DSA San Francisco stands in strong opposition to Mayor Lurie’s three proposed charter amendments for November 2026 which seek to limit San Franciscans’ ability to place measures on the ballot, reduce democratic oversight over city spending, and further centralize power under the Mayor. The measures are funded by a set of tech and real estate capitalists, to the tune of $8.6 million so far. All of these measures undermine the working class’ ability to govern ourselves and hold our officials accountable for their decisions while cynically being marketed as an effort to “clean up City Hall,” despite most of San Francisco’s recent corruption emanating from the Mayor’s Office. 

In the last 1.5 years as mayor, Daniel Lurie has continued the legacy of his “moderate”, corporate-backed predecessors. Under his administration, we’ve seen: 

• Cuts to crucial services in his austerity budget, while police spending continues to surge 
• Attempts to slash taxes on luxury real estate sales, and the Mayor’s opposition to our chapter’s endorsed Proposition I to guarantee funding for affordable and social housing
• The criminalization of vehicular homelessness
• A dangerous drunk tank that flies in the face of evidence-based public health solutions
• A refusal to release details of his communications with Donald Trump and with the leadership of PG&E, in violation of public records laws
• A backroom deal handing a no-bid government contract to a tech company with ties to his donors

But this is about more than just one Mayor. In the name of “efficiency” and “accountability”, the measures serve to directly and permanently undermine grassroots democracy while shielding current and future administrations from oversight. 

No on Prop D: Restricting Ballot Access

Prop D  makes it harder for measures to reach the ballot, by raising the signature threshold four times, increasing from 2% of voters to 8%. Instead of requiring around 10,700 signatures, any citizens’ initiative would now require about 42,000. It also requires a majority of the Board of Supervisors, rather than just 4, to place a measure on the ballot, and removes the Mayor’s ability to unilaterally place measures.

Prop D will make it so that only the wealthy can reliably bring measures to the voters. While it’s easy for billionaires to pay an army of signature gatherers to reach these thresholds, as Lurie did for his charter amendments, measures without big money backing will struggle to qualify.

This is a blatant attempt to prevent measures that tax the rich and benefit the working class from ever reaching San Franciscans’ ballots. We know that when these measures are on the ballot, they are likely to pass – and that’s what Lurie and his allies are so afraid of. DSA San Francisco just helped gather over 20,000 signatures to place one such measure on the ballot, Proposition I (the Affordable Housing Guarantee Act), which will make sure that taxes on mega real estate sales go to fund affordable and social housing.

DSA SF has previously gathered signatures to place several major citizens initiatives on the ballot like 2022’s Prop M Empty Homes Tax, 2018’s Prop C tax on corporations to fund homelessness solutions, and 2018’s Prop F providing free attorneys to tenants facing eviction – and all passed with strong voter support.

The raising of signature thresholds threatens to deprive San Franciscans of the ability to bring future ballot measures that would provide solutions to the serious issues our city is facing, whether that is affordable housing, public transit, tenants’ rights, clean energy, or workers’ rights. Instead, only a handful of billionaire donors, and the politicians they fund, would be able to bring legislation to voters. We reject this attack on democratic ballot access and say NO on Prop D.

No on Prop E: Slashing Contract Oversight

Prop E reduces oversight of major spending contracts by the City. It allows the City Administrator, appointed by the Mayor, to unilaterally approve expenditure on contracts of up to $25 million. Previously, contracts over $10 million required approval by the Board of Supervisors.

While the Board of Supervisors itself is far from perfect, its oversight role allows for more public scrutiny over these kinds of contracts, improving transparency and accountability.

We have recently seen corruption in the city contracting process, with the Mayor’s awarding of a major contract to OpenGov, a firm with close financial ties to him, against the recommendation of city employees for a lower-cost option. Weakening oversight of large contracts for this administration opens the door to further corruption.

Our city money going to huge private contracts, with little oversight, can mean less money for transit, housing, health care, and other key services working people rely on. With no Board inquiry into contracts under $25M, working people will be less informed and have less input into the decisions. We stand against this attempt to slash democratic accountability over our city’s spending. No on Prop E!

No on Prop F: Removing City Hall Checks and Balances

Prop F would give the Mayor sweeping power to hire and fire department heads, as well as to greatly alter departments’ core objectives, and merge departments together at will. Essentially, this would place the leadership, direction, and structure of all departments at the Mayor’s discretion.

Prop F would also give the Mayor authority to fire appointed commissioners at-will, undermining independent citizen oversight. We are currently seeing the consequences of unchecked Mayoral appointees on the SFMTA Board of Directors, who are privatizing car-free Market Street to hand over to Waymo. This measure would further entrench Mayoral control over SFMTA and other appointees, removing crucial checks and balances that can prevent corporate power grabs like the Market street debacle.

Given Mayor Lurie’s record, Prop F would open a dangerous pathway for the further slashing of public services, giveaways to the rich, and criminalization of homelessness and poverty.

This measure would place unprecedented power in the hands of a single executive. Any future Mayor would have the ability to dramatically reshape City Hall with little check from independent departments & city commissions, whether that be for unpopular political ends or even for personal corruption. Say NO to Prop F.

Oppose Undemocratic and Unaccountable City Governance, Protect Working Class Power

By reducing ballot access, democratic oversight, and executive guard rails, these proposed charter amendments would exacerbate corruption and remove power from working San Franciscans. DSA SF joins a growing coalition of organizations opposing this attempt to diminish the ability of San Franciscans to shape the government that is supposed to represent us.

Join DSA SF to help us fight this undemocratic power grab and say NO to Prop D, E and F: dsasf.org/join