San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie earlier this month introduced his first legislation, following through with his pledge to curb the city's fentanyl epidemic, and on Wednesday it goes before city supervisors.
Supervisors on the Budget and Finance Committee are expected to debate the proposed ordinance, and Lurie will need their support.
Several groups in support of the proposal gathered Wednesday to echo Lurie's call for a state of emergency. Among them were Moms Against Drug Addiction and Deaths, other nonprofits, people in recovery and those impacted by drug use or drug deaths.
Three of the five new supervisors in San Francisco also supported the proposed ordinance.
Lurie said on Jan. 15 the goal of his new plan is to streamline the rollout of resources to battle the epidemic and set up treatment facilities for fentanyl users, but it's raising questions from the board of supervisors.
"We have a crisis that needs the urgency and demands urgency, and that's what you're seeing from my administration
and everybody behind me," Lurie said.
Under the proposal, Lurie said he plans to coordinate city departments for enforcement and treatment. That includes creating more treatment facilities for fentanyl users. But in order to do that, he wants more of a free hand in spending currently budgeted funding and the ability to seek out private funding.
He also wants what his office calls a streamlined contracting process for nonprofits and other vendors that will provide these services.
"I think the job of identifying silos and breaking them down and surging resources effectively belongs in the executive, and I'm really encouraged by Mayor Lurie's leadership," said Supervisor Matt Dorsey, sponsor of the newly introduced legislation.
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But the proposal is raising some questions from veterans on the Board of Supervisors.
"During COVID we gave emergency powers to the mayor with the presence of a specific plan," Supervisor Shamann Walton said. "Right now we have legislation that requests waiving process and allowing for swift decision making, but we don't have a plan in front of us."
Supervisor Connie Chan also raised concerns about the possibility that the proposal could weaken board oversight.
Lurie said he will work with board members on their concerns but insisted he plans on moving forward with urgency.
"This is what I ran on," Lurie said. "I got a mandate to deliver, and the first thing we talked about was public safety. The second was the fentanyl state of emergency."
Supervisor Danny Sauter, one of the new members on the board and the latest co-sponsor of the mayor's legislation, said he understands some of his colleagues' concerns.
"We've seen corruption in San Francisco and it is right to be aware of that," he said. "We're going to work to find that right balance so there is adequate oversight but that it doesn't slow us down, because the cost of slowing things down is lives."
