San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie is proposing sweeping legislation to overhaul how the city addresses the fentanyl, homelessness and behavioral health crises on its streets. 

San Francisco voters made it clear in November — when they elected political novice Daniel Lurie as mayor over four candidates with decades of government experience — that they wanted to radically disrupt the status quo. 

Lurie is moving swiftly to do so. 

Within a week of being sworn into office, he introduced sweeping legislation to overhaul how City Hall addresses the fentanyl, homelessness and behavioral health crises on our streets. 

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The legislation, if approved by the Board of Supervisors, would do three key things. 

First, it would allow the mayor’s department heads to approve contracts, grants and leases worth between $10 million and $50 million for homelessness, mental health and addiction services without going through the city’s lengthy competitive bidding process — which typically takes up to nine months. Supervisors would have 45 days to review the contracts — previously, they could take as long as they wanted. 

Second, it would establish the same accelerated process to hire, recruit and more quickly onboard public safety workers — police officers, deputy sheriffs and 911 operators. 

Third, it would allow the mayor’s office for six months to solicit private donations to address homelessness and behavioral health, permit the city to accept gifts, grants and other donations for those issues and allow the controller to funnel surplus money to those causes. 

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