Daly City adopts ordinance creating Women’s Commission; council narrows descriptive list to be inclusive

Daly City’s City Council on Jan. 13 adopted Ordinance No. 1479, establishing a Women’s Commission to advise the council on issues affecting women and families. The ordinance passed on second reading after council approved a minor wording amendment to emphasize inclusion.

Rose Zimmerman presented the ordinance at second reading and said a corrected version had been provided to change the regular meeting day to the fourth Thursday of every month. During discussion councilmembers sought language that would make the commission explicitly inclusive of transgender women and avoid unnecessarily granular lists that could unintentionally exclude groups.

Councilmember Manalo moved, and the council approved, amended language stating “it is the intention of the city council that the members of the commission shall demonstrate a commitment to women's issues and shall represent the entire women's community inclusive of those who identify as women.” Council then struck the subsequent enumerated list that had named subgroups such as “third world women, lesbian women, teenage and elderly women, and single parents.”

Councilmembers also discussed membership terms. Staff explained that appointments to staggered terms are determined “by lot” for the initial cohort so not all seats expire at once; several members asked that the commission have stability while seeding membership across different term lengths.

Action taken: the council adopted Ordinance No. 1479 with the language amendment described above and approved the membership term structure (staggered initial terms assigned by lot). The motion passed on a roll call vote.

Next steps: city clerk and staff will publish the ordinance and begin an application process for the commission’s membership; council indicated it will return with any additional implementation details as needed.