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FAQ
What’s TogetherSF Action?
TogetherSF Action is sponsoring Prop D. Together SF Action is a civic engagement organization equipping residents with the knowledge and tools they need to build a stronger and safer San Francisco. TogetherSF Action has the largest network of civically-engaged residents, comprising more than 100,000 residents. To find out more, visit https://tsfaction.org/
What’s the difference between Prop D and E?
Prop E is a poison pill amendment crafted by long-time City Hall insiders who’ve benefited from the current system to kill the real reform measure on the ballot Prop D.
For Prop E:
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There’s no guaranteed streamlining of the commission system since there’s no hard cap. It’s possible that none of SF’s roughly 130 commissions get cut.
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Takes power away from voters. Creates an un-elected task force that has to consist mostly of City bureaucrats that has the power to introduce laws about commissions. It would have to take a super-majority of the entire BoS to stop a task force created law from going into effect.
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Does not create any accountability for corrupt commissioners
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Does not limit power of un-elected commissioners to make big decisions behind the scenes in government
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No periodic evaluation of commissions to ensure commissions deliver value for residents
Does Prop D increase or decrease government oversight?
Prop D will increase government oversight and accountability by creating clearer lines of authority by allowing our elected and city officials to lead instead of unelected commissioners.
San Francisco has 1,200 commissioners sitting on over 120 commissions with a wide range of powers. Many of these un-elected commissions have the power to determine City department policies and can even fire City department heads independent of elected officials. For example, under the current system the Police Chief has two bosses - he can be fired by either the Mayor or by the Police Commission independent of each other.
We believe that residents deserve a more transparent government where it’s clear that elected officials, and not un-elected ones, are in charge and can make the decisions we elect them to make.
We believe it is bad government to have a system of un-elected part-time commissioners making huge policy decisions on areas ranging from homelessness to public safety behind the scenes with barely any public scrutiny.
Will Prop D help us fight corruption?
Yes! Many commissioners have used their positions for self-gain and many are appointed because of their political connections. Just a few examples below:
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Former Human Rights Commissioner Nazly Mohajer caught accepting a $20,000 bribe from an undercover FBI agent
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Former Planning Commissioner Hector Chinchilla accepting $187,500 in payments from developers seeking approval of permits from the Planning Commission
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Former Arts Commissioner Yakuh Askew voting to approve projects he had a financial interest in while on the commission
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An Independent Civil Grand Jury report found, “...city officials made the common observation that the process for appointing commissioners is overly political. Although it’s not surprising for politicians to appoint people sympathetic to their views, we heard distinct concerns over an inclination to appoint supporters and friends, with qualifications being secondary”
For San Francisco to move forward and effectively confront the challenges we face, we must expose and reform the commission system via a public process, which is what Prop D will do.
Does Prop D eliminate any commissions immediately?
NO. Prop D does not eliminate any commissions when passed. Instead, Prop D will set up a 16-month timeline for the City to evaluate the commission system and make changes so that the number of commissions falls under the 65 cap.
Prop D starts the streamlining process by creating an independent task force that will review the commission system and determine which commissions should be kept/consolidated/dissolved. The task force will present its recommendations to the Board of Supervisors to then legislate.
Prop D’s independent task force can include members of the public to help lead this process, unlike the task force created by Prop E which must be a majority of city employees.
To ensure that the Board of Supervisors actually acts on the task force’s recommendations, Prop D sets up a May 2026 deadline. If the Board of Supervisors fails to take action by the deadline, all commissions except those that are state or federally mandated or those related to good governance and ethics will be dissolved.
Does Prop D really eliminate the Health, Library, Juvenile Probation, Human Rights commissions, etc?
NO. Prop D does not eliminate or recommend any commission for elimination. This is purposeful misinformation spread by the opposing Prop E campaign, run by long-time City Hall insiders, to trick voters into opposing the real government reform effort on the ballot.
Prop D takes these commissions out of our city’s charter to ensure they can be a part of the commission review process by the measure’s task force. The task force will review these commissions via a public process involving public meetings and unlike Prop E’s task force, members of the public can make up the majority of Prop D’s task force to ensure the process is actually community-led.
The task force can always choose to keep a former charter commission. We just believe it’s important the task force s review these commissions to determine if they are still needed or how they might be improved.
Why the 65-commission cap?
Prop D implements the 65 hard cap to ensure a reduction in the 130 commissions San Francisco has will actually happen unlike Prop E, which has no forcing mechanism to ensure streamlining.
The 65 hard cap will also prevent future commission bloat. City politicians will now no longer be able to create commissions to only virtue signal on issues, instead of actually addressing them. We want our government to think more carefully and intelligently about which commissions the City should have and should create if needed for the future.
How was the cap on 65 commissions determined?
We partnered with the Rose Institute of State and Local Government, using a combination of San Francisco specific and comparative research to arrive at the hard cap of 65 commissions.
SF Analysis
In partnership with the Rose Institute at Claremont McKenna, we used a mix of criteria to reach that 65 cap limit, evaluating the list of 130 commissions. We looked at the following criteria for each commission:
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If they oversee important enterprise and other major City departments - i.e. SFMTA, Public Utilities Commission
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Performed critical ethical/good government/fiscal oversight functions - i.e. Ethics, Elections
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Whether or not they were redundant and their functions could be merged with other commissions - i.e. the 5 commissions related to homelessness, the 5 commissions related to child services, etc.
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Whether or not commissions were still active - i.e. holding meetings in recent years and how frequently they were holding meetings, and if the mandate of the Commission was still relevant.
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If they were state/federally required - i.e. Disability and Aging Services Commission
San Francisco has double the number of commissions compared to other major cities, particularly other combined city-counties in the United States.
On a per capita basis, San Francisco also stands out in terms of the vast number of commissions compared to other major cities:
Sources
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts;
https://www.sfcityattorney.org/good-government/list-of-commissions-boards/;
https://www.coj.net/departments/boards-and-commissions.aspx;
https://indianapolis.granicus.com/boards/w/f4a1ea9c05a8da69/boards/40405;
https://louisvilleky.gov/government/mayor-craig-greenberg/boards-and-commissions-list;
https://www8.honolulu.gov/city-boards-and-commissions-o-z/#oahuhistoric;
https://www.nashville.gov/boards;
https://www.lexingtonky.gov/browse/government/boards-commissions;