After a year of work by community organizations, labor leaders, business leaders, governance experts, public safety advocates, and residents to strengthen accountability and modernize County government, Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer warned today that Supervisor Joel Anderson’s proposed amendments would gut many of the reforms that gave the Charter proposal real meaning.

The original Charter reform package was backed by a broad coalition of civic, labor, environmental, public safety, business, nonprofit, and community leaders who came together around one shared principle: San Diego County government should answer to the public, not protect entrenched power.

“Residents asked for real reform, real oversight, and real accountability,” Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer said. “These amendments keep the title of reform, but hollow out many of the parts that would actually make government answer to the public. People across San Diego County spent a year helping build a reform package that would finally bring stronger oversight, transparency, checks and balances, and accountability into County government, but the minute accountability started applying equally across County government, carveouts started appearing for some of the most powerful offices.”

For the past year, community organizations, labor leaders, firefighters, civic reform advocates, business leaders, nonprofit organizations, environmental groups, students, and public safety representatives have worked together on a broad Charter Reform proposal to modernize County government and strengthen transparency, oversight, ethics, accountability, and checks and balances in one of the largest local governments in the United States. 

The original proposal would allow voters to weigh in on whether offices such as Sheriff, District Attorney, Treasurer-Tax Collector, and Assessor-Recorder-Clerk should eventually follow the same 12-year term-limit standards as other County elected officials, once state law permits.

Anderson’s amendments would strip that language out entirely, preventing voters from even weighing in on whether those powerful offices should ever face the same rules as everyone else.

“Today, the Sheriff, District Attorney, and Assessor — all officials with no term limits — endorsed Supervisor Anderson’s amendments to stop voters from even weighing in on whether those offices, along with the Treasurer-Tax Collector office Anderson is currently running for, should ever have to follow the same term-limit standards as other County elected officials,” said Wendy Gelernter, a leader of the Indivisible group Take Action San Diego. “The public can draw its own conclusions about why powerful insiders are working so hard to keep voters out of this conversation.” 

The reforms Anderson now wants to weaken were designed to finally give the public more visibility into how billions in taxpayer dollars are spent and whether County programs are actually delivering results, including: 

• An Independent Ethics Commission
• Budget and Program Auditor Offices to Independent oversight tools to the elected Board 
• Stronger transparency requirements
• Public accountability for senior County leadership overseeing billions in taxpayer dollars
• and a pathway toward consistent term limits across County government

“Firefighters adapt as conditions change - longer fire seasons, new risks, growing communities. County governance should adapt too,” said John Clark, President of the San Diego County Firefighters Local 2881. Clear accountability and modern oversight help ensure resources are used effectively to keep people safe.”

San Diego County now serves more than 3.3 million residents and manages more than $8.6 billion in public resources, yet the County Charter has not been substantially modernized since 1978.

Lawson-Remer said the original reform proposal was always intended to be a long-term effort to build a stronger and more accountable County government for future generations, not to protect or attack whichever politicians happen to hold office today.

“A Charter is supposed to be like the foundation of a home — built to last for generations,” Lawson-Remer said. “You don’t redraw the plans around whoever’s furniture happens to be inside the house right now.”

The original reform proposal passed on April 21st was developed through extensive conversations with community organizations, labor leaders, business leaders, governance experts, and residents concerned about transparency, accountability, and public trust in local government. Supporters include San Diego County Firefighters, San Diego County Deputy Sheriffs’ Association, the Tijuana River Coalition, Planned Parenthood Action Fund of the Pacific Northwest, WildCoast, ACCE, Business For Good, the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, SEIU 221, the Employee Rights Center, LiUNA, San Diego Pride, Equality California, and the Pilipino Workers Center.