SF Mayor Calls Out ‘Broken’ Charter, Contracting Process

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie renewed his call for sweeping city charter reform during the most recent Board of Supervisors meeting this week. Contracting improvements — or reforms, as the case may be — were among the changes he cited as an immediate need.

In a short address at the beginning of the Board of Supervisors' regular meeting March 10, Lurie took aim at several “broken” aspects of city government, including how it purchases goods and services and transparency surrounding those purchases.

“Right now, city contracting is too expensive, too slow and too political,” he said in his brief remarks.

Lurie’s comments highlighted ongoing work first announced in December 2025 and aimed at reimagining the city’s “bloated, outdated” charter. That charter document is nearly 540 pages long and has been amended more than 100 times since its last update in 1995, according to the city.

This latest run at a charter overhaul is being done in partnership with Board President Rafael Mandelman, the mayor noted.

The mayor called out the need to consolidate city contracting under the City Administrator's Office, removing multidepartment approvals.

“Not only do different departments have different rules, but more than a dozen departments can be involved in approving just one contract. This slows down projects and drives up costs, and we all know we can do better,” he continued.

For vendors, it’s unclear what exactly the changes could translate to, though Lurie’s comments indicated a desire for efficiency above bureaucratic process.

Industry Insider — California reached out to the Mayor’s Office on Wednesday for clarification and comment about the plan, policy mechanisms and timeline, but received only a link to a December press release in response.

Any changes to the existing charter would require voter approval — after a board proposal, public review and financial analysis. The city’s Department of Elections website lists July deadlines for the submission of charter amendments to qualify for the November elections.

So far, only an amendment to the lifetime term limits of the mayor and board members appears to have been submitted.

Broad scope, the city has made headlines recently for its estimated $900 million budget deficit, with the mayor proposing deep personnel cuts to as many as 500 positions from across departments.

Like the state, San Francisco is facing a multiyear deficit. In May 2025, officials were up against an $781.5 million budget shortfall that was being driven by property tax, sales tax and hotel room tax declines as well as cuts to federal funding.

This budget cycle is shaping up to have a lot of these same hallmarks.