During London Breed’s six years as mayor, members of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors often complained that she would shove legislation down their throats with minimal deliberation or negotiation. Sometimes, she’d circumvent the supervisors altogether, placing her proposals on the ballot and claiming the board was obstinate, obstructionist, or just plain in her way.
In securing the approval of a key board committee for his signature fentanyl emergency package, Mayor Daniel Lurie signaled a different modus operandi, one that pairs ambition with sweet talk and horse-trading.
In a sense, it’s a return to the days of the late Ed Lee, who was known as the “consensus mayor.”
Lurie utilized negotiation, and compromise, to vault his landmark fentanyl emergency legislation past a Board of Supervisors budget committee with broad support Wednesday, according to sources who brokered the deal with the mayor.
Lurie’s emergency legislation would strip some powers from the supervisors to approve contracts and hiring and waive the competitive bidding process for some contracts around four core issues: drug overdoses, homelessness, mental health, and public safety. Lurie also wants to waive rules to allow him to solicit private donors who may have business before the city to help pay for his plan.
On Wednesday, on the steps of City Hall, Lurie told the public the stakes.
“Every day that we don’t act is another day of life lost to addiction, to overdose, and to despair,” Lurie said at a rally for his legislation. “It is a new day of cooperation at City Hall. And we might not always agree on every detail, but we will engage in the spirit of collaboration and work together to find common ground.”
Lurie’s legislation asks the supervisors to give up some powers to serve as a check and balance on roughly $1 billion in contracts and lease agreements, according to the board’s budget and legislative analyst. They would maintain the ability to weigh in on some contracts within a 45-day period, what Lurie staffers call a “shot clock.”
The goal is speed. But it requires the Board of Supervisors to exercise blind faith, said Supervisor Connie Chan, chair of the budget committee, who engaged in negotiations with Lurie’s office.
“I was like, ‘Ugh, this is asking a lot,’” Chan told The Standard. “In this case, we are putting a lot of trust in this budget process, that what we agreed is going to be honored.”
That trust grew through effort.
Chan said Lurie reached out to share details of the ordinance before he started the legal process to pass it, garnering early goodwill among the supervisors. The next day, Jan. 13, the mayor’s staff arrived in Chan’s office on the second floor of City Hall, ready to talk.
Among the mayor’s negotiators were Ben Rosenfield, a former city controller and member of Lurie’s transition team; Aly Bonde, a policy staffer; and Adam Thongsavat, the mayor’s board liaison.
Now retired, Rosenfield is perhaps the most respected, and most well-liked, of any former City Hall official. The mayoral crew sat down with Chan, flanked by her legislative aide, Frances Hsieh, a long-time City Hall staffer known for her vast and meticulous knowledge of legislative arcana.
Together, they got to work.
Staffers from both offices met, emailed, or called nearly every day over the last two weeks. Kunal Modi, Lurie’s chief of health, homelessness, and family services, also met with Chan. The collective staff went line by line through the 16 pages of legal text.
Chan felt confident when she earned one large concession. Lurie’s team agreed to shorten the duration of some special emergency powers: Initially proposed to sunset in 2029, they will now end in 2026.
“I articulated that to the mayor himself,” Chan said.
Some insiders expressed surprise that Lurie would give up such a large chunk of time. But one can see how the mayor accepted Chan’s proposal: Try it for a year, prove its mettle, then revisit it.
It may have been a necessary concession, as Lurie has yet to explain specific contracts, leases, or hires he plans to make with his new powers.
The agreement didn’t come easily. The mayor allegedly played hardball through an editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle backing his legislation, which Chan viewed as a negotiating tactic.
The bill still needs final approval from the full Board of Supervisors. With five co-sponsors and one supporter from moderate Democrats, and the backing of Chan, a progressive, Lurie is well on his way to achieving a supermajority of eight.
Chan said that in her 20 years in City Hall, it was one of the most policy-based negotiations she has experienced, especially compared with those of the Breed administration.
Breed’s headstrong leadership enabled her to demolish red tape during the pandemic, when the crisis demanded speed. But she was also known for plowing through the Board of Supervisors, circumventing negotiations by going straight to voters to approve her policies, depriving supervisors of the give and take they think makes for better legislation.
Immediately after his inauguration, Lurie told the supervisors to their faces that he’d be different. Chan thinks he has followed through, at least so far.
“No one was playing politics. No one went behind anybody’s back,” she said.
The fragility of the unity is not lost on her, nor is its necessity.
San Francisco, like much of the nation, is facing an unprecedented threat in President Donald Trump, Chan said. Immigration, federal funding, and more are on the line. The fentanyl crisis has lessened but still challenges lives, businesses, and the city’s vitality.
Chan is heartened that Lurie knows cooperation isn’t just about saying yes. It’s about approaching differing policy solutions with respect.
“I want to be realistic. I hope it’s not just a honeymoon phase,” Chan said. If the collegiality is short-lived, “we’re going to have a tougher time both for the local economic recovery and also for the people who are most vulnerable.”