San Francisco Proposition D
City Commissions and Mayoral Authority
Prop. D would limit the number of city commissions to 65 — about half the current number. It would give the mayor sole authority to appoint and remove most department heads, and it would give the police chief sole authority to adopt rules governing police-officer conduct. It would establish a five-member task force to recommend to the mayor and the Board of Supervisors within nine months which commissions should be dissolved, restructured or reauthorized within the new limit.
Nearly half of charter commissions would be removed but could be added back as advisory bodies within the new limit, the city controller said. Decisionmaking authority of dissolved commissions, unless mandated by law, would transfer to department heads; hearing officers or administrative-law judges would decide appeals and other matters.
Argument for: Proponents say Prop. D would help The City more effectively respond to pressing problems such as homelessness and open-air drug markets by creating a more accountable, efficient and corruption-free government. This would be accomplished by trimming a bloated and sometimes duplicative commission system that diffuses decisionmaking authority. Prop. D would ensure that elected officials, not unelected commissioners, are responsible for managing city departments.
Argument against: Critics counter that the “billionaire-funded” measure sets an arbitrary limit on commissions. It was crafted without public input and would be “destructive” by giving “unchecked” power to mayors and reducing public engagement and accountability for government, particularly over police conduct rules. The measure would take a “meat ax” to commissions that provide for citizen oversight, causing the largest transfer of power and authority from the people of San Francisco to the staff of San Francisco since adoption of the 1932 city charter.
https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/politics/2024-sf-voter-guide-local-propositions-measures-on-ballot/article_97615262-7776-11ef-913a-ebf36660f047.html