In February of 2025, the Ethics Commission prioritized a review of the City’s rules regarding major developers, campaign consultants, recusals, expenditure limits for candidates receiving public funds, contribution limits, and the reporting requirements for candidates in trustee elections. This project is currently in progress.
In June of 2025, Staff presented the Commission with a series of recommendations stemming from the Commission’s ongoing Streamlining Project. This project evaluated various programs and policies administered by the Commission to determine if they are effective, efficient, add value to the City, and furthering the Commission’s mission of promoting the highest standards of integrity in government. This project is part of the Commission’s duty to regularly evaluate whether programs are achieving their intended goals, operating efficiently, up-to-date, and continuing to provide meaningful value to the public. This project generated recommendations that would scale back certain programs and policies, streamline and simplify various processes, and make important updates to the City’s rules.
These recommendations were presented as two items during the Commission’s June 2025 meeting. The first item covered findings and recommendations regarding campaign consultants, supplemental recusal notifications, major developers, and trustee candidate reporting requirements. The second item covered proposed changes regarding expenditure ceilings and the candidate campaign contribution limit. All these recommendations, except for those involving the trustee candidate reporting requirements, require joint approval by supermajorities of both the Board of Supervisors and the Ethics Commission.
The recommendations from this project led to the creation of three ordinances, two of which would amend the Campaign & Governmental Conduct Code. At the Ethics Commission’s meeting on Friday, September 12, the Commission unanimously (5-0) approved the following two ordinances.
- File No. 250867 would enact the following changes:
- Discontinue the registration and reporting requirements for campaign consultants and instead require consultants to supply their clients with the information necessary to report the consultant’s activities through the campaign committee’s other existing campaign finance disclosures.
- Remove the City’s requirement to file supplemental recusal notifications with the Ethics Commission but retain the existing recusal procedures that occur during the meeting in which the recusal is made.
- Discontinue the disclosure requirements for major developers and instead, if a developer is paying a nonprofit for lobbyist services, require the developer to provide the lobbyist with the information they need to register and report as a lobbyist under the City’s existing rules.
- File No. 250868 would enact the following changes:
- Streamline how expenditure ceilings apply to candidates by having ceilings apply consistently to all participating candidates in a race and establishing a process for then removing the ceiling in a race based on spending by third parties and non-participating candidates. This would replace the current process of applying unique ceilings to individual candidates, which are then adjusted indefinitely throughout the election.
- Increase the City’s campaign contribution limit from $500 to $1,000 to adjust for inflation since the previous limit was set in 2000 and establish a clear mechanism for future updates to the limit.
The Commission voted to approve the two ordinances at its September 12, 2025 meeting. Both ordinances were heard at the Government Audit and Oversight Committee in July of 2026. The ordinance regarding campaign consultants, recusal notifications, and major developers (File No. 250867) was continued to the call of the chair at committee. The ordinance regarding campaign finance rules (File No. 250868) was amended at committee and referred back to the Ethics Commission. Staff are continuing to engage with the Board of Supervisors and other stakeholders on both ordinances to determine if they have a legislative path forward.
Legislation Regarding Trustee Campaign Reporting Requirements
In June of 2025, Staff presented findings and a recommendation that the campaign reporting requirements currently imposed on candidates for the Health Service Board, Retirement Board, and Retiree Health Care Trust Fund Board be discontinued. These elections are not open to the public and only $78.60 in campaign spending has been reported under this program since 2018. Strict reporting requirements for candidates in these seats imposes an administrative burden on both the candidates and City staff, without providing any meaningful benefit to the City.
The Commission voted in June of 2025 to authorize the Chair and the Executive Director to send a letter to the Board of Supervisors requesting the Board introduce and enact legislation that would discontinue the reporting requirements for these candidates.
File No. 250928 would eliminate the disclosure and reporting requirements for candidates seeking election to the Retirement Board, Health Service Board, and Retiree Health Care Trust Fund Board and eliminate third-party disclosure requirements for persons or entities making independent expenditures to support or oppose such candidates.
As this recommendation only involves changes to the City’s Administrative Code, no additional action is needed by the Commission. This legislation was introduced by President Mandelman and subsequently referred from the Government Audit and Oversight Committee without recommendation on September 2026. Staff are currently working with the Board of Supervisors to develop amendments to this legislation.
Legislation Regarding the Website Address Update on Campaign Disclaimer Requirements
In September of 2026, the Commission considered an ordinance (File No. 260987) that would update the required disclaimers for political advertisements and electioneering communications to reflect the Commission’s upcoming change from a “.org” web domain to a “.gov” domain, as soon required by State law (AB 1637). The Commission voted to approve this legislation at its September 11, 2026 meeting.
This recommendation was initially included as part of the campaign finance streamlining ordinance introduced in 2025 (File No. 250868). Given the time sensitive nature of this change, it has been moved into this standalone legislation. It was introduced at the Board of Supervisors by President Mandelman in September 2026. The legislation has been assigned to the Government Audit and Oversight Committee where it should soon be considered.
Links Related to this Policy Project
Interested Persons Meeting Announcements:
- Potential Changes to City Rules Regarding Major Developers, Campaign Consultants, Recusals, and Other Programs – 03/11/2025 and 03/13/2025
Staff Reports & Resources:
- Policy Report: Streamlining Project Preview – 6/13/2025
- Presentation: 2025 Streamlining Project Presentation
- Policy Report: Streamlining Project Preview: Independent Expenditure Ceiling – 6/13/2025
- Presentation: IEC Streamlining Project Preview Presentation
- Staff Memo on Legislation Updating the Website Address on Campaign Disclaimer Requirements – 09/11/2026
Legislation:
- File No. 250867 regarding campaign consultants, supplemental recusal notifications, and major developers.
- Status: Under consideration by Board of Supervisors.
- File No. 250868 regarding expenditure ceilings and contribution limits.
- Status: Under consideration by Board of Supervisors.
- File No. 250928 regarding the disclosure and reporting requirements in trustee elections.
- Status: Under consideration by Board of Supervisors.
- File No. 260987 regarding updating website disclaimers.
- Status: Under consideration by Board of Supervisors.
Key Commission Meetings:
- June 13th, 2025: Presentation, discussion and possible action on a preview of recommendations that Staff are developing regarding various programs and policies administered by the Ethics Commission. The Commission authorized the Chair to sign a letter on behalf of the Commission to the Board of Supervisors regarding legislative changes to the trustee election disclosure requirements. ( Agenda | Meeting Minutes | Summary )
- August 8th, 2025: Presentation and discussion of the Staff recommendations regarding the streamlining of various programs and policies administered by the Ethics Commission. Staff presented draft legislation that would enact those recommendations. ( Agenda | Meeting Minutes | Summary )
- September 12th, 2025: Discussion and Possible Action on Legislation Related to Ethics Commission Streamlining Project. The Commission approved the two ordinances (File No. 250867 and File No. 250868) by a vote of 5-0. ( Agenda | Meeting Minutes | Summary )
- September 11th, 2026: Presentation, discussion and possible action on Staff recommendations regarding updates to the website address on campaign disclaimer requirements. The Commission approved the ordinance (File No. 260987) by a vote of 5-0. ( Agenda | Meeting Minutes | Summary )
For updates on this policy project, subscribe to the Commission’s meeting notices and agendas by joining our Interested Persons E-mail List. Additionally, all policy and legislative items the Ethics Commission considers are posted to an agenda prior to the public meeting in which they are discussed and acted upon.
Please contact Policy and Legislative Affairs Manager Michael Canning at Michael.A.Canning@sfgov.org for more information about this project or the Commission’s other policy efforts.