Summary and Action Requested
This memo provides a brief review on the City’s Statement of Incompatible Activities (SIA) rules and presents recommended amendments to the SIAs for the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing and the Homelessness Oversight Commission (Attachment 1), the Public Works Department, Public Works Commission, and Sanitation and Streets Commission (Attachment 2), and the San Francisco Department of Early Childhood and the Children and Families Commission (Attachment 3).
Staff recommends the Commission vote to approve the three SIAs as amended in Attachments 1, 2, and 3, as Agenda Items 5, 6, and 7 respectively.
Statements of Incompatible Activities
The Campaign and Governmental Conduct Code requires that every department, board, commission, and agency of the City and County maintain a Statement of Incompatible Activities, or SIA (per Section 3.218). An SIA is a document that the department creates based on an Ethics Commission template, which specifies certain activities that are incompatible with the duties of the officers and employees of that department. It is a violation of the Code, punishable under the Code’s penalty provision, for any officer or employee to violate the terms of their SIA.
No department may create or amend an SIA without the approval of the Ethics Commission. Additionally, the Commission may at any time amend the SIA of any department on its own. Before any SIA becomes operative, the City must satisfy the meet and confer requirements of State law with any affected employee bargaining units. Every department, board, commission, and agency of the City must annually provide a copy of its SIA to its officers and employees. It is common for departments and the boards or commissions that oversee them to share a single SIA that applies to both entities.
Item 5: Amendments to SIA for the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing and the Homelessness Oversight Commission
Last November, voters approved Proposition C, which created the Homelessness Oversight Commission. This new commission is charged with overseeing the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH). This commission does not currently have an SIA. In order for this newly created commission to have an SIA, Staff has worked with HSH to amend the department’s existing SIA so that it applies to both the department and the newly established commission.
The revised SIA with the changes tracked is provided as Attachment 1. The proposed changes amend the existing SIA so that it applies to members of the newly established commission. The proposed changes do not impact the working conditions of represented employees and as such should not require a meet and confer with City bargaining units. However, out of an abundance of caution, the City decided to send a notice to City bargaining units on April 3, 2023, to make them aware of the changes and provide an opporutnity for them to ask questions or raise concerns. The City has satisfied its obligations to meet and confer under State law and the Commission may vote to approve these amendments.
Staff recommends the Commission vote to approve the revised SIA so that the newly created Homelessness Oversight Commission has an SIA, as required by Section 3.218 of the Campaign and Governmental Conduct Code.
Item 6: Amendments to SIA for the Public Works Department, Public Works Commission, and Sanitation and Streets Commission
In November 2020, through the passage of Proposition B, voters created both the Public Works Commission and the Sanitation and Streets Commission. In November of 2022, the voters again approved Proposition B, which retained both commissions, as bodies associated with the Department of Public Works (DPW). Currently, neither commission has an SIA. In order for these commissions to have an SIA, Staff has worked with DPW to amend the department’s existing SIA so that it applies to both the department and the two newly established commissions.
The revised SIA with the changes tracked is provided as Attachment 2. The proposed changes amend the existing SIA so that it applies to members of the newly established commissions. The proposed changes do not impact the working conditions of represented employees and as such should not require a meet and confer with City bargaining units. However, out of an abundance of caution, the City decided to send a notice to City bargaining units on April 3, 2023, to make them aware of the changes and provide an opporutnity for them to ask questions or raise concerns. The City has satisfied its obligations to meet and confer under State law and the Commission may vote to approve these amendments.
Staff recommends the Commission vote to approve the revised SIA so that both the Public Works Commission and the Sanitation and Streets Commission have an SIA, as required by Section 3.218 of the Campaign and Governmental Conduct Code.
Item 7: Amendments to SIA for the San Francisco Department of Early Childhood and the Children and Families Commission
Last year, the Children and Families Commission was merged with the Office of Early Childcare by the Board of Supervisors through Ordinance 189-22. This new entity is known as the Department of Early Childhood (DEC). The Children and Families Commission already has an SIA and the Office of Early Childcare used to be part of the Human Services Agency (HSA) and was thus subject to the HSA SIA. To accommodate this merger, Staff has worked with DEC to amend the existing Children and Families Commission SIA so that it reflects the new department name and covers both the department and the existing commission.
The revised SIA with the changes tracked is provided as Attachment 3. The proposed changes amend the existing SIA so that it applies to both the Department of Early Childhood and the Children and Families Commission. Employees who had worked for the Office of Early Childcare and were covered by the HSH SIA, will now be covered by this revised SIA. The HSH SIA has some unique rules, which are do not exist in the proposed DEC SIA, as such these employees would not be subject to any new additional rules. As such, the proposed changes do not impact the working conditions of represented employees and should not require a meet and confer with City bargaining units. However, out of an abundance of caution, the City decided to send a notice to City bargaining units on April 3, 2023, to make them aware of the changes and provide an opporutnity for them to ask questions or raise concerns. The City has satisfied its obligations to meet and confer under State law and the Commission may vote to approve these amendments.
Staff recommends the Commission vote to approve the revised SIA so that the newly restructured Department of Early Childhood and the Children and Families Commission have an SIA, as required by Section 3.218 of the Campaign and Governmental Conduct Code.
Recommended Next Steps
Staff recommends the Commission approve the amendments to SIAs contained in Attachments 1, 2, and 3, so that the impacted entities can all have current SIAs, as required by Section 3.218 of the Campaign and Governmental Conduct Code.
Attachments:
Attachment 1: HSH SIA – DRAFT Amendments – 4/10/23
Attachment 2: DPW SIA – DRAFT Amendments – 4/10/23
Attachment 3: DEC SIA – DRAFT Amendments – 4/10/23