Rules Committee advances ordinance to expand Family Violence Council membership and set sunset

The Rules Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Thursday advanced an ordinance that would change the composition of the Family Violence Council, adding six seats and establishing a sunset date for the body.

Sponsor Supervisor Katie Tang told the committee the Family Violence Council — the city’s interagency advisory group on child abuse, domestic violence and elder abuse — was created in 2008 and that the proposed changes respond to recommendations in the council’s fourth annual report. Tang said the amendments would add juvenile probation, the public defender, animal care and control, the San Francisco Unified School District, the human resources director and the fire department to the council’s membership.

“We thought that, in consulting with many of our city departments, it was a really appropriate time to make some updates to the ordinance,” Tang said, adding the changes would help “ensure the rotation of the steering committee members and just foster new leadership.”

Speakers from city departments and partner agencies urged passage. Liz Aguilar Tarki, an assistant district attorney and managing attorney of the domestic violence unit, said the council has been instrumental in policy developments that improved the city’s response to domestic violence and related crimes and “we urge and support passage of these amendments.” A juvenile probation representative and officials from the Department of Human Resources and the Department on the Status of Women also said they support formalizing additional departmental participation.

Public commenters — including Katie Albright, executive director of the San Francisco Child Abuse Prevention Center, and Beverly Upton of the Domestic Violence Consortium — described the council as a state model that has produced multiagency coordination and programming for children, elders and victims of domestic violence. Albright noted the council’s role alongside the City’s Children's Fund and the Child Abuse Intervention Program.

After discussion, the committee voted to forward the ordinance to the full Board with a positive recommendation. The committee record shows the item was advanced without objection; the ordinance will now be scheduled for a Board of Supervisors hearing for final consideration.

The committee hearing included multiple speakers describing why formalizing the six additions would better align city departments with the council’s multi-disciplinary work and its data-driven reports. Next steps: the ordinance will appear on the Board of Supervisors’ agenda for further consideration.