Charter
Definition
A charter is a city or county's foundational governing document, comparable to a constitution. It sets up the structure of government, defines the powers of the mayor, council, and manager, and lays out how elections, budgets, and ordinances work.1
Why it matters
Amending a charter is harder than passing an ordinance, usually requiring a voter referendum, so charters lock in structural choices, like whether a city has a strong mayor or a city manager, for years or decades. Whoever wins a charter amendment campaign can reshape how power flows in a city long after the vote.
Seen in the wild
San Francisco voters weighed two charter amendments in November 2024: Proposition D, which would have let the mayor appoint two-thirds of most commission members and stripped the Police Commission's policymaking power, and Proposition E, which created a task force to study consolidating the city's roughly 130 commissions. Voters rejected Prop D and passed Prop E.2