Transcripts For SFGTV 20240622

Amount of leave [inaudible]3 4 f1 election to be held on november 3, 2015 i want to start by saying thank you to all my colleagues, all 11 members of the borebd cosponsored this Charter Amendment so just by way of background, back in 2002 the voters adopt the first paid parental leave in San Francisco and im very proud that we took the lead on that and so under the current paid Parental Leave Program employees received 12 weeks or if employees are disabled by pregnancy they get up to 16 weeks of leave after the first adoption or fostering of the chooild so this supplemented state disability, paid sick leave, compensatory time and orelt types of leave. I would like to thank department of human resources. The Charter Amendment we are proposing today we wish we could have done it via ordinance but we have to go before the voters gaen to amendment. [inaudible] allow 40 times of sick hours on the book. Currently city workers must exhaust all sick and vaiication time before beginning paid time off so the change allows parent to address Health Related needs when they return to work or if they get sick which i know happens. Secondly, if there are 2 city workers in the same family each is entitled to equal share of benefit. If there are 2 city workers in the same family they must splint the benefit. If one partner takes 4 weeks off the remaining gets aithd weeks time off. Requiring employees to exhaust all accrued paid leave especially sick leave has the unintended effect och shortening the rate to sickness benefit during the time when it is needed the most come is when they first return or there after and allowing the city workers to be entitled to the benefit if they are married or in a Domestic Partnership with oorlt City Employee is a fair thing to do. So, when we first announced the introduction of this Charter Amendment we announced this is the first step in another year long process that our office will be engaging in with the City Departments, advocates even the private sector to figure if there are other way tooz make the policy more family friendly. I would like to thankthere are many people involved. The Hr Department of labor and womens bureau the department of status of women, [inaudible] dhr, our controllers office, Public Partners include San Francisco Family Support network, the healthy mothers work Place Coalition [inaudible] our Wonderful Police Commission President , seussy lofts. We have private partners who decide oo join the task force including gap and google who all have set their own examples in the private sector with paid parental leave policy. Again, i ink the changes we propose to make this november are basic but there is a lot more work and discussion to be had about the other things we can doompt im proud to say during the last budget process pented approval by the board of supervisors we were able to secure funding for a paid parental leave counselor at dhr. That was a wonderful idea because manyit is very complicated. I learned myself how challenging it is to understand the various layers of federal, state and local policy that a expecting muckter is to put together. I want to thank janey white prom dhr for counseling our staff. With that colleagues i dont know if you have questions or comments . I just want to compliment you and the staff. I think it is fantastic piece of legislation. I was hapied and honored to join you at the press conference i guess a mupth ago. It is a Long Time Coming so that is all ill say and looking forward to the staff presentation i was very eager to find out the [inaudible] and the earliest is about 10 years ago we established the family leave policy here in San Francisco and you are actually building on the work that was done from years ago and it is great we look how to upidate it as well thank you. With that id like to call up laura [inaudible] first from first 5. She is exectchb director there. Elizabeth newman [inaudible] if dhr wishes to speak or anyone has questions we have staff here good afternoon supervisors. I am once again proud to be part of San Francisco leading the way of the city and the country in this. I think in terms of Early Childhood we know the importance of the first few years of life with all that development and how it is so important to have a safe and nurching virementd for up to 3 year olds and paid parental leave is a policy that is important. A advocate for paid parental leave, we think 9 months would be a good time but i hope this is first step showing the country what we can do in the country for paid parental leave. I do want to say there are 2 other really important policies that may you will consider in terms of Early Childhood, Home Visiting and one and what is Home Visiting . Having a health nurse or Health Worker visiting mothers and fathers when their babies are born and it shows a huge reduction in depression and infant Toddler Development and it is one of the things that will be really important for us to do. We have some programs in San Francisco already but it is snot universal. Again, im happy to work with supervisors on this and proud to bei also want to say that 7 babies have been born in my office over the last 5 years so know the complexities of navigating the system but it is nice we were able to offer that for our employees. Thank you thank you so much laura comock and we really feel that partnership between 0 and 5 is important with first 5 because as we know the cost of childcare in the early days are expensive. In the next phase well see how we can figure more time with the parents to spend more time with their kids. Next we have Elizabeth Newman from department of status on women. Good morning supervisors, my name is Elizabeth Newman and work place policy and legislative analyst for department on status of women. Our director wishes she could be here today but wanted to come and speak in the Charter Amendment to enhance paid parental leave for City Employees. We know the paid leave for sth care and bond wg a new chileds has tremendous benefits for the children and families. Paid leave leads to healthier babies. According to the National Institute of child Health Breast feeding reu results fewer infection, better survive decreased allergies. Studies found there are fewer symptoms of depression with women who take leave than those who return to work before 12 weeks. Paid parental leave increases women life time praijs by keeping mothers in the work force. We are very proud of San Francisco for providing 12 weeks of paid parental leave however we know we can do better and there are 2 especially Important Reasons why the chairfcks to San Franciscos paid leave program are so necessary and why the department on the status of women supports them. First providing each working 12 weeks of paid leave can lead to greater quality and care giving. Evaluation of california paid leave law found having access to paid leave [inaudible] especially in the early weeks after child birth and this has lasting benefits. For fathers 2 weeks or more of paid leave leads to more regular involvement which has long term effects. Women are still more likely to pick up the second shift of care giving and home helt work and giving parents a opportunities to balance care promotes greater equality in the home. This change allows same sex couples to have the opportunity for bond with their children in equal time. The ability to maintain 40 hours of sick leevl promotes healthier babies and families. When parent return to work their care giving responsibility do not stop and allowing to maintain sick leave will give parents the time they need to take the wellness exams, make sure the sure the children are immunized or [inaudible] this is so important at a time when Family Finances are already stretched by a new addition and the department on the status of women supports the Charter Amendment to enhance the paid parental leave. Thank you supervisor tank for bringing this forward and thank you for your time thank you very much. At this time i would like to just make a final offer if dhr would like to say anything . Good morning commissioners or board of supervisors. Thank you supervisor tank tang for your leadership on the chapter amendment and want to thank you all the other spl supervisors who supported this. This demonstrates this is a important chapter amendment. As we go all this will provide more bonding time as we heard already and we are providing the bonding time for the future leaders of San Francisco who will one day hopefully be in your spots because they are the children of San Francisco and will become the leaders. Thank you very much, we are in support of the chapter mement and want to thank the board for allowing the extra staff position so we provide more services in paid parental leave. We are here with jamesy white who is the lead manager who can answer any questions you may have. Thank you thank you very much. Those are all the Department Speakers i have today unless anyone wants to say anything else . My name is jamesy white and im the medical leave Program Manager at dhr so i do thank you for the sponsoring this amendment. Just wanted to eco everything that has been said about the great work that will be achieved by the passage of this by the voter squz say that men and women make thg commitment to serve the city often make the difficult choice of putting off having children or being away from their children from prolonged peerds of time so fulfill their obligation to the sitgens of San Francisco so by enhancing the paid leave program and benefit we can demonstrate or commitment to the families of employees who are committed to serve. There proposal insures that parnts will get 12 week which is a wonderful benefit and also allows them to have time on the books when they return from their sick leave. We do have incredbly talented men and women who serve the city and also want to be parents and have sometime to spend with their children, so we are supporting them in fum filling the role. Thank you quick question. Just a point of clarification. This is a unique situation of both parents work frathe city, correct . Yes and there are by estimate approximately 5 percent of inemployees are both parents working for the city thank you so much for your service. At this time i would like through the chair maybe open Public Comment and have a couple speakers i would like to invite up first. We do have here suzy [inaudible] andrew ruso who is San Francisco Family Network and [inaudible] if you want to knh up first and anyone else who wants to speak on the item can line up afterwards. Thank you thauchck chairman avalos and supervisor tang and cohen. I benefited from this program. I took mu turnly leave twice. My husband also worked for the city and he was able to take advantage of mu turnty leave which allowed me too study for bar. We struggle with how to make life easier for families, how do we support mom jz parent and what you did here is really important supervisor tang is looked at a program which is a jewel of the sate and something of pride. Something that reflects San Francisco believes in and ask how to make it better. When you called to tell me about this you nail adpiece that never made sense which is if you choose between taking 12 weeks off or saving sick time it is hard for the parent to make. Do i spend the time with the baby or boo a responsible person on the back end knowing i will have to take days off. That never made sense and worked with dhr to figure that out. When people ask when i took the leave how is it possible the city does that . This only sets the standard for City Employees, it sets the stage for what is possible. The last thing i want to say is it made me more loyal where i worked. When you feel your employer takes care of you you are more likely to come back and be excited to serve the city and return to work which is hard for parents. Congratulation jz foin to support this and thank you all sfr your support thank you next speaker, please good morning supervisors my name is androrousso and director and cofounder of [inaudible] supporting and strengthening San Franciscos families every day. The San Francisco Family Support network applauds supervisor tang and commend all the other member thofz board of supervisors who supported addressing this. This issue is critical for San Francisco because when families and Young Children are supported, all of us have a brighter future. Too often family leave is seen as a side issue or a womens issue. In fact, it is a community and stoital issue that calls upon all of us to invest in welcomeing and supporting the newest, youngest and most vulnerable members. The San Francisco support Network Stands in full support of this legislation, the Charter Amendment, and looks forward to participating in the task force and welcomes the opportunity to exthend benefits to more San Francisco families. Thank you thank you very much. Any other members of the public who would like to comment . [inaudible] sick leave, parental leave. How about pay of baby [inaudible] thank you very much. Well close Public Comment and i am a cosponsor of this legislation and appreciate it and appreciate the idea of coming back to work with 40 hours accrued sick leave. It makes so much sense. When my daurtd was born she spent 4 months in the hospital and came home with health issues. She is in fine health och course now and was in good health when she came but had many doctors visits to attend in the first 2 months after bringing her home and having sick leave available to do that was essential and it helped us to really make those first few months very good for our family. It makes sense that we support families in this way and appreciate coming forward with this amendment thank you supervisor avalos. I want to thank former supervisor criss daily for coming up with the chapter amendment in 2002. We were the leaders at the time because it was only recently this jan that the federal government offered a 6 week program if their federal employees and a couple mupths ago such as city of boston started with their sick week program. There is a lot more work to be done around the country. Also, one thing i noticed when i did resurch is Many Private Companies some are way ahead of the curve, but many distinguish between mu turnty and puturnty. They offer a lot of mu turnty leave but think it is really important. I love San Francisco offers paid parental leave. We want to encourage both parties to take the lead because it helps both partners who want to return to work and further their careers. A lot of work to be done. I thank you everyone who came out. Thank you for colleagues for your support as well and think that concludes my remarks on this. Okay, if we could take a motion tamove this item forward. I would like to make the motion with a positive recommendation. At a Committee Report as a Committee Report to full board of supervisors and well take that without objection and look forward to discussion at the full board. Next item please item 4 is ordinance amending the code for application for [inaudible] with administrator of appeals board no later than 60 days after mailing or post mark supervisor cohen thank you very much. Thank you for hearing thisiteal today. The ordinance will amend the administrative code to adjust the notice and filing period for a application for reduction of a [inaudible] and well define a escape nob hub in the staff report. This change will improve efficientcy and [inaudible] when a assessment is made it is the practice of the Recorders Office to send out a assessment first fallowed by a notice oaf enrollment. [inaudible] the taxpayer then receives a third notice in the form of a revised [inaudible] from the treshiers office. Both of these notices from the Recorders Office communicate the same message which sh inform the Property Owner that is a new [inaudible] has binl added to the assessment role. The legislation will condense both the 2 escape notices into one and allows the tax bill to serve as the second notice. Here for a very short presentation on the legislation mr. Eda mu cafry from the Recorders Office. Good afternoon member thofz rules committeefelt my name is edward mu cafry and i thank you for thunt to address you. The ordinance will streamline [inaudible] of additional taxation obtheir properties. It will eliminate redunds aenss and prevent confusion for the Property Owners. As supervise r cohen stated in her remarks, our Office Currently issues 2 notices within 10 days. These notices are fallowed by a revised tax bill [inaudible] both of the notices communicate the same message which is the first notice informing the Property Owner will enroll in the assessment and the second notice informing the Property Owner that we have enrolled the new assessment total. With this legislation nothing will change with regard of informing Property Owners of the right to formal review and appeal the assessment value. The new notice includes details on filing dead lines that iply to the changed assessment. The ordinance has [inaudible] and treshier [inaudible] if passed the offices will work to insure the slaw implemented accurately. Thank you to supervisor cohen and staff and thank you for your time. Im happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you. Thank you for your presentation. Any member of the public who would like to comment, please come forward. Seeing none well close Public Comment supervisor tang i appreciate any efficiency we can create and make it less confusing for Property Owners so thank you for that and hope there are other efficiency we can identify with the City Department that benefit the public. With that i would like tamake a motion with pause tchb recommendation to the full board, i second that motion and acknowledge how refreshing it was to work with the assesser recordser office and staff. Great well take that motion without objection. Thank you, madam clerk do we have any other items before us . No that concludes our business for today okay then we are adjourned. Thank you. Okay. Lets get started. This meeting will come to oerd. This is the special meeting of government and audit and oversight