Mayor Daniel Lurie ran on making City Hall work. Proposition F is the biggest piece of his plan to get there, and the most contested: a charter amendment that would shift power over city departments away from commissions and toward the mayor's office.

What Prop F would change

Most San Francisco departments are run by a department head who answers to a commission, and most commissioners can only be removed for cause, such as fraud or neglect of duty. According to the League of Women Voters of San Francisco and the San Francisco Public Press, Prop F would:

  • Let the mayor fire most department heads for any reason, without the commission approval now required. Commissions could no longer remove department heads.
  • Make most commissioners removable for any reason by whoever appointed them. The Board of Appeals, Civil Service Commission and Ethics Commission are excluded.
  • Take away the Police Commission's power to remove the police chief, leaving that to the mayor alone.
  • Cut the minimum number of finalists a commission sends the mayor for most department head jobs from three to one, and let the mayor hire some department heads directly.
  • Lift the 1991 voter ban on deputy mayors overseeing departments.
  • Let the mayor reorganize or merge most departments without a public vote. The Board of Supervisors would get 30 days to object, and related ordinances would take effect unless supervisors reject them within 60 days.

Some offices are outside the reorganization power, including the Controller, the Board of Appeals, the Port, the Airport the Asian Art Museum and the Fine Arts Museums, the Public Press reported. Duties the charter requires could be moved but not eliminated.

Why Lurie wants it

Lurie already runs the city through five policy chiefs who oversee areas like public safety and housing, a setup the Public Press notes closely resembles the deputy mayor role voters abolished in 1991. Supporters say the current system lets departments become fiefdoms where problems linger, and that clear lines of accountability between the mayor and department heads would improve services. Prop F is one of three Lurie charter measures, along with Prop D on the ballot measure process and Prop E on city contracting.

What your vote means

  • Yes: The mayor gains power to hire and fire most department heads, appoint deputy mayors and restructure departments, and commissioners become easier to remove.
  • No: The current charter rules on commissions, department heads and deputy mayors stay in place.

Who is for and against it

Backers include the San Francisco Democratic Party, Firefighters Local 798, the SF Building Trades, SEIU 87, SPUR, the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and the Hotel Council. Small Business Forward wrote the official argument against, and Democratic Socialists of America SF also opposes it. Opponents say it removes essential checks and balances, weakens commission oversight and lets leadership and departments change without public hearings.

Follow the money

Mayor Lurie's Yes on D, E and F committee had raised about $12.6 million and spent about $7 million, according to San Francisco Ethics Commission filings, a sum the Public Press noted dwarfs the money behind the city's other measures. Its top donors include Michael Moritz, at about $2.6 million, and Chris Larsen, at about $1.5 million. The Ethics Commission's page for the three measures lists no committee formed to oppose them.

The last day to register is Oct. 19, and Election Day is Nov. 3.