Committee backs temporary waiver to let city offices solicit donations for legal and community services

The Government Audit and Oversight Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Feb. 6 voted to forward a resolution authorizing a temporary waiver of the city—s behested payment ordinance so certain city offices can solicit donations to support legal services and other goods and services for immigrant communities, LGBTQ+ residents, reproductive-rights work, environmental protection and racial equity.

Calvin Ho, legislative aide to President Mandelmann, introduced the item and said, "Our nation is in a state of crisis," and described the request as a way for city offices to "solicit donations to cover goods and services, including legal services, to protect our immigrant and LGBTQ plus communities, and defend reproductive rights" while continuing regular city legal work.

Deputy City Attorney Brad Russi said the mayor—s office, the city attorney—s office and the city administrator—s office lack capacity to litigate or otherwise respond to all federal actions without outside support. "This is really an all hands on deck situation. And so we're gonna need all the help that we can get to mount this effort against what's going on from DC," Russi said. He described the waiver as permitting coordinated conversations with philanthropic and nonprofit donors and with outside law firms about pro bono assistance and funding without running afoul of the behested payment ordinance.

Committee members approved an amendment that, as read into the record by Deputy City Attorney Brad Russi, would require any party that received donations under the waiver to report within 60 days after the end of the six-month waiver period the identity of any donor, the amount donated and the donor's interested relationship with the city department that received the funding. Russi described those reporting provisions on the record: "[T]he parties that have received the waiver [will] report within 60 days after the expiration of the 6 month, waiver period to the board, the identity of any donor, the amount of the donation, and their interested relationship that the donor has with the city department that received the funding."

The item—s original sponsors include President Mandelmann; the record also names supervisors Zangardio, Dorsey and Souder as cosponsors. Committee Chair Jackie Fielder said the committee—s amendments include thresholds for reporting: payments "at the behest of an elected official" of $5,000 or more and payments by an interested party to an official or employee's department of $100 or more would trigger reporting. The item as amended will be presented as a committee report to the full Board of Supervisors on Feb. 11, 2025.

The Assessor-Recorder's office asked to be added to the waiver. Holly Long of the Assessor-Recorder told the committee the office seeks the same clarity to participate in coordinated fundraising and said the office does not intend to actively solicit from interested parties but seeks legal clarity for participation alongside other city leaders. The committee voted to duplicate the file and to add the Assessor-Recorder; that duplicated file will be continued to the Feb. 20, 2025 Government Audit and Oversight meeting to allow public comment on the amended duplicate.

There was no public comment on the original item during the meeting. The committee—s roll calls on the amendment, the recommendation to forward the original item as a committee report, the amendment to the duplicated file and the continuation of the duplicated file each passed on recorded 3-0 votes as entered on the record at the meeting.

Next steps: the original item, as amended by the committee, will appear as a committee report before the full Board of Supervisors on Feb. 11, 2025; the duplicated file that adds the Assessor-Recorder will be continued to the Government Audit and Oversight Committee meeting on Feb. 20, 2025.