SEC. 14.102. LEGISLATIVE REFERENDUM.
§ 14.102
San Francisco residents can petition to suspend an ordinance before it takes effect by gathering signatures from at least 10% of voters in the last mayoral election (5% for franchise ordinances), triggering Board reconsideration and a voter referendum at the next general or special election.
If you want to challenge a new city law before it starts, you can collect signatures from voters—at least 10% of the people who voted in the last mayoral election—and file a petition with the Board of Supervisors. This stops the law from taking effect while the Board thinks about it again. If the Board doesn't completely repeal the law, it must let voters decide whether to approve it at the next regular election or a special election. The law won't go into effect unless voters say yes.
- Controversial:Referendum rights are a core democratic tool that some see as necessary checks on representative government while others view them as inefficient or subject to manipulation by well-funded campaigns.
AI-generated · claude-haiku-4-5 · informational only, not legal advice.
Official text
Prior to the effective date of an ordinance, a referendum on that ordinance may be proposed by filing with the Board of Supervisors a petition protesting the passage of that ordinance. Such petition shall be signed by voters in a number equal to at least ten percent, or in the case of an ordinance granting any franchise, at least five percent, of the votes cast for all candidates for Mayor in the last preceding general municipal election for Mayor.
Such ordinance shall then be suspended from becoming effective. The Board of Supervisors shall reconsider the ordinance. If it is not entirely repealed, the Board of Supervisors shall submit the ordinance to the voters at the next general municipal or statewide election or at a special municipal election. Such ordinance shall not become effective until approved by voters at such an election.