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Ethics Commission

File a Governmental Ethics Complaint

You may file a formal or informal complaint electronically with the Ethics Commission by selecting the appropriate form below. Note that formal complaints must be signed under penalty of perjury (the online form allows an electronic signature). Informal complaints do not require a signature and may be made anonymously.

Please do not file a complaint with the Ethics Commission unless it involves a violation subject to the Commission's enforcement authority. The Commission's jurisdiction only extends to laws covering campaign disclosures, campaign contributions and expenditures, disclosures of City Officials' economic interests, financial conflicts of interest, and the lobbying of City Officials (see jurisdiction notes at the bottom of the page).

Note that with any online submission, you may attach up to five electronic documents (e.g, scanned photos, documents, pdfs).

If you prefer to file a formal complaint through the mail or by delivering it to the Commission offices, please use the paper complaint form. This form can be completed before or after printing. Informal complaints may take any form, including email or letter. If you choose not to file your complaint online, it may be mailed to the Ethics Commission, 451 A Street, Suite 1410, San Diego, CA 92101, or emailed to ethicscommission@sandiego.gov.

For information regarding the Ethics Commission's procedures for processing complaints, please refer to the Enforcement Process Flowchart.

Jurisdiction Notes:  The Ethics Commission will not investigate violations that fall outside the Commission's purview. Please refer to our jurisdiction FAQs for more information regarding the types of violations that the Commission is authorized to investigate. Complaints regarding police misconduct should not be submitted to the Ethics Commission; instead, they should be directed to the Commission on Police Practices. Similarly, suspected cases of fraud, waste, or abuse should be reported to the City's Fraud Hotline.