LWV League of Women Voters of California
Smart Voter
San Francisco County, CA November 5, 2002 Election
Measure K
Selection of Official Newspapers
County of San Francisco
Ordinance

71,756 / 37.43% Yes votes ...... 119,931 / 62.57% No votes

See Also: Index of all Measures
Information shown below: Summary | Fiscal Impact | Yes/No Meaning |

Shall the City change the process and criteria for selection of official newspapers for publishing public notices?

Summary Prepared by Ballot Simplification Committee:
The Way It is Now:
The City is required to publish certain public notices, such as Board of Supervisors meeting agendas, elections notices and public works contracts. Each year the City accepts bids for publishing these notices. Bids are accepted only from newspapers that are printed in the City at least three days a week, and that circulate at least 50,000 copies a week. City law assigns each bid a specific number of points based on such factors as advertising costs, circulation and newspaper price. Other points are given if a newspaper is locally owned or owned by a woman or member of a minority group.

Based on these points, a recommendation is made to the Board of Supervisors. The Board then approves one or more "official newspapers" to publish public notices.
The City also publishes some public notices in newspapers that target communities by race, ethnicity or sexual orientation. The Board of Supervisors decides which groups to target and selects these "outreach" newspapers using factors similar to those used to choose official newspapers. Outreach newspapers must be printed in the City at least once a week.

The Proposal:

Proposition K is an ordinance that would change the way the City selects official and outreach newspapers for publishing public notices. Bids could be accepted from newspapers that are not printed in the City at least three days a week and that distribute fewer than 50,000 copies a week.

The City would decide how many points to assign each selection factor. Points would no longer be given to newspapers solely for being locally owned or owned by a woman or member of a minority group.
For outreach newspapers, points would be added based on the newspaper's ability to reach a targeted community. The terms "Latino" and "transgender" would be added to the list of outreach communities. Outreach newspapers would no longer have to be printed in the City at least once a week.

Fiscal Impact from Controller, Edward M. Harrington:
Should this Ordinance be approved by the voters, in my opinion, the cost to government could increase or decrease. However, the cost impact will depend on whether vendors for official City advertising ultimately selected under this Ordinance are more or less costly than vendors selected under the current process. For example, the more open competition called for in this Ordinance may result in a lowering of bids from all vendors. Or under the new process, the City could choose to use a newspaper with a larger circulation than the current provider, which may result in higher costs. The City currently spends about $1 million per year on official advertising.

Meaning of Voting Yes/No
A YES vote of this measure means:
If you vote "Yes," you want to change the way official and outreach newspapers are chosen.

A NO vote of this measure means:
If you vote "No," you do not want to make these changes.

   News and Analysis

Televised Ballot Measure Discussions:
Check the SFGTV Cable Channel 26 Schedule for rebroadcasts.
General Links for More Information

How to Evaluate the Propositions
Decide for yourself
Suggest a link related to Measure K
Links to sources outside of Smart Voter are provided for information only and do not imply endorsement.

San Francisco Home Page || Statewide Links || About Smart Voter || Feedback
Created: December 6, 2002 03:15 PST
Smart Voter <http://www.smartvoter.org/>
Copyright © League of Women Voters of California Education Fund   http://ca.lwv.org
The League of Women Voters neither supports nor opposes candidates for public office or political parties.