adds weeks of delay to routine contracts.
2) Make City Government Accountable
The City’s Charter, as written, locks in bureaucracy, weakens accountability, and protects the status quo. This measure would allow the Mayor to hire and remove most department heads he or she oversees while retaining strong checks and balances. It would also allow appointing authorities (Mayor or Board of Supervisors) to remove their appointed commissioners at will, and gives the Mayor authority to reorganize department reporting structures. In addition, the measure would allow the Mayor to hire Deputy Mayors and delegate oversight responsibilities to ensure clearer lines of management across city departments.
3) Fix Our Broken Ballot System
San Francisco has the loosest rules governing how initiatives make it on the ballot of any city in the state. This results in voters having to assess and weigh in on more measures, many of which are confusing and competing. For example, in 2024 alone, San Francisco voters faced 15 ballot measures, compared with just one in San Jose and three in Oakland.
San Francisco is the only city that allows a minority of its governing body or the mayor to unilaterally place a measure on the ballot. It also requires by far the lowest amount of signatures for measures to qualify for the ballot. This incentivizes politicians and special interests to overload the ballot with poorly conceived, divisive, and often contradictory measures. The result is a system that forces San Franciscans to fill out lengthy, confusing ballots that often result in unintended consequences.
This measure would bring San Francisco more in line with every other city in the state. It would increase the threshold of supervisors from four to six, eliminate the mayor’s unilateral authority, and increase the signature threshold to a number still below, but closer to the state standard. Lastly, to encourage compromise and ensure poorly crafted measures can be removed from the ballot, the reform would also enable proponents to withdraw their own measure after signatures have been submitted.
To learn more about the effort to reform San Francisco’s charter, click HERE.
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MAYOR LURIE FILES CHARTER REFORM MEASURES TO CLEAN UP CITY HALL
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 11, 2026
Contact: press@cleanupcityhall.org
Broad coalition backs November measures to take politics out of contracting, make government accountable, and fix San Francisco’s broken initiative system
SAN FRANCISCO — Today, Mayor Daniel Lurie filed notices of intent to collect signatures to place three separate measures to reform San Francisco’s charter on the November 3, 2026, general election ballot.
“San Franciscans deserve a City Hall that works for them, not for insiders or special interests,” said Mayor Daniel Lurie. “Our city charter is so bloated that it slows down basic services, breeds corruption, and wastes taxpayer dollars. San Franciscans elected me to clean up City Hall, and these reforms will strengthen accountability, deliver better results, and end the excuses.”
Last week, Mayor Lurie and Board President Rafael Mandelman penned a joint letter to City Controller Greg Wagner detailing proposed amendments to the city’s charter after receiving extensive feedback from the Charter Reform Working Group and citizens across San Francisco.
“Our city charter has grown so calcified and convoluted that it makes it harder for City Hall to respond to the needs of residents,” said President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Rafael Mandelman. “These measures take a practical approach to modernizing our government to be more accountable to the people it’s meant to serve, while maintaining strong checks and balances.”
At more than 500 pages, San Francisco’s City Charter is the longest municipal charter of any major American city. It contains rigid rules that limit the City’s ability to operate efficiently or hold leaders accountable. Many of these rules lock in bureaucracy, delay projects, enable corruption, and prevent elected officials from responding quickly to the needs of residents.
“Our members build the housing, schools, and infrastructure that makes San Francisco work–but the city’s charter has enshrined the bureaucracy and red tape that creates unnecessary delays, slows projects, and costs jobs,” said Rudy Gonzalez, Secretary & Treasurer of the San Francisco Building Construction and Trades Council. “A system that works effectively and efficiently is good for workers, good for taxpayers, and good for San Francisco. Our members are all-in to get this done in November.”
Mayor Lurie’s charter reform package includes three distinct proposals:
1) Modernize City Contracting
San Francisco’s contracting system has become slow, fragmented, and overly politicized, driving up costs and delaying projects.
The contracting reform measure would give the City Administrator sole authority over changes to the City's purchasing laws, with any rule changes taking effect unless rejected by the Mayor or a majority of the Board of Supervisors. The measure would also increase the dollar threshold for City contracts requiring approval from the Board of Supervisors to keep pace with the consumer price index. The current threshold has not been adjusted for inflation in nearly 40 years and adds weeks of delay to routine contracts.
2) Fix a Broken Initiative System
San Francisco has the loosest rules governing how initiatives make it on the ballot of any city in the state. This results in voters having to assess and weigh in on more measures, many of which are confusing and competing. For example, in 2024 alone, San Francisco voters faced 15 ballot measures, compared with just one in San Jose and three in Oakland.
San Francisco is the only city that allows a minority of its governing body or the mayor to unilaterally place a measure on the ballot. It also requires by far the lowest amount of signatures for measures to qualify for the ballot. This incentivizes politicians and special interests to overload the ballot with poorly conceived, divisive, and often contradictory measures. The result is a system that forces San Franciscans to fill out lengthy, confusing ballots that often result in unintended consequences.
This measure would bring San Francisco more in line with every other city in the state. It would increase the threshold of supervisors from four to six, eliminate the mayor’s unilateral authority, and increase the signature threshold to a number still below, but closer to the state standard. Lastly, to encourage compromise and ensure poorly crafted measures can be removed from the ballot, the reform would also enable proponents to withdraw their own measure after signatures have been submitted.
3) Make City Government Accountable
The City’s Charter, as written, locks in bureaucracy, weakens accountability, and protects the status quo. This measure would allow the Mayor to hire and remove most department heads he or she oversees while retaining strong checks and balances. It would also allow appointing authorities (Mayor or Board of Supervisors) to remove their appointed commissioners at will, and gives the Mayor authority to reorganize department reporting structures. In addition, the measure would allow the Mayor to hire Deputy Mayors and delegate oversight responsibilities to ensure clearer lines of management across city departments.
The effort is endorsed by the San Francisco Building Construction and Trades Council, LiUNA Local 261, Teamsters 665, Teamsters 350, and Operating Engineers Local 3.
To learn more about the effort to reform San Francisco’s charter, click HERE.
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