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Committee weighs requiring commissioners to disclose solicited charitable donations
Summary
The Government Audit and Oversight Committee considered an ordinance that would require appointed city commissioners and board members to file behested-payment reports when they solicit charitable contributions related to proceedings before their bodies; the committee continued the item to allow staff and the city attorney to draft conforming language and consider adding disclosure for political entities.
Supervisor Erin Peskin introduced an ordinance to amend the city—s campaign and governmental conduct code, saying the measure would require appointed commissioners and board members to file behested-payment reports when they solicit charitable donations connected to proceedings before their boards. "This legislation does not prohibit that behavior, but does require reporting of that behavior," Peskin said, describing the proposal as an incremental transparency step.
The Ethics Commission—s executive director, Leigh Ann Pelham, told the committee the commission supports "wanting to have as much transparency with purpose as possible" but urged that city language be aligned with state definitions of "legislative, governmental, or charitable purpose" and pressed for appropriations to develop an online filing system before the ordinance—s operative date. "We are challenged without appropriations for this process to do that in any meaningful way," Pelham said.
Public commenters and former ethics officials generally supported the disclosure concept while urging consistency with state law and careful tailoring. Larry Bush, speaking for Friends of Ethics, urged matching state FPPC language and urged adding disclosure for contributions to political entities such as 527 organizations. Bob Planthold, a former ethics commissioner, said adding the term "legislative" would promote consistency with existing state definitions.
Deputy City Attorney John Givner and Pelham briefed the committee on legal overlap with existing state rules limiting political solicitations by appointed members. Committee members debated whether to broaden the ordinance to cover solicitations to political entities and whether the threshold should remain at $1,000 (a lower threshold than the $5,000 trigger for supervisors) because the proposed rule targets solicitations in proceedings before a commission. Peskin said lowering the threshold was a tradeoff to keep the disclosure narrowly tailored.
After discussion, the committee agreed to continue Item 1 to the call of the chair so staff and the city attorney—s office can draft conforming language and consider whether to add 527-related disclosure. No final vote on the ordinance—s merits was taken during the meeting.
