NOTICE OF INTENTION TO CIRCULATE INITIATIVE PETITION Notice is hereby given by the person whose name appears hereon of their intention to circulate a petition within the City and County of San Francisco for the purpose of placing on the November 3, 2026 general election ballot a measure to improve accountability within the executive branch and allow the Mayor to reorganize certain functions among city departments. A statement of the reasons of the proposed action as contemplated in the petition is as follows: San Francisco's Charter now spans 548 pages, making it the longest of any major American city. More than 90 percent of City departments are embedded in the Charter itself, meaning even modest organizational improvements require voter approval. Department heads oversee 99 percent of City staff and resources, yet the Mayor has direct hire-and-removal authority over only a small fraction of them. In recent instances involving serious ethical lapses, the Mayor lacked authority to immediately remove department heads. The Charter also requires the Mayor to directly supervise nearly 50 department heads—an impractical structure for a government with more than 30,000 employees. This structure diffuses responsibility and makes it difficult for voters to know who is accountable when services fall short. The proposed measure restores clear lines of accountability within the executive branch while preserving oversight by the Board of Supervisors. These changes ensure that when San Franciscans elect a Mayor, they know who is responsible for delivering results. _/s/________________ Daniel Lurie Proponent of the Initiative The city attorney has prepared the following title and summary of the chief purpose and points of the proposed measure: CHANGES TO EXECUTIVE BRANCH MANAGEMENT The Way It Is Now The Mayor is the chief executive officer of the City and is responsible for oversight of all departments and governmental units in the executive branch, which includes most City departments. The Mayor has authority to transfer functions and reorganize executive branch departments created by ordinance, subject to rejection by the Board of Supervisors. The Mayor may not transfer functions or reorganize department powers and duties established in the City's Charter. Those functions, powers, and duties may be changed only by an amendment to the Charter approved by the voters. The Mayor may not hire deputy mayors who supervise most departments created in the Charter. When a department operates under a board or commission established in the Charter, the Mayor typically must select a department head from a list of candidates recommended by the board or commission. For most of those departments, the board or commission may fire the department head but the Mayor may not. The Mayor, Board of Supervisors, and other elected officials have authority to appoint certain members to the boards and commissions established in the Charter. In most cases, an appointed member may only be suspended or removed for cause, after a process to determine that the member engaged in official misconduct or committed a felony involving moral turpitude. The Proposal The proposed measure would allow the Mayor to reorganize executive branch departments that exist under the Charter, with certain exceptions. The Mayor could transfer powers and duties set forth in the Charter, consolidate one or more departments together under a single department head, and assign the oversight of transferred functions to a different commission. The Mayor could not reorganize the functions assigned to the following departments: the City Administrator, Controller, Board of Appeals, Port, Airport, Asian Art Museum, Fine Art Museums, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, Public Utilities Commission, Civil Service Commission, Department of Human Resources, Retirement Board, Health Service System, Department of Elections, Ethics Commission, or departments headed by other elected officials. The duties of the Department of Police Accountability could not be transferred to the Police Department, nor could the duties of the Sheriff's Inspector General be transferred to the Sheriff. The proposed measure would allow the Mayor to hire deputy mayors. The proposed measure would expand the Mayor's authority to hire certain department heads without board or commission involvement, and would authorize the Mayor to fire most department heads without board or commission involvement. The proposed measure would authorize appointing authorities to remove their appointees to most boards and commissions without cause. The following boards and commissions would not be impacted by this change: Board of Appeals, Civil Service Commission, and Ethics Commission.