Scott Wiener (born May 11, 1970) is an American politician who has served as a member of the California State Senate from the 11th district since 2016. A member of the Democratic Party, his district encompasses San Francisco and parts of San Mateo County. From 2011 to 2016 he served as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors from the 8th district.
Raised in New Jersey, Wiener earned degrees from Duke University and Harvard Law School. He was an attorney and LGBTQ+ rights advocate in San Francisco before his election to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. As a supervisor, Wiener chaired the San Francisco County Transportation Authority and represented San Francisco on the regional Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District Board.
During his political career, Wiener has been known as a prominent advocate for various measures to facilitate more housing construction in California to alleviate the California housing shortage. During his time in the California State Senate, he has authored several pieces of landmark legislation to increase housing supply in California.
Wiener is a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2026 election to replace retiring Representative Nancy Pelosi in California's 11th congressional district.
Early life and career Wiener was born in Philadelphia to a Jewish family on May 11, 1970. The son of a small business owner and a public school teacher, he was raised in southern New Jersey and graduated from Washington Township High School. Wiener received a bachelor's degree from Duke University and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School. He also spent one year studying history in Santiago, Chile, on a Fulbright Scholarship.
After law school, Wiener clerked for New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Alan B. Handler. He moved to San Francisco in 1997 to work as a litigation attorney at Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe. In 2002, he went to work as a deputy city attorney under San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera.
Before being elected to the Board of Supervisors, Wiener chaired the San Francisco County Democratic Central Committee. He also co-chaired the Alice B. Toklas LGBTQ Democratic Club and the San Francisco LGBT Community Center and served on the national board of directors of the Human Rights Campaign.
San Francisco Board of Supervisors
Wiener was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on November 2, 2010, carrying 42.4% of the vote in the first round of ranked choice voting. After the two lowest-finishing candidates were dropped, Wiener won election with 18,239 votes, or 55.4%, over the second-place finisher, attorney Rafael Mandelman. He was reelected in 2014 in the first round of ranked-choice voting with a majority of the vote.
Wiener represented the 8th district, which included the Castro District, Glen Park, Noe Valley, Diamond Heights, Twin Peaks, Duboce Triangle, Corona Heights, Buena Vista, and parts of the Mission District.
Housing In 2011, after a string of fires caused by arson in San Francisco's Castro district, Wiener authored legislation allowing residents temporarily displaced by fires or natural disasters to rent other apartments at below-market rates. Previously, landlords willing to rent out apartments to a tenant on a temporary basis could not offer lower rents without locking these rates in at that rate under rent control.
In 2012, Wiener passed legislation promoting the production of student housing while restricting the conversion of existing rental stock to student housing. That same year, the Board passed legislation to allow the construction of residential units as small as 220 square feet, known as micro-apartments.
In 2014, Wiener introduced two measures to allow the construction of new in-law units in San Francisco: one allows units to be built within the Castro neighborhood, and one allows owners of buildings undergoing seismic retrofit to add in-law units. In 2016, Wiener authored legislation to fast-track the approval of affordable housing projects.
In 2016, Wiener introduced legislation to extend rent control protections to people living with HIV/AIDS.
Transportation Wiener focused much of his policy work on San Francisco's public transportation. He criticized the lack of investment in transit in San Francisco, and advocated for additional funding measures. His proposals included changing the transit-impact development fee and a ballot measure to tie Muni funding to population growth. The latter measure, Measure B, required 75% of increased funding to improve Muni reliability and 25% of the funding to improve street safety. Measure B was passed on November 4, 2014.
Wiener also encouraged increases in the number of taxis in San Francisco and supported expanding access to car-share programs.
In 2013, the full Board of Supervisors passed Wiener's legislative package to streamline pedestrian safety projects. The legislation included creating a centralized Street Design Review Committee, making it easier for developers to implement pedestrian safety projects as gifts to the city, and amending the Fire Code to provide more leeway for sidewalk extensions.
Over his tenure as a Supervisor, Wiener advocated for increased pedestrian safety by advocating against widening streets. In 2014, this led to a public disagreement with the San Francisco Fire Department around street design at new developments at Hunters Point and Candlestick Point. The Fire Department sought to widen streets in these developments to be 26 feet wide, 6 feet wider than the legal requirement.
Public spaces In 2012, Wiener sponsored controversial legislation banning nudity at un-permitted events, which was eventually passed by the Board. Wiener stated that "[t]his is what local government is for—to respond to the issues affecting citizens where they live."
In 2013, the Board of Supervisors passed another bill authored by Wiener establishing park hours for San Francisco's parks. The supervisor claimed the ban was needed to combat vandalism and illegal dumping. Critics said it was unfairly aimed at the homeless.
Wiener was active in promoting and regulating food trucks. In 2013, Wiener's legislation establishing guidelines for San Francisco's food truck industry was passed by the Board of Supervisors.
Another of Wiener's policy focuses was increasing government spending on parks, including supporting the expansion of park patrol in budget negotiations. Wiener also authored legislation to have the city government purchase a parking lot on 24th Street and turn it into a public park.
On the Budget Committee, Wiener advocated for adding government funding for maintenance and safety in San Francisco's parks and other public spaces. He was also involved in efforts to increase municipal spending on street resurfacing and maintenance of street trees and park trees.
Environment In 2015, Wiener authored legislation to make San Francisco the first city in the country to require water recycling in new developments. He also proposed legislation to require each unit in multi-unit buildings have their own water submeters.
Nightlife and culture Early in his first term, Wiener requested a study of the economic impacts of entertainment and nightlife, an issue in his first campaign. The study, completed by the San Francisco City Economist, found San Francisco nightlife generated $4.2 billion in economic productivity in 2010.
In 2013, Wiener authored legislation to make it easier for businesses to get permits for DJs, and to offer a new permit to allow for live music in plazas.
HIV and LGBT issues In September 2014, in an online essay on The Huffington Post, Wiener revealed that he was taking Truvada, a pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) that reduces the risk of HIV infection. Wiener said he disclosed his usage of PrEP in an effort to reduce the stigma around it. He also cited the need for more awareness and expanding access as other keys for making PrEP successful. He worked with David Campos to support ensuring low-cost access to Truvada for pre-exposure prophylaxis against HIV after Wiener revealed his own PrEP use.
As a member of the Board's budget committee, Wiener advocated for HIV/AIDS services and restoring lost federal funds. In 2016, he helped secure funding for San Francisco's Getting to Zero effort, which aims to end all new HIV infections in San Francisco.
In 2016, he introduced a bill, passed by the Board, barring the city from doing business with companies based in states that have laws that bar policies banning discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, such as North Carolina, Tennessee, and Mississippi. The Board repealed the law in 2023 because it had been determined to be ineffective as well as increased costs for the city by up to 20%.
Parental leave In 2016, Wiener authored first-in-the-country legislation to require fully paid parental leave for new parents after childbirth or adoption, applying to both parents. As a result of this legislation, employers in San Francisco must give employees up to six weeks of paid time off.
Soda tax In 2014, Wiener introduced a ballot measure that would have imposed a two cents per ounce tax on the distribution of sodas and other sweetened beverages, and used the money to fund "healthy choices" in San Francisco. The measure, which was also sponsored by Supervisors Malia Cohen, Eric Mar, John Avalos, David Chiu, and David Campos, aimed to reduce soda consumption and increase programs to combat the rise of diabetes and other related diseases in San Francisco. The proposal was endorsed by much of San Francisco's local political establishment, including all its state legislators, and many health organizations, but voters in the 2014 election did not give the measure the supermajority required to impose a new tax. The American Beverage Association spent more than $9 million to defeat Measure E, which was also opposed by the Libertarian Party of San Francisco. Ultimately, the measure garnered 55.6% of the vote, below the 66.7% needed to pass.
California State Senate
In 2016, Wiener ran for the 11th Senate District, to succeed termed out Senator Mark Leno. As it is required to include a Chinese name on the ballot (17% of San Francisco speaks Chinese), Wiener chose the name (), meaning "bold, majestic, charitable and tall" (he is ).
Wiener received several endorsements, including one from Leno. He defeated fellow Supervisor Jane Kim in the November general election, to win election to the State Senate.
Wiener was reelected to the state senate in 2020 and 2024.
Wiener is the Chair of three California Senate committees: Budget and Fiscal Review, Legislative Ethics, and the Joint Legislative Budget Committee. He is also the Assistant Majority Whip and serves as the Chair of the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus.
Wiener was named the most effective state legislator in the 2023–2024 session and in the top five most effective in his first four sessions by the Center for Effective Lawmaking at the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University.
Psychedelic decriminalization