The San Francisco Department of Elections has qualified three government reform measures for the November ballot that are championed by Mayor Daniel Lurie.
The measures qualified on July 23 after the Department of Elections certified more than 80,000 valid signatures for each of the three measures.
Supporters say the measures would “modernize” city contracting, most notably by granting the City Administrator “sole authority” over the city’s purchasing laws; improve government accountability by giving the mayor and the Board of Supervisors greater authority to remove appointed department heads or commissioners; and simplify ballots by raising the signature thresholds for supervisors and citizen initiatives to qualify, reducing the number of measures that appear on annual ballots.
The legislation is part of Lurie’s Clean Up City Hall campaign, a charter reform effort aimed at fixing what it describes as San Francisco’s “broken” governance system.
During his 2024 mayoral campaign, the initiative was one of Lurie’s signature promises, as he argued that his lack of City Hall experience would allow him to root out corruption.
“The system breeds corruption and wastes taxpayer dollars,” Lurie said in a statement. “San Franciscans are stepping up and demanding more accountability, better results and no excuses from their government. That’s exactly what we’re going to deliver in November.”
According to Clean Up City Hall, the San Francisco City Charter is the longest municipal charter of any major American city at more than 500 pages and has contributed to dysfunction, including contracting delays, legislative barriers and high construction costs, such as the 2024 Noe Valley public bathroom project, which was initially estimated to cost $1.7 million before grant funding and donations reduced the public expense.
San Francisco also currently requires one of the nation’s lowest signature thresholds — at least 2% of registered voters — for a measure to qualify for the ballot, according to Clean Up City Hall. In 2024, San Francisco’s November ballot included 15 measures, compared with one in San Jose.
“These reforms give city government the structure to actually do its job and give voters a ballot they can make sense of,” said Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who has endorsed the initiative alongside five other members of the Board of Supervisors.
The initiative is also backed by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the San Francisco Democratic Party and labor unions across the city, including the San Francisco Building Construction Trades Council, LiUNA Local 261 and the Police Officers Association.
The Clean Up City Hall campaign has also highlighted support from small business owners, who say permit delays and wasted taxpayer dollars have been major sources of frustration.
“I’ve spent days going from department to department just to get a permit — time I could have spent with my family or at my business,” said Nancy Yu Law, a 28-year Chinatown store owner and president of the Chinatown History and Culture Association. “Small business owners like us deserve a City Hall that works as hard as we do.”
