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Supervisors back budget-transparency reforms, require department hearings and a public budget website
Summary
The Rules Committee advanced two measures aimed at increasing public scrutiny of San Francisco’s $12 billion budget: renaming the Budget & Finance Committee to Budget & Appropriations and requiring departments to hold hearings and publish budget documents before submitting proposals to the mayor and controller.
Supervisor Feuer introduced a package of changes Wednesday to make San Francisco’s budget process more transparent and to expand public input earlier in the budget cycle. The Rules Committee recommended the measures to the full Board of Supervisors.
The legislation would rename the five-member Budget and Finance Committee as the Budget and Appropriations Committee, extend the committee’s tenure to begin meeting in February, and require departments to solicit public input and hold at least one public hearing on their budget proposals before submitting them to the mayor and controller. The ordinance also would obligate the mayor to solicit public input on priorities and direct the controller to maintain an accessible website with department budget documents and a schedule of hearings.
"This legislation will make changes at every phase of the budget process to ensure increased transparency and public engagement," Supervisor Feuer said in presenting the proposal. Supporters said the change is intended to let the Board examine department submissions earlier and to avoid last-minute hearings that leave little time for public review.
Supervisors stressed the practical need to review department budgets in tandem with mayoral submissions. "We have the herculean task of analyzing a $12,000,000,000 budget," one supervisor said, noting that simultaneous department submissions to the mayor and board would allow earlier, more detailed scrutiny.
Community advocates and members of the Budget Justice Coalition testified in favor of the measures. Debbie Lerman of the Human Services Network said the bill would help ensure the budget "reflects community values and priorities through a more open process," and called the centralized website "one of my favorite pieces" of the legislation because it would make department documents easier for the public to find.
The committee moved that both items be forwarded with a positive recommendation to the full Board; the motions passed without objection. The measures will now go to the full Board for consideration.
If approved by the Board and mayor, the changes would affect the timing of hearings, require additional departmental outreach early in the calendar, and create a public portal for budget documents; the details and implementation schedule would be developed as the legislation moves through the Board process.
