We finally have a chance to enact meaningful Commission Reform.

Since TogetherSF, our predecessor organization, brought the topic of right-sizing public government by reducing the number of city commissions, it has been a hot topic in the city—everyone seems eager to have a bite at the apple since Prop E passed last November. 

Proposition E established a five-member commission streamlining taskforce with the aim of making recommendations to Mayor Lurie and the Board of Supervisors on which commissions to eliminate, consolidate, and update. The committee’s recommendations are due by February 1, 2026. 

If this sort of thing really fires you up (and we know, it’s a bit drier than some of the things we normally write about in the Blueprint Blog), then you’ll be thrilled to know that the committee is about to get into the drama of it all. 

Since its first meeting on January 31, 2025, the task force has been largely in diligence mode, collecting information on the existing commissions (of which it identified 149 existing ones) and created a framework for evaluating what action (if any) should be taken on a by-commission basis. Perhaps most interestingly - and if nothing else, evidence that commission reform is necessary - the committee found 34 inactive commissions. 

You may be thinking: if a commission is inactive, isn’t it easy to eliminate? Not exactly. Just last month, while seeking to streamline the city’s contracting process, the Labor Council used bullying tactics to send a necessary and popular bill back to committee because it was going to get rid of an inactive commission. The grounds? It was a commission that aimed to ensure our city didn’t do business with companies that employed sweat-shop labor - even though this is a responsibility already handled by other people who work for the city. Even more egregious: the commission had not made quorum more than twice in the last five years. We’ll highlight other examples of commissions getting in the way of progress in the coming weeks - but suffice to say, we can operate more effectively as a city with less commissions stymying desperately needed changes to how our city runs itself. 

We’re linking a calendar for the commission streamlining task force here - and encourage you to familiarize yourself with what’s on the docket. The task force has grouped commissions into five categories: 1) Public Safety, 2) Infrastructure, Climate, and Mobility, 3) Housing and Economic Development, 4) Public Health and Wellbeing, and 5) General Administration. The task force will move through each category between now and early November, seeking to identify which can be consolidated if not entirely eliminated. We’ll be mobilizing people for different meetings, and invite you to join us. 

Like we said - while this may not be the most exciting topic in the world, it is in fact one of the most impactful to making our city more responsive to the needs of everyday San Franciscans. We’re excited about the changes that will (hopefully) come from this important work.