San Francisco Moves to Update, Modernize, and Clean Up its City Charter

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Maeve Skelly - 734-585-4893 - maeve.skelly@sfgov.org

Today, Board President Rafael Mandelman and co-sponsors Bilal Mahmood and Myrna Melgar introduced a Charter Amendment that improves processes to allow San Francisco’s government to deliver better city services to residents. The proposed reforms will clean up outdated and inefficient provisions across San Francisco’s City Charter. The measure addresses a range of practical problems that have accumulated over decades, including obsolete language, procedural bottlenecks, and rules that no longer reflect how departments across the City actually operate.

The approximately 110 discrete line-item changes to the Charter in this measure can be categorized across three general categories:

1. Modernization and clean-up: Updates to reflect current conditions, correcting technical errors, and removing language that is out of date or no longer accurate.
2. Delivering better city services: solving department-specific pain points related to departmental operations and improvements to processes to allow for better governmental functioning.
3. Commission reform: Changes that derive from the work of the Proposition E Commission Streamlining Task Force, which spent months conducting a comprehensive evaluation of the structure, performance, and effectiveness of the City’s boards and commissions.

“Charter reform may not be sexy, but it is important,” said Board President Rafael Mandelman. “Our Charter is nearly a century old and during that time has been amended in countless ways. Hundreds of pages long, it is a document in need of pruning and updating. Over the last year, including through the work of the Proposition E Commission Streamlining Task Force and the Charter Reform Working Group, San Franciscans have had the opportunity to take a closer look at our Charter and consider possible reforms. This measure is one outcome of those deliberations, which in combination with other proposed reforms, would amount to the most significant reform package in three decades.”

“For too long, outdated charter language has been a quiet tax on city government, slowing decisions, confusing accountability, and getting in the way of basic service delivery,” said Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, “These reforms will help modernize how city agencies operate — including allowing agencies like Muni to use performance metrics that better reflect riders’ real experience. This is about making city government more functional, accountable, and responsive so departments can spend less time navigating obsolete rules and more time delivering results for the public. I’m proud to support it.”

This proposed Charter Amendment will be heard at the Rules Committee in July before advancing to a full Board of Supervisors vote prior to July 24. If approved, the measure will be placed before San Francisco voters on the November 2026 ballot.

Press Release Memo (PDF)