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Entertainment Commission backs promoter-registration ordinance and sends it to Board with recommendation
Summary
The commission voted to forward a narrowed promoter-registration ordinance to the Board of Supervisors with a recommendation, after debate about whether the online registration will be effective and calls for enforcement teeth. Roll call recorded five ayes and one no.
The San Francisco Entertainment Commission voted to forward an ordinance requiring online registration of event promoters to the Board of Supervisors, after hearing an ad hoc committee report and public comment.
Commissioners debated a pared-down bill that would require promoters used by permitted places of entertainment to register online with basic contact information. Commissioner Mico, who opposed the motion, said the trimmed proposal would do little to prevent bad actors and criticized moving forward with "baby steps" on a constitutionally questionable measure: "I don't think that this sounds to me like paper training a puppy when we're talking about grown ups here." The commission discussed adding enforcement measures so the ordinance would carry penalties rather than being purely informational.
A motion to send the item to the Board of Supervisors with the commission's recommendation passed on a roll-call vote: Commissioner Rojas — Aye; Commissioner Joseph — Aye; Commissioner Mico — No; Commissioner Perez — Aye; Commissioner Benetti — Aye; Commission President — Aye. The commission instructed staff to transmit the commission's recommendation and encouraged the Board to consider citation language to strengthen enforcement.
The commission's ad hoc committee said the proposed ordinance was intentionally narrowed from an earlier, broader proposal to address earlier opposition and practical concerns, such as promoters recreating registrations under new names. The committee noted the Union Square incident discussed at prior hearings would not have been prevented by this ordinance because that event occurred at a location without a place-of-entertainment permit.
Next steps: staff will forward the commission's recommendation to the Board of Supervisors ahead of the scheduled Public Safety Committee hearing on Nov. 15, and commissioners said they will continue to monitor amendments and enforcement language as the ordinance moves through the Board.
