Lobbyists seeking to influence San Francisco city officials could soon be subjected to new disclosure requirements and restrictions proposed today.
The legislation authored by Board of Supervisors president David Chiu and City Attorney Dennis Herrera would make ethics reforms that would “lead to a better and more open government,” Chiu said.
The reforms include tightening loopholes in the city’s government conduct codes that currently allow various lobbying by attorneys to go unreported and requiring reporting for consultants and developers seeking to expedite city permits.
The legislation would also require the city’s Ethics Commission to post a list of city officials who do not file financial disclosure forms and a supplemental report on persistent non-filers.
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The proposed changes would “increase transparency and accountability across the board,” Herrera said. “The public demands integrity in what happens here at City Hall.”
Both Chiu and Herrera ran against Mayor Ed Lee in San Francisco’s 2011 mayoral race, in which some of Lee’s campaign contributors were accused of misconduct, while Lee was also criticized for donations for his trip to China earlier this month.
However, Chiu said the answer was “an emphatic no” to the question of whether this legislation is addressed at anyone in particular.
The board president introduced the legislation at the supervisors’ regular meeting today.
Lee said this afternoon he had not yet reviewed the legislation but was in favor of anything that improved the current ethics requirements.
“We already have pretty strong laws on the books but there’s always room for improvement,” he said.
Dan McMenamin, Bay City News
