David Chiu

David Sen-Fu Chiu (邱信福, born April 2, 1970) is an American politician currently serving as the City Attorney of San Francisco.

In the mid-1990s, Chiu served as Democratic Counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee's Constitution Subcommittee and aide to Senator Paul Simon to the Senate Budget Committee.

After moving to San Francisco in 1996, Chiu worked as a law clerk for Judge James R. Browning of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, as a criminal prosecutor at the San Francisco District Attorney's Office, and as a civil rights attorney at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights.

He later founded Grassroots Enterprise, an online communications technology company, and served as its chief operating officer and general counsel.

He also served on the San Francisco Small Business Commission until he was elected supervisor in 2008.

Chiu first ran for elected office in 2008, when he ran for a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors representing District 3.

He was backed by incumbent supervisor Aaron Peskin as well as Kamala Harris, Mark Leno, Leland Yee, and Tom Ammiano.

On his first day in office on January 8, 2009, Chiu was elected to a two-year term as president of the Board of Supervisors.

In 2010, Chiu established the Healthy Nail Salon Recognition Program, designed to phase out toxic chemicals in nail salons.

In 2010, Chiu authored Proposition D, which would have allowed non-citizen parents to vote in school board elections.

He was reelected board president on January 8, 2011.

On January 10, 2011, Chiu served as acting Mayor of San Francisco for a day after Gavin Newsom was sworn in as Lieutenant Governor of California, prior to the selection and swearing-in of Ed Lee by the Board of Supervisors.

On February 28, 2011, Chiu announced his mayoral candidacy at a morning rally at San Francisco City Hall.

Over the course of the campaign, Chiu raised over $1.24 million from both private and public sources and spent roughly the same amount.

On Election Day, Chiu placed fourth behind incumbent Ed Lee with 17,921 first-place votes.

Chiu was reelected to his second and final term as supervisor in 2012, winning over 75% of the vote.

In 2012, In 2012, Chiu created a program to provide counsel in civil cases, with its first pilot funding legal representation for tenants facing evictions.

He also authored legislation to oversee the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, then-Mayor Ed Lee’s plan to invest $1 billion in affordable housing construction and related programs.

In 2012, Chiu launched San Francisco’s first participatory budgeting pilot program, allowing District 3 residents to decide how to allocate a portion of the city’s budget to neighborhood priorities.

He was later reelected by his fellow supervisors to serve an unprecedented third term as president of the board on January 8, 2013.

In addition to serving on the Board of Supervisors, Chiu also served as a member of the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee.

In 2013, Chiu authored a law that gave tenants facing Ellis Act evictions priority when applying to affordable housing programs.

In 2013, Chiu authored an Open Data law establishing rules to make the data of all city departments publicly available.

In 2013, Chiu authored the Family Friendly Workplace Ordinance, which gave workers the right to request flexible working arrangements to assist with caregiving responsibilities.

The U.K., Australia, Ireland, Italy and New Zealand have similar laws in place designed to protect workers with families from retaliation and discrimination.

The ordinance passed unanimously, making San Francisco the first U.S. city to adopt such a policy.

In 2014, Chiu authored legislation that fully legalized in-law units in San Francisco, typically garage or basement-level rentals.

In 2014, Chiu authored a law that made San Francisco the first major city in the U.S. to ban the sale of single-use plastic water bottles on public property and require the installation of public drinking water taps.

In 2014, Chiu authored the Predictive Scheduling and Fair Treatment Ordinance, which established fair scheduling practices for part-time workers at chain store retailers.

In 2014, Chiu authored San Francisco’s “Dig Once” ordinance, which requires private companies and public agencies digging up city streets to allow the placement of city-owned conduits for fiber-optic cable in order to expand the city’s public fiber network.

Chiu was the Chair of the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee, a position he held from 2016 to 2021, and the former chair of the California Asian & Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus.

Prior to his election to the State Assembly, Chiu was the President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and Supervisor for District 3, encompassing the northeastern corner of the city, including Chinatown, Nob Hill, North Beach, Union Square, the Financial District, and Fisherman's Wharf.

He was the first Asian American to serve as District 3 supervisor, the first Asian American to serve as board president, and the first supervisor elected to three consecutive terms as board president.

On September 29, 2021, San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced that she would appoint David Chiu to serve as the new City Attorney of San Francisco.

After he left the Assembly, a special election was held to succeed him, which was won by District 6 supervisor Matt Haney.

The eldest child of Taiwanese immigrant parents, Chiu was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, where he attended Boston College High School.

Chiu graduated from Harvard University, where he received a bachelor's degree in government from Harvard College, a Master's Degree in public policy from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School.

The measure failed, but a similar proposition supported by Chiu on the November 2016 ballot later passed with 54% of the vote.

Previously, he served in the California State Assembly as a Democrat representing the 17th Assembly District, which encompasses the eastern half of San Francisco.

In the same year, he authored legislation requiring pharmaceutical companies selling prescription drugs in San Francisco to fully fund and oversee a take-back program for expired drugs and established San Francisco’s “Solar Vision 2020” to expand San Francisco’s GoSolarSF pilot program and advance solar installations and rooftop gardens for new construction.