Rules Committee narrows health-benefit eligibility for Prop C implementation, excludes Refuse Rate Board member

The Rules Committee on Monday amended an ordinance to make members of the city’s newly created Homeless Oversight Commission eligible for health insurance through the San Francisco Health Service System, but removed the recently reconstituted Refuse Rate Board from that benefit at the request of Board President Peskin.

Chair Supervisor Matt Dorsey opened the meeting by framing the session around implementing Proposition C, the November 2022 charter amendment that created the Homeless Oversight Commission and required periodic audits of related services. Supervisor Asha Safaee, who led the ballot measure effort and the implementation work, described the ordinance before the committee as a routine step to allow volunteers on charter bodies the opportunity to enroll in the city health plan.

President Peskin told the committee that the Refuse Rate Board, which was changed by Proposition F in June 2022 and now includes a ratepayer representative, should not be made eligible for health insurance because that could be seen as contrary to the board’s purpose of protecting ratepayers. “I hereby respectfully request that we not make this individual… eligible for health insurance coverage in the interest of San Francisco rate payers,” Peskin said.

Deputy City Attorney Anne Pearson told the committee the requested edit appeared to require changes in two places in the ordinance’s text and legislative digest, and no other language needed revision.

After brief public comment in support of the ordinance and a call for broader efforts to diversify commissions, Supervisor Safaee moved to accept the amendments (including the removal of the Refuse Rate Board language as read by President Peskin). The committee voted unanimously to amend the ordinance and to send the item to the full Board as a committee report with a positive recommendation.

What’s next: The amended ordinance will be considered by the full Board of Supervisors. The committee’s action did not change the fact that the Homeless Oversight Commission members will be eligible for city health benefits; it only removes the single-seat Refuse Rate Board representative from that eligibility, per the committee’s amendment.