The Facts

Three big reforms are being proposed by Mayor Lurie and Board President Rafael Mandelman. In a March 5, 2026 letter to Controller Greg Wagner, they lay out a package of Charter amendments in three buckets: contracting, ballots, and executive accountability.

On contracting, they argue the City manages $5B+ in annual contracts through a maze of rules, and propose shifting more authority to the City Administrator, raising contract thresholds that trigger Board approval, and extending the City Administrator’s term.

On elections, they propose requiring a majority of the Board to place ordinances on the ballot, removing the Mayor’s unilateral power to do so, raising the citizen-initiative signature threshold to 8% of registered voters, and allowing proponents to withdraw flawed measures after qualifying.

On executive accountability, they argue SF’s Charter has scattered appointment and management authority across commissions and offices, and propose changes intended to clarify who runs the executive branch day-to-day—while preserving independence for watchdog functions like ethics and elections.

The Context

San Francisco’s current system makes it unusually easy to overload voters: the Department of Elections’ initiative guide shows that ordinances can qualify with signatures equal to just 2% of registered voters.

The Controller’s Charter Reform Working Group was formed to develop practical fixes, and SPUR’s “Charter for Change” underscores the stakes: SF’s Charter has become sprawling, and voters faced 15 local measures in November 2024.

The GrowSF Take

GrowSF strongly supports this direction. Our co-founders Steven Bacio and Sachin Agarwal have been in the Controller’s Charter Reform Working Group meetings, and we’re very happy with where this is landing: fix contracting, reduce ballot shortcuts, and make it clear who’s responsible for performance.

These proposals track what we’ve been arguing for: end SF’s self-inflicted ballot overload and modernize the nation’s too-long Charter.