It's Time to Show Up at a Prop E Taskforce Meeting to Voice Your Concerns

By Christin Evans, HANC Board

When voters went to the ballot in November last year, they rejected the meat axe approach of Proposition D which would have cut the number of commissions in half.  But voters also signaled they wanted commission reform when they narrowly passed Proposition E creating the Commission Streamlining Taskforce. The measure promised a careful review of the citizen bodies which oversee and advise city departments to which they are attached. 

But there may be a flaw to the execution of Prop E as the appointees who make up the taskforce appear to be carrying water for certain officials including the Mayor who have made several hostile moves to drastically cut out meaningful citizen oversight, and the transparency and accountability created by bodies such as the Police Commission, Library Commission, Arts Commission, Juvenile Probation Commission, etc.

At recent task force meetings, Mayor Lurie’s representative has both proposed cutting the number of commissions and has proposed changes that would gut their independence and authority.

Troubling Proposals

The proposals are troubling. They include eliminating a significant number of commissions altogether, stripping commissions of their policymaking authority and ability to approve contracts, and giving the mayor the majority of appointments and the power to remove his appointees for any reason—not just for cause.

As I have served on the Homeless Oversight Commission these past two years, I can confirm what a chilling effect these moves would have.  Already mayoral appointees have a sense of obligation to align with the mayor’s policies no matter how counterproductive they may be.  For a body whose purpose is to help support the city in establishing programs and policies aimed to reduce the number of people experiencing homelessness, most commissioners were reluctant this past budget cycle to go along with the mayor’s budget proposal that would prioritize short term shelter stays over investments in permanent exits from homelessness. Only one mayoral appointee signaled full throated support for Lurie’s plans the rest advocated for a balanced approach which the supervisors ultimately supported too.

If changes to the composition of the body were made to be 100% mayoral appointees who could be removed at will, there would unlikely be any overt challenges made to proposals the mayor makes, because the threat of immediate removal would hang over their heads. That means commissions would simply become rubber stamps for the mayor’s proposals no matter how poorly conceived they were.  Policies and programs wouldn’t improve with the benefit of the expert lens Commissioners provide in the matters they oversee.

Ultimately the changes that the taskforce makes will be left up to the Board of Supervisors and if chartered commissions, the voters to decide which changes are ultimately made next year.  It is hard to see that voters would go along with gutting the powers of the commissions they’ve recently voted to retain.  But nonetheless, it's important that those of us invested in good governance and the transparency and accountability the Commissions provide start voicing our concerns to this taskforce.  The taskforce meets the first and third Wednesday at 1pm in Room 408 and agendas can be found on their website at: https://www.sf.gov/commission-streamlining-task-force.  You can also send your concerns about commission reform to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. which will be entered into the public record and shared with taskforce members.