Committee sends payroll-deduction addition for Firefighters Cancer Prevention Foundation to full Board

The Rules Committee voted unanimously on Sept. 18 to forward an ordinance to add the Firefighters Cancer Prevention Foundation to the Administrative Code’s list of organizations eligible for voluntary payroll deductions.

Board President Aaron Peskin, the bill’s primary sponsor, said the city’s recent sunsetting of the combined charities function eliminated a payroll-deduction channel that had funded the Foundation. “This adds the Firefighters Cancer Prevention Foundation to that list,” Peskin told the committee, and he said the city controller is prepared to administer the deductions.

A representative speaking for the firefighters and the San Francisco Firefighters Cancer Prevention Foundation described the foundation’s 16-year history, an all-volunteer board of active and retired firefighters and medical professionals, and free cancer screening services for San Francisco firefighters. The speaker said payroll deductions had brought in “just under $60,000” in the current year and noted the foundation’s partnerships with academic researchers and community allies to reduce carcinogenic exposure.

Vice Chair Walton and other committee members offered unanimous support for forwarding the ordinance as a committee report. The clerk recorded roll-call votes of Walton: aye; Safai: aye; Dorsey: aye. The measure will proceed to the full Board for further consideration.