Y Combinator President Garry Tan went to social platform X on Tuesday to again voice his displeasure with the elected officials who represent San Francisco, home to the famous accelerator.
This time he criticized California State Assemblyman Matt Haney, who represents San Francisco, for a proposed late-night email bill he authored.
The tweet read: “Legitimize hard work. Haney is spreading nonsense again, from the guy who killed algebra and caused the fentanyl crisis in the Tenderloin.” He then posted a thread saying, “Is it a foreign business or what?”
Haney is what you might call “the punching bag’s favorite.” Back in 2016, Haney led the San Francisco Public Schools board when the district was discussing moving algebra out of high school. The lesson was later reinstated in 2024. To say that Tan was not a fan of this previous move is evident in several tweets, including in April 2023, October 2022 and June 2021.
Meanwhile, in 2022, Haney was appointed head of the California Opioid Commission, on which Tan he tweeted, “Politics as usual puts the incompetent suspect who presided over over 1000 fentanyl deaths in the SF area to head the CA Opioid Commission. Matt Haney has done nothing to support recovery and healing…”
Haney defended his work to combat the opioid crisis in a February LinkedIn post. In it, he referred to AB 1976, a bill he described “would build on existing requirements for California employers to have “adequate first aid supplies” for employees.” It aims to make kits available that include the life-saving drug naloxone “as a fire extinguisher”.
What has drawn Tan’s ire this time is Haney’s proposed bill, AB 2751, which would give workers “the right to disconnect” after agreed work hours. This means they will have the legal right to ignore calls, emails, texts or messages sent after this time, except in an emergency, and employers in breach may be subject to fines, the San Francisco Standard reported.
Haney told the publication, “If you work a 9-to-5 job, you shouldn’t be expected to work 24/7. This should be available to everyone, regardless of having a smartphone.”
It’s worth noting that the bill isn’t so much to ban people from working long hours if they choose, as Tan implies, as it is to ban companies from imposing an always-on expectation on workers. However, this idea runs counter to the startup hustle culture, part of the YC world, which respects dedication to work, especially in the early years.
Tan’s latest tweet finding fault with a California lawmaker is not unique. In January he made a rant at X about seven San Francisco supervisors that took a violent tone. He later apologized, explained that the tweet was meant to be an obvious reference to a popular rap song, and later deleted it.
It didn’t end there though. In February, three San Francisco supervisors received threatening letters at their homes that included a photo of Tan and the words: “I wish a slow, painful death for you and your loved ones.”
TechCrunch spoke with San Francisco board supervisor Aaron Peskin about the letter at the time, and Peskin said he did not believe Tan was directly responsible for anyone who sent the letter. But with its threatening tone aimed at a person, not just speech about a policy, Tan’s tweet nonetheless “damaged democratic discourse,” Peskin said.
Attempts to reach Tan and Haney for comment were not returned at the time of publication. Y Combinator declined to comment.
