SF Mayor Daniel Lurie Introduces ‘Fentanyl State of Emergency Ordinance’

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie moved forward with his first ordinance as Mayor on Tuesday, unveiling the “Fentanyl State of Emergency Ordinance” designed to help fight the widespread use of the drug.

When running for Mayor last year, Lurie promised to combat the fentanyl issue sweeping the city. While the number of fentanyl overdose deaths in the city are expected to number less than the 806 recorded in 2023, 2024 figures are still expected to be one of the highest on record. Then-Mayor London Breed touted her success in combatting fentanyl as part of her campaign last year. However, with fentanyl still rampant throughout the city, the issue wound up hurting her in the race rather than helping.

Lurie was then elected as Mayor in November.

At his swearing-in last week, Lurie once again promised to begin a fentanyl state of emergency and work closer with emergency services to help bring the city back on track. Less than a week later, on Tuesday, Lurie made good on his promise, introducing the ordinance.

The ordinance would unlock funding to combat fentanyl, fast-track hiring of public safety and health staff, and expand treatment and shelter capacity for those struggling with the drug’s use. In addition, the ordinance would also fast-track approval of nonprofits that provide behavioral health services, addiction services, mental health services, and homelessness services while also reducing oversight from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

“We can no longer treat this fentanyl crisis as a nine-to-five issue. This is a crisis that happens 24 hours a day,” said Lurie on Tuesday. “We have a crisis that needs urgency, that demands urgency, and that’s what you’re seeing from my administration and everyone behind me. That is why I’m introducing a package of Fentanyl State of Emergency Ordinances. This will allow us to further surge resources and bypass the bureaucratic hurdles standing in the way of tackling this crisis. I look forward to working with the Board of Supervisors for their quick approval.”

Wednesday, Lurie added, “The ordinance  would allow for surging resources and making sure we can hire people more quickly. We need to stand up more mental health beds, more drug treatment beds. That’s what this ordinance is going to help us do. And it will help us move more quickly. We’ll work with neighborhood groups to determine locations for new treatment facilities. We could also add beds to hospitals where there is space for more beds, such as San Francisco General Hospital. It’s not just about beds, it’s about staffing.”

A new ordinance proposal

Supervisor Bill Mahmood was one of several co-sponsors of the ordinance. “I heard during the campaign that what we need to do to solve that crisis is to make sure we have a fully staffed police department, fully funding efforts to coordinate law enforcement and city departments together and ensure more community collaboration,” Mahmood said.

While his ordinance has widespread support, some critics have noted that the ordinance could prove expensive, as the addition of more beds would lead to higher costs for hospitals.

“This seems like a pretty outlandish promise to be making to the public that we have space and we can move quickly,” said nurse and chapter president of the SEIU 1021 union Jennifer Esteen. “When you want to add beds to an acute-care hospital it requires all sorts of licensing from various agencies, not to mention you have to negotiate with the unions about budgeting, resources and staffing.”

However, most noted that Lurie’s ordinance is also just the first of many, and that the first ordinance already has done more than Breed did for the first several years in office when it came to the fentanyl crisis.

“Breed panicked last year as she saw that she might lose the election, so she quickly brought forward all these laws challenging fentanyl,” Rachel Garcia, a pollster who covers Marin County, San Francisco County and San Mateo County told the Globe Wednesday. “She tried everything to make up for lost time. She made a program giving $100 a week to welfare recipients who had clean drug tests. She cracked down on the Tenderloin district multiple times. She did everything but the obvious ways like higher sentences for sellers and distributors, better addiction services, and all that. And look what Lurie did on his first week in the job. He’s starting to chip away at that already.

“There’s no perfect plan for fighting fentanyl, and those nurses did raise a good point. But people are having a hard time challenging any other part of the proposed ordinance. People want to get rid of fentanyl as much as possible. They want people to get help. And they want their streets back, away from dealers and users on the streets. They don’t want to normalize carrying around Narcan, and they don’t want to keep stepping on used needles. It’s a long road to get there since San Francisco is in that much of a hole, but it’s a start. The Board still needs to approve it though.”

More ordinances and laws designed to combat the fentanyl crisis are expected to be unveiled soon.