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Survivors urge immediate opening of SHARP office; committee accepts amendments and refers ordinance to budget review
Summary
Hundreds of survivors, advocates and service providers gave emotional testimony urging immediate establishment and funding of a SHARP (Harassment and Assault Response and Prevention) office. The committee accepted sponsor amendments clarifying confidentiality, interagency collaboration and staff training and referred the ordinance to Budget & Finance for fiscal review.
Survivors and advocates filled the Rules Committee chambers on June 20 to press the Board of Supervisors to establish the Harassment and Assault Response and Prevention (SHARP) office, an administrative proposal designed to coordinate and reform the city’s response to sexual assault and harassment.
Sponsor Supervisor Hillary Ronan framed SHARP as a narrowly focused office to create accountability when city agencies and providers fail survivors. Dozens of public speakers — many identifying as survivors — described delayed toxicology, dismissive policing and stalled prosecutions. One witness introduced as 'Jane Doe' said, “It has been 898 days since I was drugged and raped,” and detailed a case she said has languished at the district attorney’s office. Survivors, community-based organizations and labor advocates urged immediate implementation and adequate staffing, including culturally competent and multilingual personnel.
Ronan offered clarifying amendments to the ordinance: confirm that SHARP will not supplant Department of Human Resources (DHR) responsibilities for internal employee harassment complaints; require collaboration with the Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) and the Department on the Status of Women (DOSW); and require SHARP staff to have sexual-assault counseling training to protect survivors’ confidentiality. Dr. Marasai of DOSW supported the ordinance and asked for explicit collaboration language and staffing to sustain systems-change work.
City departments and labor raised procedural questions: DHR explained meet-and-confer obligations if SHARP’s potential disciplinary recommendations affect bargaining-unit employees; the Department of Public Health and Human Rights Commission both said they were amenable to hosting the office and emphasized the importance of survivors’ confidentiality and clinical-quality standards.
The committee accepted the sponsor’s amendments on the record, and Supervisor Catherine Stephanie moved to refer the ordinance to the Budget and Finance Committee to resolve fiscal and staffing questions. The Rules Committee approved the motion without objection and forwarded the ordinance with a recommendation as amended. Advocates sought and supervisors pledged to pursue adequate funding and to return to Rules if non-fiscal administrative changes are later proposed.
What’s next: The ordinance will be heard by Budget & Finance for fiscal review and then proceed through the Board’s committee calendar.
