San Francisco DA warns 25-prosecutor cut would force suspension of misdemeanors, strain court system

San Francisco County supervisors heard detailed staffing and budget briefings from District Attorney Brooke Jenkins on May 7 and were told a $5.4 million reduction to the DA's office would require about 25 prosecutor layoffs and could force the office to suspend misdemeanor prosecutions and cut victim services.

The hearing, before the Budget and Appropriations Committee at City Hall, came as the city faces an estimated $817.5 million budget shortfall for the coming fiscal year and as state ballot measure implementation (Proposition 36) and several unfunded mandates are increasing workload for the DA's office.

Jenkins, the San Francisco district attorney, said the office has roughly 7,100 pending cases and is managing nearly 2,000 more cases than when she took office. "A reduction of 25 lawyers would create unmanageable caseloads and would result in…not prosecuting categories of crimes across the board," Jenkins said. She told supervisors the DA's proposed operating budget for fiscal 2025–26 is $96,500,000 (a 3 percent increase driven largely by negotiated salary and fringe raises) and is projected to be $99,000,000 in 2026–27.

Why it matters: Jenkins and others told the committee that prosecutorial capacity affects not just filing decisions…