San Francisco committee postpones hearing on Shell contract and $19.5M startup appropriation for Clean Power SA

Supervisor Mark Farrell, chair of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors' Government, Audit and Oversight Committee, announced on Feb. 9 that the committee would postpone a hearing on a proposed community choice aggregation contract with Shell and a proposed $19,500,000 appropriation to fund startup costs for an entity called Clean Power SA because several underpinning reports were delayed and not ready for review.

The postponement was announced after Farrell called Item 1 — described on the agenda as a hearing "to examine the proposed community choice aggregation contract with Shell as well as the proposed $19,500,000 appropriation to fund startup costs for Clean Power SA" — and told members and the public, "we're going to be postponing this hearing." Farrell asked the committee for a motion to continue the item "to the call of the chair." Committee members indicated agreement on the record and the item was continued; no roll-call vote tally was recorded in the transcript.

The move came after the clerk made procedural announcements, including that items acted upon at the committee will appear on the Board of Supervisors' Feb. 28 agenda unless otherwise stated. The committee's stated reason for pausing the hearing was that a number of reports relating to community choice aggregation were delayed and expected in the coming weeks.

During public comment, Douglas Yip, who identified himself as a San Francisco resident of 59 years, urged the committee to take a more assertive oversight role. "In the past it seems to me that it's been underutilized by City Hall ... maybe some of the people feel that this is more or less [a] lapdog committee rather than a watchdog committee," Yip said, and told the panel to keep in mind "obstruction of justice," "dereliction of duty," and "abuse of power under the color of authority." He also referenced a recent San Francisco Examiner letter calling for an Ethics Commission overhaul.

No additional action was taken on Item 1 at the Feb. 9 meeting. The committee closed public comment, confirmed there were no further matters and adjourned. The postponed hearing will be rescheduled at the chair's discretion and, per the clerk's announcement, items acted on the day of a committee meeting normally appear on the Board of Supervisors' next posted agenda unless otherwise noted.

The committee did not provide detailed timing for when the delayed reports will be available; the transcript records only that they were expected in the coming weeks. There was no recorded vote tally or named mover/second for the motion to continue the item on the transcript.