San Diego City Council Rules Committee Meeting – October 28, 2026

The San Diego City Council Rules Committee met on October 28, 2026, with Chair La Cava presiding. The committee approved two consent items, advanced an ordinance updating the Rules of Council, and heard an informational Ethics Commission presentation about expanding oversight to classified employees who file Form 700 statements of economic interest. All formal votes were unanimous.

Consent Calendar

• Item 1: Approval of committee minutes from October 14, 2026.
• Item 2: Amendment to San Diego Municipal Code Chapter 2, Article 2, Division 26 updating city clerk and department directors' records management responsibilities.
• Councilmember Moreno moved approval and Councilmember Campio seconded; the consent agenda passed unanimously. Councilmember Elo-Rivera was absent for this vote.

Public Comments & Testimony

• In non-agenda public comment, Max Schmidt described being left homeless after a DMV ID delay and called for a federal investigation; Chair La Cava responded that DMV matters are state jurisdiction and mentioned Think Dignity's ID assistance program.
• Joyce Sanyata questioned water-rate policy, conservation assumptions for high-end users, and why Proposition 218 was not connected earlier.
• Liam Burton reported that his managed-encampment pilot housed 17 people in seven weeks and criticized law enforcement for arresting people instead of offering shelter.
• Several speakers addressed surveillance and policing: Blair Beekman urged reducing or ending Flock ALPR cameras; Tony criticized the police chief for not following the Commission on Police Practices' recommendation to end racially motivated pretext stops; Francine Maxwell described pretextual stops targeting Tesla drivers and criticized Councilmember Kent Lee.
• Crypto Bradley proposed renaming Highway 94 the "Reparations Highway" for five years with doubled infrastructure spending south of it.
• John Stump discussed water sustainability, employee residency, and school quality; Judy Strang and Terry Ann Skelly asked about enforcement of rules regulating marijuana/hemp products and youth protections.
• On the consent agenda, Max Schmidt opposed both items, Joy Sanyata supported the records-management change, and other speakers commented on records management, contract accountability, and public-comment time.
• On Item 3, public comments included support for the updates, questions about the newspaper-of-general-circulation change, concerns about quasi-judicial bias, and a suggestion to consider 90-second public-comment periods.
• On Item 4, commenters questioned why implementation took so long, asked whether the employee faced discipline, and expressed both support and concern about the proposed cost and local oversight.

Discussion Items

Item 3: Updates to the Rules of Council

• Senior policy advisor Abby Reuter presented a package of technical updates: clarifying quasi-judicial applicant/appellant 10-minute presentation time; clarifying staff presentations; making the January 2026 temporary work-plan flexibility permanent; removing the repealed city official newspaper reference; allowing council-president selection at the first regular meeting after inauguration; allowing meeting shifts between council and committee chambers; allowing evening meetings at times other than 6 p.m.; clarifying that revenue measures can be heard by other committees; and administrative cleanup including removal of the Select Committee on the Cost of Living.
• Chair La Cava called the changes technical edits rather than policy changes. Councilmember Elo-Rivera noted an inconsistency between in-person and virtual public-comment rules (Rules 2.6.1 and 2.6.2) and asked that the virtual rule include the same representative-identification requirement; Chair La Cava agreed to align the language with the City Attorney's office.
• The City Clerk clarified that the newspaper of general circulation used for required notices is the Daily Transcript, not the Union-Tribune.

Item 4: Informational Presentation on Ethics Commission Jurisdiction

• Ethics Commission Executive Director Bryn Kervin and legislative manager Megan Curran presented. They explained that a 2015 city auditor hotline investigation found a classified city employee received about $3,000 in gifts from vendors and awarded those vendors option contracts worth millions of dollars. The case was referred to the FPPC, which closed it in 2021 with "violation found, no action."
• Expanding the Ethics Commission's jurisdiction to classified employees who already file Form 700 would add approximately 919 classified positions in 25 departments, a 65% increase in the Commission's regulated community from about 1,500 people. It would not change who must file Form 700; it would add local enforcement and education.
• Kervin estimated adequate funding would require roughly $700,000 to $880,000 annually for one additional investigator, one program manager, and one program coordinator. Implementation would require meet-and-confer obligations under the MMBA because most affected employees are in recognized employee organizations.
• City Auditor Andy Henau confirmed the findings and noted the employee said they did not know the gifts had to be reported because classified employees did not receive Ethics Commission training. A separate city fact-finding recommendation was implemented.
• Committee members discussed the need for resources and appropriate rules, and noted the threshold question of whether all approximately 919 employees should be included or only a subset. No formal action was taken.

Key Outcomes

• Consent items 1 and 2 passed unanimously (with Councilmember Elo-Rivera absent).
• Item 3 passed unanimously, 5-0, recommending City Council adoption of an ordinance amending the Rules of Council; the City Attorney will also align virtual and in-person public-comment identification language.
• Item 4 was informational only; no vote was taken. The committee will continue conversations about implementing the auditor's recommendation.
• The meeting was adjourned to the next regularly scheduled meeting on January 27, 2027.