San Diego Rules Committee Meeting June 5, 2019: Lobbying, Initiative, Council Rules, Outreach
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San Diego Rules Committee Meeting - June 5, 2019
The San Diego City Council Rules Committee met on June 5, 2019, at approximately 10:00 AM. The meeting covered four discussion items: proposed amendments to lobbying disclosure rules, legal analysis on withdrawing initiative ballot measures, permanent changes to council rules and procedures, and an informational update on public outreach for right-of-way construction projects. The committee also approved previous meeting records and heard one public comment.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Records of Action: The committee unanimously approved the records of action from the March 13, 2019 and May 15, 2019 meetings. (Motion by Councilmember, seconded, all ayes.)
Public Comments & Testimony
- Martha Welsh (non-agenda public comment, 2 minutes): Expressed concerns about city processes, including bill fees, the elimination of MADCA, cable revenue, term limits, and lease practices. She stated that residents did not vote for council term extensions and criticized rules she considered unfair.
Discussion Items
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Proposed Amendments to Lobbyist Disclosure Rules
- Presenter: Stacey Fulhurst, Ethics Commission.
- Proposal: Two changes to the city's lobbying laws: (1) require a connection between activity expenses (payments to city officials or their family) and the lobbying entity's lobbying activities; (2) change disclosure from exact dollar amounts to dollar ranges, similar to Form 700.
- Discussion: Council President Georgette Gomez expressed support but proposed adding three additional ranges (25,000-50,000, 50,000-75,000, 75,000-100,000) and keeping 100,000+ as the top bracket. Committee members agreed.
- Outcome: Motion to adopt the amendments with the added ranges passed unanimously.
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Legal Analysis of California Election Code Section 9604
- Presenter: Sharon Spivak, Senior Deputy City Attorney.
- Overview: Explained San Diego's charter requirement (Section 23) that qualified initiatives must go to the ballot, and that new state law (effective Jan 2019) allows withdrawal up to 88 days before an election for general law cities but not directly for charter cities. Two options for San Diego: (a) amend municipal code to allow withdrawal before qualification, or (b) amend the city charter to allow withdrawal after qualification (subject to constitutional challenges).
- Discussion: Councilmember Bree Ward expressed interest in exploring a future charter amendment, noting no immediate need. Councilmember Kate raised concern about proponents using withdrawal as a leverage tool, and stated caution. No motion was made.
- Outcome: Informational item; no action taken.
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Proposed Amendments to Rules of Council and San Diego Municipal Code
- Presenters: Ruth Martin (committee consultant) and Priscilla Degar (City Attorney's Office).
- Proposal: Permanently adopt temporary name changes for two committees (Land Use & Housing; Active Transportation & Infrastructure) and shift responsibilities. Also move committee work plan deadline from March 1 to February 1, and require the Council President to present a council work plan in March. City Attorney proposed minor clarifying edits (e.g., revising Rule 6.9.1 language).
- Discussion: Councilmember Ward objected to changes in Rule 2.10 (substitute motions), arguing that Robert's Rules should continue to allow subsidiary motions. He cited a recent instance where he was ruled out of order. Councilmember Kate supported retaining flexibility. Council President Gomez agreed to remove the Rule 2.10 amendment and to add a future amendment designating the City Clerk as parliamentarian.
- Outcome: Motion passed unanimously to adopt the amendments as modified (excluding the Rule 2.10 changes).
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Public Outreach for Right-of-Way Construction Projects (Informational)
- Presenters: Katie Keach (Communications) and James Nagelvoort (Public Works).
- Overview: Described the current landscape: record infrastructure investment (largest in city history for FY2020), concurrent private development, utility work, and emergencies. Current outreach includes letters within 300 feet, door hangers, project signs, a CIP website, and heat maps. Proposed improvements: mobile-optimized website, augmented reality app to replace project signs, and the new Project Finder tool (replacing IMCAT).
- Discussion: Councilmembers emphasized the need for consistency across departments, better notification radii (e.g., half-mile), timely updates to the CIP website, and inclusion of council offices in project notifications. Councilmember Ward suggested integrating with the Get It Done app. Councilmember Kate noted the importance of holding utilities accountable. Council President Gomez highlighted issues with no-parking signs posted weeks before work begins.
- Outcome: Informational item; staff will return with action items.
Key Outcomes
- Approved: Records of action from March 13 and May 15, 2019 (unanimous).
- Adopted: Amendments to lobbying disclosure rules (with additional dollar ranges) – unanimous.
- Adopted: Permanent amendments to council rules and municipal code (excluding Rule 2.10 changes) – unanimous.
- No Action: Legal analysis on initiative withdrawal; further exploration deferred.
- Next Steps: Staff will develop action items on construction outreach consistency; the committee’s next meeting is scheduled for July 31, 2019 at 1:00 PM, focusing on potential ballot measures for the March 2020 primary.
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon. Welcome to the rules of meeting of June 5th, 2019. This meeting is now in order. But the record reflect that committee members Bree Ward and possibly Kate might be joining us, but not here at the moment. But committee member Kercy's absent and as well as Councilmember Kate. All pre the also present are Sharon Spivack from the City Attorney's Office, Conrad Ware from the Mayor's Office, Jeff Kawar from the Independent Budget Analysts, and Ruth Martin, well, my committee consultant. We will start with the approval of the committee records of action from March 13, 2019 and May 15, 2019. Is there a motion for approval of the records of action? Motion. We have a second. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed. Moves unanimously. We will now move to non-agenda public comment. You will have two minutes, and we have Martha Welsh. Martha Walter vote for two minutes in the council and committee. I don't like that. Makes our bills higher right now. Maybe you should change that because time run is gone and seniors took over and they don't have fees on that, also. So maybe the MADCA is gone right now. So maybe all of you we don't get money for cable, maybe not, but it might change, so it might get money, you might get the money, maybe. Also you know, you um we never voted for you guys' term in the council at all. You made a rule somehow. I don't know why you did that, but maybe you wanted to turn yourself out, but only we voted only for the county only terms uh I couldn't find um so it's a rule right here. Um your rules are bad right here. You have a lot of rules I don't like. Like when you have these leases, you go to their um profit all the time. And that's not right, also the way you do it. Thank you. And uh just for the record, Councilmember Kate has arrived. Next, uh, are there any um committee member comments? I see none. I have none either. Uh does the city attorney or IBA or mayor staff have any comments. Are there any requests for continuance? Hearing no request for continuance, we will move on to our discussion agenda. We do have an we do not have any consent items on this uh agenda today. So we will move on to discussion agendas, which is item one, the proposed amendments to rules governing lobbyists disclosure of activity expenses. And now we'll turn it over. Good morning, Council President, members of the rules committee. Stacey Fulhurst here for the Ethics Commission to represent um two proposed changes to the city's lobbying laws, both of which have to do with the disclosure of activity expenses by lobbying entities. Quick background activity expenses are any type of payments that are made to or on behalf of a city official or a member of the city official's immediate family. Um, although they include a myriad of pay types of payments, um, because gifts are limited under the lobbying laws to $10 in a calendar month, the vast majority of activity expenses that are disclosed are um payments that are made in the form of salary as an employee or compensation as a consultant or independent contractor. So although the commission uh was not established at the time this law was enacted, I think its purpose is relatively self-evident. It's to give the public information about payments that are made by lobbying entities to city officials or their family members because there could be an appearance that that lobbyist has some type of special influence when attempting to lobby or influence that particular city official. Unfortunately, the way the law was drafted, it does not establish any connection between the lobbying activities of the lobbying entity and the city official who's benefiting from those payments. So it can result in unintended consequences that I can only really describe by hypothetical example. Uh say that there is a large hotel in town that decides it wants to advocate on short-term rental regulations. So they register as a lobbying entity, they have hundreds of employees.
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