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Ethics Commission details rollout of Anti‑Corruption and Accountability Ordinance forms and public dashboards
Summary
San Francisco Ethics Commission staff demonstrated newly launched electronic filing forms required by the Anti‑Corruption and Accountability Ordinance and showed public dashboards that make filings searchable in real time. Staff said most e‑forms were launched in late June and that several new disclosure triggers and deadlines apply to campaign committees, contractors and city officers.
San Francisco — Staff from the Ethics Commission walked commissioners through the city’s new Anti‑Corruption and Accountability Ordinance (ACAO) implementation and the electronic forms the law requires, showing how disclosures will appear on public dashboards.
"All forms were made live effective June 27," Rachel Gage, principal program manager in the commission’s Engagement and Compliance Division, told the Commission, adding that some forms were available earlier in paper format. She said the Commission posted the electronic forms and supporting resources on its website and that submitted filings are parsed and made available in real time via public dashboards and Data SF.
Gage outlined several new and amended filing obligations the ACAO added. Committees that receive $5,000 or more in contributions "at the behest of" a city elective officer must file Form SFEC‑114.5 disclosing the officer and the contributions. Business entities that give $10,000 or more in a single election cycle must file Form SFEC‑124. Bundlers who collect $5,000 or more must file SFEC‑125. Contracting departments that receive qualifying proposals of $100,000 or more must file SFEC‑126F2 within 30 days of receiving such proposals; elective officers who approve contracts meeting the threshold must file SFEC‑126F4 within five days of approving the contract, Gage said.
Gage also reviewed three forms aimed at payments made at an officer’s behest: SFEC‑3610 (payments solicited by an officer that go to a third party), SFEC‑3620 (donor reporting when a single donor’s behest payments hit $10,000 in a year) and SFEC‑3630 (recipient reporting when cumulative behested payments to one recipient reach $100,000 in a calendar year). She described filing windows — typically 30 days after the triggering payment or event — and said some recipients must file a follow‑up report 12–13 months later to disclose how funds were spent.
Commissioners asked how searchable the new disclosures would be. Gage demonstrated the dashboards and said users can filter filings by candidate, committee, election cycle and other fields; she also showed how a completed recusal notification PDF and parsed dataset appear on Data SF.
Several commissioners asked whether the Commission had undertaken broad press outreach to publicize the new tools. "Subsequent to the rollout, we have not done anything, or targeted the public in any situation," Gage replied, but she agreed staff would discuss broader outreach and producing public‑facing fact sheets and translated materials.
Gage said 19 recusal notifications had been filed as of the day before the meeting and that the Commission had prioritized publication of the forms most likely to generate immediate filings. She also demonstrated the DocuSign‑based filing flow, authentication/verification code steps and the ability to attach agendas or other required documents.
The Commission praised the implementation and asked staff to show an administrative view of filings at a future meeting so commissioners can see patterns and repeated filers. Gage agreed to return with that demonstration and to consider additional outreach and translations.
