PLEASE JOIN STAFF from the Enforcement Division of the San Francisco Ethics Commission (“Commission”) to share your thoughts on potential amendments to strengthen and improve the Commission’s Streamlined Administrative Resolution Program (“SARP”). The two meetings will each have the same agenda, and participants are welcome to attend one or both meetings.
- 1st Interested Persons Meeting: April 15, 2025 (Tuesday) – 2:30 PM to 4:00 PM (Pacific Time)
- 2nd Interested Persons Meeting: April 17, 2025 (Thursday) – 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM (Pacific Time)
These meetings will be conducted remotely via Webex. If you would like to attend, please RSVP by sending an email to Eric.Willett@SFGov.org. Following your RSVP, you will be provided with links to the meetings via email during the week of the meetings.
The Commission also welcomes written comments, which can be sent via email to Eric.Willett@SFGov.org, or via U.S. mail to San Francisco Ethics Commission, 25 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 220, San Francisco, CA 94102.
OVERVIEW
The Commission adopted a Fixed Penalty Policy in July 2013 to resolve violations of certain provisions of the Campaign Finance Reform Ordinance (“CFRO”) through an accelerated process and according to scheduled or “fixed,” penalties. At its meeting on February 12, 2021, the Commission adopted SARP, which is a significantly expanded version of the Fixed Penalty Policy that includes forty-one provisions of law across three articles of the San Francisco Campaign & Governmental Conduct Code (“SF C&GCC”). Since the implementation of SARP, Commission staff have taken note of aspects of the program, such as specific eligibility criteria and penalty formulas, and identified additional potential provisions of law to include within the program. Therefore, staff will be soliciting feedback on ideas to potentially strengthen and clarify the following aspects the Program:
- SARP establishes general eligibility guidelines that determine whether a respondent may participate in the program and what type of resolution they may receive. Staff plan to review the specific eligibility criteria for exclusion from the program to ensure that the appropriate types of matters are resolved through SARP. Additionally, Staff will review the specific eligibility criteria for resolution of matters with a SARP warning letter to ensure fairness and efficiency in our case resolution process.
- SARP contains penalty calculations for each provision of law included within the program. Staff intend to assess whether revisions to these penalty calculations and their associated penalty modifiers are needed to accurately reflect the significance of the violation type, the increases to the cost of living that occurred in the past four years, and the activity levels found among respondents within the Commission’s jurisdiction.
- Staff have identified additional provisions of law to include within the program. For example, the failure to file an Ethics Training Certificate and Sunshine Ordinance Declaration as required is a violation type that generally requires little, if any, additional investigation or other evidence to show that the violation occurred and warrants inclusion within SARP.
For questions about the upcoming Interested Persons Meetings, or to RSVP, please contact Eric.Willett@SFGov.org.
We welcome your input and look forward to hearing from you.