Committee approves retroactive acceptance of $500,000 gift for Laguna Honda patient fund amid oversight questions

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors Budget & Finance Committee voted to approve a resolution authorizing the Department of Public Health and Laguna Honda Hospital to retroactively accept and expend a $500,000 gift from the Dolores Knight Living Trust to the Laguna Honda patient gift fund.

Cha Ma, deputy finance officer at Laguna Honda Hospital, told the committee the full $500,000 disbursement was received in January and was deposited into the patient gift fund. She described the fund’s purpose as supporting activities that enrich residents’ lives, including musical entertainment, cultural celebrations, holiday meals and outings. Cha Ma said the fund balance at the end of the previous fiscal year was about $1.9 million and that average annual expenditures over the past two years have been approximately $180,000.

During public comment Douglas Schap, who identified himself as a San Francisco resident of 61 years, said he supported the gift acceptance but urged the committee to ensure the money is not misused. Schap referenced a recent Examiner article and said that, in his recollection, previous reporting mentioned two suspicious uses of patient fund money and that prior investigations may have been slowed by former supervisors he named in the transcript. The committee did not record a formal response to those assertions during the meeting.

The committee moved and seconded the resolution and the Clerk recorded the motion as carried "without opposition." There was no Budget and Legislative Analyst report for the item.