Mayor Lurie, President Mandelman Launch Effort to Reform Bloated, Outdated City Charter, Improve Services for San Franciscans

SAN FRANCISCO – Mayor Daniel Lurie and Board of Supervisors President and District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman today launched the city’s first comprehensive charter reform effort in three decades, partnering with City Administrator Carmen Chu and Controller Greg Wagner to review the country’s longest city charter. Since its last update in 1995, the city’s charter has been amended more than 100 times—creating a nearly-540-page patchwork of overlapping and often-conflicting rules. 
The new effort will bring together a broad group of experts and community leaders from across San Francisco to evaluate and consider charter amendments that will help the city and county operate more effectively and advance policy that is more responsive to and aligned with residents’ priorities. As reform proposals are developed, they may move forward to be placed on the November 2026 ballot.  
“Our administration is working every day to deliver more effective government services for San Franciscans, but our outdated and overly complicated city charter is getting in the way,” said Mayor Lurie. “With this group of experts and leaders, we are going to take a comprehensive look at how to modernize and streamline the charter so that we can provide the services our residents deserve and do it more effectively, efficiently, and with accountability.” 
 “If length and complexity of a city’s charter correlated with effectiveness of public service delivery, San Francisco would have the most efficient and responsive government around.  For several years now, a consensus has been building that, after nearly a century of amendments and additions, our nearly-600-page charter is overdue for a comprehensive refresh,” said President Rafael Mandelman. “I am hopeful that the stakeholders we are bringing together can help us think through the strengths and weaknesses of various reform proposals and set us up to offer the voters of San Francisco a proposal that will allow future city leaders to deliver the excellent government San Franciscans demand and deserve.” 
 “We all want a government that works and is responsive to our needs,” said City Administrator Carmen Chu. “Unfortunately, over time, we’ve incrementally limited our ability to be flexible and adapt. I thank Mayor Lurie and President Mandelman for initiating this conversation around how our work is shaped by the charter and to identify possibilities to make it better.” “San Francisco’s charter should reflect the needs and realities of the community we serve today—not the one that existed decades ago,” said Controller Greg Wagner. “Through our work, we've found over and over that layers of added requirements have slowed routine processes and limited our ability to respond with sufficient agility. Modernizing our charter will be a critical step toward delivering better services and strengthening public trust.” 
For years, experts have been studying San Francisco’s charter and identifying potential improvements that improve government structure and operations. Researchers at Claremont McKenna College’s Rose Institute of State and Local Government conducted one review in August 2023, the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR) completed additional analyses in July 2024 and November 2025, and the San Francisco Civil Grand Jury completed a Commission Impossible report in June 2024. 
The group will consider charter amendments addressing four key areas: 

• City Organization: Modernize the city’s organizational structure by clarifying roles and responsibilities and strengthening accountability
• Operational Efficiency: Make it easier to get things done by enabling clear, predictable operating procedures and clarifying department roles
• Policymaking: Develop a more adaptive and coherent policymaking process by evaluating the use of ballot measures
• Resource Management: Evaluate the impact of budget set-asides on the city’s ability to deliver for San Franciscans 

“Our city charter is long overdue for a look under the hood to ensure it is structured in the most efficient way possible,” said Supervisor Bilal Mahmood. “I look forward to collaborating with this group of dedicated community leaders and experts on recommendations to streamline and improve our charter for future generations of San Franciscans.” 
The group includes a broad but not exhaustive group of leaders from government, civic institutions, community organizations, the business community, and organized labor: 

• Rafael Mandelman, Board of Supervisors (President, District 8) 
• Bilal Mahmood, Board of Supervisors (District 5) 
• Chyanne Chen, Board of Supervisors (District 11) 
• Carmen Chu, City Administrator 
• Greg Wagner, Controller 
• Alicia John-Baptiste, Mayor's Office 
• Sachin Agarwal, GrowSF 
• Josh Arce, California Alliance for Jobs 
• Katherine August-deWilde, Partnership for SF 
• Larry Baer, Advance SF 
• Dan Bernal, UC-San Francisco 
• Fred Blackwell, San Francisco Foundation 
• Anni Chung, Self-Help for the Elderly 
• Meredith Dodson, San Francisco Parent Coalition 
• Bob Fisher, Pisces Foundation 
• Rodney Fong, San Francisco Chamber of Commerce 
• Susan Hirsch, Third Plateau 
• Lynn Mahoney, San Francisco State University 
• Missy Narula, Crankstart Foundation 
• Shola Olatoye, San Francisco Downtown Development Corporation 
• Tim Omi, San Francisco Council of District Merchants Associations 
• Michael Pappas, Interfaith Council 
• Andres Power, Abundant SF 
• Anna Marie Presutti, San Francisco Travel Association 
• Ben Rosenfield, SPUR 
• Natalie Sandoval, Urban Land Institute 
• Shakirah Simley, Booker T. Washington Community Service Center 
• Kim Tavaglione, San Francisco Labor Council 

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