San Francisco Votes: Proposition H

San Francisco - Proposition H is complicated. Its headline in the voter guide demonstrates the complexity: "Setting Clean Energy Deadlines; Studying Options for Providing Energy; Changing Revenue Bond Authority to Pay for Public Utility Facilities."

Three actions hinge on this proposition, but the first two appear unnecessary. Don't we already have a law (or laws) that set clean energy deadlines? And isn't "Studying Options for Providing Energy," inherent to the role of the Public Utilities Commission?

Well Yes on H would "require the PUC to evaluate making the City the primary provider of electric power in San Francisco." Requiring an evaluation means wasting a lot of time and money into a review process that has no significant outcome. Clearly the City makes more money selling the excess power from its Hetch Hetchy facilities in Tuolumne County to customers other than residents of San Francisco. Were not the costs and benefits of making the City the primary provider of electricity weighed when the initial decision to sell the power else where was made? If not, how, and why, would citizens of San Francisco vote more authority to such an inept and self-serving body?

The primary catch to Proposition H is the power it allocates to the Board of Supervisors. A yes vote on H allows the Board to approve the issuance of revenue bonds to pay for any public utility facilities without voter approval. The rhetoric of a green future may feel enticing. It may be less enticing, however, if that promise of green energy requires voters sign a blank check to the Board of Supervisors. This will be the case if voters pass Prop. H.