PRESS RELEASE
Contact: For release:
John St. Croix
May 9, 2006
(415) 581-2300
SUMMARY OF ACTIONS TAKEN AT MAY 8, 2006 MEETING
At its meeting on
May 8, 2006
, the San Francisco Ethics Commission took the following action:
- Considered the draft Statements of Incompatible Activities (“SIAs”) filed by the Department of Elections and Elections Commission and the Office of the City Attorney. These SIAs identify activities that are incompatible, inconsistent or in conflict with the duties of City officers and employees. The Commission received testimony from Elections
Director John Artnz and Deputy City Attorney Chad Jacobs. The Commission will continue its consideration of draft SIAs at future meetings. - Adopted, by a 4-0 vote, an amendment to the Campaign Finance Reform Ordinance (“CFRO”) authored by Supervisor Peskin to prohibit corporations from making campaign contributions to candidates for City elective office with funds from the corporation’s general treasury.
- Adopted, by a 4-0 vote, an amendment to the City’s conflict of interest laws authored by Supervisor Sandoval to require elected officers to file reports with the Ethics Commission to disclose, among other things, the true source of funds used to pay for travel when an outside organization that pays for the officer’s travel has accepted donations to fund the trip.
- Adopted, by several 4-0 votes, amendments to the CFRO to do the following:
- permit the Commission, by regulation, to extend deadlines that fall on a weekend or holiday to the next business day;
- require candidates who return surplus funds to contributors to return them on a last-in first-out basis;
- combine filing requirements related to the electronic filing of campaign reports into one section and clarify that the law applies to reports filed under both the Political Reform Act and the CFRO;
- require candidates to pay for all accrued expenses within 180 calendar days after receipt of a bill or invoice or in no event later than 180 calendar days after the last calendar day of the month in which the goods were delivered or the services were provided, unless it is clear from the circumstances that the failure to pay is reasonably based on a good faith dispute;
- require committees that raise or spend funds to support or oppose the qualification of an initiative, recall or referendum to file financial disclosure reports with the Ethics Commission at specified dates; and
- require any candidate for the Board of Supervisors who receives public funds and who exceeds, by ten percent or more, an expenditure ceiling that has not been lifted, to pay to the Ethics Commission, in addition to any other penalties, an amount equal to the amount of public funds the candidate received.
- Requested that the Elections Commission provide information and advice regarding whether the Ethics Commission should recommend to the Board of Supervisors the adoption of legislation to require each petition circulator to have an “Initiative Information Sheet” accompany the petition.
The Ethics Commission will next meet on
Monday, June 12, 2006
at
5:30 p.m.
in Room 408, City Hall.
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The Ethics Commission, established in November 1993, serves the public, City employees and officials and candidates for public office through education and enforcement of ethics laws. Its duties include: filing and auditing of campaign finance disclosure statements, lobbyist and campaign consultant registration and regulation, administration of the public financing program, whistleblower program, conflict of interest reporting, investigations and enforcement, education and training, advice giving and statistical reporting.
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