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Construction firms could be fined for failing to hire sufficient numbers of San Francisco residents to work on city-funded construction projects, if legislation introduced Tuesday by Supervisor John Avalos becomes law.

The head of a powerful labor group whose members appoint workers to such projects, however, described the legislation as unworkable and said it fails to address the root causes of chronic unemployment in the city's lowest-income neighborhoods.

San Francisco has long asked its construction contractors to make good-faith efforts to hire at least half of their project workforces locally.

The approach is designed to help San Francisco keep its tax dollars within the local economy and allows underemployed residents of run-down neighborhoods to participate in rebuilding efforts.

It also risks locking regional workers out of the relatively healthy jobs market in San Francisco, where major infrastructure projects are underway to improve streets, parks, library branches, sewer and water systems, a transit hub and a public hospital.

A recent city-sponsored report found the good-faith approach to local hiring has failed to achieve its goal, with just 24 percent of workers on 29 San Francisco projects being hired from within city limits.

"By having mandatory levels of local hiring, we can ensure that we are reaching a much higher goal," Avalos said during a Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday when he introduced the San Francisco Local Hiring Policy For Construction legislation.

The legislation was the culmination of more than a year of meetings and mediated workshops involving lawmakers, labor representatives, contractors and community activists.

If the legislation becomes law, contractors would initially be required to employ San Francisco residents to conduct at least 30 percent of the construction work on a city project.

The minimum local hiring level would rise to 40 percent one year later and rise again to 50 percent after one more year.

In each year of the legislation's implementation, half of the San Francisco-based workers would be required to come from economically disadvantaged neighborhoods, such as the Bayview.

Contractors that fail to meet the requirements could be fined.

For every hour of work that is illegally performed by a non-resident or by a resident of a non-disadvantaged neighborhood, the city could fine the contractor the prevailing hourly wage of a journeyman. A journeyman is a worker who has completed an apprenticeship.

The legislation also includes some incentives, with contractors rewarded financially for exceeding minimum mandated local hiring levels.

San Francisco Building & Construction Trades Council Secretary-Treasurer Michael Theriault, however, criticized the legislation. "It doesn't work," he said.

The council's members, rather than contractors, generally appoint members to work on construction projects, and their non-discriminatory hiring policies prevent them from favoring workers based on their cities of residence.

Theriault said San Francisco "would have to pull more than 1,000 journey-level workers out of thin air" to fill the number of jobs that the legislation would require be set aside for city residents.

Theriault said San Francisco must do a better job of preparing residents of disadvantaged neighborhoods to become construction workers. Shop classes have been stripped from city schools.

"We are talking to Avalos and we're seeing if we can get this [legislation] to a point where it's workable," Theriault said.

The Board of Supervisors' Land Use and Economic Development Committee might meet in November to hear concerns from the public about the legislation, which Avalos characterized as a "starting point" that will "take a lot of dialogue" to move forward.

Avalos said supervisors Ross Mirkarimi and David Campos have agreed to co-sponsor the legislation.

Mayor Gavin Newsom did not yet have a position on the measure, spokesman Tony Winnicker said shortly after it was introduced.

"The Mayor supports stronger local hire requirements, and we'll continue to work with the Supervisors, the building trade unions and the community to achieve both realistic and legally enforceable local job guarantees for city projects," Winnicker said in an e-mail.

"But it's also important to focus our collective efforts on expanding the pool of jobs available to everyone through infrastructure investments and support for the businesses doing the hiring. The best local job guarantee is still a growing local economy," Winnicker said.