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Committee approves posting and recording ordinance amendments to expand online access to City Hall meetings
Summary
The committee accepted amendments to require audio/video recording of City Hall hearing-room meetings equipped for recording and to post recordings online within 72 hours; DTIS and SFGTV supported implementation and the Sunshine Task Force urged faster posting and streaming options.
The Rules Committee approved amendments and moved forward an ordinance requiring that City Hall hearing-room meetings equipped with audio or video be recorded and posted to the city's website.
Sponsor framed the proposal as an expansion of San Francisco's trademark sunshine laws and proposed two non-substantive changes: extending the posting window from 48 to 72 hours to accommodate Friday and holiday meetings and clarifying the coverage language to include "noticed" meetings. "What this ordinance strives to accomplish is to strengthen our sunshine laws," the sponsor said.
Ron Vincent of the Department of Technology and Information Services told the committee the department supports the ordinance and has budgeted capital funds and an estimated half-time staffer to manage encoding and posting. SFGTV demonstrated cataloging, RSS and download workflows and said live streaming is part of the planned service. The Sunshine Ordinance Task Force and several public commenters urged stronger timelines and additional features such as same-day posting and live streaming.
The committee accepted the sponsor's amendments (changing the posting window to 72 hours and clarifying scope), heard that implementation will require about a half‑time FTE for media handling, and moved the ordinance forward as amended.
Next steps: the ordinance will be considered by the full board; implementation details (staffing, server, and workflow) will be coordinated by DTIS and SFGTV.
