SEC. 3.620. PROHIBITING ELECTED OFFICIALS, DEPARTMENT HEADS, COMMISSIONERS, AND DESIGNATED EMPLOYEES FROM SOLICITING BEHESTED PAYMENTS FROM INTERESTED PARTIES.
§ 3.620
City officers, department heads, commissioners, and designated employees are prohibited from directly or indirectly soliciting behested payments (charitable donations directed by the donee) from interested parties involved in administrative proceedings, contracts, or lobbying activities affecting their department, with limited exceptions for public appeals, authorized competitive donation programs, and certain contract-related solicitations.
San Francisco officials and employees cannot ask for donations to charities from people or companies that have business before their department. The ban applies during proceedings or contract negotiations and for a period after they end (typically 12 months). Officials also cannot solicit donations from registered lobbyists or permit consultants who work with their department. There are some exceptions: they can make broad public appeals for donations, can participate in approved charitable programs run through city contracts, and can solicit donations tied directly to the terms of a city contract. The Board of Supervisors can grant a waiver for up to six months if it finds no impropriety and public interest justifies it.
- Complex:The section contains multiple cross-referencing conditions with overlapping timeframes and exceptions that require careful reading to understand when the prohibition applies and when it does not.
- Controversial:'Behested payments' regulations are designed to prevent quid pro quo corruption but can be contentious between those who view them as essential anti-corruption safeguards and those who view them as restrictions on political speech and fundraising.
AI-generated · claude-haiku-4-5 · informational only, not legal advice.
Official text
(a) PROHIBITION. Officers and designated employees shall not directly or indirectly solicit any behested payment from an interested party in the following circumstances:
(1) Administrative proceedings. If the interested party is a party, participant, or agent of a party or participant involved in (i) a proceeding before any officer within the department of the officer or designated employee either regarding administrative enforcement or regarding a license, permit or other entitlement for use, or (ii) any other governmental decision regarding either administrative enforcement, or regarding a license, permit, or other entitlement for use, in which the officer or designated employee was personally and substantially involved, the prohibition set forth in this subsection (a) shall apply:
(A) during the pendency of the proceeding or governmental decision; and
(B) for 12 months following the date on which a final decision is rendered.
(2) Contracts. If the interested party is a City Contractor, or an affiliate of a City Contractor, who is a party to or is seeking a contract with the officer’s or designated employee’s department or is a person who attempted to influence the officer or designated employee regarding the approval, denial, extension, or amendment of a City contract, the prohibition set forth in this subsection (a) shall apply from the submission of a proposal until the later of:
(A) the termination of negotiations for the contract;
(B) 12 months following the end of the contract’s term if the interested party is a City Contractor, unless five years have elapsed since the execution of the contract without any amendment, extension, or renewal; or
(C) 12 months following the attempt to influence if the person is an interested party due to an attempt to influence regarding the City contract.
(3) Lobbyists. Officers and designated employees may not solicit any behested payment from a contact lobbyist or expenditure lobbyist who has registered as a lobbyist with the Ethics Commission, if the contact lobbyist or expenditure lobbyist is registered to lobby the designated employee’s or officer’s department; or from a person on whose behalf a contact or expenditure lobbyist has made a contact with the employee’s or officer’s department in the last 12 months.
(4) Permit consultants. Officers and designated employees may not solicit any behested payment from a permit consultant who has registered with the Ethics Commission, if the permit consultant has reported any contacts with the designated employee’s or officer’s department to carry out permit consulting services during the prior 12 months.
(b) INDIRECT SOLICITATION. For the purposes of this Section 3.620, a City officer or employee is indirectly soliciting a behested payment when the City officer or employee directs or otherwise urges another person to solicit a behested payment from an identifiable interested party or parties.
(c) EXCEPTION – PUBLIC APPEALS. This Section 3.620 shall not apply to public appeals.
(d) EXCEPTION – COMPETITIVELY SECURED PROGRAM SOLICITATIONS. This Section 3.620 shall not apply to solicitations made under an authorized program for charitable donations of time and/or money from interested parties to nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations or public schools. For purposes of this subsection (d), an authorized program is a process for soliciting donations through a competitively procured contract, including the award, approval, execution, administration, modification, or enforcement of that contract by City officers or employees, which program is authorized by the Board of Supervisors by ordinance. A program which existed on or before January 23, 2022, such as the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Social Impact Partnership program, is considered for the purposes of this subsection an authorized program under the following limitations: (i) only a department that implemented such program on or before January 23, 2022 may include the authorized program in its competitive solicitations; and (ii) the authorization granted under this subsection shall expire on January 31, 2023 unless the Board of Supervisors adopts an ordinance authorizing an extension of the program. If the authority under this subsection for a pre-existing program expires, the department shall immediately stop including the program in its solicitations but may continue to administer the pre-existing program for any contract where proposals are received before the expiration date.
(e) EXCEPTION – CONTRACTED BENEFITS. This Section 3.620 shall not apply to solicitations made in connection with the negotiation or administration of a City contract if the payment solicited directly relates to the terms of, or performance under, the contract. For the purposes of this subsection (e), City contracts include but are not limited to development agreements, agreements for the development or use of public property, agreements for the City’s acquisition of real property, and contracts for the acquisition of community benefits.
(f) EXCEPTION – WAIVER. Upon request by a City department, the Board of Supervisors may waive the requirements of this Section 3.620 by resolution, but may not waive it for itself. A proposed resolution that seeks a waiver shall summarize the purpose of the solicitation(s) and shall identify the type of interested parties or the specific interested parties, when the identity is known, to whom the solicitation(s) would be directed, and a statement as to why the department believes the parties are interested parties. The resolution must include a finding that the waiver would not create an appearance of impropriety and would be in the public interest. Waivers granted under this subsection (f) shall apply prospectively for six months, unless the approving resolution specifies a shorter duration, and shall have no effect as to past solicitations and may not be approved retroactively after the solicitations have occurred. Within 30 days of the enactment of such a resolution, the Clerk of the Board shall publish information regarding the resolution to a dataset of all approved waiver resolutions on DataSF.
(Added as Sec. 3.610 by Ord. 232-21, File No. 201132, App. 12/24/2021, Eff. 1/24/2022; redesignated and amended by Proposition E, 6/7/2022, Eff. 7/10/2022; amended by Ord. 204-22, File No. 220539, App. 10/6/2022, Eff. 11/6/2022)
(Former Sec. 3.620 added by Ord. 129-18, File No. 180280, App. 5/30/2018, Eff. 6/30/2018, Oper. 1/1/2019; repealed by Ord. 232-21, File No. 201132, App. 12/24/2021, Eff. 1/24/2022)
(Former Sec. 3.620 added by Ord. 1-17, App. 1/20/2017, Eff. 2/19/2017, Oper. 1/1/2018; redesignated as Sec. 3.640 and amended by Ord. 129-18, File No. 180280, App. 5/30/2018, Eff. 6/30/2018, Oper. 1/1/2019; redesignated as Sec. 3.630 by Proposition E, 6/7/2022, Eff. 7/10/2022)