SEC. 4.105. COMPLAINTS; INVESTIGATION PROCEDURES; REFERRAL TO OTHER AGENCIES.
§ 4.105
San Francisco residents can file complaints about city officials, employees, or contractors with various agencies including the Ethics Commission, and the Ethics Commission investigates matters within its jurisdiction while referring others to appropriate agencies for action.
Anyone can report suspected wrongdoing by a city worker, official, or contractor to the Ethics Commission, the District Attorney, City Attorney, Controller's Whistleblower Program, or their own department. The Ethics Commission handles complaints about campaign finance, lobbying, conflicts of interest, and ethics violations. For complaints outside the Ethics Commission's authority, the Commission refers them to the right agency to investigate and take action if needed. The Ethics Commission can ask departments to report back on what they found and did.
- Complex:The section references multiple external documents (Charter Section C3.699-13 and accompanying regulations) whose content is necessary to fully understand investigation procedures, making it difficult for a citizen to grasp the complete process from this text alone.
- Controversial:Complaint procedures and investigation authorities are inherently contested topics in city governance; residents often debate the independence and effectiveness of ethics oversight bodies.
AI-generated · claude-haiku-4-5 · informational only, not legal advice.
Official text
(a) COMPLAINTS. Any person may file a complaint for investigation with the Office of the Controller’s Whistleblower Program, Ethics Commission, District Attorney, City Attorney, or the complainant’s department alleging that a City officer or employee has engaged in improper government activity, misused City funds, caused deficiencies in the quality and delivery of government services or engaged in wasteful and inefficient government practices, or that a City contractor or employee of a City contractor has engaged in unlawful activity in connection with a City contract.
(b) ETHICS COMMISSION COMPLAINT PROCEDURES. The Ethics Commission shall investigate complaints filed under this Section 4.105 that contain potential violations of local campaign finance, lobbying, conflicts of interest, and governmental ethics laws pursuant to the procedures specified in Charter Section C3.699-13 and the regulations adopted thereunder. Nothing in this subsection (b) shall preclude the Ethics Commission from referring any matter to any other City department, commission, board, officer, or employee or to other government agencies for investigation and possible disciplinary or enforcement action. The Ethics Commission may require that any City department, commission, board, officer, or employee report to the Ethics Commission on the referred matter.
(c) REFERRAL. The Ethics Commission shall refer complaints that do not allege a violation of law, regulation or rule that is within the Ethics Commission’s jurisdiction to the appropriate agency for investigation and possible disciplinary or enforcement action. The Commission may conduct preliminary investigations into such complaints to determine whether the complaint contains sufficient information to warrant referral. The Ethics Commission may require any City department to provide a written report regarding the department’s investigation and any action that the department has taken in response to the Ethics Commission’s referral within a time-frame that the Ethics Commission shall specify.
(Added by Ord. 71-00, File No. 000358, App. 4/28/2000; amended by Ord. 29-02, File No. 020017, App. 3/15/2002; Ord. 299-18, File No. 180317, App. 12/21/2018, Eff. 1/21/2019; re-enacted by Proposition D, 3/5/2024, Eff. 4/12/2024, Oper. 10/12/2024)