Ethics Commission replaces Sunshine Ordinance regulations, removes administrative penalty language pending meet-and-confer

The San Francisco Ethics Commission voted to repeal its existing Sunshine Ordinance enforcement regulations and adopt a new, consolidated enforcement-and-sunshine regulatory package after staff revised the draft to remove a provision that would allow the commission to assess administrative penalties against city employees.

Deputy Director Blum told commissioners the city attorney's office advised the proposed administrative-penalty option would require meet-and-confer because it "would substantially affect the rights of city employees." To avoid derailing the broader regulatory update, staff struck that provision from the posted version and will pursue it separately through meet-and-confer with unions.

Commissioner Kopp and others had requested modest procedural clarifications in the rules, such as permitting three-minute rebuttals or time reservations for presentations in enforcement hearings; staff incorporated those drafting changes where possible. Public commenters urged restoring enforcement "teeth," with one speaker recommending a "poison pill" linking implementation to successful meet-and-confer outcomes so the regulations would only take effect if the union process permitted administrative penalties.

The commission first voted to repeal the existing Sunshine Ordinance regulations and then voted to adopt the combined enforcement regulations as posted. Both motions passed unanimously, 3-0. Commissioners noted the decision reflects a compromise: keeping the regulatory reforms in place while acknowledging that penalty authority affecting employment terms must be negotiated with labor.

What happens next: staff will conduct the separate meet-and-confer process on administrative-penalty language with affected unions, and return any proposed restoration of penalty authority to the commission for further action.