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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