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Commission reviews proposed election-and-lobbying streamlining ordinances; staff seeks Board of Supervisors approval
Summary
Staff presented two draft ordinances to streamline campaign- and lobby-related rules: one would end local registration/reporting for campaign consultants and some developer disclosures, and the other would standardize expenditure ceilings and raise the city's contribution limit to $1,000.
Staff for the San Francisco Ethics Commission presented two draft ordinances intended to streamline campaign and lobbying-related rules and to update contribution limits. Michael Canning, a staff presenter, said the changes are part of a broader streamlining project and would require approval by both the Ethics Commission and the Board of Supervisors before becoming law.
The first draft ordinance would discontinue local registration and periodic reporting requirements for campaign consultants and instead require consultants to provide clients the information needed for the clients’ existing campaign disclosures. It would remove the city's supplemental recusal-notification filing requirement for members of city boards and commissions while retaining substantive recusal obligations under law. The draft would also discontinue a disclosure requirement on major developers, and instead require developers paying nonprofits for lobbyist services to provide the nonprofit/lobbyist with the information needed for lobbyist registration and reporting under the city's lobbyist chapter.
The second draft ordinance would change how expenditure ceilings apply: instead of adjusting ceilings individually for participating candidates multiple times during a race, the proposal would apply ceilings consistently across all participating candidates in a race and create a process to remove a ceiling based on substantial third-party spending or spending by nonparticipating candidates. The ordinance also proposes raising the city's campaign contribution limit from $500 (set in 2000) to $1,000, an increase staff said reflects inflation through April data and was rounded to the nearest practical limit.
Canning said staff and the city attorney's office have discussed the drafts with members of the Board of Supervisors and their staff, and that, if approved by the commission and the supervisors in time, staff hopes the ordinances could become operative by the start of 2026 to affect next year's election cycle. No vote was required at this meeting; staff said they expect to return next month with final language for a vote.
Callers during public comment urged additional outreach. One commenter representing the California Political Attorneys Association asked for another interested-persons meeting before adoption; other callers raised concerns about the contribution limit increase and asked for a holistic analysis of how the package would affect campaigns, staff workload, and political dynamics. Staff said they would continue to consult with supervisors and stakeholders and expected to return with final drafts.
No ordinance was approved at this meeting.
