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Rules committee backs amendments to ordinance to tighten city grant rules after auditor findings
Summary
The committee advanced Supervisor Stephanie’s ordinance to create uniform competitive standards, reporting and oversight for city grant awards — citing an auditor report that documented thousands of grant awards and billions in spending — and adopted technical amendments before continuing the item for scheduling and final revisions.
The Rules Committee on June 7 advanced an ordinance that would tighten San Francisco’s grant‑making rules by establishing a uniform definition of grants, minimum advertising and evaluation standards, reporting for sole‑source awards and five‑year documentation and auditability requirements.
Supervisor Stephanie introduced the legislation, saying it was drafted in response to the city auditor’s public integrity review and specifically to address a finding that Public Works had issued 19 grants totaling about $24 million. She told the committee that, across city departments from 2017 through 2020, there were 5,746 grant awards totaling roughly $5.4 billion, and said departments currently operate with wide discretion and limited binding standards.
The ordinance would create a new chapter in the Administrative Code (proposed section 21G) that narrows the definition of grants (excluding contracts, loans, tax relief, direct assistance to individuals and rebate programs) and requires open, competitive processes for awards with limited exceptions. It would set minimum standards for advertising (generally 21 days unless shortened for good cause), require public evaluation criteria, authorize penalties for false claims by grantees, require annual reporting of sole‑source grants to the Board of Supervisors and oblige the city purchaser to promulgate implementing regulations by Dec. 31, 2021. Supervisor Stephanie read a set of technical line‑by‑line amendments into the record and the committee voted to adopt those amendments.
Committee members asked whether the ordinance would apply to grants issued under pandemic emergency orders. Stephanie said the ordinance would take effect after the emergency and would not retroactively affect emergency grants; she also noted the proposed definition excludes direct assistance and rebate programs. Chair Peskin moved to adopt the technical amendments and to continue the item to the call of the chair to allow scheduling and minor language tweaks; the motions passed without objection.
Advocates and oversight staff were cited repeatedly in the presentation as having assisted with drafting. The committee did not complete final passage; it adopted the listed technical amendments and continued the item for placement on a future Rules Committee calendar.
