What is it?

This is an ordinance that would institute sweeping new regulations on sick leave that are only applicable to San Francisco businesses.

Legislative digest (PDF)
Full legal text (PDF)

Why is this on the ballot?

This is on the ballot because the Supervisors unanimously placed it on the ballot. There is no legal reason this must go to a public vote rather than be passed as a regular law.

Sponsor: Supervisor Gordon Mar
Co-sponsors: Supervisors Hillary Ronen, Dean Preston, and Connie Chan
Placed on the ballot by: Unanimously with Supervisors Shamann Walton, Rafael Mandelman, Ahsha Safai, Matt Haney, Gordon Mar, Myrna Melgar, Hillary Ronen, and Dean Preston
View vote details on legistar

Why vote No?

I know it looks like we're opposing sunshine and puppy dogs, but GrowSF is opposing Prop G on purely technocratic, good-government grounds.

While there's nothing uniquely wrong with this ballot prop, it shouldn't have been a ballot prop to begin with. You'll notice above that the Supervisors unanimously voted to put this initiative on the ballot. Unlike propositions A through F, there is no legal reason we should be voting on this.

This is a common fundraising strategy for politicians running for reelection. Since donations to ballot props are not subject to donation limits, running a ballot prop campaign allows them to bypass campaign finance laws and promote themselves supporting something that sounds nice — in this case the universally popular "public health emergency leave"?

Worse, any law enacted via a ballot prop can only be changed or repealed by a subsequent ballot prop (see Prop F, above), which locks up the gears of government, leading to our current crisis of a government unable to govern. Prop G does provide some ability for the Board of Supervisors to amend this, but only to expand it, not to rein it in or fix bureaucratic mistakes.

San Francisco shouldn't be in the business of imposing unique sick leave laws on local businesses — that should be at the state and federal level. By making San Francisco even more complicated and expensive for businesses to operate in, we ensure that small businesses struggle to start up and succeed.

Vote no.