SEC. 4.100.1. COMMISSION STREAMLINING TASK FORCE.
§ 4.100.1
San Francisco must establish a Commission Streamlining Task Force by February 1, 2025, to review the City's appointive boards and commissions and recommend which should be eliminated, consolidated, or have their powers revised. The Task Force consists of five members (City Administrator, Controller, City Attorney, a labor representative, and a mayoral appointee with open-government expertise) and must submit recommendations by February 1, 2026, to guide Charter amendments and new ordinances that take effect 90 days after introduction unless the Board of Supervisors votes by two-thirds to disapprove.
The City must create a Task Force by February 2025 to look at all of San Francisco's appointed boards and commissions and figure out which ones should be eliminated, combined with others, or have their responsibilities changed. The Task Force will have five members from City leadership and the public, and it will get a cost report from the Budget and Legislative Analyst by September 2025. By February 2026, the Task Force will give the Mayor and Board of Supervisors its recommendations. Changes to Charter-created boards will need a Charter Amendment that goes to voters, but changes to ordinance-created boards can happen through City ordinances that automatically take effect after 90 days unless the Board votes to reject them.
- Controversial:The task force's recommendations could substantially reduce democratic participation by eliminating boards with direct public input and oversight functions, a matter on which San Franciscans have expressed varying views about governance structure.
- Complex:The section contains multiple cross-references to state law and the Charter, conditional pathways for different types of boards, different timelines for various steps, and nuanced rules about voter-approved versus ordinance-created bodies that create procedural complexity.
AI-generated · claude-haiku-4-5 · informational only, not legal advice.
Official text
(a) Establishment of the Task Force. By no later than February 1, 2025, a Commission Streamlining Task Force (“Streamlining Task Force”) shall be convened for the purpose of advising the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors on ways to eliminate, consolidate, or limit the powers and duties of appointive boards and commissions for the more effective, efficient, and economical administration of City and County government, and introducing one or more ordinances to effectuate its recommendations. The Streamlining Task Force shall have the powers and duties set forth herein, and shall expire by operation of law 24 months after its first meeting.
The City Administrator shall provide administrative support to the Streamlining Task Force. The Controller and the City Administrator shall provide professional and technical assistance to the Streamlining Task Force. All City and County officials, departments, and other agencies, and all appointive boards and commissions, shall cooperate with the Streamlining Task Force as it performs its responsibilities under this Section 4.100.1.
For purposes of this Section 4.100.1, an “appointive board” or “commission” includes any body that meets the definition of a “legislative body,” under California Government Code § 54952, whether denominated a “board,” “commission,” “council,” “committee,” “task force,” “advisory body,” or otherwise.
(b) Composition of the Streamlining Task Force. The Streamlining Task Force shall consist of five members. Seat 1 shall be held by the City Administrator or the City Administrator’s designee, who must be an employee of the Office of the City Administrator. Seat 2 shall be held by the Controller or the Controller’s designee, who must be an employee of the Office of the Controller. Seat 3 shall be held by the City Attorney or the City Attorney’s designee, who must be an employee of the Office of the City Attorney. Seat 4 shall be held by a representative of organized labor representing the public sector, appointed by the President of the Board of Supervisors. Seat 5 shall be held by an individual with expertise in open and accountable government, appointed by the Mayor. The Mayor’s appointment shall not be subject to rejection by the Board of Supervisors under Charter Section 3.100(18). Members in seats 4 and 5 shall serve at the pleasure of their appointing authority.
(c) Budget and Legislative Analyst Report. The Streamlining Task Force shall undertake a comprehensive review of the City and County’s appointive boards and commissions, including those created by voter-approved ordinance. To inform that review, by no later than September 1, 2025, the Budget and Legislative Analyst shall prepare and submit to the Streamlining Task Force, the Mayor, and the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors a report that assesses for each appointive board or commission established in the Charter (1) the annual financial cost to the City to operate the body, including but not limited to the costs of City staff time spent to support, brief, meet with, develop materials for, or otherwise enable the functioning of the body; and (2) the projected financial impact of eliminating the appointive board or commission, or consolidating it with another body. The report shall also include an estimate of the average annual financial cost to the City of operating an appointive board or commission that is established by ordinance for the purpose of providing non-binding advice to City officials on a given topic.
(d) Streamlining Task Force Report and Recommendations. By no later than February 1, 2026, the Streamlining Task Force shall prepare and submit to the Mayor and the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors a report containing the Streamlining Task Force’s recommendations as to which existing appointive boards and commissions, if any, should be eliminated in their entirety, consolidated, revised to limit their powers and/or duties, or revised to expand their powers and/or duties as a result of a consolidation.
For each recommendation made pursuant to this subsection (d), the Streamlining Task Force shall provide a rationale; analyze whether any function(s) performed by the appointive board or commission that is recommended to be eliminated, consolidated, or revised are required by law or essential to the effective operation of City and County government; and identify the City and County officers, departments, or other units of government that could assume responsibility for any legally required or essential function(s).
(e) Effectuation of Recommendations.
By no later than March 1, 2026, the City Attorney shall prepare a draft Charter Amendment to implement the Streamlining Task Force’s recommendations relating to commissions established in the Charter, and shall submit such draft to the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors. By no later than April 1, 2026, the Streamlining Task Force’s report and recommendations and the draft Charter Amendment shall be the subject of a hearing before the Board of Supervisors. Any Supervisors(s)1 wishing to seek voter approval of the draft Charter Amendment, or a modified version thereof, shall be required to introduce the Charter Amendment for consideration by the Board of Supervisors, consistent with the process and deadlines set forth in the Municipal Elections Code and Board’s Rules of Order at that time.
During its tenure, the Streamlining Task Force shall have the authority to introduce one or more ordinances to effectuate its recommendations relating to the elimination, consolidation, or revision of any appointive board or commission established by ordinance, other than any appointive board or commission that was established or amended by the adoption of an ordinance approved by the voters and cannot be amended or rescinded without voter approval. Such ordinance(s) shall go into effect 90 days after the date of introduction unless before the expiration of the 90-day period two-thirds of all members of the Board of Supervisors vote to disapprove the ordinance.
(f) Expiration. This Section 4.100.1 shall expire by operation of law on January 31, 2027, and the City Attorney shall cause it to be removed the Charter thereafter.
(Added by Proposition E, Approved 11/5/2024)
CODIFICATION NOTE
1. So in Proposition E, 11/5/2024.