A San Francisco proposition that would impose lifetime term limits on the city’s mayor and Board of Supervisors would be a California first.
On its face, Proposition B is about term limits, but opponents say the measure is directed at keeping one former San Francisco lawmaker out of office.
“It’s about keeping Aaron Peskin from ever running again on the Board of Supervisors,” former San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos told the Public Press. “This is a solution looking for a problem. And there is none except the personal fear of some politicians that they could face Aaron Peskin and lose again.”
Former Supervisor Aaron Peskin is the only person who has ever returned to office in San Francisco after serving the maximum allowed two consecutive terms. Peskin served as supervisor on and off for over 17 years between 2001 and 2025. In that time he consolidated a powerful political base and became known for supporting tenants’ rights and expanding social services.
Peskin told the Public Press that he did not intend to run for office again in San Francisco and said that those pushing Proposition B are “suffering from Aaron Peskin derangement syndrome,” playing on a catchphrase used to belittle critics of President Trump.
Proponents say San Francisco’s current term-limits law is confusing because it allows termed-out lawmakers like Peskin to return to office after a four-year break. GrowSF, a powerful business-friendly advocacy group, urges voters to say “yes” on B, calling it a “tiny change” that helps the law make more sense to the average voter.
Supporters also say that the ability for lawmakers to return to office after a pause in service represents a legal loophole in San Francisco’s existing law. However, opponents argue that the loophole described by proponents isn’t a loophole at all: Official support for the original 1990 term-limits law explicitly acknowledged the ability for elected officials to return to office after a four-year hiatus.
A California first
Term limits on mayors and county supervisors are rare in California, and lifetime bans almost unheard of. Only nine of California’s 58 counties have any term limits for supervisors. Eight of those counties only restrict how many terms supervisors can serve successively, not within their entire lifetime. San Benito County passed explicit lifetime term limits on the Board of Supervisors in 2022 and remains the only California county to have such a law.
It is also rare to see lifetime term limits on the mayor’s office. While term limits are most common in big cities, most California municipalities have no mayoral term limits or focus on regulating successive terms. The city and county of Sacramento, for example, have no restrictions on how long mayors or supervisors can serve. San Francisco’s current term-limits law was passed in 1990 amid a statewide push to set such limits.
Introduced by Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, Proposition B would amend the San Francisco charter to prevent mayors or members of the Board of Supervisors from serving more than two four-year terms in their lifetime. Previously, the law only prevented elected officials from serving more than two four-year terms successively.
San Francisco’s shifting landscape
A simple majority of “yes” votes would be required for the measure to pass.
The official argument supporting Proposition B says the city “deserves a government that reflects the realities of those who will inherit San Francisco’s future,” and is co-signed by five people, including former San Francisco Youth Commissioner Adrianna Zhang, co-presidents of the San Francisco Young Democrats, city college trustee Ruth Ferguson and youth activist Chanel Green.
But opponents say that new blood is already taking over San Francisco politics. In 2024, voters elected a mayor and four supervisors who had never held office, marking a significant political shift.
Peskin told the Public Press that those funding the Proposition B campaign have a clear goal: “There’s no question that the current crop of supervisors and the billionaires that bought and paid for it want to move San Francisco to the right.”
Historically, restrictive term limits in California have been a conservative effort. California imposed term limits on statewide offices in 1990 with the passage of Proposition 140, a move widely considered a Republican move to unseat then-Assembly Speaker Willie Brown.
Powerful backers on both sides
Mayor Daniel Lurie and more than half of the current supervisors — Bilal Mahmood, Matt Dorsey, Myrna Melgar, Danny Sauter, Stephen Sherrill and Alan Wong — support the measure. Joining them are former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, U.S. Rep. Kevin Mullin and state Sen. Scott Wiener.
Despite major endorsements, Proposition B has received little financial support compared to other propositions on the ballot. The measure has raised $341,750, with almost all of that money supporting the initiative, and the opposition only bringing in $2,800. The measure’s top two contributors are billionaires: Chris Larsen and Michael Moritz, founder and chairman of The San Francisco Standard.
The campaign opposing the measure is headlined by former California Gov. Jerry Brown, who called the proposition a “Trumpian idea.” Joining him are former San Francisco Mayors Willie Brown and Art Agnos, and former Youth Commissioners Lisa Yu and Rosa Chen.
