Gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman introduced legislation December 17 that, if passed, would amend the administrative code to permit the redaction of information required to be released by the city about certain nonprofits.
Nonprofits receiving over $100,000 from the city to provide direct services must provide information about the structure, leadership, and finances to the city as part of the Annual Economic Statement of City-Funded Organizations. Mandelman's legislation would allow the redaction of information "that may compromise personal safety," according to a draft of the legislation shared with the Bay Area Reporter.
According to the legislative digest, "nonprofits were concerned that disclosure of individual information could lead to harm to such individuals, as employees working in family planning services and LGBT rights groups have been targeted in the past. To ameliorate this potential harm, the personal privacy redaction justification has been expanded to include redaction to protect personal safety."
Information could only be redacted "if the release of information could lead to endangering personal safety," the legislative digest states.
A personal privacy redaction justification had been introduced in 2023, stating that redactions were possible when disclosure would violate laws about personal privacy, which came at the same time the reports started to be published online. Reporting requirements were first introduced in 1981.
Other than Planned Parenthood, Mandelman's office was not forthcoming about which nonprofits had expressed support or would be affected by this legislation; the B.A.R. reached out to Planned Parenthood of Northern California, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, PRC, and HealthRIGHT 360 but has not heard back.
The B.A.R. also reached out to LYRIC, a Castro neighborhood nonprofit that serves LGBTQ youth and reported in 2022 it had experienced bomb threats. LYRIC Executive Director Gael Lala-Chavez declined to comment December 17, other than stating, "This is different to what LYRIC experienced."
At the December 17 board meeting, Mandelman said that he was "introducing an ordinance to safeguard LGBTQ and reproductive health organizations from right-wing hate groups with a history of threats, harassment, and bullying."
The current law requires "every nonprofit receiving over $100,000 annually from or through the city and county to provide direct public services to file with the City Administrator an annual economic statement that includes the following personally identifying information: the name of the chief executive officer, employee, or other person possessing daily managerial responsibilities; and the names of all officers and directors and the names of all other boards of directors on which they serve," Mandelman said.
"These new disclosure requirements, however, have raised security concerns for reproductive health and LGBTQ organizations regarding potential impacts to their officers and staff," Mandelman continued. "The requirement to make publicly available in one place the names of these organizational leaders and the other organizations with which they are associated jeopardizes the privacy and security of these individuals at a time when the rights of reproductive health and our LGBTQ community are under attack from far right groups across the country and the incoming federal administration.
"Especially at this time, San Francisco must remain vigilant and proactively work to protect our most vulnerable communities from right-wing hate groups and those who intend to harm, harass, and bully our people," he added.
The names of executive employees, boards of directors, and budget information, including top salaries, for organizations are already available to the public in IRS Form 990 disclosures that all tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofits file. However, sometimes those reports are delayed by a year or more.
A spokesperson for the San Francisco City Administrator's office stated December 17, "This small legislative change allows us to respond to security concerns brought to us by organizations engaged in important work in the transgender and gender-nonconforming communities, as well as nonprofits focused on the protection of reproductive rights and providing services to victims of domestic violence.
"Transparency at the cost of personal safety was never the intent of our policy," the spokesperson continued. "We remain committed to ensuring that our city funded-community partners adhere to state and local requirements, and appreciate Supervisor Mandelman's support as we improve our procedures through this legislative update."
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