Board adopts interim budget, labor MOUs, botanical garden fees and cell-phone SAR disclosure; multiple items passed

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors adopted a series of ordinances, resolutions and budget measures during its June meeting, approving an interim consolidated budget and salary ordinance, authorizing disclosure of cell-phone specific absorption rate values, adopting many labor memoranda of understanding and approving an ordinance to establish admission fees for the Botanical Garden for non–San Francisco residents.

The measures were largely passed on roll-call votes or by unanimous “same house, same call” procedure. The board approved the interim consolidated budget and annual appropriation ordinance and the interim consolidated annual salary ordinance for fiscal years ending June 30, 2011 (and related 2012 provisions for certain agencies). It also approved a first-reading ordinance authorizing refunding certificates of participation (not to exceed $155 million) to refinance capital projects, and it adopted numerous memoranda of understanding (MOUs) and compensation ordinances covering multiple unions.

Key adopted items and outcomes - Botanical Garden admission fees (Item 8): An ordinance amending park code to establish admission fees for the San Francisco Botanical Garden for non–San Francisco residents was adopted after a roll-call vote. The clerk recorded a final tally of 7 ayes and 3 noes; the board stated the ordinance “has finally passed.” (Roll-call statements in the record show multiple individual votes and one late change of a recorded vote during the roll call.)

- Official newspaper resolution (Item 9, amended): A resolution designating the San Francisco Examiner as the official newspaper for city advertising was amended on the floor so the contract is split evenly between the Examiner and the San Francisco Chronicle; the motion to amend passed and the amended resolution was adopted.

- Interim budget and salary ordinances (Items 10 and 11): The board approved the interim consolidated budget and the interim consolidated annual salary ordinance. The clerk recorded 10 ayes and the ordinances were finally passed.

- Environment code — cell-phone SAR disclosure (Item 12): An ordinance amending the environment code to require retailers to disclose specific absorption rate (SAR) values for cell phones was adopted. The roll call recorded 9 ayes and 1 no (one supervisor recorded “no”). The clerk declared the ordinance finally passed.

- Health and administrative code items (Items 13–16): The board passed on first reading an ordinance updating Department of Animal Care and Control fees and related changes (Item 13) and passed first reading the administrative-code ordinance enabling Enterprise Zone tax-credit eligibility (Item 14). Item 16, authorizing refunding certificates of participation in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed $155,000,000, passed on first reading.

- MOUs and compensation ordinances (Items 17–38): A batch of ordinances implementing various memoranda of understanding with multiple unions and fixing compensation were taken together and adopted on first read; the clerk recorded 10 ayes.

- Other business: The board also confirmed a committee appointment (Kenneth Wingard to the Market & Octavia Community Advisory Committee) and adopted several other consent and “without committee reference” items (Items 40–53) after severing items 48 and 49 for separate consideration.

Context and next steps The package covered routine budget, personnel and code changes as well as policy items that will affect city revenue and consumer disclosure. Items recorded as first reading will return for a final reading where required by charter. The botanical-garden admission ordinance and the cell-phone SAR disclosure ordinance are city-code changes that will be implemented according to the timetable set in each ordinance; the interim budget and salary ordinances provide stopgap appropriations for fiscal year 2010–11 and related agency provisions for 2011–12.

Votes and formal actions in the official record were recorded verbatim by the clerk; this article reports the tallies and the clerk’s final declarations as stated in the meeting transcript.