Yes on Proposition E
City Administrator's Authority and Changes to City Contracting
What is it?
Prop E changes city contracting rules and the City Administrator's role in them. It would centralize procurement authority in the City Administrator, who is appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the Board of Supervisors.
Procurement rules control how the city buys goods and services, contracts for public works, and makes grants, but not union contracts, development agreements, or real estate.
Several of the changes are consolidations of existing law, but a few would shift how contracting decisions get made:
- The City Administrator would become the only official who can introduce most purchasing legislation. Either the Board of Supervisors (by majority vote) or the Mayor (by written notice) could reject a proposed ordinance within 60 days; otherwise it becomes law automatically. The Board could not amend it, and could not override the Mayor's rejection
- The Board of Supervisors will be less involved: Only revenue contracts and leases of $4.5M or more (up from $1M) and spending contracts of $25M or more (up from $10M) would need Board approval. (This will adjust for inflation starting in 2032)
- Purchasing at the MTA, PUC, Airport, Port, and the City's charitable trust departments would become subject to standards set by the City Administrator
- The City Administrator's term would go from five to ten years
Read the full annotated legal text →
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Fiscal impacts
According to the Controller's Office, Prop E would have a minimal impact on the cost of government, at a level that cannot be determined at this time.
The Controller says giving the City Administrator authority to set contracting rules establishes a more unified purchasing approach, which may lower the cost of goods and services and save staff time over the long run. Raising the Board of Supervisors' approval thresholds may cut the time the Board and department staff spend preparing for and holding contract reviews.
The measure may change staffing, but it does not specify any organizational or staffing changes.
Why is this on the ballot?
This is a citizen initiative that qualified by signature petition. Supporters submitted 82,420 signatures, more than the 53,076 valid signatures required, and the Department of Elections certified it for the ballot on July 23, 2026.
Citizens may introduce charter amendments by collecting signatures from at least 10% of the registered voters in the City. The amendment must then be approved by voters with a simple majority of 50% + 1.
- Placed on ballot by: Voter signature petition.
- Proponent: Peter Leoni, per the certification letter.
Why vote Yes?
San Francisco's tangled purchasing rules gave us the $1.7M toilet: a cheaper prefab model existed, but a City rule banned buying it from Nevada. That rule, which barred contracting with companies from 30 states, forced City departments to file 538 waivers in a single year, and it took seven years before the Board admitted failure and repealed it. Meanwhile, buying anything through City Hall still takes about $25,000 of process, six to twelve months, and up to 14 departments, under rules scattered across more than 100 sections of code. Nobody is in charge of the rules, so nobody can fix them.
Prop E puts one person in charge: The City Administrator will write one purchasing rulebook, every department will follow it, and either the Board of Supervisors or the Mayor can reject bad rules.
A 2024 law that simplified purchasing for small projects shows that better rules lead to better outcomes. Rec and Park renewed Bernal Heights Playground for $1.3M in 12 to 18 months instead of several years; comparable rebuilds under the old rules, like Stern Grove's, cost $4.1M and took years.
Vote yes on Prop E.