SEC. 8B.121. PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION.
§ 8B.121
The PUC has exclusive authority over the City's water, clean water, and energy utilities and their assets; the General Manager may organize the department and adopt rules; and any transfer of utility ownership or control requires both PUC approval and voter approval at a election held at least 90 days later, except for surplus property sales or utility leases and permits.
San Francisco's Public Utilities Commission runs all the city's water, clean water, and energy systems and owns the buildings and money that go with them. The General Manager who works for the Commission can organize the department and make rules for how it operates. If the city wants to sell or hand over control of any utility to someone else, the Public Utilities Commission has to say yes, and then the voters have to approve it too at an election that happens at least 90 days later. However, the Commission doesn't need voter approval to sell extra land it doesn't need or to let someone lease or use utility property.
- Complex:Subsection (e) contains multiple nested conditions about voter approval, timing requirements, and exceptions that may be difficult for readers to parse on first reading.
- Controversial:Voter approval for utility transfers is a matter of significant public interest and budgetary impact that San Franciscans actively debate during ballot measures and elections.
AI-generated · claude-haiku-4-5 · informational only, not legal advice.
Official text
(a) Notwithstanding Charter section 4.112, the Public Utilities Commission shall have exclusive charge of the construction, management, supervision, maintenance, extension, expansion, operation, use and control of all water, clean water and energy supplies and utilities of the City as well as the real, personal and financial assets, that are under the Commission's jurisdiction or assigned to the Commission under Section 4.132.
(b) The Public Utilities Commission may enter into Joint Powers Agreements with other public entities in furtherance of the responsibilities of the Commission.
(c) Except to the extent otherwise provided in this Article, the Public Utilities Commission shall be subject to the provisions of Charter sections 4.100 et seq. generally applicable to boards and commissions of the City and County.
(d) The General Manager shall have the authority to organize and reorganize the department. The General Manager shall adopt rules and regulations governing all matters within the jurisdiction of the department subject to section 4.102 as applicable.
(e) Ownership or control of any public utility or any part thereof under the jurisdiction of the Public Utilities Commission may not be transferred or conveyed absent approval by the Public Utilities Commission and approval by a vote of the electors of the City at the election next ensuing not less than 90 days after the adoption of such ordinance, which shall not go into effect until ratified by a majority of the voters voting thereon. Voter approval shall not be required for sales or transfers of real property declared surplus to the needs of any utility by the Public Utilities Commission or to leases or permits for the use of utility real property approved by the Public Utilities Commission.
(Added November 2002)