Transcripts For SFGTV Board Of Education 20240713

S San Francisco has been doing a great job flattening the curve and sfds has been a big part of that. The stepsky foundation and Silver Giving Foundation at 225,000 and somaland foundation 476,000, linkedin, 146,000 and the Webb Family Foundation at 70, Golden State Warriors at 50 and walter and alysse haas fund and the Tipping Point community at 25, and the stepski foundation is 20 and i want to thank all corporate and giving foundations and individuals this is a Response Fund the ones their gave before throughout the year and this is the ones for the covid19 response. And toma bravo at 1. 1 and anonymous at 11,000, Golden State Warriors at 125 and the hellman foundation, 50,000 and palms against poverty is 28 and herbert and Gene Foundation at 25 and facebook is 20 and cohen elevators is 20 and the wells fargo 20 and google fiberton 10. Wellington management 10, the 697 and alaskas airline 5,000 and odell family and dennis wulliver kelly and these are all that have given towards are covid19 responses going to our meals program, to devices and technology and hot spots and were thankful for the giving during this really difficult time and we hope that other corporate foundations will step up, as well because this crisis is going to continue. So again, thank you very much. Section a, general information, regarding Virtual Meetings, ada accommodations and Translation Services and for the translation part, is this the appropriate time for comments . Yeah, ive included them in dr. Matthews remarks moving forward and hell be making that announcement and we do have can we also have at this point, our translators, make the announcement. Ill make it in english but if they could make the announcement of how to go to the rooms right now in spanish and cantanese. Great. speaking Foreign Language section b of 2020 and we need a motion and a second. So moved. And second. Thank you. Any corrections . Also, jensen, i have a limited view of people, so if you happen to see people raise their hands, will you let me know . Yes. Role call, please. Pai role call . Superintendents report. Thank you, president sanchez and good afternoon, everyone. As you just heard, im going to repeat that announcement in english now and transportation will be provided throughout the days regular Board Meetings and at all meetings moving forward. The translation for chinese and spanish will take place in separate google hangouts. For chinese interpretation, please call 484 8542388 and pin number 721609895 and for spanish interpretation, call 13193829676 and the pin number is 665996976. We also will have translators on the zoom meeting for Public Comment as needed. And as a reminder, if you need translation, make this request 72 hours ahead. Last week was the National Teachers appreciation week. During these challenging time, teachers have been true heroes for students and families and i cant thank you enough for all that you do. Thank you for fostering the 21st century skills essential for success and thank you for being a role model and thank you for caring about the students academic growth and Emotional Development and thank you for being a part of this community that is redefining School Together in service of all of our students. We continue to learn as we go and here are a few updates. As students wellbeing is our priority, were providing for the Wellness Check in addition to each system of communicationg with students and families and supporting needs where possible and connecting with them and connecting them to the resources in the community. We are about to hold our Second Community Partnerships Forum to help us organize around the most common areas of need. 15,000 students were mailed kits last week and students should have received those kits by now. 12,400 chrome book and 37 hot spots for wifi access have been distributed to grades 312. By the end of the day, 99 of Technology Requests made by families for technology have been fulfilled. The district will be hosting Summer Programs this summer but all programs will be virtual. As a result, the department of technology is spending the next few weeks focusing on supporting techniques for the summer. Tomorrow may 13th, is the last day to submit a request for a chrome book or hot spot for wifi access. And if you know of a student in grades 312 who still needs a chrome book or wifi access, they can visit our website a to fill out the online request form or call the Family Resource link at 415 3401716. We know the office of curriculum and instruction together with the department of technology is now deploying devices to the paraeducator staff in our district. We will continue to do so through thursday of this week. We will be offering Summer Programs remotely for summer 2020 and prioritizing our largest Summer Programs, college and Career Readiness at extended school year for students with ieps and these programs will begin june 10th and will be offered in a Remote Learning format. Students who are eligible for high School Recovery and esy will receive information about the Summer Program offers. And we are working with communitybased organizations and afterschool Summer Programs to identify other Summer Programs and opportunities for students. And well share more information on Summer Learning options as they become available. As we continue to make our way through the covid19 pandemic, we know that reopening schools will be a challenge and will require extraordinary coordination and planning. As a result, we have opened rfq, which is a request for a quote, from outside partners who wish to help facilitate and plan this work. The successful provider will partner with us to facilitate and plan the work for when we finally reopen schools. The rsq can be found on the sf usb website with our covid19 School Closure updates and resource page. Ill call on her and shell be out in just a moment. So shes in the other chatroom. Ill switch her out as soon as i get her. Were ready for your delegate support. Got it. Can everyone see me . We can see your screen, but not you. And now we can. The miracle of technology. I was panicking for a second. [ laughter ] hello, everyone. So student delegate campaign update. We would like to announce that the 2020 Student Voice survey student delegate election has been extended to may 20th. Our goal is to encourage engagement. The student delegate position gives students a platform for Student Needs and concerns. Its an amazing opportunity and we encourage every student. We would like to thank all of the candidates and second reading of the resolution. Last night at our sra meeting, we had a second meeting and in resolution works with our allies, the youth commission, to relocate education funds. They voted to have this passed and presented to the board of education and we would like to thank commissioner astro and the cacabinet team for working hard. Summer entranceship program. Every year the sac partners provide a paid opportunity for high school students. Due to the pandemic, this internship will be virtually ruled out for the summer internship program. The goal is to continue to provide the best mentoring experience for our peers. Our next meeting is monday on zoom. This is a Public Council and anyone is welcomed to attend our meeting. If you would like to attend, make a presentation or would like a copy of our open coming agenda contact the sac supervisor, mr. Salvador lopez and thank you. Thats all. Thank you. Item 4 is recognition and resolutions of commendations. This evening, we have a video recognition. The st. Warriors had a special surprise for Teacher Appreciation day on may 5th. So we will run the video and afterwards, ill describe what was happening. [ ] come on in, everybody video playing . Hello, everyone. Were going to start this meeting. You have a special guest here. Hello, everybody its good to see you. Thank you for everybody that you do and its special and near and dear. And we know that the youth is our future and on behalf of the Warriors Community foundation, were excited to share the news that San Francisco Unified School District will be granted 125,000. Tomorrow a National Teachers appreciation and we wanted to say thank you for everything that you do and you have been helping out the community and we know this is our future and as long youre taking time out of your day and helping out, well still do the same and we can help get through this together. You could hear what was going on, a video zoom call, a staff meeting and warriors players, damion lee and announced the Warriors Community foundation is partnershipped with the hewlettpackard foundation making 125,000 contribution to the San Francisco Unified School District. So it was a great way for the district to be honored, but most importantly for teachers to know how special they are and we thank the warriors for their partnership, for the hewlettpackard foundation bridging with us and for just recognising the special work that our teachers are doing, especially. Its all of the time, but especially in these times. Thank you. I got to see it without the glitch before and its such a wonderful video, so hopefully we can make it available somewhere. Kind of zoom bombing. So i have a feeling that well be teaming up with the warriors with some fun in the near future. And item five a recognising all valuable employees, awards are announced tad. Today and section c is Public Comment and so our host, mr. Steel, will call on speakers and keep the twominute time. Here is the protocol. Please note Public Comment will hear from the community on whats in the boards jurisdiction and we ask you refrain from using employee and student names and if you have a complaint about a district employee, you may submit it to the employees supervisor in accordance with district policy. As a reminder, board rules on California Law do not allow us to respond to comments or attempt to answer questions during the Public Comment time, as much as we would like to. If appropriate, the superintendent will ask the staff follow up with speakers and so well go into Public Comment items that are not on the agenda. Thank you, president sanchez. Please raise your hand if you wish to speak during Public Comment. Before you call on people, just as another reminder, because weve been having problems with this, at least at the last meeting, please make your comments germane to the topic at hand and this is all ims that are not these are regarding items that are not on the agenda today. Thank you. Hello, ben . Are you there . You have two minutes and you can go ahead. Im the news director at the San Francisco Unified School District and i wanted to give you a heads up about good news we had. Following up on the good news mr. Sanchez shared to the district. Our Radio Station has been honored with some really prestigious awards of late and i wanted to call your attention to that. It has to do with the learningwhileblack series that lee romney made, about the fight for equity in San Francisco schools. Supervisor matthews and others might remember an event we held at the Africanamerican Community center where we brought together members of the Community Around this reporting and that series has been awarded best news series in the Western Region by the radio and Television Digital News Association and it is one of many awards that this series received. So that is really great kudos to both our educational reporter lee romney and to the district where we have done this work. And also, the Pulitzer Prizes came out recently, and there was an audio journalism category for the first time ever. Several people trained for kaws Training Programs were recipients, including lina masitiz and she reported on a return to mexico winning the pugh liPulitzer Prize and other finalists for the Pulitzer Prize with the team from peer hustle. We trained erlon woods and nigel poor to do that work. I wanted to give you a headsup about the great training work and the awards that were recently given out at kalw. Thank you. Now. Thank you. Hello, michelle. Hi, this is Michelle Parker and im the vp legislation for the district pta and i just had a couple of quick things today for you, commissioners. The first one is that i appreciate the updates to the agenda on board docs where its more streamline. I wanted to let the public know the district is holding a series of meeting for the rest of the year and call 411 meetings for teachers across the district to connect and learned and weve had a district budget staff and weve helped to navigate in the community and navigate the pt business during these School District closures and well have our state legislators talking tomorrow night. Next week superintendent matthews will be coming on and talking about what parents can expect moving forward and then the following week, well have board president sanchez and mr. Lamb to advocate for more funding for our schools and you can find information at our website which is sfpta. Org and thats it. Thank you to much. Thank you. Caller, are you there . Hello, everybody. Can you hear me . Yes, you have two minutes. Im concerim kevin robinson. I would like to preface my comment, in response to Public Comments. The district does not own or have control of the Radio Station kalw. Students cant walk across the stage or field to receive diplomas or share experience with family and friends, it will be great thinking outside of the proverbial box to provide radio time to as many 2020 graduates as possible over the next couple of weeks. They have a license to and content responsibility for. Again, klw 97. 1 f. M. To make that happen. Beyond that, there should be more youth and educationfocused programming and that means hours, not minutes, made by for and about our youth for the social, emotional and educational enrichments. Thank you. President sanchez, that concludes Public Comment. Thank you. Thank you to the public for your comments and section d, Advisory Committee reports and appointments. We have the Parent Advisory Council. So if there is a representative, a representative we will identify you. Yes, good afternoon, president sanchez and commissioners, superintendent matthews, student delegates, staff and community members. Im Michelle Vegas and im coordinator for the Parent Advisory Council. And im joined today by a parent member herself. Michelle, are you there and can you introduce yourself . I am, but whatever just happened to my screen . [ laughter ] it took away my notes so hold on one second. I dont know what just came up on the screen. It probably took away your split screen. Thank you. Im michelle delaneny. Im the parent of a kindergarten and im here for the Parent Advisory Council report for the board of education for may 13th, 2020. The roles of a Parent Advisory Council is to represent parent voice expose perspectives t voices and perspectives. This is our first report in three months to the Advisory Group meetings. We would like to take this opportunity to present a slightly different report than usual, highlighting both the challenges and the situation that has been brought to our families, as well as express our ideas during this unprecedented times. Covid19 challenges for students and families. As families across our district, members have spent the past nine weeks trying to support the learning and wellbeing of their children and this juggling act has not been easy, especially for those whose students would be receiving aAdditional Support to be successful in their academic and social, emotional learning, including student whos are learning english as an additional language, students already struggling to achieve grade level proficiency, students who lack access to Additional Resources outside of school, students who rely on the social support of peers and site staff including teachers, afterschool leaders and Mental Health professionals, students with ieps, especially those who are not able to Access Services like physical and occupational therapies and parents who may not have the Skilled Resources to provide the supports themselves in the best of times. Let alone 24 7 in this highly stressful time. We recognised that taken families are frontline workers, restaurants and Grocery Store workers, delivery from transit drivers and so many more putting the safety of themselves and their families secondary to the needs of others in the community. We recognise this is a huge challenge for the district to adapt to a largely unknown scenario and in this time of unknowns. When will school start again and when it does, what will it look like and how can we provide all resources to the students in need, especially into the most vulnerable when we are facing a budget crisis and likely a recession . Coming together to support students and families, during this time of shelterinplace, we would like to acknowledge many people are coming together in a variety of ways to support the diverse needs of toker to st the students and families. The city will continue to receive muchneeded nutritional support and we would like to express or gratitude for the staff who adapts to the free meals for the children of San Francisco. We greatly appreciate the efforts in partnership with companies and providers across the city to provide students and now paraprofessional staff with access to muchneeded Technology Including laptops hot spots and Internet Services and to provide families with Young Children with learning materials and would like to acknowledge many district and communitybased Organization Staff who continue to work to support our students and familys needs. These are vital resources to help ensure the students to need to continue to learn during this time. Thank you, michelle. We are also pleased to see that efforts are made through the Community Partnerships forum, to the connections between the district, the city, Community Organizations and Service Providers and best meet the needs of students and families, not only in this time of crisis but going forward. We applaud the creation of the Family Resource link available under the familys tab on the sfusd website and by calling 415 3411716. And we celebrate the work of the studys task force is able to continue during the shutdown, as well. The Community Town hall meeting held wednesday was well attended and we look forward to the next gathering tomorrow at 4 30 and hope our youth will join us as they were a vital component of the task meeting. Update on the local control and accountable plan and Stakeholder Engagement. As we presented last wednesday and thursday, the California Department of education has made revisions to the process and timeline for this year and the shelterinplace instituted during the covid19 crisis is very limited about the Stakeholder Engagement that is conducted by the task force this spring. We hope to be able to conduct more robust engagement in fall in order to both inform the 2021 school year now due in december of this year and the new threeyear lcap in the spring of 2021. The district Advisory Groups are making arrangements to meet to review the component of the report due to this California Department of ed this june, to gather input from stakeholders to draft recommendations to present to the board of ed. Information can be found at sfusd. Edu budget and sflcap. They are recruiting new members for the new school year. And we include those from different neighbors, types of schools and backgrounds. This represents the arab, Southeast Asian and philippino communities, as well as those from lgbtq families and those with experience with foster youth, homelessness and secondary incarceration. They will focus outreach to include parents, guardians and caregivers from these communities and on finding ways to include voices in the work we do because we know not everyone can participate on a council. Applications to join can be found at packsf. Org and available in chinese, spanish and english. Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis. For more information or to request an application in a particular language email pack sfedu. This is a great way to get a sense of what we do. Our next meeting is tomorrow, may 13, and will be conduct askeconducted virtually. All are welcome. This month well be discussing impacts of School Closures on students and families and well be joined by members of the community Advisory Committee for special education and others. We invite everyone interested to attend an upcoming pack meeting and the meetings are scheduled tomorrow, may 13th and june 10th. If youre interested in attending a Virtual Meeting or have any questions or comments about this report or the packs in general, contact me michelle pack sfd. Edu. Before we conclude or report, i would just like to make a request that the announcement of the interpretation be given out at the very beginning of the Board Meetings before any other comments are made and i want to appreciate the ptas offer to assist, making it a little bit easier for families and others to engage in Board Meetings. And we are curious as to how families can be involved in helping to plan what school will look like in the fall of 2020 and beyond. Thank you. Please let us know if you have any questions. Thank you so much Parent Advisory Council and i dont recall if we open this up for Public Comment. Do we normally . Any Public Comment . Seeing none, president sanchez. Thank you so much. Board members, any comments or questions for the Parent Advisory Council and justin, i cant see again, everybody. So ill try. Ok, it doesnt look like it. I had one question. Go ahead, sorry. So i always appreciate parents, especially parents that are volunteering in this line role anrole. I want to say thankl parents in the pack and im grateful for their service and families that are interested in supporting our district to apply for the pack because its a great way to get to know how decisionmaking that you are maybe used to doing at school sites, how you can actually support all schools by doing that at a district level. So just appreciate that. Additionally, i had a question for you, michelle. I know that our district is engaging in family Wellness Checkins and i wanted to know how the pack may or may not have been engaged with in order to do this work that were undertaking. So i presume youre talking to this michelle, the coordinatorrer michelle. Yes. I can speak to the pack itself. Were not involved in the Wellness Checks, but i have been a part of a lot of meetings that bring together the head of the advisories and district staff and Community Organizations to try figure out how we make sure that all of the bases are covered and all families are reached. Thank you. Did you want to respond . As far as with our school, our principal is doing a great job of checking in with the families and really, really proud. I misspoke over there. Commissioner. Thank you so much to the pack. I know so much a challenging time and to meet, but its so much to express our deep gratitude to the advisory councils. I do want to spotlight for superintendent and staff how important it is to engage our parent Advisory Committees through this Fall Planning process and again, i think i appreciate that being lifted up and just wanted to echo the importance of engaging our parents, particularly before finalizing something and rolling it out. So thank you. Thank you. I want to thank you, as well. I appreciate your work executivi know its volunteer work. Its an added everything is added to with covid19. So i know its much harder right now to meet and deliberate. Go ahead. Hi, sorry. I juswe did meet with all of the coordinatorrer from the packs and michelle was a part of that meeting in designing the family Wellness Checkin. They gave a lot of input on the script and the process and they were involved in that process. Thank you. And, also, going forward, as we want a task force, for lack of a better term, parent groups will be involved in that process, as well as labor and multitudes of others. Were not doing this on our own. Thank you, president sanchez. Thank you. Section d is consent calendar, motion and second for the consent calendar, please. So moved. Second. In concert. So do we have any Public Comments on the consent calendar . Seeing none, president sanchez. Ok, any items corrected or withdrawn by the superintendent . No items. Any items removed for First Reading by a board member . And any items severed for discussion and vote tonight . Seeing none, we need a role call, thank you. role call . We have six ayes, thank you. Discussion and vote on severed for consideration and there were none today. Section g, proposals for action and if i hear no objection from the board, we will take action on the next policy items in one vote. And so theres a number and they are board policies 5116. 1, safety policy and number 500, accountability, number 4003, lactation accommodation, 5022, student and family privacy rights, 5131, student conduct and number 6143, courses of study and number 6178, career Technical Education and number 5117, interdistrict attendance and number 0420. 4, Charter Schools authorization and 0420. 42, Charter School renewal and number 0420. 423, Charter School revocation and number 02. 1 Charter School oversight and number 5142, safety. All policies removed and seconded at a prior meeting. Rules committee was met yesterday and well have a report out from commissioner lamb who shares that committee. President sanchez, just one note that board policy 511. 61, safety transfer process was amended after this agenda was processed at rules committee and in accordance with the committees direction, the following sentence is being added. The definition of a description of the investigation process incidents are described in board policies 5131. 2 and administrative legislation 31. 2 and i wanted to note that was amended and we will make sure the final copy that is posted carries that amendment. Thank you so much. Commissioner lamb. Was that to provide an update, president sanchez . Yes, just generally speaking, thats what when do when were about to vote. Yes, thank you. So again, weve reviewed the various policies. I believe its 15 in total and had line item by policy discussion and all were positive recommendations to the full board from committee. Ok, thank you. Sorry. Can i ask questions at this time for clarification . I dont see why not. Again, because it did get raised in the Committee Meeting for the policies proposal action 8 for career Technical Education. I know were updating it with the policy, but i just wanted to get from staff, an update of how that is reported to the board now that its moving to an annual base says. Do you want a response . Yes, please. Just for clarification, ratherring our progress against the lcap goals, i think what you asked for in committee is how are we currently doing it and under the new policy, how do we plan to do it . Correct, thank you. So superintendent matthews, since that doesnt need a recommendation, do we need to do that . Danielle . So with your permission, president sanchez, i would like to read one together. So our recommended action tonight is that you adopt the policies listed in items 111 as drafted with the exception that i previously noted around inner district safety transfer. Thank you very much. So well call on public speakers, if there are any. No. So there was one, but im unable to figure it out because he has an older version of zoom. So my apologies. If it gets fixed, well hear from that person later. Ok. And so any commissioners, any comments . Or questions . Seeing none, role call, please. role call . . Six ayes, thank you. Special order of business 2051 and memorandum of understanding with united administrators of San Francisco regarding sick leave during city shelterinplace order and we need a motion and second. So moved. Second. Thank you. Superintendent matthews. Yes. Chief officer of labor relations, carmello will be presenting this item. Good evening, commissioner, superintendent and all participants. What i would like to do is ask for the board recommended action to at few th ratify the action g sick leave and stipends during the citys shelterinplace orders. Is there anything in particular that stands out that you would want to share with us about the mlu . Nothing in particular, only that it adheres to all of the sick leave language that has recently been instituted, federal and local levels and, basically, addresses general working conditions, as well. Thank you. Any Public Comment on this item . Theres none. Comments or questions from the board . It doesnt look like it. Ok. So role call. role call . Thats six ayes. By the way, i just wanted to thank you, carmello, for all of your hard work on these mlus. Section j, discussion and vote on consent calendar, items removed at previous meeting and there are none tonight. Section k, introduction of proposals and assignment to committee. One public and comment on proposals and two a motion to 6. 1. 4, if needed. Now. So moved. Ok, any Public Comment on this item. There is none. Any board comment to this First Reading. It doesnt look like it. I just had a question and it doesnt need to be followed up. I wanted to know how this is different than im assuming that its an amendment or revised revision and it would be great to find out whats different. Mr. Sanchez, did you want me to address that now or follow up separately . Follow up separately, unless other commissioners are interested. I would be interested. Go ahead. So this item is actually memorialized in our current student hanbook. Therhandbook. It includes languaa and one thing, we have noticed over the years that many of the items that should be board policies have been codified in the student family handbook as opposed by the board. So were trying to make sure as we catch these things that we transition them to board po policies and we reiterate them in the student handbook and this is one of those items, but we dont expect this to be a change in practise. Again, this is just to memorialize what were doing and if we want a longer discussion about changing that, we can do that. But were trying to get the status quo adopted. Thank you. So unless i hear otherwise from legal council, im referring the policy to the rules committee. Great. Great. Section l, proposals for immediate action on the rules and there are none tonight. And section m, Board Members reports. Ok, so the following Virtual Meeting have taken place since the regular Board Meeting. And budget and Business Services, which was wednesday may 6th. And that was at 3 00 p. M. Commissioner lamb. Thank you. So we got a very detailed update from cfo, megan wallace, and with young lee and embarking on our process and knowing, also, with histori historical deficitt we had initial projections, both for this coming year, coupled with some additional covid19 examples. And we went through and the power points presentation is available to be able to demonstrate closing out this year, the Budget Solutions for this fiscal year onward to next year, what that deficit looks like. So i believe under the leadership of pelosi, theres a great push in the coming weeks to see if we can get what the next package will look like and so again, all hands on deck, both within the district, our city leaders working with the state legislators as well as our federal leaders around what that will look like and the summary there. You dont want to press us with the real numbers . The initial protection for next year is upward of 80 million. The staff presented some initial budgeting solutions that worse Case Scenario with the Budget Solutions, were nearing about over 55 million. Thank you. Go ahead, superintendent. The may revise comes out then and well have a much better i was going to say a better picture but it wont be a better picture. But at least the governors first projection after this pandemic, so it will have what he is seeing and what he views as the effects of the pandemic on the economy. So well have more after thursday. Great. Thank you. Before we move on, engaging with the public and so that similar how critical it is to engage our stakeholders to understanding what this would mean as far as tough decisions ahead and tough conversations. Thank you, commissioner lamb. And any reports from board delegates to member organizations such as csba and cgcs . All other reports by Board Members . Actually, i have one question about the budget. I was looking through the agenda. Are we coming back to this . It is not on our agenda. So just one thing quickly i wanted to say to the proposed changes i looked through. I just have questions and i would like somebody to follow up with what the cuts to those positions will mean around the affinity work. Thats critical to the students that we serve to those programs and i know that is one of the proposed solutions to the cost measure and im not trying to get into it now, but i just wanted to make that public and for someone to talk to me about what they see as the impact on those students, when those positions are filled. Commissioner collins. I had a question because i had raised questions and its related, somewhat, to commissioner cooks question i had raised, some specific questions that i said i wanted and i thought i wanted to get followup on. Theres was a whole bunch of positions that were eliminated in the students Family Community support and i wanted specifics and im just wondering, i think it would be helpful for all of us as a board to get that information, and i was hoping in a report, i would like a dialogue and i am wondering if we could put that up on the calmeeting agenda because staff is supposed to respond. I think other commissioners will be interested and i think its more after dialogue than one way. Ok, so when we do agenda review, we will make sure to fit it in more. Thank you. So the next is calendar Committee Meetings and i dont know, mr. Steel, if i know youve been in contact with the different Advisory Committees. Yes. So i have been gathering information on whos ready to report and im going to bring that to a general review for us to continue to schedule for the remainder of the year. And as far as our Committee Meeting, does any board member have a date and time for their next committee . It is posted in the agenda, mr. Sanchez. Oh, they are, ok. My bad . Ill read further. The upcoming meeting on Student Assignment which is monday, may 18th, at 5 00 p. M. And then budget and Business Services Committee Meeting is wednesday, june 3rd and this is at 3 00 . Yes. Great, thank you. And thats all we have right now. And i would like to schedule a meeting, but ill be sharing that once its scheduled. Thank you. Thats for curriculum. Section m, other informational items are Staff Reports and one with updates and two, the may williams quarterly report. Section o is memorial adjournment and i am going to ajourn this meeting in memory of marlene kayhaus. We will ajourn our meeting in memory of marlene who passed away after battling with Ovarian Cancer and survived by her mother, teresa, her sister who is 51 and her only daughter, michelle. Marlene was born in San Francisco, california to el salvador immigrants. Marlene grew up responsible, mischievous. Marlene loved family and grew up in a family with grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins with precious memories along the way. Growing up, marlene went to russian river, playing and listening to music and summers in el salvador with her family. Alongside family, marlene loved education. Marlene was fond of the arts and was a phenomenal student. She had a great economic career where she met many lifelong friends. Marlene went on to attend Mercy High School and met more of her lifelong friends and they grew up listening to motown music and disco. She studied to be a nurse. After a long deliberation, marlene went on to live in el salvador with her family. It was there that she realized her true passion for helping others, specifically children. In el sa salvador, marlene workd for her uncles clinic. Upon her ru return to the u. S. A, marlene changed her major and pursued an major in education. She pursued an masters in education. As her passion and skillsets continued to grow for education, marlene began working at the San Francisco Unified School District. Marlene spent 37 years in the district and received many awards, recognitions and named principal of the year and marlene transcended diversity,en conclusion by being the first latina principal. In addition to leading, she was the principal at the Spring Valley and er Taylor Elementary schools. In her tenure at usfsd, she was with the commodore stockton. Par lean was always kind, open and loving mentor. Marlene always touched the lives of her students and teachers with her positive attitude and was always searching for ways to improve in the futures of unrepresented children and i personally will never forget her smile. The board of education and superintendent of schools extends sincere condolences to the family. So wit at this time, well take Public Comment who wish to speak to closed session items and there will be a total of five minutes. The board will go into closed recess and well the board approved contracts for two principles, the board voted seven ayes for the principles. And the board seven ayes approved the contract for one interim assistant principle. And the board approved the contracts for one supervisor in the matter of p. S. Versus s. F. U. D. , and case 202 on 251, a vote of seven ayes. And case 20021 to pay up to the stipulated amount. The board by a vote of aches ayes and one absent approved the nonreelection of two provisionary zero certificate employees. The board by a vote of, i guess seven ayes approved a Settlement Agreement with one certificate to administrator. Okay, are we done . I think so. I dont hear anybody. Okay. So that concludes our meeting. The meeting is adjourned. Thank you. Goodnight, everyone. Thank you. Goodnight. Goodnight, everybody. Mayor im San Francisco mayor london breed. I want to thank you all for joining us here today. Im really excited about this Small Business forum that is so desperately needed for so many businesses in our city. This pandemic has had not only a tremendous impact on our overall city and our Public Health, but it has also had a tremendous impact on our financial health, and especially many of our businesses in the city. The people who own these businesses, the work force of these businesses, it all will be very difficult as the few as the months to come, when we begin to look at ways in which we can open and provide new guidelines around opening businesses. We know that financially so many of our businesses are hurting now. They need support now, and also will need support in the future. Some of the programs that we put forth here in the city, immediately, almost, was to defer the payment of business taxes until next year. We actually extended the deadline for fees, as well. We provided resources for paid sick leave so businesses can extend paid sick leave payments to their employees. We provided grants and loan opportunities with no interest and flexible repayment schedules. We have also provided arts grants for so many of our artists who rely on performances and other events in order to take care of themselves. As someone who not only loves San Francisco, but as someone who uses so many of our Small Businesses, whether it is the drycleaner that i have been going to since i could afford a drycleaner, or the person who does my hair or my nails or the musicians that play at the lounges and restaurants that i love to go to all over the city all of these very unique businesses are what matters to the people of this city. They are part of the fabric of our city. And i want to make sure that as we propose more funding and more support on the local level, that we are connecting to the people who need these resources the most. And we are also making sure that federal and state resources are reaching all of you. So today we are here with the director of the department of the office of economic and Work Force Development. Joaquin torres, and if you want to look up some of the services we have, visit oewd. Org. Joaquin runs that department. And even before this pandemic, i have been really laserfocused on trying to eliminate fees that make it difficult for Small Businesses, in particular, to be in business in San Francisco in the first place. So even though this pandemic is challenging, i am so hopeful it will be an opportunity to provide some muchneeded longterm relief for our businesses in San Francisco. Joaquin will be leading those efforts. We also have the president of the Small Business commission, cynthia huey, who will be moderating this discussion, and we have the director of the chamber of commerce here as well, native san franciscan rodney fong, who has been a business person pretty much his whole life. The wax museum i dont know about you, but i went to gallileo high school,and we used to sneak into the wax museum when i was a kid. So i owe you some ticket money, rodney. So between the wax museum, the restaurants and the hair and nail salons, the barber shops, the masseuse locations, all of these great things are really what make San Francisco so special. And we know that the sad reality is that because of the pandemic and because of the requirement around social distancing, it is not as simple as those institutions and those businesses can actually go back to work, number one. And, number two, when you go back to work, the likelihood that youre going to be able to make sufficient revenue to cover the expenses you havent been able to cover for months is going to be challenging. So this is our opportunity to hear from businesses, to make sure that not only are we putting forth good options to support you, but they are affectively working to serve your businesses, and that we are doing everything we can to come up with the kinds of things that are going to help you in the long run. So with that, i want to turn it over to our director of the office of economic and Work Force Development for a few words. And then rodney fong will say a few words, and then well get to cynthia, and shell moderate this discussion. Thank you all for joining us here today. Thank you so much, mayor breed, and thank you, again, for your leadership and the pressure you place on our office to make sure were reaching the needs of our Small Business communities across the city and in our neighborhoods. And thank you for the idea of bringing us all together through this townhall so we can have an opportunity to hear from each other, and our answers about some of the most pressing questions facing Small Businesses, and the relief you have been driving us to deliver for our Small Business communities. Whether we talked about grants or loan products or deferral of fees, it is all grounded in wanting to see our Small Businesses be successful here, not only with what the city can provide, but complementing the wraparound efforts of the state and federal resources that both essential to our relief and Recovery Efforts. A few things before we jump in, we know generally, based on some conversations that weve had, weve seen a 70 decrease citywide. And certain areas and industries are hit even harder in terms of the sales that are out there. We know that were already seeing 14,000 businesses being affected, 166,000 employees at this moment in time. Were expecting larger hits as time goes on. In addition to over 70,000 people that have already applied for unemployment in San Francisco alone. We know that we are dealing with unprecedented challenges here in San Francisco, but we, through our office of economic and Work Force Development, and mayor breed, were standing ready to support the Small Business community at this time, and especially with the partners we have joining us today and in our communities. Both in the past and also in the present, and were very much looking forward to the future. So looking forward to answering some questions here today. Now, ill pass it over to the president of the chamber of commerce rodney fong. Thank you, joaquin first of all, i want to say hello to everyone. Were in this together. Were all feeling the same things, were all feeling the same frustration, the level of fear going on, but hopefully well get through this together and support our way through a great recovery. I want to thank mayor breed and all that her office has been doing, and joaquin has been working like a work horse over the last four, five weeks it seems like months, im sure but he and his staff are doing a great job. They have been working extremely hard. Just a little bit of recap over the last few weeks, the city and the mayor have deferred some of the Business Registration fees. And they deferred them until september. That adds up to about 49 million in cash flow to the city of San Francisco. Several fees that apply to storefront businesses have also been deferred until september, helping to preserve another 14 million in cash flow. I want to be very clear that the mayor is clear about this, we are going to be looking at a significant deficit in the city of San Francisco, the bay area, the state of california, and so were talking about a Million Dollars out from the city that we wont have in revenue. We will have to all pitch in. Well all have to figure out how we save and go back to San Francisco in an even better way. If we want to Start Talking about recovery tomorrow, weve got to start planning it today. Im happy and delighted to tell you that the Recovery Task force kicked off last friday. It is about an 80person Task Force Led by myself, carmen chu, Jose Gonzales and rudy representing labor. 80 seems like a lot of people, but when you look at all of the different sectors and industries and nonprofits, it is a good representation of a lot of people who have shared interests. Again, were going to have to all Work Together. It is not just one industry here in San Francisco that is better than another. I want to also mention that were going to have to rely on our Public Health department to lay out new guidelines. We are essentially reinventing ourselves in a great way, bringing in technology that might be able to help us in a better way and create a better San Francisco. I want to touch on three points, though, if i can, pretty briefly. This is one where probably from a commerce perspective it doesnt emerlogicalseem logical. The Public School system and private School System implementing guidelines to get kids and teachers safely back into the school affects the whole area. Not until moms and dads feel safe, do we get a full workforce. It is important because a busy downtown San Francisco supports so many businesses as you know. All of the sandwiches get bought and kids get picked up at lunch, and it is important that somewhere e that wehave a busy. The second main point i want to make is Small Businesses will need to pivot. Well have to reinvent ourselves, get creative, and were going to have to be entrepreneurial problemsolvers that we naturally are. There is no greater test than this one to figure out how it will be different. Restaurants may have to change their seating arrangements, going town to not a full house. Here in San Francisco and los angeles, it is very difficult to make money without a fullseated restaurant. And were going to have to figure that out. That means takeout and maybe retail inside of a restaurant. Maybe other clothing produced by someone related to the restaurant, creating a lifestyle. All of the pivots are going to require us, the city, government, and private sector to be flexible with our permitting process. To look at permit streamlining, to allow change of use permits to occur. Maybe temporarily, just as we get back up, and then we can tighten them back up, but we need to be in this all together and be flexible. The third thing i want to mention is Public Health. The mayor has disown such done agreat job in listenig to Public Health. And well rely on them to tell us what is best practices. I hope the departments listen to Small Business, and Small Business actually steps up and says, you know what . No one knows how to run this nightclub better than we do, and here are some suggestions we think we can voluntarily put down, something we can live with financially, operationally. We look at the changes and the way theyre going to occur, theyre very much operational. There is one piece that has been floated around, and that is an idea of a certifcate of healthy places, voluntary standization, much like standization standardization, much as a food place has to have a safe handling permit. I, again, wanted to stress that creativity and ingenuity will get us largely out of this. And what will set one business apart from another is how safe and clean it is. If we can do that independently and collectively, San Francisco can be a better city. So ill stop there. Mayor all righ all right. Thank you, rodney. Commissioner huey, if you want to get some remarks, and then we can go right into the question and answer. Sure. Thank you very much. Thank you, everybody, for logging in today. My name is cynthia huey, and im a Small Business owner in the city. And most recently, as a commissioner on the Small Business commission. I just really want to express how grateful i am to be a san franciscan right now. I was just outside on saturday, singing with my neighbors, and it was an amazing feeling. So im incredibly appreciative of show everyone in our communities have come together to fight for and support the health of all san franciscans. You know, just a quick story i wanted to share. I was recently in a west portal merg merchants meeting, with mayor breed as well you probably had no idea i was there. I was watching you during a meeting, and i could see you in your little zoom box, typing away. And i was just floored that this is our mayor. This is our mayor. You were in the chat to try to answer everybodys questions and connecting people. And i was so proud of the fact that i live in a city where our mayor just digs in and is doing the work. And so i just wanted to say from the very bottom of my heart, thank you so much for trying to help us all through this. It is an incredibly challenging situation, time. I cant even imagine, but i know were going to all get through this. And i believe in your leadership, and i really thank you. Mayor thank you, commissioner. So, i think, also, all of us have all of the programs and things memorized right now, all of the wonderful grants we can apply for and all of the loans and all of the Different Things that i think have been mentioned already, but i also wanted to highlight the work of the office of Small Businesses. Theyve been fielding hundreds and hundreds of phone calls and emails every week, trying to get Business Owners connected with resources, and really doing a lot of oneonone counselling. So i wanted to thank them. And thanking everybody on the panel. Rodney, your expertise today, and also leading us into the recovery. And joaquin, i dont know how you do this. Youre in every single meeting, and somehow youre in 20 places at once, but thank you very much. So at this point, lets i just want to move into the questions, if thats okay with everyone here . Yes. Great. Just to give everyone some context about the questions, the vast majority of people who are c. P. For todays talk are also c. P. d with a question. And these are questions that have been asked over and over again. Starting with joaquin, what is the status of the citys grants and funding programs for Small Businesses impacted by covid . Yes, thank you very much for the question. As the mayor said, for up to date realtime information, please go to oewd. Org, and click on covid covid19, and it will list all of the Resources Available, and what is implemen complementary from the state and local levels, ready to reach out with you online, connect with you on the phone to guide you through the process and help you navigate this very difficult time. In addition to that, also private Resources Available, newlyannounced grants that are accessible to you. Please do frequently visit that site. Its where we try to put everything we have available. We started out with a Million Dollars before we had the shelter in place, to support Small Businesses with grants, up to 10,000. Since that time we have doubled that grant pool so we could serve over 200 businesses through that effort, with grants up to 10,000. We also heard that some of the resources were not reaching some of the soul proprietors. And well be publicizing that on our website. We have a little over 127 grants from that first allocation. And secondly, the mayor introduced the gift to s. F. Fund here in San Francisco, so we could coordinate, and, mayor, thank you so much for the leadership there. So we will have private Resources Available to support us with a loan program, a zero percent interest program. We have a partner surntlcurrently that accepted applications. We received over 4,000 businesses who submitted that application. We want to reinforce that the resources we have able right now, from a citys perspective, are greatly exceeded by the demand. Which is why it is so important that today, if folks have not been aware im sure everybody is in the Small Business community thae federal sba program those applications opened up this morning at 7 30 a. M again, go to our website for more information there. Where you can learn about additional partners, Financial Institutions, who can also help you in getting those applications filled out. Why is that important . Because many banks are only working with their clients, and prioritizing them on a first come, first serve basis. There are billions of dollars being held for other smaller lenders, other Smaller Banks and cdcdfis, and making sure thethat the public knows they are there. Please do take the initiative right now, reach out to our hotline, as you mentioned, cynthia, and get realtime information from us, with any questions you may have, you will get a response and talk to a person when you reach out to us. So i think ill leave it with that. As a final piece, the mayor also introduced a Neighborhood Mini Grant Program on friday afternoon. It is also meant as another fill the gap in some of the most underserved neighborhoods. Given the fact we do have a financial crisis, we wanted to make sure were finding those resources as we have them available, and delivering them where they are needed, again, focusing on those who may not be able to access other resources in other ways. And also ensuring that women entrepreneurs, from a citywide perspective, had access to those grants as well. Thank you so much. Thank you. So many of the fees and fines that Small Businesses have been experiencing have been deferred now, i think, until september, is what you mentioned . Are there longterm plans for Small Businesses to be able to navigate those fees beyond that . Since many of us were already struggling to pay those before this. Mayor definitely. Thank you, cynthia, for the question. That is one of the areas that im laserfocused on. Because the fact is some of the businesses that are being required to close under our ordinance are not generating any revenue. And the fact that we would expect businesses to pay these fees during times that theyre not even open and able to generate revenue is not right. So we are working to figure out how we can deal with the fees overall, and what it would mean to reduce, or to eliminate, certain fees for a time period, or what have you. We are definitely looking into that because as what was said by rodney, what weve seen, were talking about somewhere around 49 million. The city is facing a significant budget deficit, but we also cant balance our budget on the backs of businesses that wont be able to reopen if we continue to burden them with even more city fees. So that is something that were definitely focused on. It is something that i care about. I care about dealing with that, to try to remove that barrier. But i also want to be clear i think, first of all, we have so many businesses that are going to be struggling even after we begin to reopen. There are businesses that are having challenges now. Theyre going to have challenges after this. But then there might be businesses that are okay. And we want to make sure that those businesses that are okay, that they continue to pay what they owe, if they can afford to do so. Because there are going to be a lot of businesses that cant. We want to be fair because this impacts all of us. When the city is not able to generate sufficient revenue, it makes it more difficult for us to provide more resources to those businesses that are struggling the most. In fact, we mentioned gifts to s. F. , where im actually raising private dollars to support Small Businesses. There are only three categories in our give to s. F. Program, and one is food insecurity, one is for housing and to help with people that might be facing eviction, and the most important category here is Small Businesses, and making sure that we have more resources. We need to maximize the amount of resources were able to provide in order to help carry businesses that need it the most through this pandemic. So it is definitely something that im committed to addressing. And this is where im going to count on the Business Community as i try to propose legislative changes through the process. Were going to need people to be supportive of that. Because it is really going to be its going to hit our budget hard, but i think the benefits of supporting our Small Businesses outweigh the need for us to collect these fees from our already suffering businesses. Thank you very much. This question, i think rodney would be the person to direct this to. Along with the fines and fees, i think one of the things top of mind for Small Businesses is also commercial rent. So what programs are there, or what types of resources do you have to help some of our Small Business owners with, to negotiate rent changes, rent relief, with their commercial landlords . Thats a good question and it is a tough one because at the moment, there is not necessarily any relief for landlords. In San Francisco, a very old city, many of our landlords are Small Businesses, too. They have mortgages, insurance, and their own obligations. So i think the battle is they want to not have vacancies. I dont know any land owner who wants to have a vacancy. If youre a tenant with a Small Business, you should begin a dialogue with your landlord, if possible, to see if there is any kind of deferment. I stress to you they are also under the same pressures, with mortgages and such. But there are private arrangements, and those kinds of conversations would be very helpful. Okay. Thank you. Mayor breed, many Small Business owners have not even heard back from the sba jet o yet on their loans. Do have you an update on the federal Assistance Program . I know this morning there was new funding added to that, but do you know anything beyond, or how the city can help advocate some of the Small Business owners who havent even had a chance to mayor yeah. And joaquin can provide some insight into that. His office is working on trying to get access to that. Absolutely. That is one of the biggest questions for us, in terms of where is accessibility happening. Almost immediately we were on the phone with Financial Institutions when we were getting questions across the city about what does this Program Look Like . Everything was rolling out so quickly, everyone was scrambling to understand even their own lenders, who they had a relationship with, would provide them guidance or even a response. What were monitoring very closely now, both treasury sisnaros and the recorder, cameron chu, reached out to the Financial Institutions to ask, how are you communicating with your clients . What is the process by which you will be processing applications . What is important to know right now, is based on those conversations, the mayor asked us to make sure we were submitting those concerns from the general politics to the speakers office, part of our federal advocacy. Thats why we saw this funding that was reserved specifically for smaller lenders, so folks had many outlets to access though federal relief funds at the same time. So as we see that program roll out today, well be monitoring it in realtime to find out what the responses are like. The Silver Lining for us that were seeing right now, but well still be watching closely, is the fact that there are those dollars that are held for smaller institutions, and we can see what relief is provided to the Small Business owners that take that path, as they begin to work with their financial clients, the large banks and the sba around their own applications. I do encourage every Small Business owner that has an application to reach out to their lender with some followup questions, in terms what have will their process be . Well also be feeding that back on our website at well. Well have that additional information, too. But were looking forward to monitoring this and seeing how this new version of p. P. P. Is going to be administered, and what well need to provide. And just a followup question about the p. P. P. How will Small Businesses reach the levels so that were eligible to receive those loans from the federal government . Mayor and i will say that one of the reasons why i created the economic Recovery Task force is so that when were able to provide a window of opportunity for a particular industry to open, we want to make sure that before that happens they know what the requirements are going to be. And so that they can get ready. So on day one, they know what to expect. We have been talking to the speaker about that particular requirement because when you think about it, with restaurants, if were going to be looking at reopening restaurants and changing their capacity, then there is no way that theyre going to not only be able to afford to bring back all of their employees, but the likelihood that they will even be able to afford their rent and other expenses is going to be really, really challenging. And so i think that part of our goal with the economic Recovery Task force is to look at ways, working with the department of Public Health, to provide guidance for these industries, to help people to get ready, so on day one they know what theyre going to be able to do. But the speaker has been absolutely incredible, and is aware that this could potentially be a challenge in light of the need to impose new restrictions on businesses that may make it difficult for them to be able to bring back their employees. The other thing that the economic Recovery Task force will do is also look at ways to ensure that our workforce adapts to what our new normal is. We have folks from the academic world who many of our institutions were asking them to look at their classes and what they have available, in order to retrain people for maybe a new opportunity that they may not have thought was possible. Because theyre not able to return to their job. And so were looking at other industries. Were looking at how many contact tracers were going to need, because until a vaccine is found, there is a need to identify when someone has a virus, who have they been in contact with . Not just in their immediate family at home, but others in other parts of the community, along with more testing. This is going to be necessary for us to open and to remain open so that we dont see a significant surge in the number of cases. So its going to take a major effort to start thinking differently about things wont necessarily go back to the same. But i think that there is an adjustment that we can make, if were prepared to make it, and our economic Recovery Task force is going to play an Important Role in helping us do that. And im going to continue to advocate not just the speaker, but our senators as well, we have a great relationship with Kamala Harris and other. We have con tact contact with te mayors about what adjustments need to be made because well all be in the same boat. Im going to kind of backtrack a little bit into a question that was asked many times. Many Small Business owners are reporting seeing an increase intents and street, unsheltered homelessness in commercial corridors and other in other words. In otheother neighborhoods. Whao help the homeless, who are at a greater risk of contracting coronavirus . Mayor if you own a business, you know the challenges of homelessness dont go away because there is a pandemic. In fact, theyve been worse for us. Although weve been able to get close to a thousand people into hotel rooms, the ability to address homeless in the age of social distancing has been so difficult. And so what youre seeing is we are ramping up our hotels, but we also have to have staff and meals and cleaning and services and management of these hotels to ensure that staff and the folks who work there are safe, but also the people who are located in those hotel rooms are safe as well. It is a massive undertaking, requiring a significant increase in our capacity. And it is really taxing on our workforce. And when i say our workforce, is no it is not just people in the city and nonprofits, all of the employees that are disaster workers weve had to retrain librarians and rec and park staff and other people who have not hired to do these jobs, to work with this population in these capacities. We are not going to be able to place our entire Homeless Population into hotel rooms. But what were trying to do is get creative around how were able to provide them help and to find safe locations where we can divert the tents off of the sidewalks, off of the streets into larger areas and larger parking lots. Specifically were looking at Everett Middle School as an option, and were working with supervisor mandelman on that. And were looking at other locations in the bay view. We have trailers that we received from the state and that we also purchased, that we plan to place at pier 92, to move people out of tents and into the shelters, people who are residents of the bay view. Were trying to get creative to try to get as many people off the streets as we possibly can. It is challenging and will continue to be challenging. But were going to continue to do the very best that we can. And i cannot, you know, commit to seeing this major change around the removal of tents if we dont have places for people to go. We have to make sure that we have restrooms, wash stations, and other things when we take responsibility for any of the folks that are housed intents at this time. Were going to continue to get creative and provide informal locations and work with the department of Public Health and the department of homelessness to do just that. And i will say, as much as weve been able to do, not only providing meals to our shelters, meals to these hotels, and meals to people who are in tents, and cleaning services and other support, it continues to be a challenge to ramp up to the number of staffing that we need in order to meet what we see a significant population of Homeless People in our city. Just to kind of Start Talking a little bit more to talk a little bit more about recovery and reopening, what do you think will the new standards look for operating a business in this city . We have different types of needs for different highcontact industries, such as restaurants, hair and nail salons, like you had mentioned, dental offices, things like that. What are your thoughts on that . Mayor so im glad you asked that question, because, again, part of our goal with our economic Recovery Task force with a lot of the different industries, we want to Work Together to provide those guidelines. So, for example, most of what we see happening with the department of Public Health and the decisions that are being made are centered around what we need to do to protect Public Health. So it focuses on trying to keep people apart from one another in order to avoid getting the virus. And what were experiencing with our economy, and what were seeing with the numbers, they have real concerns about opening up too fast because we still see the number of hospitalizations have gone up. We still see, every day, an increase number in the number of people who are positive for covid19, and weve had 23 deaths, over 1400 cases, and about 85 people who are hospitalized. So they are not comfortable we are out of the woods because those numbers continue to rise you say flattening the curve, but it is pretty flat, relative to most other major cities, but it has not dropped. And what weve done today, for example, in extending the stayathome order for an additional month, during that time or goal is to not sit around and wait until direction is given from the department of Public Health. We are going to provide the guidance for how we can get back to opening up some of our businesses. So, for example, just think about it, the restaurants have delivery and pickup services. We have nonessential businesses that possibly, with the right kinds of guidelines, could potentially be open for the same pickup and Delivery Services as well. The place where i buy my candles, you know, where they have, you know, all these knickknacks and things that i like to buy. Why not make sure that those Small Businesses that serve our communities have the pickup and dropoff service. And what we have to do, and what im hoping or economic Recovery Task force will do with these various industries, are what are some new guidelines for various industries . Because im not going to wait around for the department of Public Health to say, okay, yes, it is okay to open our hair salons and our barber shops. What i want to do is get ready for that and provide for them the suggested guidelines, get them to agree and to allow some of these places to start to reopen. Because thats where we are now. We have to start working on this now. So, for example, if we set up guidelines today, that three weeks from now, or four weeks from now, this is what a beauty salon needs to be doing in order to get open, then they can get prepared for that. And they can start booking appointments and working with their costumers. If they can only have one person in the shop at a time what does that mean . Im not suggesting that that is going to happen, because part of it is contingent upon what happens with our numbers. What happens with the number of people who are infected. And so we are open to suggestions from our Business Community. If you have a unique business and you dont necessarily interact with the public, but you have items that you sell and your not online, but there is a way you could provide pickup and delivery, what does that look like . I think we have to start having those discussions now, so that we can get people ready. If theyre going to need to wear gloves and masks when theyre doing certain services, we need to get people ready so they have the supplies that they need. That is a continued conversation im hoping we will focus this additional month of may on those kinds of solutions because when we reopen, it will not be business as usual. Things are going to be a lot different, especially in light of not having a vaccine. There are going to be some challenges with largescale events. There are going to be challenges with nightclubs, with hair and nail salons, but it doesnt mean that we should not look at ways we can reopen and make sure that were practicing certain techniques or requirements that will help limit the number of people that would be infected. This is our last question, maybe for rodney. How can Small Businesses and Small Business owners be leaders in the Recovery Efforts . Yeah. I think the mayor spoke well about creativity and ingenuity. We want everyone to figure out what they want to do next and how their business is going to shift. I will share that there is one website, where there is a Public Survey put out by the Recovery Task force. 1San Francisco. Org francisco. Org covid19 recovery. We want to have more students foopportunities for pee to give structure. Hopefully well have a playbook. There will not be an exact plan, but a whole list of plays that we can put into play, that she can pull from that will have a matrix of. As this changes, it is very different in fact, maybe an earthquake recovery would be somewhat easier than this recovery because it may have some start and stops. Well try to have as much information with regard to making opportunities from the public. Thank you. I wanted to thank everybody for being on this panel today and sharing advice, encouragement, all of these things, for all of us because we need it right now. Mayor breed, would you like to close this off today . Mayor yeah. First of all, thank you, commissioner huey, for your work with this. You mentioned in the beginning that you had a number of people who registered and provided questions. So i want to ask you to make sure that joaquin gets that list with the questions, and he and his team will respond to those questions to try to do what we can to make sure that we are answering them. You can also email joaquin or email me at mayorlondonbreed mayorlondonbreed sfgof. O rg. It is better if you reach out to me by email, not on social media because im not allowed to get on official media because my staff, they are trying to they wont let me do stuff. [laughter] if you respond to me, well get back to you as quickly as we can with your questions. Joaquin and his team have been great with providing resources for Small Businesses. Im on the phone regularly, not only trying to raise private dollars to support our Small Businesses, but also trying to redirect funds and figuring out creative ways to support our Small Business community. I also just want to repeat one of the things ive said. As we start to propose policies that can help our Small Business community, were going to really need the Small Business community to rally around those policies because we know that its a matter of whether or not you will be able to even reopen as we start to open our doors here in the city again. So it is important that we hear from you, that you, of course, are paying attention to what is happening around the policy discussions, that youre contacting your board of supervisors and making clear to them what is important to you. Again, i know it is a real struggle. It is a real struggle. And what we want to do is make sure that we are helping to meet the needs of people who need help now. And we want to get to people, and we want to be as supportive as we possibly canment and we can. And we know that we are all going through it, whether it is our business or in our personal lives, as all of us are required to stay at home. I just really want to express my appreciation to so many people in this city who have just followed the orders and have put us in a situation where our numbers, in comparison to other major cities, are absolutely remarkable. Were not out of the woods yet. We cant let up just yet, but what we can do is start to look at creative ways to get back on our feet again, to get back to opening businesses or industries with certain guidelines that are approved by the Public Health department. Thats really where i want to get to. So send us your suggestions. Send us your comments. Send us your love. No complaints, please, because laughing you can send complaints, im just kidding. Send us emails with what you suggest that we do to help make things better for you because we really are in this together. And it is going to take a lot of hard work and a lot of patience to get through it. We appreciate you all being with us today. And hang in there. And, you know, make sure that you do everything you can to bring our businesses back to our city. And im going to do everything i can from the Mayors Office to support you in doing that. Thank you. Thank you, mayor breed. Mayor thank you. Hi, im chris manus is sfgov tv and youre watching coping with covid19. Today im going to the gas station. [music playing] now, these are just my stories. Im not a medical professional of any kind. Im a video guy. And the reason im getting gas so we can go to the doctors. If you want to get the most uptodate and definitive information about the coronavirus pandemic, i highly recommend the f. A. Q. That is available at sfgov. Theres great info there. Today im taking two plastic bags and a hair tie and following the new bay area guidelines and im wearing a mask. Im taking the smallest number of items with me. Just my car key, credit card, i. D. , the bags and the hair tie. I dont want too many items to wipe down later. As aleave, i put on the outside shoes ive left on the porch. Can i track the virus inside with my shoes . I honestly dont know. But my floors are cleaner now. When i get to the gas station, i get out of the car, remove the gas cap and put the big plastic bag on my right hand and secure it with a hair tie. There are three main share surfaces here im concerned about touching. The p. I. N. Pad, the pump handle and the button to select my gas. After i use my card, i put it into the smaller bag and stash it. Most gas stations have a paper towel dispenser or maybe there is a piece of paper already in your car that you can use. Once i fill my tank and replace the pump, i walk to the trash can, roll the hair tie up my arm and let the plastic bag fall into the can. On my drive home, im careful not to touch my face. I leave my outside shoes on the porch and as soon as i get through the door, i wash my hands for at least 20 seconds. Next i wipe down my credit card, i. D. And my car key and, as an extra precaution, i wipe down the front door nob and clean the sink taps. Finally, wash my hands again. Thats it for this episode, i hope you found it helpful. Thank you for watching. Ly appre state leaders supporting us during these unprecedented and uncertain times, and thank you to the industry for your support and your continued support and for coming out with your questions and being certainly engaged in this process. So first i want to thank our esteemed guests today. We have treasury fiona mah. We have state senator scott weiner and Senior Advisor to the governor, nicole eliot, and i will briefly read their bios for you and then we are going to sort of jump into it. I know we have about an hour. I want to make sure that we use our time wisely. Im marissa rodriguez, the director of the office of cannabis. We also have eugene hillsman, Deputy Director of the office of cannabis and Jeremy Schwartz who is a permanent analyst with the office of cannabis as well. So fiona mah was elected to serve as californias 34th states treasurer. The state Treasurers Office provides financing for schools, roads, housing and other Critical Infrastructure projects that better the lives of californians. Previously treasurer mah was a member of the state assembly from 2006 to 2012 and prior to serving there, the treasurer served on the San Francisco board of supervisors from 2002 to 2006, representing district 4. Thank you, treasurer mah for being here. Its so nice to have you and its so nice to have one of our own as everyone on this call today. So if youd like to take this time to share with our community your thoughts on whats happening right now and any support for the Cannabis Community that youd like to share. Sure. Can you hear me . Our own, everyone on this call today. So if youd like take this time to share with our community your thoughts on whats happening right now and any support for the Cannabis Community that youd like to share. Sure. Can you hear and see me . I can. Thank you. All right. There i am. Thank you, marissa, for pulling us all together and for everyone whos on the call who has been staying in touch and keeping in touch and very, very frustrated during this time where the federal government is helping most everybody else except if youre in the cannabis industry, which is not very fair, as we all know. Over a year ago i testified in congress on the bill, the safe banking act as some of you remember. It finally did have a hearing earlier. I think it was was it when the democrats took over congress again and it got through the lower house, but it is, once again, stuck in the senate. I know that some have been trying to get cannabis in some of the stimulus packages or assistance, however, because cannabis is still a schedule 1 drug, they are not eligible for many of the assistive programs that are coming out of the federal government. However, california is a little different, as we all know. Not only in california can you deduct your ordinary and necessary business expenses against your income, unlike at the federal level, but we have really tried to move this Industry Forward the best that we can, at least here in california. So many of you, all of you, should be paying your tax, your sales taxings to the California Department of Fee Administration. There was a 90day deferral on paying and filing your First Quarter sales tax return. In addition, if you do need working capital, you may qualify to take a 50,000 loan and defer payment on a year. Your annual Sales Revenues have to be less than 5 million, so that may not pertain to some of the bigger companies, but some of the Smaller Companies may be able to take advantage of this. And you need to call the California Department of tax and Fee Administration and register for this program. Again, it is interest free, 50,000 loan for up to a year, and you need to call sdtfa to figure out and sign up for their instalment plan. So unfortunately thats kind of the only program that is related to some sort of relief for the cannabis industry. The ibank also has put money into a loan loss reserve for [indiscernible] however, the only way you will be eligible for that money is if your bank is accepting cannabis clients, and i know theres probably close to two dozen banks now in california that have legally applied to take cannabis clients on, so you all know who you are out there. But definitely check your the ibank. Ca. Gov and see whether your participating lender participates in that and you may be eligible and qualify to get certain loans from the ibank. So thats about all i have to report right now, and i will be here for the duration to answer any questions you may all have. Thank you, fiona. We certainly appreciate your leadership, your unwavering support of the cannabis industry. You were instrumental in this webinar happening, so i thank you for that. We are live here at the Emergency Operating Center for the city as we put this webinar out to our community. Again thank you everyone for tuning in. Next we have our senator, state senator scott weiner who was elected in november 2016, senator scott weiner represents district 11 in the california state senate. District 11 includes all of San Francisco, broadmoor, daily city and portions of south San Francisco. The senator helped to champion compassionate cannabis care programs by introducing senate bill 34 which was approved by the governor in 2019. Prior to his election to the state senate, he served on the board of supervisors representing district 8. Thank you and happy to have you on the call, senator. Thank you very much for excuse me, for having me, and hello remotely to treasurer ma and to nicole. And hello, im sorry to be here by phone, but i hope you can hear me okay. Hello to the entire Cannabis Community. Were going through some really hard times right now as a community, and we all need to look to the light at the end of the tunnel. We are going to get through this, and our goal needs to be that when we do get through it we can get both individuals and businesses back up on their feet, and so a lot of the work that were doing right now is just to try to preserve the status quo, to keep renters stable in their homes so we dont have mass evictions, either now or after the worst of the emergency when people have massive back rents that they are expected to pay right away. We dont want that. We want to make sure that were stabilizing people, and we want to make sure that were stabilizing businesses in their spaces, and nonprofits, so that we dont see permanent mass closure of Small Businesses and nonprofits, and so were working on a few pieces of legislation. On the residential side im working with someone on legislation to protect renters and im also offering legislation thats 939 to try to stabilize Small Businesses and nonprofits in their retail and Office Spaces by saying no moratoriums or no evictions, and were going to have to deal with how we look at back rent. And then were going to have to particularly for hospitality businesses, like restaurants and bars, that when they do reopen we will be required legally to have much lower capacity so that their Business Model no longer matches up with the rent in their lease, and were going to need to address that as well. So we are working on these issues. Specific to cannabis, we all advocated successfully in San Francisco, and i know in other places it happened not everywhere to classify cannabis as an essential business, and that was a real win. And im glad that it happened. But i know that the industry is really struggling right now, like all Small Businesses are. And in particular not being eligible for the federal Small Business loan, forgivable loan program. I know thats a huge hit and just one more example of the irrationality of our federal law. Cant get any of these benefits. Its not okay. In terms of the legislature this year, we are going back into session. Weve been in recess for about six weeks due to the pandemic. The assembly returns to session on monday. The Senate Returns the following monday, on may 11, and we will be pursuing a more limited policy agenda this year around covid19, of course, but also around some of the highest priority areas, like housing and homelessness and Mental Health, addiction, wildfires and so forth. And so were all reducing the number of bills that we have and making them much more focused. I dont know that this year is going to be a big year for cannabis. I know there are some bills that have been introduced, and im sure that some things will happen, but i was hoping that this year we would be able to, you know, finally pass the tax reductions, you know, the tax the state taxes are too high and are i think really stifling the industry and encouraging the elicit market. So thats something we have to address. Werent able to get it done last year. And then we have to deal with the issues of cities just effectively banning cannabis, and big swaths of california where its effectively illegal, and so but im not confident that either of those are going to get resolved this year because just of everything thats happening. But stay tuned. Well keep working, and again, thank you to everyone for all you do. Thank you, senator. We really appreciate that, and we certainly appreciate your continued support of the industry as well. Certainly difficult times, unprecedented times. There is no one whos immune to this, and we certainly appreciate that, and also appreciate the fact that we are deemed essential during these times. But you know, still, theres a huge impact and we want to see what ways and how we can support the industry to get through this. So thank you and we appreciate having you on this call. Next we have Senior Advisor on cannabis to the governor, nicole eliot. We know nicole very well, and we are so appreciative that you could take this call today. Ms. Eliot serves as governors Senior Advisor on cannabis. Prior to her current post, she was appointed San Franciscos first director of the San Francisco office of cannabis where she helped to set up cannabiss Regulatory Framework and permitting process. She has worked in a number of capacities with city and county with the city and county of San Francisco, including stints as a deputy board liaison and director of legislative and Government Affairs in the mayors administration. Thank you for being here. This community really values you and appreciates that you are willing to talk to us during these hard times. Sure, always happy to have these conversations, and really happy to be back with my bay area family. Thank you for putting this together and for treasurer ma as well, for facilitating the creation of this. A lot has happened since ive left. First and foremost, i had a baby. Congratulations. Thank you my first day back was the first week of the shutdown, so its been a really interesting transition back to the work environment, but we really hit the ground running starting with obviously deeming cannabis commercial cannabis as essential for the state of california, and since then have really been working with our licensing agencies, our partner agencies, like the treasurer, like cdtfa and others in trying to determine what we can do within the current framework and our current constraints to provide support for the industry, whether that be from a tax relief standpoint, which the treasurer really outlined in her opening comments, as well as from regulatory standpoint, and im sure some of you are very familiar with some of the regulatory relief that has been extended by your licensing agencies. So trying to figure out what we can do to be as helpful as we can sort of in the immediate term and figuring out what we can do in the long term to support what will be recovery, but i will quote the governor when i say that these are very sobering and challenging times. We started this year with a multibillion dollar surplus, and as he stated in his press conference today, we will enter the may revised with multibillion, tens of billions of dollars to cuts. So its a tough time for everyone. I think senator wiener really expressed the challenges that the legislature will be faced with when working through the budget, that there are a lot of priorities that we really sought to tackle this year, and on the cannabis side you guys are all familiar with those priorities, tax simplification. The governor clearly indicated a willingness to talk about the structure of tax and whether or not there should be a reduction, either permanently or temporarily, as well as consolidation. And so thats all being impacted by the environment that we find ourselves in now. So i look forward to addressing your guyss questions today. Again, im really happy to be here and happy to chat with you guys, and of course this is always an ongoing conversation. Thank you, ms. Elliot. I appreciate that. I want to jump in because i want to be cognizant of time here. I want to let folks know that, one, first of all, thank you for emailing in with your questions. They are really thoughtful, and they they are thoughtful and they span a lot of different categories, and so we broke them down by way of taxes, regulatory structure, compassion, unregulated market, the pandemic and banking. We have some general questions, we have some local questions. Because i have the privilege of being able to be in touch with our community more regularly, i will leave the local questions to the end. If we have time, we will address them. Otherwise we will send them out in a response separately. But we are going to start now, and the members of our team will take each section and questions just to keep it a little bit more lively so youre not just listening to me the entire time. Again, we are reporting we are live here from the Emergency Operating Center here in San Francisco where City Employees in San Francisco are keeping the lights on during this unprecedented time. And id like to start with the first question, and all three of you, feel free to answer this one. With the current lack of banking, covid relief opportunities for the cannabis industry are severely limited at the federal, state and local levels. While we recognize the legislature is tasked with the Economic Health of california, we would like you to talk about efforts under way by the legislature that would specifically address Economic Relief for the cannabis industry and the likelihood of those efforts being realized in the short term. Well start with the first section of this question, which is what is being done at the state level to move forward equality for cannabis businesses, specifically in regards to access to covid stimulus relief, lowering the overall tax burden, access to banking, and market rate commercial loans . And i know that the three of you did touch on some of this in your opening remarks, but if you could again just kind of share with our Community Just your thoughts and your feelings on this point. We can start with fiona ma pardon me, treasurer ma. Thats okay, call me fiona. Anyway, as you know, this has been a big priority for me, trying to get banking access since i was on the state board of equalization. Im glad to report that there are more and more banks that are willing to take on cannabisrelated clients. Of course they want to maintain some sort of balance, so many of them will have a certain amount of cultivators, distributors, maybe put folks in test, and they are also looking for other private equity folks who are investing. So they really wanted to diversify their portfolio and risk a little more, but every day more and more banks are willing and open to taking more cannabis clients. But it is slow, and i think this covid19 crisis has shown how important it is, right, with all of the social distancing and not wanting to touch surfaces, that dealing in cash is more and more probably even maybe a contributor to the covid19 spreading. So i think folks are realizing that it is so important that we try to bank this industry as soon as possible. However, we are still always stuck in the senate because the senate is republican controlled, and that is going to be the first step in november, if we really want to see changes to cannabis, we all need to figure out how to, you know, take back the senate in november. Thank you, fiona. With that, does anyone else want to respond . Well, ill speak to a couple of those points. Obviously on the federal advocacy side, our federal liaisons are doing quite a bit as behindthescenes advocacy in d. C. Around the stimulus funding to try to get cannabis involved in that and supporting the efforts of, you know, certain representatives who are pushing clarity via bills to incorporate cannabis as well. To the treasurers point, it is a big challenge to get the senate there, but weve seen a number of senators engage, including our state senator, Kamala Harris, our state senator, i should say, and Kamala Harris, who has really engaged in that space as well. So grateful for those efforts, but do know that we are definitely working on that in d. C. And then beyond that, on the taxes, i think, you know, obviously you heard earlier that the state has done quite a bit around taxes now, not speaking necessarily to changes to the overall cannabis tax structure, but really looking at the sales and use tax deferral, which the state, you know, believes applies to an extraordinary number of cannabis businesses if they are paying, if they are annual taxable sales, for instance, Something Like 77 of our retailers would likely qualify for that. So that allows for that deferral of up to 50,000 and provides a 12month payment plan. I will note that i believe cdtfa is willing to on a casebycase basis consider operators that have a high amount of sales, so i think its worth engaging cdtfa on that opportunity if you think that you are eligible or even if you feel like you might be on the cusp, do take advantage of that resource as well as you clearly now have time to file your tax via the tax extension. So to the extent that there needs to be more clarity provided to the industry on that, please do let me know because we will be happy to push out more information to you guys to make sure that all operators are taking advantage of the resources that the state is providing, that they know about it and that they are taking advantage of it where they can. And then when it comes to banks, i mean, we have an incredibly committed set of elected officials who are really clearly advocating for, you know, banks involvement in this space. The administration is also working on that, also behind the scenes, to try and engage banks. To the treasurers point about the Small Business finance center and having support to back loans that are being given by lenders, we understand that there are not very many lenders in this space, and so we are working on trying to figure out if there are institutions that are willing to engage in that space, but as you all know, thats a challenging conversation. So do know that that work is happening behind the scenes. Thank you so much. And where would you point folks to for information, the best place to start this process . So i would encourage people to visit cdtfas website as a starting point, and again, if you guys need additional information, please do reach out so that we can make sure you guys are able to access all of those resources. Thank you so much. And senator wiener, did you have thoughts on this as well . Perhaps the connection senator wiener, are you on the line still . Okay, well work on that and get back to you. And then lets talk a little bit about, you know, the industry is ineligible for federal assistance. Any talk on the state level about perhaps programs, grant assistance, that can help with Economic Relief in this space . Do you want me to take that . Sure. Okay. So again, i think i mentioned in my early comments to level set everyones expectations and unfortunately to be the bearer of a lot of bad news, you know, the state has set a budget has indicated they will be engaging in what they call a workload budget. So no new expenditures. So it is highly unlikely we will see new programs stood up, and so when i talk to operators and to additional stakeholders in the industry, i really talk about how we can leverage existing programs. But we have a very challenged general fund, and so additional money going out is going to be very hard to come by. To be completely honest. So hence really looking at working within our existing framework, things like what cdtfa has done around tax deferral. I know there have been conversations about licensing fees, on where we as a state have capital and how we can get creative with that capital that already exists. But it will be a challenge to put out an additional program. Ill just be very transparent and honest about that, while still flagging that those are ongoing conversations. Thank you so much. No, we appreciate the honesty. Thats why were here and we want to engage in this conversation. And with that, thank you. Well move now to a different topic. The unregulated market. Sure. One of the things that a number of our operators have been interested in is around additional conversations about the states plan to give legal businesses a chance to really compete against an illicit market that still controls a significant portion of the cannabis market. Can you discuss existing state enforcement efforts and how the pandemic might impact proposed efforts . We can start with Senior Advisor elliott. Sure. So existing state enforcement efforts i think were quite transparent last year the governor outlined multiple pillars for his priorities. Enforcement is one of those, and there was a stronger effort to coordinate enforcement across a number of agencies, and i mean a number. Its a large amount. To really get at the issue of the illegal market, the informal market. And so that effort will continue this year. I think our challenge will be how we do that effort within this new work construct, but that is a challenge that we are wholeheartedly embracing, as well as of course theres dollars within our budget to put towards enforcement that includes funding that will go out through the bscc, to local jurisdictions to support local enforcement efforts, and also to our department of fish and wildlife to support efforts on the rural cultivation side. But i think its the governor has made it very clear, enforcement is a top priority, thoughtful enforcement is a top priority, and so that will be something we continue to pursue and coordinate this year. Thank you very much. And now were going to talk a little bit about compassion. Jeremy schwartz here. Thank you, treasurer, ms. Elliott, senator wiener if youre still there for making yourselves available. I would like to acknowledge that in getting sportsnet bill 34 across the finish line regarding compassion programs and tax savings, to that point, ill share an anecdote which is pretty shared amongst some of the inquiries we received. So this gentleman said im renewing my medical cannabis recommendation with my physician on may 1. However, im unable to renew my state medical cannabis id card because San Francisco department of Public Health card office is closed during this shelter in place. Is there a way that the state of california could temporarily amend its regulations or otherwise allow medical cannabis i. D. S to not expire in the coming weeks with the understanding that i believe the state Vital Records Office is closed . So i know that was a mouthful, but any sense about the medical marijuana i. D. Card program . Well, i would just jump in that Governor Newsom has a press conference every noon called newsom at noon, and he takes this opportunity to talk about executive orders. I do think he has been exercising a lot of his powers in this covid19 pandemic, and certainly i think if the industry gets together like, this is the first time i heard that there was an issue about renewing your medical cannabis card, that this is certainly something that should be on his radar. But you all have to and this is why were on this webinar here today, is to really hear some of the daytoday inconveniences or barriers that you all have. But certainly that is a good point. I know i oversee Affordable Housing, and there is a process called tefra hearings that needs to be done every year, and a number of them were expiring, but unfortunately tefra hearings are mandated under the irs code, so the governor cannot do an executive order to overturn the irs, so ive been lobbying the irs to try to get them to extend the tefra expiration or hearing process because many of the local governments are closed, like you said, and therefore they are putting in jeopardy a lot of the Affordable Housing projects that are trying to continue to move through the process. So we are facing this type of, you know, issues when governments close and we still need to get certain things done. You know, what is it that government or the State Government can help with. Excellent. Thank you, treasurer. Ms. Elliott, do you have anything to add . Ill just add, i mean, i think this you know, i want to give credit to the treasurer for setting up this conversation. Shes totally spot on, that these are the types of forums that really allow for these types of challenges to be lifted up and brought to the attention of the state. And that was something that was brought to my attention yesterday. So we are running that down and hope to have an update, but were definitely looking into it. Thank you, kindly. And this is scott, i apologize, i had to jump off for something, but im back. Thank you so much. And i dont know if you were able to hear the last question. If youd like to chime in, happy to, or we can keep moving forward. Your call. I didnt hear the question, but whatever makes sense for you. No, thats fine. Well keep moving forward. Thank you so much. We saw the California Department of alcohol Beverage Control mobilize quickly to provide unprecedented relief for their licensees by issuing sweeping industrywide relief. To date, they have issued three significant regulatory relief packages, including the extension of licensing fees. Conversely, cannabis licensees seeking relief must individually request relief and oftentimes each business has to request the same relief every 30 days. Can you speak to efforts under way that would streamline and expand associated relief and associated timelines for implementation . So im happy to speak to that. The Fee Deferral Program is based on fees that are shocking to the industry, not as high as your fees, and they have the ability as a Longstanding Department or agency to weather the financial storm of fee deferrals. So it is not lost on us that that is a request of the industry. That is something we are looking into, but it does take quite a bit of analysis to understand whether or not thats something that the state can sustain, because we are working with a finite set of resources, and those resources support the work of these agencies and the legitimacy of this market. So do know that that is definitely something that we are looking into, but the abcs process is slightly different than the three Licensing Agency process. Its a bit more challenging, as you all know. Right. Thank you so much. Thank you for speaking to that. And fee deferrals, any thoughts on deferrals . Are you asking me that . Yeah, just as a followup. So thats exactly what i was speaking to. Okay, yeah. Okay. Thank you. And i dont know if treasurer ma or the senator would like to speak to that as well. Well, i would just say the squeaky wheel gets the grease, as we have seen in the last ppp stimulus package, a lot of the Small Business owners did not get any assistance, and there was a lot of folks who, you know, called their congressperson, their senators, and then now in the latest ppp round of stimulus money, they are really the banks are really focused on Small Businesses because they didnt have the chance last time because of the way the system was set up, because everything was done so quickly. So i would just say, you know, keep advocating. Reach out to your assembly members, your senators, obviously San Francisco is really small, so we know who they are. And of course the governors office, nicole, myself, so that when these issues come up we can also chime in that this was an industry that also needs to be supported during this time. Thank you for that. Eugene . Sure. We know that there was a previous announcement regarding the preexisting cannabis state licensing agencies. Question do you anticipate that the consolidation of those licensing authorities will proceed as planned . And if not, how will that affect the kind of general com Lines Associated regulatory change to improve efficiency . And anyone who has some additional knowledge about that can provide some feedback. So i know that the senator talked through some of the legislative challenges and framework that hell be working through during the budget, and that the consolidation was proposed in the governors january budget. That conversation is happening in real time. We have a may revised coming out soon, so i dont have any news to break on that, but i will say this we all know that there is a lot of work to do on the stateside around streamlining, and a lot of that work can be done administratively and will be done administratively. So if that moves forward this year, then there will be a lot of work to do. If it does not move forward this year, i know that this is a concept that the governor is very committed to, and there will be a lot of work to do. So regardless of what happens, i do think that simplification and streamlining in some form will be on our agenda for this year. Whether or not thats in the form of consolidation in statutory language by july 1, 2020 or july 1, 2021. So ill leave it at that. And im sorry, could you repeat that question . My phone was cutting out. Im having quite a day with my phone. Sure. The question was about the governors announcement about the consolidation of the state licensing agencies and whether the pandemic would impact the timelines and what are other opportunities to increase efficiencies at the state level. Oh, yeah, that sounds like more of a nicole question. I think were all always taking a look at how we can make life easier for people with various regulatory agencies that they have to deal with. I just cannot speak for this year because everything is in such tumult right now. The administration is truly Drinking Water from a fire hose on covid, and its just its too hard to predict what else will happen this year. And ill just add to that, as far as opportunities, i think what i was trying to communicate, and i hope i communicated, but i will be very direct, there is a lot of opportunity space here. We all know that, and we intend to pursue that opportunity space, whether thats done statutorily, regulatorily or administratively. It will be pursued. Excellent, thank you. And, eugene, if you would i think the unregulated market, perhaps we can shift the conversation in that direction for a moment. Sure. So you know, we talked a little bit about kind of what the potential actions at the state level and how they might impact kind of operators and the existing resources that will continue to be dedicated to fighting enforcement, and we talked a little bit, i believe senator wiener mentioned the possibility for kind of new legislation was unlikely, but there was a specific question about the jones foyer and rubio bills and what the prospects of them passing this legislative cycle. I dont know if scotts still on, but i know the assemble is going to go back into session next week, and the senate is supposed to go back the following week. As i understand, they are really going to focus on the budget and covidrelated legislation. So were not really sure what legislation will move forward. Scott, are you back on . Yeah, i am. Yes, so there i cant tell if theres going to be differences in the assembly. In the senate its been made very clear to us were not limited to only covidspecific bills. We have some covidspecific bills and obviously the budget is a high priority, as bloody and terrible as its going to be, but there are other noncovid areas where well be able to do work. And i think i mentioned those earlier on around housing, homelessness, wildfires, et cetera. The assembly is being it has been much more putting everything on the Committee Chairs so they can hear what they want to hear and prioritize how they want to prioritize. And so those bills, those are enforcement bills. I dont know whether under normal circumstances they would have Political Support to move forward. I am i assume those go to Assembly Public safety or maybe to assembly judiciary. I dont know how the chairs of those committees are viewing this, so its very unclear whether those bills will move forward. Then again, this is democracy, and the legislators are coming back, so i would encourage you to, you know, continue to advocate on behalf of the important bills that you think are gonna move through right now. Obviously not all the bills are gonna continue, but if you all as an industry can get together and prioritize, you know, these are the top three bills that we want to see, then it will have a higher chance instead of everybody just trying to, you know, support 5,000 bills. I mean, clearly 5,000 bills are not going to go through this year. We appreciate that, certainly. Thank you so much. Just to give you a sense, you know, i have and we and the senate, were not like capping members bills, like you can only two five bills or four bills or seven bills or whatever, but we have been, you know, asked to really selfedit and to move bills that are in very high priority areas, that are time sensitive, and so forth. And so i have jettisoned a majority of my bills, and these are some bills that im superpassionate about, and many of them i will reintroduce next year. But we have to be selective in what we move forward. We will have less legislative time, more focus on covid, and you know, its going to be our proceedings are going to be clunky. Like in the senate were allowing remote participation. It makes things a little bit slower. So its not going to be the as fluid and easy as previous sessions, so thats why were really narrowing the number of bills. Thank you very much. Jeremy . Jeremy schwartz here. So reverting back to banking, certainly an Exciting Development regarding the 50,000 the potential for up to 50,000 for a bridge loan. Treasurer ma certainly touched on increased operators perhaps providing some banking services, whether they are Pilot Programs initiated by credit unions. Folks are wondering what this group feels is probably one of the most viable pathways forward for access to mainstream banking, whether it is a public banking option, federal intervention or other mechanism. Well, i think during this time, you know, individual banks, as i mentioned, more and more are coming online, and many of them do have capacity. Obviously they want those customers who have had, you know, a good track record, have been filing all their taxes, have all their permits in place. Thats the easiest way for folks to get a bank account in this new environment, and it is not easy because they do do an extensive background check, and if theres anything in your history, it may kick you out of, you know, their vetting system. So i would just encourage you to talk to your bankers, talk to other members in the industry who may have bank accounts. Theres no list published. People, you know, still are being cautious in terms of how many accounts that they take, but clearly the industry is definitely moving toward opening up banking access for more cannabis companies. And i concur with that. I mean, i think if youre looking for the most expeditious pathway, it is really following the advice of our treasurer and trying to establish those relationships with banks that will learn to trust you as operators but also will want to look into every nook and cranny, just like your regulators do when they review your licenses, your applications. So being transparent on that front hopefully will at least establish a banking relationship, understanding that lending is a bigger challenge in these economic times. You know, the federal government really needs to move on that to create a little bit more, you know, legal and regulatory certainty in the banking space to facilitate things like that. So continue to push your federal representatives and, you know, try to establish those relationships with your banks. Thank you. Again, i want to thank our esteemed guests today, treasure fiona ma, state senator scat wiener and sfr advisor Nicole Elliott. We are reporting here live from the Emergency Operating Center, and we are so thankful to have this opportunity to engage with our state leaders during these unprecedented times. I know i mentioned it earlier, but no ones immune to the challenges to date and ahead. One thing i do know for sure is that the industry has always been resourceful, will continue to be, and as a community we will work through these tough times together. Its been a while since weve had an opportunity to come together and talk about the state of our industry from a local level, so i wanted to take a few minutes now that were getting to the end to talk to you a little bit about whats happening in the office. Many of you know april marked my oneyear anniversary, having taken over from Nicole Elliott, and thank you for standing up an incredible office, and its because of that hard work that i believe we will be able to make it through these tough times. We had the great advantage to be able to build upon a lot of that hard work, and this last year we had seen tremendous growth, momentum. Weve built upon that, and we are proud of our numbers. Of course we could never have imagined in a million years that today we would be sitting here telecommuting, having this webinar and dealing with a Global Pandemic that is going to impact all of us in a major way. And that means that during a time where things were booming we experienced slow process, and that was frustrating for a lot of our industry, and today that is not different. We will probably see more of that, but we will continue to work hard for the industry and to ensure that we are moving things forward. I want to take this time to thank our mayor, our city administrator, naomi kelly, our deputy city administrator for their continued support of the passion and Equity Mission of this office. And i am grateful to all of our colleagues and to our industry for all of their support. We will continue to work hard and continue to be supportive of one another. That said, well put up our first slide. Well share that for those of you who are calling in and cant see it. These are our numbers, just to get everyone caught up to date. We verified over 330 social equity applicants, which is tremendous hard work. We are very happy to announce that we met our q1 goal of excuse me, our q4 goal last year of permitting our first equity application. Since then we have permitted four. I want to congratulate our last permittee, ms. Reese benton, who i know is tuned in today. She has received her permit. That is four, and that is even during these tough times, so i know that we will persevere. We have 15 applicants through the buildout phase. This number may look familiar. The reason is a lot of our important city processes had to be slowed in light of covid, and so getting those final buildout permits signed off is not happening right now, as you all know. So as soon as the shelter lifts, we expect to see a lot of movement in that space. We have 83 applications that were formally referred to the Planning Department for land use entitlement. Thats incredible, and in fact there are six more on the way. We are able to continue to do our work. We are, as you know, six in our offi office. Three have been deployed as emergency city workers. The others are keeping the lights on. We continue to engage. If you have questions, please, dont hesitate to reach out to our office. We will have meetings with you, over the phone to ensure that you do still feel connected to our office. 83 applications formally referred to planning is huge, and we are very, very proud of that number. A year ago it was 24, and so there is momentum in that space. With our next slide. Sure. So in addition to the general development of issuing four permanent permits, the office of cannabis also has about 160 temporary permits as a part of our amnesty program, which was an effort to bring the unregulated market into the regulated market as we continue to prioritize and process our social equity applicants. In addition, there are legacy operators, medical cannabis dispensaries who are able to sell adultuse products based on their progress towards the equity plans and commitments theyve made to the city. We have also developed some Technical Assistance resources. San francisco is one of the few, if not the only jurisdiction to partner with its county Bar Association, the Bar Association of San Francisco. These fine folks panel with the bar, provide Pro Bono Legal services to social equity applicants. To date about 250 hours have been provided. In addition, our partners at the office of Economic Workforce Development have contracted with a law firm to provide additional Pro Bono Legal assistance, which has started in about january february, about 50 hours to date, for a total of 300 hours. And in addition, although there arent events at this time, we did issue a permit for cannabis sales, onsite cannabis sales and consumption at the Music Festival in golden gate park. This is a part of our Pilot Program which may be extended on a yearly basis through 2021. With that, ill kick it back to director rodriguez to close us out. Thank you so much, jeremy. I want to run through this just quickly. There were some questions on the local level for with respect to what is sort of happening during the shelter in place. People want to know whether they can have Community Outreach meetings. The answer to that is no. Through june 1, Community Outreach meetings wont be happening. After june 1 well revisit that. Theres questions about cannabis inspections, are they going to happen now. The answer to that is no. We are going to wait until the june 1 shelter lifts before we do that. Once its lifted, we will certainly start to bring up all of those things and start to see some of that kicking off and momentum picking up. There are a couple questions with respect to the grants that im going to allow eugene to answer just so you can have some more information around that issue. Sure. So i know folks have had a lot of questions about the process to [indiscernible] to our knowledge it hasnt been distributed to the city in the case of the fund, that they should be arriving any day now. Were really excited about the opportunity to provide some Additional Support to equity applicants who we know desperately need it. Were hopeful that those will start to be distributed in the summer of this year. The go biz fund which will require a resolution were currently in the process of getting all of that information together. You may have seen the safe announcements regarding an additional 5 million of support that will be provided to the city and county of San Francisco, so were really interested and excited about the opportunity to provide that money to equity applicants. We will need to enter into a formal Grant Agreement once the resolution is passed. Its unlikely that that will happen before june 1, but once the grants are dispersed, its my understanding that those funds would need to be distributed in the next year. Marisa, i cant hear you. Apologies. Sorry, i was muted. I want to give our esteemed guests an opportunity to close out, and i know theres a small surprise at the end with Senior Advisor elliott. For those of you who are tuned in visually and can see the screen. So lets start with treasurer ma, if youd like to close out. Thank you. I do have a couple more items i would just like to talk about with this group. My website, www. Treasurer. Ca. Gov has two links when you log on. One is to our covid19. Ca. Gov which is our official excuse me, state website for health and other resources. And then i have a excuse me. Covid19 resources guide that is updated continuously for Small Businesses, tax relief, food, as well as individual resources, and so please log on. If you have any questions, you can email me at askfiona treasurer. Ca. Gov and we will answer your questions as quickly as possible. Be careful of scams these days as people are thinking theyre going to get their 1200 stimulus check or other type of loans. Government will never call you and ask you for your personal Social Security number or ask you for your Bank Routing Number or ask you to pay over the phone. So those are all scams. And then if you could just take a couple minutes to answer the census questions, we count people every ten years. The federal government gives us over a trillion dollars to the states, and they allocate it based on some sort of censusrelated data, so every person that is not counted will cost us a thousand dollars per person for ten years, and we get a lot of money for everything from education to Public Safety to seniors to child care. And so please take a little time to do that. And then also the governor released this week a list of approved outdoor activities, so please google it. You will find the list. Its a pretty extensive list. I know its beautiful here in San Francisco, and everybody wants to go outdoors, but the governors really trying to make sure that we continue our social distancing so that we can continue to protect the health and safety of all the residents. So again, thank you all for accommodating us here today. I hope you all stay safe. Be well. Help each other during this time, and we will get through this together stronger. So thank you, marisa, thank you to the team and nicole and senator scott wiener and to all were doing to get through this pandemic. Thank you so much, treasurer ma. This would not have happened without your leadership, and thank you for continuing to support the cannabis industry. We really, really, really appreciate you. Thank you. Next id like to ask senator wiener to close out. Did we lose him . I know he was having some difficulty with his phone. Okay. In that case, we will go on to Senior Advisor Nicole Elliott. Thank you, guys, for putting this together, for having me. Thank you to the treasurer for supporting the development of this discussion and to senator wiener for joining and all your advocacy behind the things that we collectively care about. And to the industry, hang in there. Its going to be, you know, a challenging couple of years. The governors very clearly very committed to seeing legalization be a successful exercise, and so to the extent that you guys have more questions that we can work to answer or address, please feel free to reach out to me. I am a onewoman show, so i will do my best to respond as promptly as i can, but its nicole. Elliott gobiz. Ca. Gov. And we have a special guest who wanted to say hi to her San Francisco family. Lucy. Ah so sweet. She looks forward to meeting you all in person at some point when we are released back into the wild. That was our surprise. Thank you so much. Again, thank you, and i just want to doublecheck, do we still have the senator on the line . Looks like we have lost him, but we just want to thank you, senator, for participating and, of course, thank you to Nicole Elliott and lucy for always supporting our industry and our community, and hailing from San Francisco as all of these great leaders do, thank you all so much. Thank you for tuning in. We will have our newsletter out next week, so you will be able to get more information about the billings under the office of cannabis in addition to answers to some of the questions that we couldnt get to today. Some of them were bcc oriented, so we will point you in the right direction and get that information to you, and i also want to remind folks that now that its may and i think you can still get it, but the San Francisco magazine has a story about our Equity Program and features some of our equity applicants, so make sure you pick that up and support the community. We thank you so much. Thank you for tuning in to our cannabis webinar. Have a wonderful day. Meeting of may 14, 2020 to order. I am the board chair. The Board Meeting is conducted with the act and recent executive orders by the governor to facilitate teleconferencing to reduce the risk of covid19 transmission at public meetings. Ordinarily, the act sets strict rules for teleconferencing. The governors executive order has suspended those rules. Members may observe the meeting and they may offer Public Comment by calling the Public Comment phone number. I