Transcripts For SFGTV Rescheduled Small Business Commission 20240713

Business. This is the special meeting of the Small Business submission on wednesday, may 27th. The meeting is called to order at 1 01 p. M. Phowe thank Media Services and sf gov tv which can be viewed on sf gov tv or livestream. Members of the public is 888 2733658 and the access code is 310745. inaudible . The members of the public will be calling in 888 2736538 and access code is 3103752. When prompted dial 120 be added to the speaker line and it will indicate that callers are entering the question and answer time but this is the Public Comment. If you call in before Public Comment is called, youll be added to the cue. Please mute the device youre listening to the meeting on. When its your time to speak, youll be prompted to do so. Its three minutes per speaker or otherwise established bit speaker. Please show the office of Small Business slide. Interest we will start with the reminder the Small Business commission can voice your concern about policies that affect the Small Businesses in San Francisco. And that the office of Small Business is the best place to get answers about doing business in San Francisco, particularly in this local emergency. If you need assistance with Small Business matters particularly at this time, find us online or via telephone. As always, our services are free of charge. Before item number one is called, i would like to thank Media Services and sfs gov tv for coordinating the livestream please call item number one. Youre muted. Call to order and role call, commissioner adams. role call 11. You have a quorum. Call item number 2. 200455, emergency ordinance, temporary right to reemployment following covid19 pandemic. And emergency ordinance temporarily creating a right to employment for certain employees laid off due to the covid19. If their employer seeks to fill the same position by a laidworker. The discussion and action item. The presenter is edward wright, legislative aid to gordon mar. Wonderful. Welcome edward. We are pleased to have you here and would you like to make your presentation . Im happy to. Supervisor mar is the author before you today. Thank you to the office of Small Business for your feedback and thank you to the Small Business commissioners for taking the time at this spent meeting to discuss the backtowork ordinance with us today. Im talk about a couple of Different Things and first, i want to share the background of why we introduced this ordinance and moving it forward. I want to share the details about what the ordinance currently written does and i want to talk about amendments that were preparing to change the scope of the ordinance in response to feedback from stakeholders, includes a number of the members of this commission and finally, any additional feedback on what the feedback has to share with us. This crisis is a state of emergency for laidoff workers and the pace is greaterrer than the Great Depression and 110 people in San Francisco have lost their jobs representing tens of thousands of livelihoods in economic uncertainty. Consequences of longterm employment included that the evidence of job loss is clear and that could lead to loss of next in the shortterm to lower wages in the longterm and result in physical health and mortality rates for workers who lost their jobs and further, it hampers childrens educational process and workers who lose their job involuntarily experience worse Health Outcomes and during severe downturns, it could lead to life reduction of 1. 2 years and that it might r pai. inaudible . We know this ordinance is bull because we feel we have to be bull to address the urgency of our unemployment crisis. This ordinance is a novel policy area and its so because the circumstances we face are novel. And this ordinance is an emergency ordinance because the crisis we face is urgent, too. Still, we make significant and substantive amendments to narrow the scope of the ordinance. In feedback, weve heard from the sector and specifically from Small Business owners. So first, i wanted to briefly talk about the ordinance as its written before talking through some of the amendments were preparing. I want to say we dont have the amendments drafted to share with the commission today and im happy to share the copy of the minutes as soon as we have the draft. In a current version of the emergency ordinance, workers have the right of first refusal for their jobs if and when their former employer are reopens and rehires. This would be prioritized by seniority in each job classification and it requires comparative wages, scheduling and benefits unless the employer is unable to maintain terms in which case they are affected. This requires employers to provide notice to the city of layoffs of the workers and provide them with information on available city resources as a part of the requirements. In terms who is covered, the emergency ordinance is currently written and applies this to any employer laying off ten or more employees starting on february 25th, 2020, the date of the emergency. And it does not cover employers of fewer than ten employees and does not cover employers who do not lay off ten or more employees in ten or more days or contractors and collective bargaining agreements. Theres a waiver included. Any questions and i will talk through amendments that were preparing, as well. Commissioners, any questions for edward . I say keep going. I have one quick question. But commissioner ukudio has a question, as well. Thank you, edward. In the bill, how do we prepare e an employer is not able to rehire folks back . Yes, that was most likely reset by regulations to the issue by the office of labor standards enforcements. It wasnt something in the ordinance. How did you come up with ten employees . We looked at the Healthcare Security ordinance and what those acts with the mass layoff, which was roughly half of the number of employees at a distance and, then, took the 20 employees as the threshold to help their security ordinance and took half of that. That was representing a mass layoff. I missed the last part. Did other people hear that . Can you repeat the last point, please . Yes. So, basically, taking half inaudible . Half by the Healthcare Security ordinance. I just have one more. Why seniority . Seniority is a common standard in righttorecall language for employees and so were taking the most frequent standard that exists and recalling what already exists and then expanding the application to additional workers. Ten employees is the right amount of people for this work . Im happy to talk about amendments to address that point. Are there any other commissioner questions . Seeing none, i have a question. Regarding the ten or more employees in the draft originally as its currently written, it says ten employees nationally, globally, in california or in San Francisco . Ten employees locally. Globally. And finally, ten people in nashville, where i have ten employees, i would have to notify San Francisco. You would not. They would not be ann titled to reemployment. If i laid off nine employees in nashville and one in San Francisco, i would have to notify the city with represent to the one employee . I dont think so. I think it would be triggered by ten layoffs in San Francisco. Thats definitely what you just said, so earlier you said ten globally, but now its ten only in San Francisco . So theres two definitions being referred to and one is the employer definition and thats defined as ten employees globally, but the layoff definition is ten or more employees, meaning San Francisco workers laid off within a 30day period. There ok, thank you for that clarification. Please proceed. Thank you. And so what we know that workers are facing a crisis right now, so a Small Businesses. We know Small Businesses need support now more than ever and ill be sharing some of the changes well be making to this ordinance to specifically address the concerns that we heard from Small Business owners. I did want to share with the commission that our office is actively working on legislation to waive Business Registration and business fees most impacted by the covid19 crisis and we hope to have a date on that that i can share with you soon. I did want to mention that we have spoken with more business stakeholders in this legislation, including dozens of Small Business owners, the San Francisco commerce, community on jobs, the San Francisco hospital hospital, among others. We know this is the life blood of our city and they are facing a central crisis and after i go through the amendments were proposing, if you have additional feedback, i would appreciate this opportunity. So for the amendment, we are intending to amend the definition of employer to exempt employers with fewer than 75 employees and this would be tying the definition back to the act of neglec flexibility with statewide employees and the definition of employer to exempt Healthcare Operations employers as defined in the april 29t april 29th order of the Public Health officer. And that would include most public hospitals. Further, we intend to amend the employee definition to exempt employees who are making more than 100 or 120 of the Median Income as defined by housing and community development. In addition, we intend to amend the reemployment revisions to provide exemption for making the reemployment offer based on the information of misconduct found for former employees. If an employee discovers a former worker committed misconduct, they would be exempt and that exemption would apply to the terms and after bringing back a worker facing misconduct, you are exempt from having to employ them. That would include severance agreements, so laid off workers entering so severance agreement and this right to employment is not apprized of that. And finally, we would be amending the notification requirements, removing section 5a4 and section 5a5 entirely. These, we understand, to be the most burdensome administrative requirements for the businesses applied to, as well as to the office of layer standards enforcements, so this is essentially the optimum requirements. And then, finally, to allow for notification by email or text before mail so that businesses only have to mail if thats an ox. Option. Im happy to answer my questions on this that i just talked through. Any questions . While we wait, we have two questions for you. With respect to employment being exempt if theres evidence of misconduct, how would an employer establish this misconduct . What the burden here that you te employer has to meet to establish that misconduct . We dont have the language forecastedrafted yet and im noi can answer that specifically. But the intention that would it would be some kind of evidence that would be demonstrating that everything is caught up that happened. And so that could be theft, it could be misrepresentation of facts and any number of examples of misconduct. But at this point, you cant give us any information that we could provide to employers about how they would satisfy the requirement, whatever evidence would be required . We dont have that amendment drafted yet. Another question, but i will defer to my colleagues first. Hi, edward and thank you for coming today. I am curious about your outreach. You had mentioned to get to this, you had spoken to more businesses or business organizations and stakeholders than you ever had and im kind of curious as to what their overall responses were and what type of interaction you had with them. Thank you for that question there was a range of responses to the ordinance all the way from support. We did speak with a number of Small Businesses in our district who support ordinances to outright opposition. And i think there were a diverse until of concernnumber of conce. We are hoping to address these concerns and we heard from a lot of Small Businesses, which is why we landed on Small Businesses and weve heard from quite a few Healthcare Providers with the Current Health circumstances that they felt that the healthcare sector should exempted, which is why weve included that exemption and to, then, weve heard concerns about not having the kind of misconduct exemption were working on to ensure that there is offramps for those job offers and a good reason to not issue employment offer. So can i ask, with all of these amendments or exemptions, who are you hoping to really be able to, like i dont know. Who is going to be compliant and who is going to be retain these jobs the way they want . So with these amendments, this ordinance will still apply to any San Francisco employer with more than 75 employees and laid off ten or more workers within 30 day, based on the applications we already have and the unemployment numbers that are trickling in, we expect that that will apply to thousands of San Francisco workers. And even with the ami narrowings, were focusing more on workers and expect there are thousands. And those businesses that would apply to, are they in favour of your legislation . Im not sure in their i in favor. We understand that that our Small Businesses would be the most burdened by this, which is why were purple this. Thank you. Thank you. Commissioner dooley. Hi. I wanted to ask about the seniority and how you would be asking people to determine that. I know that i work in restaurants as im a fluoresce d i see many people come is go for awhile and come back and then im just wondering whether theyre cumulative time in that business will count as where they would be in the seniority order or not. Its something ive seen a lot in restaurants. It would be determined by the date of hire for determining employment that was severed. So your most recent. Commissioner ozunis. New for being here, edward. Im representing the supervisors office. And i mean, yes, if anything is most important in this crisis, its class and the need for our workers to be supported and as Small Businesses are often one in the same as workers, i think its important to consider the good will piece and kind of the realities of Small Businesses are going to be calling people that they ed thi they had to le. It takes a lot of money and ti time. Sometimes the posts dont get hit and so, i think that Small Businesses are really going to comply wit intent of this either way and i just inaudible . A couple of questions i have, february 25th, when the order was in place, that was the next month and why the february 25th date of this start date . I do have some concerns with the oast background noise . Commissioner, wil while youe talking, if you could turn down the speaker, because your microphone is feeding back into your microphone and turn the speakerrer back up. The requirements to the city are waived and those are some of the questions that i have. Thank you for that question. Ill take that in turn. And so, first, as to why february 25th, was chosen as a start day for flexibility, that was the date Public Health emergency was declared and that is predated with the shelterinplace order. However, weve heard from workers, as well alzheimers ase employers prior to the shelterinplace being ordered in response to the Public Health emergency and so that is why that date was chosen. And in terms of the burden of proof of Small Businesses, Small Businesses would be exempt to hire. This ordinance after amended would not apply at all to any business with fewer than 75 employees. In terms of the details regulatory language or the language of a rule that is issued, those are kind of always issued after an ordinance takes effect and to give additional clarity for the implementing agency for the specific details and the law that may not be appropriate by code. And with that said, we have the specific amendment language and im happy to share that with you and talk through it. Great. So im going to ask my second question with respect to the amendment part of the presentation and you mentioned that severance agreements would be exempt. How is severance agreement being defined . For instance, i know Many Employers, myself included, when we had to lay folks off, i was very concerned about my employees having money for groceries and shortterm supplies. That period around march 20t 20th was very intense, as im sure you recall. I know Many Employers, lets leave myself out of this, Many Employers informally did thing for their employees and some continued health insurance, some did cash dispersals and many did a number of Different Things. With respect to a severance agreement, how are you defining that . Are you expecting a document that is signed by both parties or do some of these excessivseverance payments thate provided in excess of the employment agreement, would those also be severance agreements . It would probably be the narrower definition of severance agreements as it goes to the broader one as you just talked through it. With that said, this is to be heard at committee next thursday and we have between now and then to finalize any amendment language and, of course, it would be heard at committee. And so, im happy to talk with you on the specific definition that we would include there. And just checking in, is there more to your presentation or should we go into general questions . I noticed a couple of commissioners have asked questions, not specifically about your amendment. And i wanted to see where were at in terms of your presentation. Im happy to take general questions. Wonderful. Commissioner ukudio. Edward, thank you again an. I understand that both employers and employees are are undergoing a crisis right know and helping as many people as we can to navigate this and what we decide to do is going to be reflected back upon us in the future. This moment is important. I wanted to read a piece of Public Comment to you that we got because the seven of us have our own Small Businesses, but, of course, we represent of 100,000 individuals sole proprietors and the largest in the city and we received a lot of Public Comments about this and edward, this comes from a Small Business owner and i wont say who, but one that is beloved in this city saying if supervisor mar could guarantee my businesses income for 90 days, i can guarantee you his employment. If he can guarantee my expenses wont go up during that period, that the minimum wage wont increase from july 1st and it wont be more expensive upon renewal and sales in december, the only month we turned a profit would be the same as last year or better, that social distancing and Curbside Pickup and regulating how many customers are allowed in my store at once wont lower my sales, if the city can abundante that, we can guarantee employment. That gets to the point i want to make. Even with all of the cutouts and the amendments and cutting out this industry and that industry making it 75 , the government should not be right now in this particular moment trying to regulat regulate, whoe employ and at the same time, they are for good reasons deeply regulating however aspect of our business is being run in a way that is driving many of our Small Business owners to the brink, if not passed the point of closure. This is not a time, in my opinion, and in the partly opina lot of Small Businesser businesw people employ folks in the middle of this. And i wanted to read to you from the Small Business owners that we represent and we care a lot about. Thank you for sharing that. Weve heard a lot of stories from Small Business owners that are truly heart breaking and what businesses are going through right now. From our perspective pir inaudible . Our office is actively working on supports for Small Businesses. We want to make it easier for Small Businesses adapt. And i think weve also heard so many heartbreaking stories from workers. We met with one woman who was undocumented and worked at a Small Business for 20 years. That closed and had been able to reopen for Curbside Pickup and rather than hire back somebody who worked there for 20 years, they brought back new workers because they could pay them less. We everyone everyone is in a critical position here and it was a difficult decision for us to make. There are a lot of people in difficult circumstances right now is i think th and i think te is to ball the needs and ensure the work Going Forward represents that balance and represents a thoughtful targeted intervention to help the people who need it most but not to sort of step on the toes of the people who dont need their toes stepped on. We need a handup right now, too, and, specifically Small Business owners. Thank you for sharing that. So edward, i have a bunch of questions for you, but just a general point of information. Do you happen to know you said all of Small Businesses exempt, but then you said 75 employees or less. And i think california and the city of San Francisco define Small Business as 100 employees or less. And were you, perhaps, just misspeaking or generally characterizing or how would you define Small Business . So the way we define it through the employer definition and the amended version of this ordinance would be any employer with 75 or fewer than 75 employees would be exempt. Just to interrupt, would an employer with 80 employees be considered a Small Business . Not for purposes of this legislation, but is that a Small Business . There are various test defins under different ordinances. They dont define Small Business and im aware of one definition for Small Business and thats in california state law saying 100 employees or less. But if you could follow up and let me know later if theres if its true there are different definitions of Small Business, that seems relevant to our commissions work. And i will say that for our purposes, we have to represent all businesses with 100 employees or less. And so, for the purpose of your legislation, which still leaves employers with 76 to 100 employees, your legislation does not of course conclude them so its not accurate to say that all Small Businesses with respect to all work is exempt. So i just want to clarify that. Yes, a clarification. Probably i misspoke, its not the Small Business thats defined but the employer in different regulations or different ordinances using different definitions employer and many of which are based on different sort of policy intentions to exempt the needs of smaller businesses. And so i apologize for misspeaking. Thats totally fine. Theres a lot going on here. And hopefully, its understandable were about that and has an impact for the folks charged with representing. A couple of questions and one, you mentioned roughly 100,000 employed. How many of that 100,000 will this legislation help . How many do you think but for this legislation would be disadvantaged . We dont have specific data on that. Ok. I think theres a lack of data on specific aspects. Thats fine, thats fine. I have a bunch of questions, so i would ill be brief and hopefully, you can be brief, too. And if you need to explain more, just let me know. I may interrupt. I hope im not being rude but im trying to be respectful of everybodys time. How does this legislation impact workers outside of San Francisco . It wouldnt. How many businesses do you happy will be impacted by this legislation . We dont have i dont have an updated number based on the proposed amendment. That has not been made yet. Any initial numbers based on the original legislation . Not specifically, because the number has been changing and weve had a twoweek delay on getting those numbers. But i have a policy on that. What do you estimate is the cost of compliance for Business Owners to comply with the legislation for employees . Theres no direct cost tied to this. What is your basis for believing theres no cost. Were not requiring anyone to hire employees they cant afford to hire. You are requiring businesses to contact employees and you did mention that the section 5a4 and 5a5 had been removed and is there any notice requirement at all for employers whatsoever to any city Agency Authority . I believe the requirement to p notice on layoffs survived, correct . Yes. That would presumably be document for the issues that are still open regarding how the different aspects to be documented. Presumably theres labor in storing the documentation, would you agree . Very possibly could be yes. Well, what do you mean possibly could . Is there a scenario where there would not be a documentation being required to be stored . I mean, for instance, we are proposing using the same employer definition as the act of providing notices of layoffs to the city and to the state of california. So to the extent that this is building on top of that, there would be a certain number of additional layoffs that could be covered under the proposed amended version of our ordinance, but its tied to the definition of employer that is already provided under the act and those employers are required under state law to provide notices of mass layoffs. So is it your feeling that theres no additional cost or burden to employers to comply with this legislation . I mean, there would be the noticing requirement to the city for certain layoffs that would not be covered by the act but the layoff and more than ten workers and San Francisco, but dont quite meet the cal 1 act definition and that could be a labor burden on that business owner. Theres the burden of providing notice to the workers of the direct reemployment. So what was the Financial Impact on olse to develop this new program . Have you estimated what the cost to the city would be . We dont have a cost estimate from the bla yet. With that said im sorry, thats fine. Thats all i need to know for now. If the legislation passes, its anticipated that there will be litigation and response. Has your office estimated what the cost of what that Legal Defense might be . Were making amendments, partially for policy concerns, but also that we think will significantly increase the ordinance. If i had employees with performance issues like tardiness, behavioral issues, am i obligated to hire them back . If it false short of misconduct as to be defined through an amendment, im happy to talk with you about the exact language on, yes, you would. Im sorry. I have more questions, but im just noticing commissioner dooley has a question and im sorry, i didnt see that until just now. Please. What youre drawing on saying most employers wouldnt retire their staff because i have seen anecdotally of the opposite of what most businesses do, rehiring people that know their business and dont have to be trained a lot. And so im just curious has to why youre thinking that enough people would be bad actors as to need this legislation . Just to clarify. I dont think i cited those statistics. Im asking you for them. Yes, we dont have any localized statistics on that. I think part of what we view as our duty as policymaking body for the board of supervisors is to provide regulation that protect against that action. So we certainly hope that employers choose to bring back their workers regardless of a requirement and we certainly view that as a winwin scenario for the workers who would have certainty of future employment and for the employer who is able to bring back something they have a relationship with and who has been trained. So that this is behaviour beneficial to both parties, we think that is positive. I have a question. You mentioned earlier that you had extensive outreach from the Small Business community and you had received some support. I dont want you to single out individual Business Owners, but could you just let us know what Business Associations have expressed support to this legislation . We have not asked for Business Associations. But to your knowledge, none have expressed support . I donno. A couple of questions just about the legalities of this that im curious. One of the first things that popped up for me is california state labor code defining employment as atwill. It appears the proposed legislation would supercede employment and how d is that a correct statement or do you have a different understanding . I think theres a real veracity of the ordinance that is a question best addressed to the City Attorneys office. [ laughter ] well, respectfully, youre here to prevent the legislation. This is a pretty big change to how employment is defined for employers and its coming at a very sensitive time. We dont have the luxury of having the City Attorney here simultaneously with you to ask the City Attorney. I was hoping that, perhaps, the City Attorney had provided your office with guidance and advice on this issue because it seems germane and to the point. Has your office received any guidance or advice with respect to the atwill employment question . Weve had significant discussion with the City Attorneys office on the veracity of the emergency ordinance and it is our belief and our intention that where there is sufficient Public Interest in providing additional regulations on employment contracts, especially considering that this is an emergency ordinance, leveraging powers of the board of supervisors for the city and county of San Francisco, that we are certainly within our legal right to do that and thats a part of the reason why we are amending this ordinance to target specifically the policy intervention and the employers who may be most negatively impacted by it. But i guess did the City Attorney give you specific advice regarding atwill employment and that labor code . You give me a general answer and im asking a specific question. Respectfully, we have had quite a few discussions with the City Attorneys office on the legal veracity and ramifications this office and the specific discussions on those specific things are Attorney Client privilege discussions. And the City Attorney has approveapproved as to form. Any except shi exemption fors that employee writers, musicians, artists . Independent contractors are not covered by this ordinance. I did not say contracts with. I say employee. Is there any exemptions that employs musicians, actors or artists . There are not industryspecific exemptions, no. I dont want you to violate your privilege, but in your internal conversations did you have any conversations about the possible First Amendments in. Not specifically discussed, no. I wont continue that line because i think its selfevident that somebody who employs a writer or actor or a statement or cause or an emotion would have a First Amendment right to choose the manner in which they express that. Your legislation seems to supercede that. In your discussions with the City Attorney or internally, did you have a consideration of vehicle protection clause . We, we have. Was there a conclusion reached on that . Our duties is to provide regulations for the city and county of San Francisco and we can offer this impact to San Francisco workers and it would be outside of our jurisdiction to do otherwise. Commissioner gam adam. I have a quick question. I know the city has been laying off folks and are they covered by this . They would be covered by this, yes. Any other questions . Seeing none, can we move on to Public Comment . Well open this up to Public Comment. Is there anyone on the line for Public Comment . There are no callers. Hearing none, Public Comment is closed. And commissioners, further discussion. I just wanted to comment on the typical legislation that has left our Small Businesses in the city so vulnerable, so anemic, you cant get through this pandemic. Not only is this super burdensome on Small Businesses, but on city agencies that dont have the capacity right now or the budget to deal with this. I mean, to be honest, i dont want to make any recommendations or amendments. I just know this is not the time. And i love all of your supervisors, i really do. But after all is said is done, half of the restaurants you left go, they will no exist any more. Thats a fact. Come on, guys, like, no. We dont have time for stuff like this, thats it. Thank you. Commissioner adams, i believe you had a comment. Yes, i agree with commissioner ortiz. We have other problems right now and william, you said it the best. When this is all said and done, well be losing half of our Small Businesses in the town. Half of our restaurants. I had in the last week and a half since this got out, ive had so many Small Business owners call me saying, you know, what are they regulating us now for and saying if this goes into effect, theyre not even opening up their doors. So youre actually killing Small Businesses with this ordinance rather than helping them. So i agree, i cant add my amendments. This is just bad and you brought up the Healthcare Security ordinance and there are so many flaws in that, Small Businesses have been putting money into that for years and they cant access it now when they need it the most. Until we actually see the bad actors, theres no bad actors out there. This is a different time for a different place and just what it will cost the city when the city has no more money left and agencies with other issues to worry about, this is just i just think this is bad all around. And thats my two cents. Ok. I will have a couple of comments to say before we make any motions just for commissioners to notice. But commissioner dooley. I just wanted to add my agreement to what all of the commissioners have said so far. I mean, going back to what commissioner dooley said, the fact there are no statistic and data showing what youre actually proposing to save and who youre proposing to help, i think this is really alarming to me. There is so much data already in terms of how Small Businesses are been impacted. It feels so out of touch and this is why Small Businesses are having such a tough time and it also feels i dont know, maybe i shouldnt talk about how it feels. But i think to tell us that there are other pieces of legislation where youre deferring payments and getting rid of line items and fees, that in no way feels like a gift from the city, honestly. As a Small Business owner, and as somebody representing Small Businesses, those feel like not even a crumb. The thing that were really battling against i can assure you that everyone sitting on this commission, as well as all of the Small Business owners ive spoken with, which are probably hundreds at this point, we have been working around the clock to save our businesses and save our communities, quite frankly. And i think, you know, getting rid of a 200 fee and then putting on, maybe, 40, 50 hours of compliance that we have to then dig through and figure out how to navigate and then, perhaps, going into more litigation over justifying an action that at that point you had to make, i think that feels, again, out of touch is maybe very light, but its incredibly offensive, you know. I think thats really what i want to say. I cared so much for the city and all of its responsibilities and i thinresidents. Through this pae have come together and even creating a threshold of 75 and above, like, whatever threshold, to me, i feel like ive been asked to serve on the Economic Recovery Task force and thats a task forceful of all different sized businesses. To see everybody coming together to save the economy and thinking about ways we can bolster the economy together, i think that is a much better way to look at the situation right now. I just feel i am not supportive of any wedges in our communities and i think its our time to come together and to continue that thing we started early on in the pandemic. So that and i think thats pretty much it. I thank you for your time. Thank you, commissioner. Commissioner zazunis. Ok. Let me lower my volume. Can you hear me ok . Youre perfect. So i agree with some comments from my fellow commissioners, but i also want to speak to the fact that i am more supportive of this ordinance now that im seeing these amendments and that your office is being receptive to some of the feedback from Small Businesses. I like that theres a sense that they i think we do need to change our kind of mo on how we make policies in the city because were doing this preemptive punitive measure seeing nonstop on Small Businesses, hypothetically fining then for something they didnt do yet. Theres countless things on the books that are written like that, as opposed to incentivebased or helping people move into compliance. You didnt make this, you know, transgression yet, but were going to assume you are. And that mentality needs to end. Im really looking forward to some initiatives like the public bank which may give us kind of a way out to these types of laws that just rely on extorting people, you know, like we know based on how this Economic System works that it is about extorting people and it is about speculating on labor and, unfortunately, thats how our laws are, too. So that now were in a situation where economically is depressed, we need to get more creative instead of relying on extorting some other sector of the economy or low, middleclass businesses, whatnot, as a way to fund something. I was the only commissioner who voted in favor of the Healthcare Security ordinance when it came across our commission a couple of years back, but i agreed with all of our critiques which are in place today. The fact that we have not reassessed that program and the burden that it creates. So i really think that Something Like this is right to have a sunset date to, and i really encourage that our supervisors do their Due Diligence and doing the hard work of going back on the books and assessing the type of punitive laws that we have and really Start Building towards, as commissioner huey said, something that brings us closer together instead of pinning us against each other. Thats where i stand and thank you for presenting to us today. Commissioner ukudio. This is a short comment and i just want to echo that. Unless we come off in that conversation as a community that is not trying to do well by our employees, thats not i hope that is to the what were trying to communicate to you, edward, and to the board of supervisors and to anyone thats excited about this piece of legislation. I think in general, there are a lot of wellmeaning laws like commissioner ortiz has mentioned, that have done a lot of that have made running Small Businesses in San Francisco very, very difficult. And ultimately, that is the worst thing that we can do for our employees, is create an environment where Small Businesses cant operate at all because that means no one is employed. And so were just trying to do our best piece here in the middle of what is such a crisis for our community, to make sure that more laws are not put into place that dil affect them. Anyone proposing policies, the policies we shouldnt be proposing policies that we think might be really, really tough and bad for a whove sector of our city with the hope and examination that through the delivertive process its amended to a place where its better. That to me is not smart policymaking. Because if we had not found this and if the Small Business community had not latched on to this and said, oh, my gosh, this will be really, really hard for us and spent all of it time and efforts advocating and lobbying, by the way time we should have been spending to pick ourselves out of this mess, it is possible this may not have gotten amend. Then we would have had a law on the books that would not have been a great law. My ask is that in the future, moving forward, youre young and were all in this together and lets have a starting point with laws and policies in the Small Business community that will do more good than harm and lets not create laws or proposed policies that we think and we expect will require a lot of amendments to get to a place where it might do more good than harm. And that is my humble and respectful request to you to anyone making laws and policies that affect our community and workers and Small Businesses. Commissioner dooley. Yes, you know, i just think the timing is wrong on this because were anticipating bad behaviour and putting this in place and i think that i know all of our communities, were just struggling to get these places to a point where they can be open in my manner. And i just feel like its just not the right time to pile any additional legislation on our Small Businesses. Now, if after this moves on and we find out that a million Small Businesses are dumping their longterm employees and then we might want to come and address this again, but to do it in anticipation is just adding more more work and struggles for our Small Businesses that right now cannot afford anything more on their plates than what theyre already dealing with. Thank you. Edward, ill offer some closing comments here. First of all, i think you probably knew coming into this that there would be some pretty tough questions. Certainly i asked a few myself and i would like to thank you for taking the time to come in and represent the legislation that your office is proposed. You know, something that i think can sometimes get lost in these engines changes and i want to convey is i feel and i know many of my fellow commissioners feel that we want to help po policy makers make good policy and we want to support you and lift you up. We want you to be your best and we want to help make this city better. Everybody on this commission is a volunteer and most of us are struggling mightily right now. As you know, when you and i spoke on the phone and i conveyed some of the perm persol challenges im facing in the wake of covid and trying to take care of our staff. And so, this is a very difficult and challenging time for the Small Business community, probably the most difficult in anyones living memory. And i think its really critical in the moment when the community employ roughly half of all workers as a community. So many Business Owners are struggling and theyre looking at business bankruptcy. Theyre looking at personal bankruptcy and theyre looking at contemplating suicide. It is deeply challenging for so many of us. And i think the way that this particular legislation was promulgated, i kne know i reachd out to your office and sent an email and asked for somebody to get back to me and nobody did. Eventually, i was able to track down your number and speak to you. But i didnt feel like we had an opportunity to be a partner in this legislation prior to it being drafted. And i would encourage your office and i would encourage all to use this as a resource. Being here fowere here for a r. The voters put us in the charter for a reason, to help you do your best. We want the city to work great for workers and Business Owners and we want it to work great for everybody in the city. We are facing a complete loss of our business and a complete loss of our liv life savings and our homes and this commission, at our last meeting drafted 42 point memo to the Economic Task force. Over the past week and a half, two weeks, weve had to devote a lot of time to communicating with and about this legislation and hearing from the community who is very upset, generally speaking, about some of the requirements which have since been removed and some have been addressed by amendment. But others still remain. In 2019, my business employed 82 people and so, not any more. And not currently at the moment, but i can imagine a Small Business like mine, which is absolutely a Small Business, now looking at other requirement, another burden. And i think that the timing is wrong to be adding burden to Business Owners. If theres a harm that you want to address, then i think the proper route to address that is by not putting the onus on Business Owners to address the issue and if you are going to put the onus on Business Owners, then i think you have the duty to able to articulate how many people are being helped and what is the cost. We have to be able to balance cost is benefit and what i have heard from you is, we dont know how many people are negatively impacted by this. You have presented one an antidl report but we havent received any evidence that this is a citywide problem that all Business Owners in orbe order to address the citywide problem. Theres another question here, which is, were need to get back on our feet is concentrate getting back on our feet. Every time we start bickering about side issues, this is something, in my opinion, that should have been discussed as a community, as partners behind the scenes and not be put through this timeconsuming effort, all of these folks putting all of this energy and time into it. Its not t the best way to advae policy. Its inefficient. And in this crisis, we cant afford to have inefficiency. We have to Work Together and we have to be a team and we to communicate. As politely as i can, i would like to request that in the future when youre drafting legislation that could or may potentially impact Small Business, which we defined as 100 employees or less, that we be included that a conversation early in the process. You have my cell phone number and any supervisor that wants my cell phone number be, i, im ho help you and want you to succeed. I had to lay off a ton of people. I didnt have a championships. Choice. Our revenue dropped by 95 and i cried for days over having to lay off my staff. It was incredibly painful and remains incredibly painful. Every aspect of this is incredibly painful. And it is insulting to not be included. And we deserve better than that and i encourage your office to do better in the future. That concludes my remarks. Commissioners, do we have a motion . I motion we do not approve this ordinance. I second it. The motion by commissioner adams to not approve as membership and seconded by commissioner huey. I want to make sure that we have the director. I want that were very clear because edward did present the amendment, so can you just please make sure were accurately identifying, is it were not approving as written or not approving even with the proposed amendment . I just want to make sure. I will go ahead and change my motion to not approve this ordinance as written and with amendments. Do we have a second . And i second. Were. Dominica. Im trying to think about how to frame that motion because we havent actually done that in the past because we dont have the amendment drafted. So you cant really take a motion on something that doesnt exist. Could we say the amendment as presented today by representatives from supervisor mar . Youre taking a motion on a presentation and not the actual piece of legislation. So i think that the conversation can be summarized in the memo to the clerk, but the motion as it was first established by commissioner adams. So commissioners, the per what dominica, you have to take the motion and then the commission can provide clarifying comments. Comments, u want to ensure are in the final letter to the board of supervisors as it relates to the amendment. Ok to proceed our do you need further clarification . Im fine to proceed. First motion by commissioner adams. Rolrole call, please. Pai role call . Motion passes 61. Next item. Item 3, continue discussion on Small Business recovery. Before we continue, edward, thank you for taking your time to come and present and we do appreciate the office presenting the legislation. So thank you. This is or work and this is what we have to do. But we do appreciate your time. Thank you for the opportuni opportunity. Item 3, continued on rebuilding. So at the last hearing or meeting are they called meetings or hearings . Im never clear on that. I believe was it the last hearing we sent the memo to the Economic Recovery Task force . I believe it was two meetings ago. No, it was the may 11t may 11th meeting that the commission formalized its recommendation and im just confirm that. For your information, commissioners, i am able yes, we sent the memo to the Economic Recovery Task force on ma may 13th and i am able to share the screen 1 to bring up the list of recommendations in case you would need to refer to them. Ok, great. I have that in front of me, but i did want to provide a couple of observations on the impact of that memo with the task force and some of the ultimate policy changes that it had. And so im just making sure i got that. Here we go. So first of all, our memo was well received by the task force. The cochair thanked us for the information, chair fong specifically said the land use section was particularly helpful and many of the items that come up in subsequent conversations, i have attended meetings with cdma, spur and the memo has been referred to in those environments, as well. And i know that it leads there is pending legislation that it has had an impact on and this morning, i spoke with the Mayors Office and i want to convey that possibly one of the biggest changes to the city shared spaces which is opening up more space for the city, that our voice was an important one in helping to amplify that concept in getting it to the level that it has some support in the Mayors Office and thats a big, huge win. That is a very big and dramatic change in how the city has done business in the past and it is something that i think the community has largely had broad consensus and support for. So im pleased by that. But theres still a lot of work to do and, frankly, to have more work done today at this meeting that didnt happen. So with respect to the task force, weve had two Group Meetings with the entire group and one Small Group Meeting and my small Group Includes cd may and ben blineman and that was nice to see familiar faces. The task force, you know, i dont think is yet at a point where its making specific policy requests or proposals, but i think the work is happening behind the scenes and i have a quip, that i think the most important work will happen outside of the task fortune is the most important contributions will be made by people who arent on it at all. I view it as an informationsharing exchange. There are other Task Force Members and i want t wanted to e william and cynthia to offer any insight into the Task Force Work for the commissions benefit. If you so choose. Receiv[ laughter ] william, do you want to go first . I guess im unmuted and just volunteered myself. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to share. Ive been working really hard on a couple of things in regard to the task force. One that has been the most eyeopening for me has been trying to get dental offices, specifically, and other healthcare kind of private practises reopened. And i ivi realize that throughs work i dont know, should i provide a little overview of what happened in terms of whats been happen. Yes, anything you think the commissioners would benefit from learning about. I think dental offices were slated in the same category as personal services and that would be kind of, you know, the sector that would include probably nail salons, hair salons and personal services. The problem with that is that probably is not going to be reopening until a later phase in the reopening kind of timeline. Whereas, dental offices and different types of healthcare offices were not given the ok by the city and county to reopen for routine care and that type of deferral of treatment is oftentimes very impassable to the Public Health, when people are not able to get routine care. And in dentistry, self, we were in thing thainnoticing that thie starting out as maybe small fillings, after not receiving care, they were turning into root canals. And so for patients and for people, thats a huge deal when youre looking at the difference between a filling, a root canal or loss of tooth, like an extraction is so that type of thing, since we were deferring treatment and deferring care, we were starting to see more and more of that. And dental offices had come and talked to me about when are we going to be reopening. It was kind of hard to figure out exactly what was happening. Who do i talk to and where are the resources . So one is that having a more transparent path for industries that feel like they need clarity, especially when there are associations there. There is state guidance for dentists and the California Dental Association had given directives for all california dental offices, i think, may 7th. And we didnt hear anything until we started pushing for a response a week later. In that week, theres a big gap between the state guidance and what happens in our local municipality. And i think having a more proactive approach would be helpful in all of this. So what happened was, we inquire about this and figured out what was happening and we realized, oh, gosh, you dont realize that its important for patients to get care right now versus, like, other types of services that may be arent as impactful to someones overall health. And so once that was remedied, the department of Public Health issued a directive but it was not issued with the guidance from the dental association or the San Francisco dental society. So from california and the local level, there was no discussion. And then after the Health Directive came out, there were all sorts of things that kind of changed and one of the changes was that they required testing, covid testing for all air slide procedures. There was no discussion about that in terms of why they needed this because at this particular juncture, we dont have testing capabilities within offices to be able to ensure patients, nor dental practise safety. And so it was just a lot of, like, what do we do and implement this . And i think when we have this type of issue, it really creates a situation where people dont know how to become compliant. They want to, but you dont know why youre recommending a certain test that there were no recommendations for that test, also. There were no age guidelines for that test. So you could be looking at a 4yearold patient who would be also be required under the directive to get testing. And so theres still a lot of kind of, i dont know not misunderstanding but lack of guidance in terms of how to implement this. And i feel like if Going Forward, the department of Public Health could have a more proactive approach and reach out to local associations, as well as and then checking this with people and saying, ok, these are the things that were planning on doing. Because this directive for the dentists is the most restrictive weve even in the whole nation. Were the only county in the whole country that requires this for dentists which would kill our dental practise. Why would you go to a dentist in San Francisco and you could go to one in san m matteo where thy dont have this. There needs to be more transparent understanding of what the goals are, what types of goals, department of Public Health really wants to get in terms of testing. And, like, getting more input from people who are knowledgeable in our community. I think many stakeholders, we actually carry a lot of november knowledge where you could ask any of us to glean from. For the Recovery Task force, ive been pushing for more proactive involvement of stakeholders and more transparency in how they phase things out. I think dates are important for the reopening process as they put forth more Health Directives and people need to understand milestones and how long things are going to be taking place. Thank you. Sure. William . For me, its definitely making sure that throughout the process, that this is an equitable lense to everything going on, especially in the latino community. Small businesses that are latino or monolithic, residency in question, they have a greater impact because they dont have other access to resources than, say, some of the other Small Businesses and then beyond that is also a lot of the documenting a population that work this our Service Industry that are back in the house and they, too, dont have the resources to go on unemployment and its just a myriad of things. So were trying to focus on making sure that this crisis doesnt further the je gentrification in our city. So focusing into a cultural and equitable lense, thats the primary were working on or im proposing to work on. Any other commissioner comment on the update . Commissioner adams. The three of you have done an excellent job on that Economic Task force. Ive been hearing a lot of feedback from that and the three of us, you really need to be commended and you really are representing Small Businesses and i just think youre doing a fantastic job. It a battle out there and i wane best. One thing we do need is more guidance when we start to open up, because ive heard from a few people that the city says one day well open up on monday and, you know, with the popups, it actually took some people that i though, some businesses more than a few days. And so i really appreciated that comment, but the three of you, in my opinion, and manny, and kathleen, you guys have been rock stars throughout this whole thing. I mean, rock stars. And manny is i dont want to say a podthe cast, but your questions and answers, this has been great. And im so proud of all of my fellow commissioners. Weve all stepped up during this thing and its not that easy. It hasnt been easy on me or anybody else. I mean, im worn out at the end of each day. And so, yo hats off to you guys. Youve done a fantastic job, just fantastic. Thank you, commissioner adams. I just want to echo the support for the entire team and it an honor to serve with all of you and the more i get to know some of you, the more impressed i am well, i mean, thats true for all of you, but some i know less than others, just youre newer to the commission. I think the commission has probably stepped up and we have an Incredible Team and it is a privilege and an honor to serve with all of us. Commissioner ukudio. Thank you, is thank you so much, commissione for representl on the Economic Recovery Task force. You represent a broad spanie swf the city and my question is about the 42 point proposals we spent so much time and energy coming up with. I think youll remember two weeks ago, i felt lining a little bit of a stick in the mud saying if these will be anything more than a piece of paper, we need to not just send it places, but actually do our own Due Diligence and our own work to see what was feasible and concurrently bring the people and the enforcement agencies to us, to talk through how we might get these done. We are the Small Business commission and we represent the Small Businesses and we have an amazing office of Small Business and last time on the node to movneed tomove quickly and deli. I wanted to understand what happened between last time and this time, what progress was made on these set of proposals other than sending it to people and getting responses saying thank you so much for coming up with it. And where are we with the office of the thresher and op oewd to e to our commission to talk about feasibility on making these things happen. Thank you, commissioner. Let me address the easier part of this, which is i do know our memo ha a had an impact as i mentioned earlier. The Mayors Office told me directly. But with that being said, i completely support where youre coming from. We have to do better. Where were at right now is not satisfactory and, honestly, i thought that i made a request per your suggestion that we bring in a couple of folks for this meeting so they could present as to the feasibility of some of the ideas, some of the names that were discussed, ted eagan from the controller and jorge sineros. I did not get any followup. Director, could you help us to understand did we get an invitation out to them and what was the why are we not speaking to anybody today. The Department Heads that i have determined that are relevant to the memo have received the memo, but was not able to have a discussion, enough with them in regard to the mel mo memo to schedule the. Many of the Department Heads need more than a weeks time to be able to get into their schedule. So i appreciate your disappointment and your urgency. I think, also, a challenge for both dominica and i, theres a lot of conceding effort that is being not target th targetedt directed at us. And for us to be wor working ond tracking. It is to dominica is i to set up a process, one, to be tracking what efforts are being done, such as the shared spaces concept, that those are ideas that generate may not necessarily be specifically listed but those concepts are initiated from the type of action that you have asked the city to take in regard to that memo. So for today, what i would like is i node to interject. You mentioned you determined the Department Heads that were responsible. Which Department Heads are these . The tax and Treasurers Office, the economic and Workforce Development and could be the Assessors Office in some cases, the department of planning. Not just planning bug as we get into the concept of shared spaces, that public works is involved. And so those are the key ones to start off with. Did we get an invitation out to them . No, we did not. Lets try to correct that for the next meeting. Just to close my point, if im out on a limb, if this isnt what we want to do, i want to make sure that if im pushing for something, i want to make sure this is what the Commission Wants and what the office of Small Business thinks is the best usage of this bodys time. I want to make sure if im the only one that wants to push for this, i dont want to be the only one. If this is where we want to move, let move in this direction. But i want to confirm that people want to take time to do this. I support you. I unequivocally support you, commissioner ukutio and i feel strongly that we need to follow umand that one of the ways to build consensus is to make sure that our ideas as presented are feasible and we make forward process and its urgen urgent be of the crisis and terro directom sorry to put you on the spot. That wasnt my intention. We have to make forward progress and have to walk and chew gum at the same tomb. Time. If there are any commission thats feel this is not a good use of our time, to hear from these Department Heads about that memo, please, you know, now would be a good time to let us know because i agree with commissioner that we should have some consensus how to move forward, but speaking as the president , i think that it is a wise use of our time to make sure that we follow up on this. And commissioners, i do have a question for you, because will work to schedule them as soon as we can part of our challenge is that we dont have set meeting times, so were fo goino need to work on that. And in my communication, i need to also understand, are you going to need to in my communication to them, i can community katcommunitycommunitcg about and will you need the authority and the licensing permitting in each of the jurisdictions and how do they relate and all of that takes time to prepare, as well. What i would like today is to look at the memo, to look at the list and for you to prioritize and we know evacuee talked abo t the Planning Department and tax is Treasurers Office and if were talking about data, do we want to bring in the tax and treasurer, chief economist and oewd at the same time to have the conversation . Understood. Well narrow the scope. I dont want to bur burden the office with creating an expansive list for osb to do and i think we can probably manage asking questions that are jer ningermane to our interests and most are top level. But commissioner dooley has been patiently waiting and has asked to speak. Lets make the room for commissioner dooley. I wanted to chime in that we have been working at north beach for six weeks on the shared spaces project and weve been working with supervisor peskins office and i will have to say that its slowgoing. Theres a lot of discussion in your neighborhood of who wants the shared spaces, who doesnt and its pretty complex and it seems to change everyday. Right now, we have settled on what well do forward, which is starting small and just with closing the Parking Spaces and see how that goes and we may expandeexpand on allowing streeo close. We have our sign saying no parking. We have barriers up and i just want to urge all of the neighborhood associations that might be listening to this that you should just go ahead, work with your supervisor, oneonone, and get this ready to go so when we are allowed to have things on the Parking Spaces or the streets, were ready to jump because otherwise, youre looking at four to six weeks before youll actually be able to get everything in place. Commissioner dooley, i could not agree more. In my conversations with cd may and at the meeting i attended and other merchants and Business Owners, what im learning is that in order for shared spaces to be successfully executed, the needs vary from block to block and that were not going to have a onesizefitsall solution. I know there are people in the city at large that are very upset about the progress that would like to snap their fingers and make it all happen overnight, but theres a lot of people that are impacted and affected bi by the changes. We have to move quickly, but there has to be a way to have input about what the Community Looks like. I was talking to a west portal merchant and, obviously, you cant shut down the street on west portal because muni runs through it and that particular community is very hilly and fairly spaced out and many of the people that shop there are fairly distant so there needs to be a provision for parking. As you know, its challenging. So thank you for that comment. I agree wholeheartedly and we have to be thoughtful in what we support and make sure theres good feedback for everyone. Commissioner doole earthquakes. Ey. I just wanted to share that i dont know, what it be helpful to go through this like, for me, i guess, could you use my help to go through this and kind of, like, put status updates and who need t need to talk to for h one. I shared with supervisor fewer, she had a great meeting for all of the merchants associations and i got a little bit of a time to share that we did put together this memo. She included it into everybody in d1 and highlighted that we had this. And so, i mean, i kind of think, would it be helpful to carve out serve things to able to have those conversations oneonone with the supervisors . Because i cant imagine she would able to, like, go through all 42 items and they dont all fall under her purview kind of thing. But i would be happy to do that in the districtsvs i have relationships with. I know the Recovery Task force are work on certain things, like the city should purchase ppe in bulk and ive had conversations where i know just because of that conversation, that certain things are being worked on. Would it be helpful for me to and for all of us to able to collectively look at this document and see where there has been movement from our knowledge and see where we can kind of, like, go further with those things . Because i do think i can see its hard to digest all 42 points for each person. Yeah, so to that point, the short answer is yes. The long answer is that i think director dikendrizie wanted to establish, from your comments, she wanted to establish some sort of triage on how to move forward. Is that right . Or set a prioritization of what you want to begin to work on or get reports back on. So as for an example, under general support and if i need to bring up the document, let me know, but booklet 3 says create a onestop shop specifically for Small Business support and representatives for all agencies planning dpw fire may process permits, fees and applications. There should be a fast lane. So the city is developing a onestop permit center. Prepandemic, it was slated to open in the fall of this year and i think this have been minor delays but the person, of course, who is staffed with getting the permit center open is melissa whitehouse, who is ahead of the Recovery Task force. So that question, i mean, so that, it does involve me reaching out to both melissa whitwhitehouse to see who can present and whats the timeline and will that be extended out to a degree that the commission thinks Something Else needs to be in place prior to the opening of the Onestop Center and then, also, have the discussion with each of those agencies that have been identified as to, are there internal discussions amongst agencies about what theyre doing for any Small Business needs, to sort of expedite those permits and processes. So thats why im saying, it would be helpful for me to begin to get the list of priorities of what you want to have the entities present to you, in terms of what the priorities of these items . First, in terms of scheduled meetings, i would propose we get back on our normal, regular schedule for meetings. The next one, i think, would be june 8th. And so, you had mentioned earlier, having some uncertainty when the next meeting was, was the complicated factor. And my recommendation is, we get back to that second and fourth monday. My amendment to that would be able thwhile the shelterininin place, we hold that at 1 00 p. M. Announcement that order is not longer in effect. Sorry. One the shelterinplace order is no longer in effect and we can go back to meeting in person, we can revert to 5 30, unless we dont have a quorum, in which case well have to engineer something so that it works and we have a quorum. But we do kne knee need to estad it will help you and me in terms of planning. Does that sound right to you, reggie that . Yes. Regina . Yes in. In terms of establishing priorities here, what i think how would you propose that we proceed in a way thats helpful to you and how can the commission help facilitate your understanding of what the commissions priorities are . How would you like to proceed at this moment . I would like to hear because ive heard outside of the meeting, priorities of different commissioners. And what will be helpful for me is for the commission today, take a look at this list and it doesnt need to be done by vote but through discussion, communicate to me what areas you want to start addressing first. I open it up to any commissioner that wants to comment. And if i need to bring the document up on the shared screen just for a quick review, im happy to do that, but i sent it to you earlier today. You have particular insights into what is most feasible and least feasible, understanding all of dynamics of city hall and i dont know that i have, like, a preference level of one of these qualities over the other, but i think for me, its what is the best use of our time and gunpowder to fight for and so im comfortable let you make the decision about of these 42 things, what are the 23 that have the most likelihood to being done if were coordinated and organized enough and which enforcement agencies touch that issue and inviting each agency head to come so that we can talk about whether or not thats feasible. That would be something i would be comfortable with. Because that feasibility question is the most important for me. You know, manny, i agree and disagree, in part. I agree that we need to give staff some agency but i think were but give them a starting point. Theres 42 points here and i think the director is asking for some guidance. And so what i think is helpful here is if there is something on these 42 points that youre, like, man, the people i talk to, this is something i hear a lot about and this would be really helpful, this stands out to me, let not worry about plausibility just let but what are the concerns of the community that were representing. And the other thing i would add to that is, i know all of us are regularly talking with everybody out in the community and these things will change over time, right . And so, you know, i wouldnt foreclose the commissions ability to communicate, what the community is expressing and just turn that over to staff who doesnt have the same influence as we do. And so, commissioner adams just noticed that he has to jump to another work meeting and ill turn it over to you for a minute or two. If theres anything that jumps out to you, commissioner adams, as high priority. Im hearing a lot from people in the community. A lot of this has to do with Planning Issues and having to do with having stuff done when we open and to be successful. So mostly in the landuse category, then . Yes, and a lot of restaurateurs, that. Were all hearing about it from all of the restaurant associations. Great. I wanted to make sure we got your input. If you have any further input, communicate to the director. Certainly. So that regina can be advised. And is there any other commissioners. Commissioner dooley, i think. Go ahead. Isyoure muted. The most important part of the 42 items is just strictly about helping Small Businesses open. Im sorry. I didnt understand you. I think your finger was over the microphone. To me, the most important part is the reopening and helping the Small Business corridors. And if i could just response to your response to my response. I would say that the order of priority would be putting money into Small Business owners pocket, so the Funding Sources would have an immediate effect to help Small Businesses and i think the retrofit should be easy win and so, thats something that i think should definitely be pushed. And i dont think we should i think the hgso reshaping would be a high priority because its, again, something to put money into pockets of Small Business owners or stopping money from being taken out. And the land use and fee mitigation. I think the communications, the general support and the data pieces, those are all helpful, but i get the sense, at least the reopening with the communications in general support, a lot of that its stuff thats already happening or stuff, in my mind, not putting stuff in Small Business owners pockets or the neglect t flexibility to do what they need to do to survive. I would focus on those things first. And then data is so important and its important to do our work. If i had to prioritize this, the data would probably come toward the end after putting money in Small Business owners pocket and maintaining their business to stay open and preventing things like retrofits and hgso for making it harder for Small Businesses over the next six to nine months. Any other commissioner that wish i dont want to talk over anybody. In my conversations with the community about the land use stuff, getting flexibility to do whatever they need to do to survive, i think the fee mitigation issue is important, but i think to commissioner huey earlier, this is not a big help. So in terms of priority and, you know, supervisor mars office has indicated theyre working on stuff on fee mitigation and i dont know i think we should apply our efforts where its actually going to make a material difference and not only things that are already slotted to happen. I think i know i said forget about plausibility but im overlay plausibility. Of course, we would all love more money from the city. I have some question marks about the plausibility of getting any meaningful amount of money out of the city. So i have questions about whether that is sna something to prioritize and as much as i would like to have it, im not sure that is on my short list i i think the onestop shop would be tremendously helpful to businesses. Acso is something that drives all Business Owners birzark and it goes to the general fund. We need to measure were at and where were going. And so im actually fairly agnostic on that. It talks about 463 properties and i can picture that this would be really big and important and critical for those people affected by it, but it doesnt outside of the commission, its not something anybody tries to grab my attention about. Its possible i could have a blind spot there. I thought it was interesting that you highlighted that. And you know, so ok. inaudible . You were surprised about this and i didnt hear you. Well, im surprised that you highlighted it. Its not something i hear about outside of the commission. Its a big concern by the people affected by it. But for the community as a whole. But im not opposed to prioritizing things that have a big impact on a small number of people. Its just how you chart out that difference between degree of need versus spread of impact, the number of people impacted. And so, im open on that one, i guess i would say. And there is one thing not on this list, which should probably be on oureist. eour internal communications wh the community would be improved upon and if they were ie improvd upon, we might be able to answer these questions authoritatively and quickly. And thats just an internal infrastructure thing that we have to focus on. And so, plugging that all together, here is what i have, regina, as a shortorder list. This is not in or. Order. This is items there is a consensus about. One is the onestop shop and two is reopening support and three is reshaping hcs sorry, soft story, four is land use, five is acso and six is data collection. And among that list, i wouldnt prioritize soft story. I would put it toward the bottom. And acso is complex with multiple parties involved and not something well be able to line up by the next meeting. I would put that in the longerterm projects because i think we have to have some communications with the Labor Community and it would be nice, i think, to get pat mulligan in to talk about how hcso is implemented and thats something that 1 i think were would be helpful to the commission. Does ago agree that should be the nextstop shop . Why am i always in this corner down here, huh . For me, youre on the top in the middle, just so you know. [ laughter ] i think that helping the business corridors reopen because they need a lot of help in terms of the technicalities is we need to really, you know, make it clear right away when these streets reopen o. People dont know what the heck is going on. I agree. We need the business orders for reopening. Lets make this number two. When were talking about the reopening support, this is where it gets a little this is where i need the specificity because the oneshopstop want overlay with that and is it really information is it something that needs to be directed to dph and the City Attorney and how information, the timing of it and is it new ideas and how do those new ideas, you know, come into fruition . So some of that could be the onestop shop. If wear going to have a productive meeting, i do need a bit more specificity in terms of what you want to you intend to address with those departments so that i can make sure that theyre prepared. Yeah, so i think what might be helpful here and what commissioner tal dooley clarifi, we need to think about how to get the economy restarted and what is thesequence for doing so . I love the idea of a onestop shop but as soon as she made her comments, i realized thats probably not what is needed in this moment but getting people restarted. I think we should probably tailor our input from agencies to correspond with the output to the communities in the order thats most helpful to the communities. And so i think that the two things we should probably zoom in on is helping businesses reopen and helping businesses when necessary pivot to a different use. Can i interrupt you. I think from a logistical standpoint, so many of these things, whether we prioritize in one category or another, touch multiple enforcement agencies so if it is up to me, i would say, we invite particular individuals that represent these enforcement agencies and we send them our proposals and say, this is what we voted on is we wont talk about all of these things but we wanted to bring you in to see what from our list youre responsible for and how do we help with them . We let them come to us and tell us what they can do and cant do versus trying to parse it out by solution, because if were doing it by solution, i mean, some of these solutions are all of the enforcement agencies and, obviously, we dont want to bring in dpw and say its not my problem, its planning. But we bring in dpw. We provide the proposals we sent out and we send that to them as prep documents, understanding that all of this is not possible, can you come to the Small Business profession and talk about how to man make movements. That makes things easier and so, let me repeat back to you what you just said and turn it into, maybe, like a process staff can follow, and tell me if this matches up with what you said. So for each of proposals, theres going to be an agency or agencies that would be in charge of implementation and so for eachch these proposals, we identify those agency or agencies and then, we invite those agencies and we then create a new list for each agency and agencies with just the proposals on this list that affect them poin and we ask theo review it and come to the commission and simply share their thoughts about these proposals. Thats it. Thats it. And to answer your question, director, i dont think we should i think its an unfair burden to put on you to then try to press every commissioner with all of the inner workings of every department. It should come out wit the question heads and if theres something we dont know, well ask them and to ease this on you and feel free to disagree, but i abs therunderstand there are soy things going on we are not talking about right now. I want to make sure the expectations are reasonable that we are not asking you to make sure every commissioner understands exactly how each Department Works completely with the Department Head. Generally, i dont even think thats necessary. I dont need to know how everything works to know that i need one little thing and if they can explain why one little thing works or doesnt work, im good. I dont need to have an ensigh e of how it puts together. Thats the role of the Department Head to understand. Does that work for all of the of the commissioners . Yes. Any other commissioners on the call . Commissioner adams left and azunis left. And who am i missing . Artiz, did he have to leave, as well . Hes still here. William, does that process work for you . Yeah, thats good. Who am i missing . Thats everybody. Can i just mention that we still, for the next meeting, we knee tneed to be working on somg that is guidelines for reopening that can se sent to the business groups in these areas . Its very confusing what the reopening is going to be and it does involve many different departments. Is wno one understands whats gg on. Mine, the reasothe reason we goe is because i spent the last six weeks on the phone with supervisor peskins office. Not everyone has that kind of access. I would like it to get to the point where we could have a fly theyrflyer to be given to busis about saying how to prepare for reopening. Because they just its so scattered right now and no one knows what to do. So i think thats important to get some document out there that people could understand. Are you imagining that the commission would prepare this document or that we would direct oewd to direct this document . Im trying to figure that out in. Whoever is willing to do that. It hasnt happened yet. We have to give Small Businesses some way to find it and maybe that could be on our website. That sounds like oewd. Director, i saw you nodding your head and what are your thoughts here . And i think this is part of dealing with the recovery and rebuilding from a big crisis like this, is that while were trying to provide businesses with the opportunity, as soon as dph has said that we can take these next steps, you know, were not necessarily fully prepared with the full package, so to speak. And so im nodding my head and reluck at that poinandreluctante commission take the steps of the guidelines because that results on us, our office, and our office has been making those requests to oewd. So well forward in that continued urgency to oewd. I know they feel very much the same way, as well, but they have the capacity to be able to develop and create the marketing materials to get out to the businesses. Ok, so well continue to grind on them. What do you think about the idea of just simply determining for each of the 42 proposals, which agency is affected and then inviting the agencies to come in and speak as their schedule permits and as we can coordinate with their office as expeditiously as possible . Does that work for you, regina . Yes, it does work. It does work, and many of the things are many of the different sections, certain departments can speak to most of those categories. And so, yes, i will take that direction and just begin to work with each agency on scheduling them. Can i ask that we draft a document that identifies which agencies are associated with which requests and let the group that worked on drafting this memo just review that prior to making the invitations . Yes. Just to make sure that were not leaving anybody out and were all on the same page. Degree. Yes. And with that group, i would like to have a further discussion around the hcso because theres understanding whats the goal and i mean, what do you want to first get at and look at . Talk about hcso and come up with a plan of attack and lets try to do that. This is not this doesnt seem to be thatbl complicated. I feel by the time we figure that out didnt send out the notices, its too late to get them to come to the next meeting. I agree, it would be better to have another meeting about in, but i think in in order for us to do this expeditiously, i think we just invite the Department Heads and we already know the five of them, for the most part. Can they give you an idea of what they can and cannot do . I think its always nice to be able to ask questions. Certainly, it is helpful if they want to provide some commentary in advance so that they can ask for sophisticated questions. But i would strongly first of all, its helpful to ask questions and second, to commissioner ukutio, i think its important we build relationships with this body and these agency heads because our community is in so much crisis and because we are going to have to work closely with these folks. I think its important we get to a place where we are having at least some kind of relationship and some kind of communication and were not just some ether theres faces associated with it. And so, i dont mind getting a written response but in addition to meeting with us in person. But i would want them to meet with us in person or virtually. Anybody else . Director, do you feel you have enough to move forward . Any other questions or comments you want to add . No, i have enough to move forward. Good. Do we have any Public Comment on item number whatever item number were over. I think were on number three. No one is on the Public Comment line. Seeing no comment, Public Comment is closed. Is there any further discussion . No, theres not. Next item, please. Item 4, update on the city budget and Budget Adjustments required of the office of Small Business, fiscal year 2021 and fiscal year 2122, discussion item, the presenter is regina, director of the office of Small Business. Im going to share attempt at sharing a slide. Can you see this . At this point, based on the budget situation, we can anticipate that there wont be much variance, in terms of the proposed budget, except for dealing with the budget cuts. So right now, the first slide that you see here is this is the projected deficit of the entire. Taking a look at the lowend was 195 million to then the highend at 224 and now, were taking a look at heading up close to looking at im sorry, those numbers dont look accurate and this is what was provided by the budget office. But were looking at close to over 700 million and could be rising close to a billion. So this is the office of Small Business budget and right now, without budget cuts, so the personnel, we have this is the cost for the personnel of staffing the office of Small Business and this budget does include this line item does include the one staff that was added last year for the Legacy Business Program or in this budget cycle and that position carried forward into the 2021. But we have not hired for that person. So next is the overhead, our operational expenses are just over 93,000 and the Legacy Business Program is at a steady budget of one millio 1,024,000 s could go down if we have a good number of businesses closing due to the delay and the extension of the Business Registration filing, that we dont yet have the n o number of businesses tht will be renewing their Business Registration. And so the total budget that were projecting is at 2,522,850. How much of that milliondollars legacy business is grants . That one million is grants. Its all grants . Yes. And moving into 2021, most of that million will be absorbed by the rent stabilization grant. So weve taken from the legacy Business Fund to sustain the rent stabilization. Is that correct . No, i apologize, you meant rent stabilization under the legacy program. Correct. We have a standing one Million Dollars committed to the Legacy Business Preservation Fund and, so, the Preservation Fund in the Preservation Fund, the rent Stabilization Fund and the Business Assistance grant. Side question, how many legacy businesses have announced theyre closing in the wake of covid19 . To date, rick has been very good about being in touch with them. We have had a couple of legacy businesses close and that was pre covid and none have made official announcements. Thank you. Im sorry, i think there was a comment. This is commissioner man inning y. Ny. This is, apples, perhaps withind question but ill ask anyway. The Controllers Office is asking for proposed cuts, but our office is on the frontlines trying to save Small Businesses from extinction and so, are there any special dispensations for departments that are providing a very Crucial Service . Speaking specifically about the office of Small Business and the legacy Business Fund and how are you hearing about businesses about these cuts and everyone has to be doing cuts is no one gets exemptions. Well, the general approach. The plan a is what the commission and the department determine is the best budget to execute the roles responsibilities of the department. And as it fits into this particular current time. And a further slide, i will be going over the recommendations and guidance around dealing with the budget cuts. And doing the best advocacy for that budget that both that the commission determines is needed for the department to execute its work. So the commission can help advocate for a budget that we feel will allow the department to succeed in its goals, right . That is a role that the commission can play to help you . Yes. And the commission is to approve the budget so that is one of your roles and responsibilities. The mayors budget directive is to do a 10 reduction. The third line is what that additional 5 contingency would be and then, looking at year two, to a 15 reduction is. , the dollar amount. Theres covid operating and guidelines and vulnerable populations and provide Equitable Services for underserved population. Our servicwe dont have contracy departments do with nonproject organizations to help execute their programs and reduction of personnel costs, streamlining operations and consolidation and new revenue options. This will be something i work with the finance department and ill be working with the Commission President and Vice President and, then, so you will have that and our next meeting is june 8th meeting. And then, the mayors budget office, its under review during june and july. And the board of supervisors is under review in august and then the budget is adopted. And so, as noted here, the First Commission in june, ill present the budget and items that i wil. Items that i will be taking into consideration is, yes, this is a bit of an unknown, but pre covid, our Client Services were up 20 over the Previous Year and the number of staff positions that the offices had in relationship to Client Services has not increased since 2008. Supervisors offices and the business, in general. So thats the end of my budget presentation for now. So happy to take questions. Commissioner dool earthquakes. Ey. I would say our Small Businesses and if were also dealing with a priority from the mayor and the board of supervisors, focusing on the equity lense, thats a vulnerable population. So our office is directly dellindealing with vulnerable populations. Our Client Services particularly were dealing with pre covidcoh populations and so we are providing those direct services if we feel like were not being heard, or that its going a different direction, then, think, we regroup and talk about whether, as a commission, we want to take some sort of more normaformal action. But i think, probably, Informal Communications is probably more helpful right now at this point in time. And we all have Extensive Networks and friends in both of the relevant bodies, so i think we should just make sure that everybody understands that osb has taken on a lot more work and, you know, a Budget Reduction should be off the table and we should strongly consider at least some sort of modest increase to the budget to better address this moment and i think the commissions works speaks for itself in terms of what osb staff has been facilitating and i think that is another component here. So, those are my observations. I open it up to anybody that feels differently or would like to at or subtract from what ive just said. Seeing none, director, are you otherwise done with your presentation . I am done with my presentation. Ok. So we will open it up to Public Comment. Is there any other Public Comment on item number, whatever number were on now, 4. Laughter [ laughter ] no one is on the line. Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. Next item, please. Item 5, directors report on the office of Small Business and Small Business programs, policies and announcements regards activities. Discussion item. Commissioners, i am sharing with you my directors report. So our covid updates, the Small Business councillors to date have serviced 2,230 businesses and that was by close of business day on friday and thats up 210 from my last report to you at the last commission meeting. Weve sent out to date a total of 28 informational eblasts to Small Businesses. In addition, our office has worked with we worked with ssf and our legacy businesses to initiate the developing of b to b, ppe purchasing list and knowing that there is interest and the city is looking at whether it can help support Small Businesses in procuring ppe, that being explored, and so is a ways away and knowing that businesses had to access ppe, we have put together resource list and it is now up on the sf gov website under the covid section and that link is there. So everything from hand sanitizer, mansio masks, facials for cash registers and things of that sort. And really want to express our appreciation to the number of local businesses that are providing this information and want to be a part of it and support our local businesses. , our Small Businesses. And did a quick analysis, so i dont have a detailed analysis, but the number of businesses that have closed since 3 16 to 5 21 is 825 and that i have been able to pull up on the sf data website and i did not have time to be able to take a look at what are the number of food related businesses, regular retail and to be able to categorize them, but that is being worked on and well provide that to you. And it is a little bit less than the same period last year and i anticipate that part of that is because generally, in march, is when businesses have to file for their licenses renewals and if a business has not identified it, then when they receive the notice for their license renewal, they end up closing their business. But, i think we should anticipate operator were sorry, your conference is ending now. Please hang up. We can anticipate to see i mean, anticipate that these numbers will rise over the next month. And next, our office is working in support with oewd on efforts to develop the guidelines for the returntowork and so, our office is focusing on personal services. As the commissioner mentioned, in that criteria, also are dentists, po podiat rits and wee working on chiropractors, massager therapists, day spas, pet groomers. They urged the governor to waive the finds for Small Businesses and this has been something that our office has been engaged with and working with the department of the environment and making these changes, but the fines are still being levied on our Small Businesses and so, really do want to appreciate supervisor hainey for doing the resolution. Its state, not local, but we did have the cosponsors for supervisor walton and safaye and it passed last week. And then, there are two pieces of legislation actually, a third, but i did not include, but today, we received a referral on a motion ordering this will be for the ballot and so a referral for the commission to weigh in on this ballot measure. And thats proposed for the ballot by the board of supervisors. Theyre dealing with the grocers satisfactiogross receipts and t. Supervisor peskin, the reduced fee and approval process, that was referred to us, but that is not making any movement right now since the stayinplace has been in place. And then also supervisor peskin did introduce the Third Party Delivery at seacap, separate from the Emergency Declaration after the Emergency Declaration is over and hes proposing legislation and that, then, would carry on. Afterwards. If you are not aware, supervisor weiner introduced a bill, sb 39n echo from me . Not right now. The bill deals with commercial tendencies and this actually is reflective of a very specific request that the commission had in its letter to the mayor to advocate at the federal level to release Small Business owners about the standing lease obligations, if they permanently closed due to covid. There are other requirements there and i will make sure you get a copy of it. But thats in the bill, definitely, addressing. And i am now having to work on planning how how this office will operate once the stayinorder place is lifted or allowing workers, city hall will open back up. And with the understanding that the social distancing requirements are going to be applied to office space and so, how will the office function and provide its counseling, knowing that not all staff can return to the office and work. And what kind of technology will we need to have to continue to conduct our counseling while complying with the social distancing and hopefully not interfering with our ability to service the need of the Small Business. Businesses. And, then, dealing with contingency plan for in we have to have reduced hours of operation. So that concludes my report for now and im happy to take any questionses have. Any questions . Seeing none, any Public Comment on the directors report. Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. Next item, please. Commissioners report. Reporting on making announcements that are of interest to the Small Business community and discussion items. Commissioner ortiz. I just wanted to defensive aa shoutout, i have had help from several businesses that help med with the Mission Food Bank and even though theyre on super hard times, their commitment to community is unwavering and that is what Small Business is and that is why its is crucial toro our community. If you allow me to read off the businesses. Evan and gill, john and gill clark from foreign cinema, eric from grocery harbour and jeff and edward goman pair operator inaudible . I appreciate all of your help and all of the businesses i just mentioned. You help the community. So thank you. Thank you, commissioner. Just to add on to that. As a percentage of next, i dont know anybody thats contributed more than Small Business. You know, its one thing. They still make a contribution, to me thats a lot more meanin meaningful and its exactly what makes Small Business so critical to our city, is because that commitment to community and i really appreciate you raising up those people that make those contributions and making sure that those contributions are publically noted. So thank you. Commissioner. Thank you, this is commissioner manny and working on a lot of things and theres one i want to bring up here, which is, we are in the midst we have bid out to a few vendors to come back to illuminate the corridor and well be engaging in a Fundraising Campaign and i talked to my counsel and theyre offering us 1500 to help with the project and we will need to raise more money in order to fund it. So were hoping to actually get the corridor illuminated and it will be an exciting feature and bringing featur people to the va corridor and this is a stretch of Small Businesses in america. They were generous in giving me time to speak at the end of the meeting and i updated cdma on the Recovery Task force and got a delightful bit of feedback from daniel in north beach. Im afraid i dont know his last name because zoom didnt say it. Its mackarini. There it is. He had issues with formula retail and then he said that commissionercommissioner dooleys ally for many years and he is one of my favourite people and im so honoured to serve with her. And that she is a firecracker that tells it like it is. I just wanted to convey your name was brought up and we had a discussion and i relayed, you knoandthis will take voter actio change it and lets not get too districdistractedded about our recommendation t. This wont be something anyone can make big changes to. And i have had nonstop communications with all of the Business Associations almost everyday. I wanted to move forward on the memo and it was a bit of a distraction. It was very thoughtful and i begged him for the Public Comment and we got a Public Comment in morning and ive read it but i havent read it in detail. Im hoping to reach out to each of those Business Owners and just let them know that we read it and we did our best to represent their views. I think theres another e rtf ed theres Something Else. I am having some background conversations about how to move forward on hcso and its such an incredibly challenging topic to engage in, thoughtfully an, witi think the recent revelation theres 140 million in a fund that hasnt benefited workers or Small Businesses is an important revelation. please stand by