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Ethics Commission finds no Sunshine Ordinance violation in Hartz v. Clerk of the Board referral
Summary
After testimony and task‑force background, the Ethics Commission voted unanimously to find no violation in a Sunshine Ordinance referral concerning whether 150‑word public‑comment summaries must appear in the body of minutes rather than as appendices.
The San Francisco Ethics Commission voted unanimously Oct. 23 that the Clerk of the Board did not violate the city—s Sunshine Ordinance when public‑comment 150‑word summaries were included as an addendum to the minutes rather than inline in the minutes.
Background: The referral arose from a complaint by Ray Hartz, who argued that section 67.16 of the Sunshine Ordinance requires that any 150‑word summary submitted by a speaker be "included in the minutes" at the point where the public comment occurred. Hartz presented task‑force rulings and a 2012 memo he said supported that interpretation, and invoked First Amendment concerns about marginalizing public comment.
Hartz told the Commission the task…
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