Rules Committee backs sending ordinance to add Protecting San Francisco to city payroll-deduction list

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors Rules Committee voted Sept. 29 to send to the full Board an ordinance adding Protecting San Francisco, a nonprofit supporting deputy sheriffs and their families, to the city's Combined Charities payroll-deduction list.

The committee's action was procedural: Chair Supervisor Shamone Walton moved to forward the ordinance with a recommendation, and the motion passed without objection. Vice Chair Supervisor Steven Sherrill, President Rafael Mandelmann and Chair Walton recorded aye votes.

Protecting San Francisco's president, Ken Lambda, told the committee the nonprofit was formed in 2019 to "give back to San Francisco, and also to give back to deputies in need." Lambda described programs that include assistance with funeral costs and medical emergencies for deputies, distribution of personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic, toy drives in the Tenderloin and support for firefighters' toy drives, delivering meals to deputies required to work on Christmas, donations to several high-school athletic teams and a planned job-matching program for currently and formerly incarcerated people in partnership with 5 Keys Charter School and Mission Hiring Hall.

Tom O'Connor, identified himself as a retired San Francisco firefighter, former president of the firefighters union and a member of the San Francisco Firefighters Cancer Prevention Foundation. He said the committee's earlier decision to add other nonprofits to the Combined Charities payroll-deduction list helped organizations focus on mission work instead of continual fundraising and urged the committee to forward the ordinance. "I urge you to help pass this ordinance so the sheriff's department can continue donating to such important organizations and causes that touch so many lives," O'Connor said.

President Rafael Mandelmann asked to be added as a co-sponsor; Supervisor Dorsey was listed as the bill sponsor in committee remarks. Clerk Victor Young reminded the public that items acted on by the Rules Committee are expected to appear on the full Board agenda on Oct. 7, 2025, and provided instructions for submitting written public comment.

The committee did not take final action to adopt the ordinance; it voted to send the item to the full Board with a recommendation. The ordinance will next be considered at the Board of Supervisors meeting on Oct. 7, 2025, unless otherwise scheduled.

Details recorded in the committee transcript include Lambda's description of the nonprofit's activities and O'Connor's public comment in support of the ordinance. No committee member spoke in opposition during the Rules Committee hearing.