The ordinance, written by Supervisor Matt Haney, was introduced back in March. It is in direct response to the citywide corruption scandal that erupted after former Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru was arrested by federal officials on suspicion of wire fraud back in January 2020.
Under current city law, city officials can request donations from individuals as long as the payment is made on their behalf to a third-party organization. The individual, however, is restricted from giving the payment to the officials directly.
For officials who have been elected by the public, the "behested payments" are governed by local and state laws and any amount over $5,000 must be reported. However, this law doesn't apply to other officials.
Haney said in a statement, "Years of blatant corruption have destroyed public trust and// while this legislation won't in itself do away with corruption, it's certainly a step in the right direction and will help limit pay to play politics."
According to Haney, the ordinance was crafted based on recommendations from both the city's Ethics Commission and Controller's Office.