San Francisco Sunshine Ordinance

            SEC. 67.1.            FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.  The Board of Supervisors finds and declares:

(a)       Government’s duty is to serve the public, reaching its decisions in full view of the public.

(b)       Commissions, boards, councils and other agencies of the City and County exist to conduct the people’s business.  This ordinance will assure that their deliberations are conducted before the people and that City operations are open to the people’s review.

(c)       Although that is the intent also of California’s Ralph M. Brown Act and Public records Act, the people of California have learned from costly experience that every generation of governmental leaders includes officials who feel more comfortable conducting public business away from the scrutiny of those who elect and employ them.  New civic issues and new governmental procedures also can erode the public’s fundamental rights.  Violations of open government principles occur at all levels, from local advisory boards to the highest reaches of the State hierarchy.

(d)       It is time for San Francisco to reaffirm the plain purpose of the State’s open government laws and to apply their underlying principles to local circumstances.  No law is self-enforcing.  Continued vigilance is essential.  As government evolves, so must the laws designed to assure that the process remains visible.

(e)       The people of San Francisco want an open society.  They do not give their public servants the right to decide what they should know.  The public’s right to know is as fundamental as its right to vote.  To act on truth, the people must be free to learn the truth.

(f)        The sun must shine on all the workings of government so the people may put their institutions right when they go wrong.  San Francisco enacts this ordinance to assure that, in general intent as well as in administrative procedure, the people of this City remain in control of the government they created.  (Added by Ord. 265-93, App. 8/18/93)

            SEC. 67.7.            AGENDA REQUIREMENTS; REGULAR MEETINGS.   ....Know your rights under the Sunshine Ordinance.  For more information on your rights under the Sunshine Ordinance or to report a violation of the ordinance, contact the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force. (Added by Ord. 265-93, App. 8/18/93; amended by Ord. 292-95, App. 9/8/95; Ord. 185-96, App. 5/8/96)