Summary and Action Requested
This memo provides an overview of the Commission’s legislation regarding the streamlining of various programs and policies administered by the Ethics Commission and general updates on the Commission’s Streamlining Project. Staff recommend the Commission vote to approve the legislation presented in Attachment 2 and Attachment 4.
Background
In June, 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 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 meeting. The first item covered findings and recommendations regarding campaign consultants, supplemental recusal notifications, major developers, and trustee candidate reporting requirements.[1] The second item covered proposed changes regarding expenditure ceilings and the candidate campaign contribution limit.[2] All of these recommendations, with the exception of those involving the trustee candidate reporting requirements, will require joint approval by supermajorities of both the Board of Supervisors and the Ethics Commission.
Since the June meeting, Staff have been engaging with members of the Board of Supervisors on these recommendations and working with the City Attorney’s Office to develop these recommendations into legislation. Staff have met with representatives from all but one of the supervisorial offices regarding these streamlining reforms. Based on these meetings, Staff anticipates there being a sufficient level of support for these reforms within the Board, should they be approved by the Ethics Commission.
Drafts of these two pieces of legislation were shared with the Commission for feedback last month, during the Commission’s August meeting. Following the August meeting, the two ordinances and their respective legislative digests have been finalized with the City Attorney’s Office and introduced at the Board of Supervisors. No substantive changes have been made to either ordinance since they were presented to the Commission in August.
Recommendations & Legislation
The streamlining legislation before the Commission is comprised of two pieces of legislation, which will be summarized at a high level below. An overview of this legislation is presented in Attachment 1, which contains two tables covering each of the sections of the Campaign & Governmental Conduct Code (C&GCC) that would be amended and for what purposes. The tables in Attachment 1 are intended to make it easier to review the ordinances contained in the following two attachments.
The first ordinance would make changes to the City’s rules regarding campaign consultants, recusal notifications, and major developers. This ordinance is provided as Attachment 2. The legislative digest for this ordinance is provided as Attachment 3. This legislation 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.
Each of these programs and policies is unique to San Francisco and not done in comparable jurisdictions. They were enacted in hopes of addressing perceived policy issues at the time, but after years in operation, each of these programs has failed to provide substantial benefit to the City. The changes described above would streamline these programs and policies which are currently overly complicated, burdensome, and adding limited value the City. By adjusting the scope and structure of these programs and policies, City resources can be better focused on the core functions of the Commission.
The second ordinance would streamline aspects of the City’s Public Financing Program, specifically regarding expenditure ceilings and their associated reporting requirements, and adjust the City’s campaign contribution limit. It is important to note this ordinance would not change the eligibility requirements for the Public Financing Program or change the amount of public financing a candidate could receive under the program. This ordinance is provided as Attachment 4. The legislative digest for this ordinance is provided as Attachment 5. This legislation 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.
Streamlining how expenditure ceilings function will simplify a process that is currently unnecessarily complicated and time-consuming for both campaign officials and Ethics Commission auditors. The reformed process will be more predictable and straightforward, thus allowing campaigns to potentially redirect some of their resources from administrative functions to additional voter engagement. Similarly, having a less complicated and administratively burdensome process will allow Ethics Commission auditors to focus more of their energy on performing audits, which is their primary responsibility.
Adjusting the campaign contribution limit for the first time in 25 years to account for inflation will help candidates run viable campaigns from their controlled committees in the face of increasing third-party spending.
Update on Legislation Regarding Trustee Elections
In June, 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.
During the June meeting, the Commission voted 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. The letter was sent on July 14 and is provided as Attachment 6. Staff anticipate legislation being introduced by the Board of Supervisors on this topic in September.
As this recommendation only involves changes to the City’s Administrative Code, no additional action is needed by the Commission. However, Commission staff will remain available to assist the Board of Supervisors on this legislation should the Board desire.
Next Steps
Staff recommend the Commission vote to approve both the ordinance regarding campaign consultants, recusal notifications, and major developers, and the ordinance on expenditure ceilings and the campaign contribution limit. These two ordinances are presented in Attachment 2 and Attachment 4. Documents summarizing these ordinances are provided in Attachment 1, Attachment 3, and Attachment 5.
Both ordinances require supermajority approval from both the Ethics Commission and the Board of Supervisors to be enacted. Both ordinances were introduced at the Board of Supervisors on September 2 and are being sponsored by President Mandelman. If the ordinances are approved by the Commission in September, they will then be referred to the Board of Supervisors for consideration and potential action. If the Board were to make substantive amendments, the ordinances would need to be referred back to the Ethics Commission for reconsideration and approval. If the ordinances are approved by the Board of Supervisors without substantive amendments or significant delays, both ordinances could be operative by the start of 2026.
Attachments:
Attachment 1: Overview of Streamlining Legislation
Attachment 2: Legislation to Streamline Various Ethics Related Programs and Policies
Attachment 3: Legislative Digest on Legislation to Streamline Various Ethics Related Programs and Policies
Attachment 4: Legislation to Streamline the Public Financing Program and Update Campaign Contribution Limits
Attachment 5: Legislative Digest on Legislation to Streamline the Public Financing Program and Update Campaign Contribution Limits
Attachment 6: Ethics Commission Letter Regarding Trustee Elections – 7.14.25
[1] June 13, 2025 Meeting Agenda Item 7 – Presentation, Discussion, and Possible Action on Ethics Commission Streamlining Project Regarding Major Developers, Campaign Consultants, Recusal Notifications, and Trustee Candidate Reporting Requirements.
[2] June 13, 2025 Meeting Agenda Item 8 – Presentation and Discussion on Streamlining of Expenditure Ceilings & Reporting Requirements for the Public Financing Program and Other Changes to Campaign Finance Rules.