SF Mayor Lurie Launches His 1st Legislative Push: Fentanyl Emergency Response

Newly sworn-in Mayor Daniel Lurie promised voters he would make big strides on San Francisco’s most pressing issues around homelessness and drugs. Now comes the heavy lifting.

On Tuesday, he’ll ask the Board of Supervisors to approve a handful of bureaucratic policy changes that he said will speed up permitting to build elements of his campaign platform, like opening 1,500 shelter beds in his first six months in office.

On the campaign trail, Lurie had vowed to declare a state of emergency around fentanyl. During his inaugural address on Wednesday, the mayor told the sun-kissed masses he is introducing what he’s called “Fentanyl State of Emergency Ordinances” — not exactly an emergency proclamation, but a legislative move that he’ll need supervisors to pass.

“This will allow us to further surge resources and bypass the bureaucratic hurdles standing in the way of tackling this crisis,” Lurie said. Hinting at the clearance, he still needs to move forward on his idea, Lurie added: “I look forward to working with the incoming Board of Supervisors for their quick approval.”

Lurie’s “Fentanyl State of Emergency Ordinances” should not be confused with an official state of emergency, a specific legal action that can allow mayors to bypass regulations and bureaucracy in response to a disaster. The difference means Lurie has to get permission from colleagues to streamline these efforts since, legally, he can’t declare an emergency over fentanyl (or any other drug) specifically, Mission Local reports.

Supervisor Bilal Mahmood represents the Tenderloin, where the majority of overdose deaths have occurred in recent years in San Francisco. He said he’s optimistic about the plan, which was still sparse on details as of Monday.

“It gives us the same powers we had during COVID to work with urgency to spin up new command centers and shelters and give us the personnel we need to shut down open-air drug markets,” Mahmood said.

If supervisors pass his legislative package, Lurie wants to first expand evening hours for the city’s Drug Market Agency Coordination Center — which targets outdoor drug users, drug dealers and illegal street vending — and asked the police chief to come up with a budget to make the effort permanent. He also wants to create a “Hospitality Zone Task Force,” essentially a police unit for the city’s tourist areas, including Union Square, Market Street and Moscone Center.

Lurie also wants to open up an additional 24/7 drop-off center for people experiencing a behavioral health crisis. In his speech last week, Lurie said the center would be “police-friendly” while serving as an alternative to overnight stays in jail or the city’s emergency rooms.

San Francisco already has several street intervention teams that respond to overdoses and other crises that police may be less equipped to handle. But the mayor also said he wants to streamline those initiatives — which could mean cuts or reorganization ahead.

“We currently have at least nine street teams operated by five different departments. Despite having made a vast investment of resources and personnel, no one thinks the current structure is working,” Lurie said. “Our first step in streamlining our crisis response is to mandate that all departments coordinate to build and maintain a single public-facing Street Conditions Dashboard.”

Who’s paying?

Lurie, an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune who ran an anti-poverty nonprofit but has no prior experience in elected office, said he wants to fund his ambitious promises using a mix of private and public funding.

“This authorization will fast track a public-private partnership to stand up temporary emergency shelter and address the homelessness crisis on our streets,” Lurie said last Wednesday. “It is time to move past the politics of demonizing each other on every single issue. It’s time to redefine how politics works in San Francisco.”

On the campaign trail, Lurie maintained a steadfast message that he would bring accountability and change to San Francisco as a political outsider with no ties to corruption scandals and other status quo operations in City Hall. But Lurie’s first major ask to his colleagues on the Board of Supervisors would essentially give supervisors less authority to block or approve contracts that departments will need to make in order to, for example, expand shelters and staff them.

A policy memo provided by the mayor’s office said the mayor would propose to “speed procurement processes by waiving code procurement rules for executing contracts and grants” and authorize the use of private funding in the form of behested payments, which are essentially donations. The city administrator and controller will also be tasked with reviewing and auditing the ordinances.

“There are good reasons we have processes in place to avoid conflicts of interest and ethical problems. But with something this high profile, I have confidence in the fourth estate and city government that we can get this right,” said Supervisor Matt Dorsey, whose district includes the South of Market neighborhood. “Fentanyl is a moral emergency and personal to me as someone with experience recovering from drug addiction. We have an opportunity to bring solutions that are as big as the problem and surge resources where they are needed.”

The city has had a fraught relationship with behested payments in the past, however, and critics and government watchdogs say they can open the floodgates for corruption.

After a spiraling corruption scandal involving behested payments sent former Public Works head Mohammad Nuru to prison, San Francisco voters in June 2022 passed legislation that made it harder for city officials to solicit donations in an effort to limit misconduct.

The city can grant waivers to its behested payment laws, and it has done so several times already, including Mayor London Breed’s effort to fundraise for pandas at the city’s zoo and the city’s unsuccessfully attempt to open overdose prevention centers with private funding.

Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who recently was elected board president, didn’t comment on Lurie’s plan specifically since the legislation was still underway but said he supports giving the mayor more flexibility to carry out his platform.

“It is reasonable to ask private parties to contribute to the city’s efforts, and if people want to do it as a gift, that is laudable, and the mayor should have the authority to do that,” Mandelman said. “I think our behested payment restrictions are pretty cumbersome and hard for the mayor and BOS to navigate. I would be open to reforms of that.”