THE SAN FRANCISCO Chronicle's Phil Matier and Andrew Ross reported with all due (and appropriate) indignation Jan. 24 that a big multinational corporation, Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy, has received $39 million in rent breaks for its duty-free stores at the San Francisco International Airport – despite the fact that the company won't give the city any financial records to show that it needs the publicly financed handout to survive.

That's an outrage, of course. But there's a bigger story here, one that's even more alarming – and one that the city attorney, the controller, and the supervisors ought to be jumping all over: city law expressly forbids San Francisco officials from giving any financial favors to any private company – unless that company is willing to make public its profit-and-loss statements.

Here's what Section 67.32 of the Sunshine Initiative, passed by the voters in 1999, says: "The city shall give no subsidy in money, tax abatements, land or services to any private entity unless that private entity agrees in writing to provide the city with financial projections (including profit and loss figures), and annual audited financial statements for the project thereafter, for the project upon which the subsidy is based and all such projections and financial statements shall be public records."

That provision was written for exactly this sort of situation, and it provides clear language that the city attorney and controller can and should use to let the airport know this isn't a valid deal.

The larger issue is that almost nobody at city hall seems to be aware of, or paying any attention to, Section 67.32. City Attorney Dennis Herrera should immediately put out an opinion advising all city departments that the Sunshine Initiative bars them from giving any goodies to private companies on the taxpayers' dime unless and until the city has, and makes public, the necessary financial documents. And the supervisors should ask Controller Ed Harrington to do an audit of all tax breaks, rent breaks, and other favors given to private firms since 1999 to see how many of those outfits provided the city with the appropriate financial records.

The voters made a strong statement that they don't want public money going out the door without good reason. With the city facing a devastating financial crunch, this is an excellent time to make sure that law is aggressively enforced.