Two San Francisco taxpayers and a civil-rights group have sued the city over an ordinance that created a Reparations Fund intended to support programs for Black residents. The plaintiffs argue that administering a fund tied to race and ancestry violates equal-protection guarantees under the U.S. and California constitutions.
In early February 2026, San Francisco residents Richard “Richie” Greenberg and Arthur Ritchie, along with the Californians for Equal Rights Foundation, filed suit in San Francisco County Superior Court challenging the city’s Reparations Fund ordinance.
The lawsuit targets the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, which the city ordinance assigns to manage the fund. The plaintiffs argue that San Francisco is using public authority—and an agency funded by taxpayers—to set up and administer a program they say is explicitly tied to race and ancestry.
In the complaint, the plaintiffs describe the city’s approach as “a sordid and unconstitutional enterprise” and contend that, by directing a taxpayer-funded agency to administer a fund intended to implement race-exclusive benefits, San Francisco is creating what they call an unconstitutional “racial spoils system” that allocates benefits and opportunities based on race and ancestry.
The ordinance at the center of the case was approved by the Board of Supervisors on December 16, 2025, and signed by Mayor Daniel Lurie on December 23, 2025, according to the city’s legislative record. The measure establishes a fund but does not, by itself, appropriate money for payments.
Supporters and city officials have described the fund as a framework to accept private donations and potential future city appropriations to support recommendations developed by the city’s African American Reparations Advisory Committee, which was created in 2020 and released a report in 2023. That report included proposals such as a one-time payment of up to $5 million for eligible people, along with other benefits including debt relief and preferential access to housing and employment-related opportunities.
Greenberg told Fox News Digital that he believes the ordinance is “dividing the city rather than trying to unite,” and argued the city should focus on policies that “uplift everybody.” He also warned that implementing large-scale reparations payments and preferences could, in his view, “basically kill the city” financially.
San Francisco officials have said the city has not allocated funding for the reparations plan. Media reports and public statements from the mayor’s office have linked that position to the city’s broader fiscal pressures, including projections of a roughly $1 billion budget deficit.
The new lawsuit follows earlier litigation brought by Californians for Equal Rights Foundation challenging San Francisco-related guaranteed-income programs that the group argued used unlawful racial or demographic preferences; the San Francisco Chronicle reported on that case in 2023, and the organization has since said a settlement was finalized in January 2026.
