New SF Mayor Daniel Lurie introduced his "Fentanyl State of Emergency Ordinance" on Tuesday, but there’s already some pushback, as it hands out no-oversight money to department heads to create potential for Mohammed Nuru-type self-dealing.

When San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie was inaugurated last Wednesday, Heather Knight's New York Times dispatch had a scoop. “His declaration of a fentanyl emergency,” Knight wrote, “will speed its way to the Board of Supervisors, akin to a City Council, on Tuesday for what is expected to be swift approval.”

But that’s not exactly what happened. The legislation was not ready for a Board of Supervisors vote Tuesday (there may have been pushback from the City Attorney on some if its specifics, we’ll probably never know). It was merely “introduced” on Tuesday with no vote. And the Board’s response indicates this “swift approval” may not be as swift as hoped.

Either way, Lurie did release his emergency plan Tuesday. “San Franciscans demanded that we take action and get results on the fentanyl crisis. In close partnership with the Board of Supervisors, we are doing just that,” Lurie said in a statement.  "The Fentanyl State of Emergency Ordinance will allow us to surge resources and overcome the bureaucratic obstacles getting in the way of progress. I want to thank the supervisors who have already joined the effort, and I look forward to working with all of the supervisors for their quick approval.”

Lurie has already lined up a few pro-London Breed moderate supervisors to cheerlead for the emergency order. Supervisor Matt Dorsey may have been a little too honest in his supportive remarks, opening them with “I will stand, because I understand this is a photo op.”

New District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood added his support, saying, “We did this during COVID in addressing the pandemic, and this will be replicating similar effective powers to the Mayor's Office.” Dorsey, Mahmood and new D2 supe Stephen Sherrill have declared themselves co-sponsors of Lurie’s emergency ordinance, Supervisor Joel Engardio lent a supportive quote in the official press release.  

But new board president Rafael Mandelman was not quoted in that release, and he did not take the chance to speak of it favorably of the ordinance at Tuesday's meeting. So there may be conclusions to be drawn from that.

And this thing will certainly be a political fight, with Lurie having clearly already lined up his warriors. The big-money moderate political pressure group GrowSF is already circulating a petition to support the ordinance, and has a link where you can just hit “send” on an astroturf email to the Supervisors which GrowSF has conveniently completely written for you. (Doing so will also land you on GrowSF’s email distribution/spam list.)

But Lurie’s ordinance already has opponents on the board.

"I guess we’re doing something kind of new at Roll Call today and expressing our support for initiatives — or in my case lack of support,” Supervisor Shamann Walton said. “During COVID, we gave emergency powers to the mayor with the presence of a specific plan. Right now we have legislation that requests waiving processes and allowing for swift decision-making, but we don't have a plan in front of us.”

Politics aside, KGO explains what Lurie’s emergency ordinance does. That outlet says it will “unlock funding and expedite hiring and contracting,” which seems to go directly against the so-called “hiring freeze” that Lurie declared on his first full day in office.  

It also makes multi-agency Drug Market Agency Coordination Center permanent (which it already was) but expands its to operations to the beleaguered Sixth Street. Lurie additionally proposes a Hospitality Zone Task Force to clean up areas that tourists see, dedicated to “​​Union Square, Market Street, and Moscone Center areas EVERY day — not just when we have a conference or special event happening downtown.” On top of that, there is a 24/7 Drop-Off Crisis Stabilization Unit proposed as an alternative to jails and hospitals, when deemed appropriate.

But most controversially, the ordinance gives City Hall department heads the ability to enter into no-bid contracts, and eliminates Board of Supervisors oversight. That greatly expands the kind of conditions that allowed disgraced former Public Works head Mohammed Nuru to enrich himself with bribes and cronyism.

Mission Local has been stressing for a couple months that, legally speaking, this is not an actual "Fentanyl State of Emergency.” They point to the language defining SF state of emergency orders, which notes that “The situation must be something that the City could not have specifically anticipated and prevented, such as an earthquake or a terrorist attack.” We’ve known fentanyl has been here for years, which is why London Breed’s 2021 attempt to declare a fentanyl state of emergency was renamed as a “Tenderloin state of emergency.”

As Mission Local noted in an op-ed this week, Lurie’s ordinance “will not be declaring an actual ‘fentanyl state of emergency,’ because he can’t. Rather, he’s giving the other stuff he plans to do the name ‘fentanyl state of emergency.'” (Italics theirs.)

Moreover, actual state of emergency declarations are required to be reviewed every 90 days. This one has no such review process.

So Lurie’s ordinance can be seen as a power grab to take oversight abilities away from the Board of Supervisors. But the power gets transferred to city departments heads under Lurie’s new leadership structure, and this is a boon for nonprofits who line up for massive city contracts.

Stripping power from the Board of Supervisors may be politically palatable to voters. Handing power to the nonprofit-industrial complex may prove less so. And Lurie would need for these expedited powers for nonprofit contracts to be handled ethically and efficiently, which the city does not have a great track record at.

Related: Lurie Announces City Hall Hiring Freeze on First Full Day in Office, Fentanyl Emergency Order Coming by Tuesday [SFist]

Image: @DanielLurie via Twitter