Ethics commission, Sunshine Task Force debate who should enforce non‑willful Sunshine Ordinance violations

At a joint meeting of the Ethics Commission and the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force, commissioners and task force members debated whether the commission should accept and enforce non‑willful violations of San Francisco’s Sunshine Ordinance and how enforcement should be structured.

The discussion centered on differing readings of ordinance sections 67.34, 67.35 and 67.30(c). Alan Grossman, a pro bono attorney working with the task force, told the meeting the staff’s November draft “was dramatic and shocking” because it reversed policy decisions reached earlier without the policy body present and, in his view, staff “is not authorized and empowered to reverse those decisions; only the Ethics Commission can do that.”

Commission Chair Ben Hur said he supported a procedure that would speed resolution of non‑willful enforcement…