December 1, 2025
At its regular meeting on Friday, December 12, 2025, the San Francisco Ethics Commission will consider and possibly act on proposed regulation amendments that would adjust the amount of time the Commission has to consider post-employment waivers and compensated advocacy waivers.
The Ethics Commission administers post-employment restrictions under Section 3.234 of the Campaign & Governmental Conduct Code and its supporting regulations. The Ethics Commission also administers a prohibition on compensated advocacy under Section 3.224 and its supporting regulations. In certain circumstances, the Commission may waive these restrictions if a former or current officer or employee requests such a waiver under the Code. Currently, if these waiver requests are submitted at least two weeks before the next scheduled Commission meeting, the waiver must then be considered at the next Commission meeting. The Ethics Commission meets monthly.
Given the state-mandated timelines associated with the posting of meeting materials, the current waiver consideration timeline can effectively give staff approximately a week to review requests and prepare recommendations. This limits staff’s ability to gather facts, analyze the request, work with the requestor, and prepare a recommendation for the Commission. The proposed amendments would extend the waiver consideration deadlines, so that waiver requests must be reviewed at one of the Commission’s next two regularly scheduled meetings. This change would ensure Commission staff have at least three weeks to prepare recommendations before meeting materials are posted, while ensuring requests are heard within no more than two months of being submitted.
This 10-day notice is provided under Charter Sec. 4.104 to encourage public comment on the proposals in advance of the Commission’s next meeting.
The Commission invites all input on the proposed regulation amendments. Written comments can be sent via email to ethics.commission@sfgov.org. Written public comment received by 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, December 11, 2025, will be included in the Commission’s packet of meeting materials for its December 12, 2025 meeting. Opportunity for public comment will also be provided during the Commission’s meeting.