Massive Code Cleanup, Fair Chance Expansion Headline SF Oversight Committee

The San Francisco Government Audit & Oversight Committee pushed through a packed agenda on June 18, advancing a 357-page ordinance eliminating over 100 obsolete city reporting requirements, expanding employment and housing protections for people fleeing states that criminalize abortion and gender-affirming care, and approving the police department's annual military equipment report. The session's sharpest exchange came during a hearing on citywide vacancies, where supervisors challenged the Department of Human Resources over methodology they said obscures a well-known 480-officer police shortage.

• Code cleanup ordinance eliminates 119+ outdated reporting mandates, freeing staff capacity during a budget crunch — but the Clerk of the Board warns the 357-page format undermines public review
• SF bars employers and housing providers from using out-of-state convictions for abortion care, gender-affirming care, and drag performance
• SFPD's 98-drone fleet deployed 1,122 times at a $5.3M annual cost dominates the department's military equipment report
• Downtown CBD renews and expands eight years early, adding the planned Embarcadero Park to accelerate economic recovery
• Supervisors slam confusing city vacancy data, continuing hearing to July 2 after questioning how the report masks a 480-officer police shortage
• Four lawsuit settlements totaling $3.185M forwarded to the full Board

Board President Rafael Mandelman brought the Government Audit & Oversight Committee what may be the most sweeping legislative housekeeping effort in recent memory: a single ordinance touching more than 500 city reporting requirements and proposing to eliminate over 100 of them.