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Committee approves amendments and forwards ordinance to expand illegal-dumping enforcement
Summary
Supervisors accepted amendments and unanimously recommended forwarding an ordinance to expand the definition of illegal dumping (including e-waste), authorize Public Works to impose administrative penalties, and clarify enforcement procedures; sponsor cited about 91,000 service requests last year and an annual cleanup cost of roughly $10 million.
The Public Safety & Neighborhood Services Committee on July 9 approved amendments and forwarded to the full Board an ordinance that would expand the city’s tools to address illegal dumping.
Sponsor Supervisor Shimon Walton said the ordinance would revise Article 26 of the Administrative and Public Works Code to broaden the definition of illegal dumping (including electronic waste), make each act a separate violation subject to abatement or enforcement, authorize the Public Works Director to impose administrative fines and penalties, and amend Police Code procedures for assessing and collecting penalties. Walton told the committee his office counted "over 91,000 service requests for illegal dumping" citywide last year and said cleanup costs for Department of Public Works and Recology were "about $10,000,000 each year."
Walton said the amendments were drafted after coordination with Public Works, Recology, the San Francisco Police Department and the City Attorney and that the District Attorney’s office recommended language clarifying that the changes would not preclude other agencies from pursuing enforcement under state law, including criminal prosecution for hazardous-waste dumping under provisions of the California Health and Safety Code cited in the committee discussion.
The sponsor proposed four minor amendments to streamline the ordinance title, add language to avoid precluding other agencies, redefine costs to include city abatement expenses, and add civil enforcement authority. The amendments were accepted on a 3-0 voice vote. Chair Rafael Mandelmann then moved to forward the ordinance, as amended, to the Board with a positive recommendation; the committee approved the forwarding action 3-0.
A department representative told the committee that staff support the ordinance; Larry Stringer, who had been expected to attend, had an unexpected emergency but the department said it supports the measure. There were no callers in the public-comment queue on this item.
The committee’s action sends the amended ordinance to the Board of Supervisors for further consideration.
