SAN FRANCISCO—On Monday, June 8, the Rules Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved a ballot measure for November that would propose that non-U.S. citizens be permitted to serve on advisory boards for City Hall’s policy issues.
The sitting members of the Rules Committee are Supervisors Hillary Ronen, Catherine Stefani, and Gordon Mar, all of whom voted in favor of putting the proposition on this November’s ballot.
The current Charter of the City and County of San Francisco makes it mandatory that those who sit on San Francisco boards, commissions, and advisories are U.S. citizens and registered voters. This amendment would change those requirements so that non-U.S. citizens and non-registered voters, including those under the legal voting age of 18, would be able to hold positions on these policy bodies.
All eleven members of the Board of Supervisors are sponsoring the ballot measure, which they voted on today, June 9.
This is not the first proposal to suggest giving policy input to non-citizens. In June 2016, a charter amendment called Proposition N was put forth that would allow non-citizens to vote in San Francisco School Board elections. The proposal was adopted by the Board of Supervisors and became an ordinance in May 2018.
In 2018, a similar bill to allow non-citizens to serve on state commissions was proposed. In September of 2018, former California Governor Jerry Brown vetoed the amendment, holding that the requirement of citizenship for public service is “the better path.”
In order to go into effect, the ballot measure will have to earn a majority from San Franciscans at the voting booths on November 3.
On May 5, after the charter amendment was introduced, District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton said in a virtual Board of Supervisors meeting, “We are 100% fighting for democracy here in San Francisco and going to make sure that all voices matter…We still have our work cut out for us to make sure voters support this important charter amendment.”
