Pass: 80,489 / 51.79% Yes votes ...... 74,916 / 48.21% No votes

See Also: Index of all Measures

The PUC consists of five members, all appointed by the Mayor for four-year terms. The Mayor's appointments to the PUC take effect immediately, but the Board of Supervisors may reject any appointment by a two-thirds vote (at least eight members) within 30 days.

PUC members must be eligible to vote in City elections. The Charter does not require any other qualifications to serve on the PUC.

THE PROPOSAL: Proposition E is a Charter Amendment that would change the process for appointing members to the PUC and would set qualifications for commission members. The Mayor would continue to nominate candidates to the PUC, but the nominees would not take office until the Board of Supervisors voted to approve their appointments by a majority (at least six members).

Proposition E also would require that PUC members meet the following qualifications:

• Seat 1 must have experience in environmental policy and an understanding of environmental justice issues;
• Seat 2 must have experience in ratepayer or consumer advocacy;
• Seat 3 must have experience in project finance;
• Seat 4 must have expertise in water systems, power systems, or public utility management; and
• Seat 5 would be an at-large member. Proposition E provides for staggered four-year terms for members. Initially, seats 2 and 4 would serve two years; seats 1, 3 and 5 would serve four years.

Should the proposed charter amendment be approved by the voters, in my opinion, there would be a minimal impact on the cost of government

Meaning of Voting Yes/No

A YES vote on this measure means:

If you vote yes, you want to make these changes to the City Charter.

A NO vote on this measure means:

If you vote no, you do not want to make these changes to the Charter.

The Public Utilities Commission is one of the most important commissions in San Francisco. Its responsibilities include overseeing a $400 million water, wastewater, and municipal power enterprise serving San Francisco and 1.6 million customers in neighboring municipalities. The PUC has embarked on a state-mandated $4.3 billion seismic retrofit project for our Hetch-Hetchy water system.

Despite the magnitude of these responsibilities, there are NO minimum qualifications for serving on the five- member PUC Commission. By comparison, state water infrastructure commissions have long required their members have minimum qualifications.

Proposition E fixes that glaring oversight. This measure is grounded in good government principles of efficiency and accountability.

Proposition E mandates San Francisco Public Utilities Commissioners have experience and an understanding of the complex issues they are responsible for overseeing.

Proposition E requires its five members have experience in:

• Environmental policy and environmental justice issues;
• Finance;
• Public utilities or water systems management;
• And, ratepayer and consumer advocacy issues.

San Francisco deserves a Commission with knowledgeable, experienced citizens committed to helping rebuild our water system and leading us towards a sustainable and renewable energy future.

San Francisco's water and infrastructure needs are too important to our quality of life and to the economic vitality of our city for us not to utilize the city's most valuable resource + experienced, qualified citizens.

VOTE YES ON PROPOSITION E for EXPERIENCE and EFFICIENCY.

Supervisor Sophie Maxwell*
Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin*
Supervisor Sean Elsbernd*
Supervisor Tom Ammiano*

• For identification purposes only

Proposition E is a political ploy that gives the Board of Supervisors the extraordinary power to require political loyalty from every member the Public Utilities Commission. We need more professionalism at the PUC + not more politics.

The Board is already using their existing power to reject commissioners who don't support political projects that could result in MASSIVE INCREASES IN WATER AND SEWER RATES. That last thing we should do is give this Board of Supervisors even more power to politicize the PUC.

The current Board of Supervisors is already injecting politics into PUC decisions. This is the same Board that is trying to put polluting power plants in our neighborhoods in order to drive a public power agenda. This is the same Board that is already meddling in contracts, requiring us to pay more for our water and sewer services.

PROP. E REQUIRES THE IMMEDIATE REMOVAL OF EVERY COMMISSIONER so the Board can require political loyalty and use their new power to gain even more political power.

DON'T LET THIS BOARD OF SUPERVISORS TAKE OVER THE PUC.

VOTE NO ON PROPOSITON E.

-Coalition for San Francisco Neighborhoods

We need citizen oversight from a qualified commission, not political meddling. But that's exactly what Proposition E will do - put even more politics into a vital city agency.

The PUC should stay focused on rebuilding the Hetch Hetchy water system and delivering clean water at an affordable price. After decades of neglect, we are finally rebuilding this system so that we can protect the health and safety of our residents and guarantee safe water supplies, even after a major earthquake.

Now the Board of Supervisors has yet another plan to increase their power. This time they want to inject politics into the Public Utilities Commission.

Don't let them take over the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.

The Board already has oversight power over every Commissioner appointed - power they used recently to reject qualified commissioners who did not agree with their politics.

Ed Harrington was recently nominated to run the PUC. He is a nationally-recognized manager and fiscal watchdog with great expertise in the operations of the PUC. We need to let experts like Harrington finish the job of rebuilding our water system at a reasonable price. We don't want this important job to be subjected to political pressure.

The Board should focus on the job they were elected to do + provide oversight and respond to constituents. They should not be allowed to take over city agencies for political reasons. The consequences of political interference in the PUC will be higher water rates and a slower rebuild of Hetch Hetchy.

Keep Politics Away from the SFPUC.

VOTE NO on Proposition E.

Mayor Gavin Newsom
Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier

The city's most important commissions currently operate on this good government system of checks and balances: the Mayor appoints commission members and the Board reviews and approves them. The Municipal Transportation Agency is structured in this way. Prop E would treat Mayoral appointments in the same fashion as the Planning, Building, and Police Commissions.

The challenges facing San Francisco's Public Utilities Commission are enormous + from rebuilding the Hetch-Hetchy water system, to completing and implementing the Sewer System Master Plan, and leading the city's charge towards a more sustainable and renewable energy portfolio.

The PUC must succeed at these daunting tasks, and will need a commission with acumen and experience in environmental policy, finance, and public utilities management. Perhaps most importantly, Proposition E guarantees that ratepayers will have an advocate on the commission to represent small businesses and homeowners, and demand equity and fairness in the ratemaking process.

Requiring minimum qualifications for appointments is a tried and true practice - long embraced by San Franciscans - that professionalizes agencies and increases efficiency.

Establishing minimum qualifications for PUC Commissioners is not "political interference" - it's good government.

VOTE YES ON PROPOSITION E.

Supervisor Sophie Maxwell*
Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin*
Supervisor Bevan Dufty*
Supervisor Sean Elsbernd*

• For identification purposes only