Voters to Decide Two-Thirds Tax Rule
PLUS: lobbying transparency, Fielder returns, SFUSD budget, and a little corruption
What You Need To Know
Here’s what happened around the city for the week of June 21, 2026:
- Voters to Decide Two-Thirds Tax Rule
- Dorsey pushes lobbying transparency
- Fielder Returns, Questions Remain
- SFUSD Budget Splits Board
- Sheriff Wants More RESET Centers
- Audit Finds Contract Steering
- SFPUC Head to Retire in December
Voters to Decide Two-Thirds Tax Rule
Published June 26, 2026
The Facts
Passing local taxes may get a bit harder this November, with a return to pre-2020 rules. California voters will decide ACA 22, which would re-instate a two-thirds vote requirement on any local tax earmarked for a specific use and placed on the ballot by citizen initiative, after the California Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that voter-initiative taxes only needed a simple majority. The text does not appear to retroactively cancel taxes voters already passed.
The Context
The measure is the result of legislative dealmaking with the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer’s Association’s (HJTA) ballot measure that would have forced local real-estate transfer taxes down to the state rate of 0.11%, automatically repealed any local taxes that didn’t meet the 2/3 vote requirement, and threatened San Francisco’s Muni parcel tax.
The GrowSF Take
Voters may or may not like this deal (we’ll find out in November!), but its definitely better than the measure the HJTA had qualified for the ballot. Their measure, had it passed, would have wiped out a bunch of important funding for SF government services and pushed the city and state to replace that lost funding with new (likely even more distortionary) taxes.
Dorsey pushes lobbying transparency.
Published June 25, 2026
The Facts
City-funded nonprofits may soon have to disclose lobbying at City Hall. Supervisor Matt Dorsey is drafting an ordinance that would also require nonprofit speakers to identify their affiliations during public comment, closing a local exemption.
San Francisco’s 2014 lobbyist amendments exempted officers and employees of many 501(c)(3) nonprofits, and some 501(c)(4)s, from registration and reporting when speaking for their organizations.
The Context
City Hall paid nonprofits $1.63 billion in 2025, up from $809 million in 2019, according to J.D. Morris and Hanna Zakharenko at the Chronicle. The Ethics Commission already oversees lobbyist registration and disclosure for other interests, so Dorsey’s proposal is about extending transparency rules to a much larger slice of City Hall influence.
The GrowSF Take
This is a sensible transparency reform. If an organization takes public money and then organizes pressure campaigns at City Hall, the public should know who is speaking, whom they represent, and how much advocacy is being funded.
San Francisco has a non-profit accountability problem. Many nonprofits do valuable work, but taxpayers still deserve clear disclosure when publicly funded groups lobby the officials who oversee their contracts.
Fielder Returns, Questions Remain
Published June 26, 2026
The Facts
Supervisor Jackie Fielder plans to return Monday after a three-month leave following a mental health crisis. The Board approved her request to be excused from meetings from April 7 through June 30.
The Context
Her return comes while a City Attorney investigation into her office remains unresolved.
That investigation began after a confidential legal memo was leaked to Mission Local. The memo warned that Mayor Lurie’s proposed sobering center carried “very high legal risk” if the city detained people there without meeting detention-facility standards.
The Chronicle later reported that the investigation had focused on Fielder’s office. Fielder’s office denied leaking the memo.
The GrowSF Take
Mental health crises are serious, and elected officials are human beings. We wish Supervisor Fielder well as she returns.
At the same time, District 9 went months without its elected Supervisor during an important budgeting process. San Franciscans still don’t have answers about how a confidential legal memo ended up in the press.
If confidential legal memos can be leaked without consequence, it becomes harder for city leaders to ask hard questions, get honest answers, and make responsible decisions.
Fielder is often in the Board minority, so her return likely won’t change any outcomes. Still, District 9 deserves to have its supervisor present and voting.
SFUSD Budget Splits Board
Published June 26, 2026
The Facts
SFUSD passed a $1.36 billion budget in a 4-3 vote and updated its Local Control and Accountability Plan ahead of the July 1 deadline. Superintendent Maria Su says the district can now self-certify a positive budget after cutting spending and tightening operations. One major unresolved issue is attendance: SFUSD has said student absences cost it over $60 million in state funding last school year.
The Context
The split was more interesting than a simple yes-or-no headline. As Ezra Wallach at The Standard reported, Parag Gupta, Jaime Huling, and Matt Alexander voted no because they still did not see a strategic enough link between spending and student outcomes. Huling wanted more general-fund money aimed at chronic absenteeism. On the other side, Supriya Ray and Phil Kim joined Alida Fisher and Lisa Weissman-Ward voting in favor. Kim said he would “like to vote no,” but voted yes despite being “very frustrated” that clearer alignment documents showed up only once passage of the budget was at risk. Kim and Ray also want the budget better aligned with outcomes, but risking decertification from the state was too big a risk.
The GrowSF Take
We’re glad to see the district continue to move forward balancing its budget, but we share the frustration that the money is not better tied to outcomes.
The uncomfortable truth is that both sides were right: SFUSD needed to pass this budget, and SFUSD still needs to show, in plain language, how the money will improve reading, math, and attendance.
Sheriff Wants More RESET Centers
Published June 26, 2026
The Facts
Sheriff Paul Miyamoto wants more sobering sites, known as RESET centers, after the Sixth Street facility admitted about 600 people over the past month. The facility opened May 4 at 444 Sixth St. as an involuntary 24-hour sobering facility for certain public-intoxication arrests.
The Context
The city’s RESET contract funds a 25-chair site and pays ConnectionsCA up to $14.5 million through March 2028. The Sheriff’s latest budget request asks for $6.7 million to operate the current center. The site is designed to move people arrested for public intoxication indoors instead of leaving them on sidewalks.
The GrowSF Take
Getting intoxicated people indoors is better than leaving them on the street. If the Sixth Street site is handling this many referrals this quickly, San Francisco should be open to expanding the model. The city needs more places that move people off sidewalks and into supervised care.
Audit Finds Contract Steering
Published June 25, 2026
The Facts
A city audit found former chief assistant treasurer Tajel Shah steered a tax-software procurement toward Mechanical Orchard through an undisclosed friendship with one of the firm’s executives. Auditors said staff handling both the discovery project and later bid process made repeated decisions that unfairly benefited the company.
The deal involved a contract worth up to $10 million.
The Context
The procurement was tied to replacing the city’s business-tax system, which the Treasurer-Tax Collector had already said was reaching end of life. That system helps administer billions in city revenue, so the stakes were high.
The GrowSF Take
The scandal is real, but this is not a case where nobody noticed.
An earlier bid-rigging probe put the issue on the radar, then auditors confirmed serious procurement misconduct. That shows that San Francisco’s watchdogs work.
SFPUC Head to Retire in December
Published June 25, 2026
The Facts
Dennis Herrera will retire at the end of the year, ending his tenure as SFPUC general manager, according to The San Francisco Standard and the San Francisco Chronicle.
The Context
Herrera is one of the most consequential San Francisco officials of the last 25 years. He served nearly 20 years as City Attorney before moving to SFPUC in 2021. As City Attorney, he helped defend San Francisco’s same-sex marriage licenses, sued the Trump administration over its sanctuary-city funding threats, and built one of the country’s most respected municipal law offices.
The SFPUC manages some of San Francisco’s most important infrastructure: drinking water, wastewater, and power. Herrera took over after former SFPUC general manager Harlan Kelly was caught up in the City Hall corruption scandal. Kelly was later sentenced to four years in prison for bribery, bank fraud, and conspiracy.
Herrera leaves behind a mostly positive legacy: a serious City Attorney’s office, a stabilizing tenure at SFPUC after scandal, and a public-power effort that is further along than when he arrived.
The GrowSF Take
Mayor Lurie now gets one of the most important appointments in city government.
The next SFPUC chief should be boring in the best possible way: ethical, competent, and focused on the basics. San Francisco needs reliable water and power, clean contracting, and faster delivery of major infrastructure.
They will also inherit the city’s long-running effort to take over PG&E’s local power infrastructure. Whatever one thinks of public power, its implementation requires serious management, clear numbers, and honest communication with the public.