Mayor Daniel Lurie’s ballot measures to streamline City Hall were already flush with cash. Now, they also have the backing of Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The governor on Friday endorsed all three measures, Propositions D, E and F, giving another boost to the best-funded local campaign on the November ballot.
“San Francisco’s broken system has failed everyday San Franciscans for far too long,” Newsom, who served as mayor from 2004 to 2011, said in a statement. The measures, he said, would “cut through the bureaucracy, restore accountability, and stop dishonest ballot box games.”
Touting Newsom’s support, Lurie said that the governor “knows firsthand what it takes to lead this city and the obstacles our broken system puts in the path of progress.”
“This is a critical effort to cut through the dysfunction, restore accountability, and end the excuses that have held San Francisco back for decades,” Lurie said in a statement.
Lurie has argued that the proposals will root out corruption at City Hall and make city services more efficient. An immense amount of money has poured into the propositions, with a whopping $13.5 million raised. Top contributors include venture capitalist and Standard chairman Michael Moritz, crypto billionaire Chris Larsen and his wife, philanthropist Lyna Lam, and investor John Pritzker.
Lurie ran for mayor in 2024 promising to make government more efficient. | Source: Benjamin Fanjoy for The Standard
The measures are split into three categories: ballot access, contracting and executive branch authority.
Prop. D would raise the threshold for the number of petition signatures needed to place. Lurie and others argue that voters are overwhelmed by the number of propositions each election cycle — this year, there are roughly two dozen local and state measures. The measure would raise the signature threshold from roughly 10,000 to 40,000, remove the mayor’s unilateral power to place measures on the ballot, and require six supervisors, instead of four, to put a proposition on the ballot.
The proposal is the most controversial of the three and has received pushback from some progressives and labor unions, who argue it would make it harder for less-resourced, grassroots organizers to get a measure on the ballot. But the opposition committee — Fair Access, No on D — has raised a comparatively small $200,000. Top donors to the campaign to defeat Prop. D include the nonprofit housing developer TODCO, SEIU Local 1021 and the San Francisco Labor Council.
Lurie’s Proposition D, which would make it harder to get measures on the ballot, has faced some pushback. | Source: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Meanwhile, Props. E and F would impact how City Hall runs. Prop. E would grant the city administrator more authority to oversee contracts. Prop. F would give Lurie more power to remove some city department heads and commissioners and to change how city departments are structured.
Questions have arisen regarding some of the messaging around Prop F. This week, the Chronicle reported (opens in new tab) that Lurie’s ballot measure committee had inaccurately advertised that the police commission would remain independent of Lurie’s reach if the measure passed. In fact, Prop. F would allow the mayor to unilaterally remove his appointees to the commission without approval from the Board of Supervisors. A Lurie political adviser acknowledged the campaign had made mistakes in its messaging.
Lurie isn’t the first to try to change the city’s charter. In 2024, moderate-aligned forces spent millions on a proposition to limit the number of commissions and to give the mayor more authority to appoint and remove city department heads. The effort, heavily funded by Moritz, failed to pass, with 56% of voters opposed. It was championed by mayoral candidate Mark Farrell, who placed fourth in the mayor’s race and faced ethics sanctions.