Transcripts For SFGTV BOS Government Audits And Oversight Committee 20240712

June 18, 2020. Government audit and oversight committee. Sfgovtv. Good morning. The meeting will come to order. Welcome to the thursday, june 18th meeting of the government audit and oversight committee. Thank you to this committees clerk, john carol and thank you to sfgovtv for staffing this remote meeting. Mr. Clerk, do you have any announcements . In order to protect Board Members during the Health Emergency the board of supervisors legislative chamber and Committee Room are closed. This is taken pursuant to various local, state and federal orders and directives. Committee members attend through video and participate to the same extent as if physically present. While the comments will be available for each item. Cable 26 and sfgovtv are streaming the call in number across the screen. Comments and opportunities to speak are available at 415 6550001. Once connected and prompted to the access code which is 145 4314683. Then press pound and press pound a second time to be connected to the meeting. When connected you will hear the discussions. You will be muted and in a listening mode. When your item of interest comes up, dial star three to be added to the speaker line. Call from a quiet location, speak clearly and slowly and turndown your television, radio or streaming device. Everyone must account for time delays between the live meeting and the streaming coverage. You may submit Public Comment in the following ways. Email me, the clerk of the government audit and oversight committee. Joh nca rroll at sfgov. Org. You will be included in the legislative file as part of the matter. Your written comments may be sept bsent by u. S. Post office. Items acted upon today will apbe on the june 30, 2020 agenda unless otherwise stated. Please call items, one, two, three, four. 1 through 4 ordinance fixing compensation for persons employed by the city and county whose compensation is subject to charter a8. 409 in job codes not represented by an employee organization. The First Amendment memorandum of understanding between the city and county and teamsters 856 to provide appropriate differential over subordinate classifications and onetime payment to employees in classification 2496. Imaging supervisor. First p the First Amendment to the 20192022 memorandum of understanding to provide onetime payment to include a firearms instructor premium and ordinance for the memorandum of understanding between the city and county. Miscellaneous to update night shift differential and include onetime payment to employees in specified classifications. Members of the public wishing to comment on these items call the public number and enter the access code 145 4314683. Press pound twice to connect and press star followed by 3 to speak. Mr. Chair, i am in receipt of a memo requesting these four be considered as Committee Reports for consideration by the board of supervisors early on the jun. Mr. Chair. Than thank you, mr. Clerk. Welcome carol from the department of Human Resources to present these items. Thank you, mr. Chair, members of the committee. These four items in front of you, one of them is a byproduct of 2019 negotiations that was put into a separate process, that being the firearms premium agreed upon between the supervising probation officers of the city. This is a premium paid while performing the duties of firearms instructor which happens periodically in that group. There are two items. Teamsters item and the Service Employees International Union local 1001 item that are byproducts every classification of the radiology series. That provides services at zuckerberg General Hospital and elsewhere. The study was i was implemente. We have two clerical amendments to adjust the rate of the supervisor of the classifications to deal with an item left out which is the swing and night shift differentials for these classifications. The unrepresented ordinance. No new additional spending in the ordinance. I am happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you. Than thank you for all your k on these m. O. U. S. Before we go to Public Comment, colleagues any questions or comments . Seeing none, why dont we go to Public Comment on these items. Operations is checking to see if there are callers in the queue. Please let us know if they are ready press star and three to be added t to the queue. Wait until you are prompted to begin at the beep. On cable 26 or sfgovtv call in by the instructions on the screen by dialing 415 6550001. Enter 145 4314683pound twice and star three to be added to the queue. Do we have any callers . We do not have any callers in the queue for these items. Thank you, operations. Thank you, mr. Clerk. Hearing no callers on Public Comment is now closed. I would like to move to recommend these items as Committee Report for the june 23rd meeting of the board of supervisors. Mr. Clerk please call the roll. The motion that these be forwarded as Committee Reports vice chair peskin. Aye. Haney. Aye. Chair mar. Aye. There are three ayes. Thank you. Thank you very much. Mr. Clerk please call items 5 and 6 together. Two resolution authorizing the mayor to cast assessment ballots in the affirmative to the proposed renewal and expansion of property and business improvements district to be named the Castro Community benefit district with respect to certain parcels of Real Property owned by the city subject to assessment in the district. Members of the public call 415 6550001. Enter access code 145 4314683. Press pound twice to connect to the meeting. Then the star key followed by 3 to enter the queue to speak. These are on the agenda as Committee Reports. Welcome chris from the office of economic and Work Force Development to present. Good morning. Thank you for hearing these items today. I am the Senior Program manager. Today i am here presenting two resolutions authorizing the mayor to cast a ballot for the City Property based district Castro Community benefit district and the same for the Fishermans Wharf cbd. On may 29th the department of elections mailed ballots to Property Owners in the cbds. Initially, on may 29 one ballot was sent for the Fishermans Wharf and six to the city of county for the castro cbd. Within the past 36 hours we received information that was confirmed two parcels in the castro have been purchased and are owned by the city and county of San Francisco. We recommend including these in the resolutions. First would be parcel 3501006, for 1,008. 08. 116 of the budget at 1939 market. 3501007. 1,039. 55. That is. 127 of the cbd budget. The new total for the city owned parcels in the cbd 74,211. 99 or 9. 051 of the total cbd budget. This proposed amendment would have on page 2 line 11 for item 5 the number 6 become 8. The table page 3 line one add two row one for each parcel. With the corresponding information and the total online 16 for item 5 should be updated to 74,211. 99. Percentage should be updated to 9. 051 . For the Fisherman Wharf cbd the one parcel is 5,868. 67,. 848 of the total assessment budget. If the board passes these the city can vote in both elections. We both elections. We will answer questions from the committee. Thank you very much. Colleagues questions or comments . A clarifying clerical question. I may have missed it you are can requesting to five and six to add parcels. No, just agenda item 5. I wanted to at that i did receive a request from supervisor mandelman whose district includes cass pro benefit district Castro District that we move the amendment that was verbally presented today. Mr. Clerk maybe we could go to Public Comment. Any callers on the line . Mr. Chair, operations will check for callers in the queue. For those connected to the meeting please press star and three to be added to the queue to speak. If you are on hold continue to wait until you are prompted to begin at the beep. If you are watching on 26 or through sfgovtv, if you wish to speak please call in by following the instructions on your screen. 415 6550001 and enter 145 4314683. Press pound twice and star followed by three to enter the queue to speak. Any callers on this item . Yes, i have one caller in the queue. Thank you. You have two minutes. Caller the item on the reemployment ordinance. Right now we are on agenda items 5 and sixty the government oversight and audit to authorize the mayor to cast ballots in the affirmative for proposed cbd formations in districts in the castro and fishermens wharf. Are these items you are calling on . Caller i will pass for now in the queue. You are referring to item 8 that is coming up. Any other callers . Thank you very much. Thank you, operations. Hearing no further callers, Public Comment is now closed. I would like to move that we accept the amendment to item 5 that was verbally presented. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll. On the motion to amend offered by supervisor mar to add additional parcels to agenda item 5, peskin. Aye. Haney. Aye. Chair mar. Aye. There are three ayes. Thank you, mr. Clerk. I would like to move to recommend item 5 as amended and item 6 as Committee Reports for the june 23rd meeting of the board of supervisors. On this motion mr. Clerk please call the roll. On the motion offered by chair mar. Vice chair peskin. Aye. Haney. Aye. Chair mar. Aye. There are three ayes. Thank you. Mr. Clerk, please call item 7. Resolution urging the department of Public Health to work with the office of the chief medical examiner to conduct epidemiological post motemcovid19 testing and Contract Tracing of deceased San Francisco residents and urging the office to conduct surveillance swabbing of all decedentses to properly identify and certify deaths from the covid19 virus and monitor community spread. If you wish to call on this, please call the Public Comment number and enter 145 1314683. Press pound twice on to connect and star and three to speak. Thank you, mr. Clerk. Supervisor peskin, the floor is yours. Thank you, chair marand supervisor haney and thank you to doctor Susan Phillip and michelle rip be from the office of the chief medical examiner who are joining us in this virtual meeting. I want be to thank them for working with my office. I do have amendments to suggest. This was brought to me through my former colleague david chu who indicated this type of surveillance swabbing of deceased individuals under the corner of al lameadda county has been going on for some time early in the covid19 pandemic and i contacted the Coroners Office pathologist in that county and came up with this piece of legislation that is before us. I have some suggested changes but i would like to start by introducing duketor sues wa r comments. Thank you, supervisor peskin and mr. Chair and to the committee for the invitation. Yes, the purpose of this resolution is something that we feel is very important at the department of Public Health. The intent is to ensure we understand all of the epidemiology of people deceased in San Francisco related to covid19. This is important for a couple of reasons. First and foremost we want to make sure we can ensure Occupational Health and safety for people working to revive or care for an individual at the time of their death. We want to do Contact Tracing with household members, and we want to understand the epidemiology of covid19 in San Francisco n as well as we can for public response. We believe testing in this fashion is very useful. To that end, we in San Francisco have been doing that in collaboration between the department of Public Health and the office of chief medical examiner since early march. When we were having difficulty in securing our supplies we prioritized testing persons that were being evaluated at the office of the chief medical examiner for these very reasons. We have done that informally sincerly march and formalized that process by providing the testing kits since then. There are a broader range of entities that may come into contact with these descents. We are working on a health order to be sure we have a broad net to allow th the testing and understand the implications of the testing. I appreciate the thought behind the resolution and very much agree with the importance of it. Doctor, phillips, i know my former colleague katie tang on loan from the airport to the department of Public Health or the Emergency Operations center did suggest some changes last evening which i am happy to go through with you because of the compressed time. I have not had a time to get back to katie tang or to you about that. I am happy to go through the three suggested changes and get your thoughts. I think she suggested that on page 2 lines 9 through 17 be stricken. I might have some arguments as to why i would push back on that. I would love to hear your thoughts on that. The portion of lines 9 through 13 really says that we at dph do not will not about testing tools not approved by the food and drug administration. We strongly suggested that that laboratories including ours use testing for covid19 that has been authorized under an emergency use authorization by either the cdc or fda. In the early days there were a lot of players in the market for testing. We needed reliable information. There were important Public Health actions following out of testing. There are reputestable laboratories that have the ability under regulations to do their own validation of testing. Some of our academic partners have done that to good effect. It is not a hard and fast rule, but our general guideline is to mostly want to promote the tests that have been review by fda for the reasons stated. That would be for my suggestion for lines 9 to 13. For lines 14 to 17, should i read those or comment on them . As you like. I am sure before all three members of the committee as the medical offices have begun surveillance swabbing of the deceased individuals which is easy to administer. I lost it. It is a process to contribute to the states efforts. Suggest not to strike but acknowledge. We have done this in San Francisco working closely between the office of chief medical examiner and dph. San francisco could be added to the list as well. I now understand what katie was asking. The only question is that my understanding is the swabbing of deceased individuals that commenced in early march by San Francisco was not for all des see debts but ones with respiratory issues that could potentially be covid19 positive . That was according to the cdc guidance for testing which is not yet expanded to all deceased but it says if the office has reasonable to believe there was a respiratory condition prior to death or concern it might be. There is quite a bit of leeway there. It is based on the medical and expert judgment of the persons in the office of the chief medical examiner, correct. The only reason i am bringing that up is because and i am not a doctor as you well know. My understanding is that surveillance swabbing by definition would be everybody. For a random sample but not surveillance if you are only testing deceased who showed covid19 symptoms . Is that fair . That is correct. We started with a more focused effort to test deceased. Then with this health order in development and that we are working with stakeholders on we would move more toward the true surveillance effort of all people who die in San Francisco. I mean i think this is a minor issue. Given that and given my understanding about the ore abor offices where we are doing true surveillance swabbing as described to me, i would be inclined for accuracy to keep San Francisco off that list. I acknowledge and appreciate the fact we have been doing targeted deceased testing since early march. Yes, what i would say what we are proposed with this health order under development we go beyond what is done in many of the entities. I would need to look at each of them. It would go beyond the cases handled by the office of the chef medical examiner. We try to be more broad. That is getting at your intent to have a true surveillance citywide of all deceased. Page 3 lines 9 through 11. Page 3 lines 9 through 11, this was the ask to go back and do retrospective analysis and comparison of cases that may have occurred or really looking back to do in depth evaluation of people who may have died to see if there could have been covid19 in San Francisco prior to the first cases detected here on march 5th or announced on march 5th. What we suggested is that there is such a continued need for improvement in the way we do our ongoing Immediate Health response based on what we know, including increased testing we are planning moving forward of descents and following up. This is important to know from an overall understanding, but it will have limited impact on our policy or immediate action. What we are suggesting is could there be a clause that says as resources allow we will do the evaluation when we truly may have been seeing initial cases in San Francisco but not to devote a lot of limited Department Resources to doing that at the moment. I think there are two paragraphs here that are at issue. One is the last clause in paragraph that starts out Health Officials have warned. Getting rid of and i dont understand why we would want to i dont want to quibble in order to have reliable accurate data Public Officials and policymakers can utilize to manage this National Emergency and its local impacts. I am not sure why we want to take that out. That is hooked to the next paragraph. Depending upon sufficient resources. I would say this is a resolution urging. It is not an ordinance. In april of itself a statement of in april of itself it is the a policy. Short of an ordinance it is implicit in what we are saying. I would be reluctant to add those words. I understand your Human Resource constraints, and i understand relative to physical constraints, labs and lab testing, those are not issues. Certainly Human Resource constraints are an issue. I understand that and respect that. In so far as a resolution urging, i would not be inclined to take those two amendments respectfully. You can push back on me and the committee and we can hear from ms. Rippey. I understand. Thank you. I think i dont have a strong push back except to say that i am talking from a Public Health perspective, i dont know that having that information would drastically change what we want to do to protect the public now and moving forward. I think that the focus on really identifying and understanding the issues of the outcomes, infections, deaths are the areas that i want our teams to focus on moving forward. I agree with you this is Important Information to have. We are of the same mind of getting the information so we have a fuller picture of what is going on. Thank you, doctor. Ms. Rip be anything to add or subtract on behalf of the office of the chief medical examiner. The office of the chief medical examiner and the acting chief medical examiner completely support all of these efforts. We have been working closely with the department of Public Health and with their continued supplies and resources we will be able to enact this proposal as it is written. Thank you, ms. Rippey. Subject to Public Comment i would like to take the suggested delation on page 2 of lines 9 through 13 and then at line 15 change the word has to have, and then make those changes after Public Comment and send the items to the full board with memes if that with recommendation if that is the will of the committee. Thank you. Why dont we go to Public Comment. Mr. Clerk any callers on the line . We will check to see if there are callers. Please let us know if callers are ready for those that connected via phone press star and three to be added to speak. In the hold wait until you are prompted to begin at the beep. On cable channel 26 or streaming or through sfgovtv if you wish to speak call in by following instructions on your screen. 415 6550001. Enter 145 4314683. Press pound twice and star and three to speak. Do we have any speakers for agenda item 7 . Yes, i have one caller in the queue. You have two minutes. It appears the caller has hung up. No callers in the queue. Thank you, operations and mr. Hearing no further callers, Public Comment is now closed. Thank you, mr. Chairman. While we have the me office and doctor phillip on the line, i want to ask if they could comment on relative to the swabbing and surveillance that has been done whether there is any data on that that they can report to this committee. Supervisor, i do not have those data in front of me at the moment. I apologize for that. I will send those information and that data to your office and the committee through the clerk to share. Thank you, doctor. From the me office we have had three that were analyzed. Thank you. What was the test . How many tests were administered administered . I dont have the exact number. I can make sure that gets forwarded to you. Thank you, ms. Rippey. Supervisor peskin a motion . Yes, i would move as previously stated that on page 2 lines 9 through 13 be stricken and on page 2 at line 15 the word has be replaced with have and then with those items to the full board with positive recommendation. Mr. Clerk please call the roll. On the motion that the resolution be amended on page 2 and then recommended as amended to the board of supervisors, vice chair peskin. Aye. Haney. Aye. Chair mar. Aye. There are three ayes, mr. Chair. Thank you, mr. Clerk. Can you please call item number 8. Emergency ordinance temporary creating a right to reemployment for certain employees laid off due to the covid19 pandemic if the employer seeks to fill the same position previously held by the laidoff worker or substantially similar position as defined. Members of the public call the Public Comment number. Enter the access code, press pound twice to connect to the meeting. Then press star followed by three to enter the queue to speak. Once again, mr. Chair. I am in receipt from your memo asking this to be on the agenda as a Committee Report. The back to work emergency ordinance is before us today. As we grapple with the covid19 crisis there is a related crisis going. Over 100,000 in San Francisco filed for unemployment since the state of emergency, this, too, is now a state of emergency for laid off workers. The scope of Unemployment Crisis is greater than any since the Great Depression representing hundreds of thousands of livelihoods and families in economic uncertainty. This crisis is not unique to San Francisco. We are uniquely positioned to lead in addressing it. This is a union town. A city that has long held the rights of workers to fair treatment and terms of employment. That is a city unafraid to be bold and carry the torch for workers and new trails for Economic Justice and fairness. This ordinance is bold. We must be bold to address the Unemployment Crisis. This is novel because the circumstances we face are novel. This is urgent because this crisis is urgent. This is based on a clear simple idea. If you are laid off in an emergency if and when your job becomes available again it should be offered to you before a new applicant. Covid19 is a crisis for workers and businesses alike. The cover of the crisis should not be used to treat workers unfairly, replace long time and senior employees with younger or cheaper alternatives. We know most employers will bring back workers laid off before considering new applicants. This ordinance makes this a requirement for all covered employers. This is about fairness in doing what is right and not a new idea. The right to recall for laid off workers is in all collective Bargaining Agreements. What is new the conviction it be extended to unrepresented workers to weather the storm. We know this is right and just. We know as groundbreaking law it is important that we get the details right. It has taken time to bring the back to work ordinance forward to the committee. We have taken this time to work with stakeholders from the business and lane borcommunity labor communities to make this the best it can be. I will be proposed a number of amendments. Before that we want to offer some of the context this ordinance is being considered under. We will hear from two presenters today. First josh, the director of Workforce Development at eewd sharing updates. Katie, staff attorney for legal aid at work presenting on the impact unemployment has on individuals and families. The floor is yours. Thank you, chair mar, supervisors. Good morning. Direct torn of Workforce Development in the economic Work Force Development. Thank you for inviting me to share the information and some of the anecdotes and data that really speak to the crisis and elements of the unemployment situation in our community that you spoke to, supervisor. I am going to share a screen. This is data that i am going to present with respect to our offices receipt of war notices. These are notices that employers of particular size and scale depending on the federal or state requirement, typically 75 or less 75 or more employees at a Company Requires triggers a requirement during layoff to provide notices to the state as well as local jurisdictions. The mayor, president of the board of supervisors and the local Work Force Development board, which is our office. I am going to share this information so you can see what that means in realtime as we track this information. I know the ordinance the supervisor looks at the very first emergency order declared by may or breed february 25th. We will look at data after that date to share. My screen is shared with the committee here this morning. We have set up our tracker to february 25 through the latest date of war notices we process which is the weekending june 5th. We need a week to two weeks to input and update. This is the information current just about to about 12 days ago. From february 25 to june 5, we have received 352 war notices affecting 324 different businesses and the number of affected employees is 38,994. We are able to see some information. You can see the biggest wave of those notices was received the weekending march 30th. 15,309 employees affected by war notices that our office received that week. You can see we log our team worked hard to make sure we have identification of the impacted industries. In the largest sense and we just crossed more than half. It looks around accommodation and food Service Employees most impacted followed by arts and entertainment. That is a lot of the performance related work in the Industries Related to the entertainment that happens in the city and county. It gives you a sense what is happening on the groundout there as we shared with your office. We also keep informationtic to each employer. You will see in most instances the employer indicated these are believed to be temporary layoffs. 29,633 of the 38994 employees. We want to estimate closing on 80 of those employees are impacted on what is believed to be a temporary basis 4600 on permanent basis. For context as well, over the same time span in 2019 from february 25 of that particular date through june 5 of 2019, we only received 13 mos impacting 709 workers. A snapshot what we see with unemployment at our office. We had something we look at very much. We get monthly reports. We are just now starting to see the unemployment data from the state Employment Development department for San Francisco residents looking for work. This is a brief table here to give additional context. This is a chart that shows where we were in terms of unemployment a year ago. We were at 2. 1 . The way the state reports unemployment. It is a simple answer to a simple question. Are you looking for work . Last time 11,900 san franciscans said yes, i am actively looking for work. That dropped 1. 9 , 2. 3 . You will see for the year we averaged 2 unemployment. Sometimes a little more and sometimes a little less. That was san franciscans actively looking for work. March of this year we see an uptick to 3 . That means that we had in the two weeks following shelterinplace increase of 4,000 month on month from end of march compared to end of february. Then when you look at april this is the first of the data coming in during the real hard escalated impact of coronavirus of the safe guard we saw unemployment jump to 12. 6 . Just to give you a little context in terms of the nature of the impact. This graph visualizes what that means. 10 years ago during the economic recession, Great Recession that we spoke of, there was at that time a record high in unemployment in january 2010 Led Community advocates, policymakers, employers to adopt a mandatory local hiring ordinance for construction projects. That year unemployment was then record high of 10. 1 as of april we are at 12. 2 . A couple other data pointings. This gives you a sense of what is happening and data that speaks to the very real urgency workers face that supervisor mar presented to the committee. Unemployment claims we have new data we received from the state from the week we are talking about for purposes of the ordinance february 25th date. That was the date of emergency order. From the weekending february 29 to the weekending may 30th, the state received a total of 159,193 new Unemployment Insurance claims from san franciscans. By context the mayor spoke to the fact during the 2008200 the Great Recession. Supervisor peskin was a leader at that time. The unemployment claims in that era was 45,000 and we received nearly 160,000 to date. To give a little bit of context what we are doing at our office. We are the convener of the Work Force Board working with labor organizations and employers and other departments to really meet the needs of those impacted workers directly in the case of staff and hardworking Service Providers on the ground, 45 different communitybased organizations. Particularly the Neighborhood Job centers that are on the front lines in seven different neighborhoods. Citywide job center operated by goodwin and seven cbo based neighborhood centers. In almost every since stance, one in each district focuses on neighborhoods of need. We have presented and our director presented our effort goes to stand up to the work force hot line staffed by the office of economic work force Division Staff and Human Service agency represents and selfhelp from the elderly and metta to make sure we are available to answer calls up to six different languages seven days each week. Since the order we received nearly 4,000 calls. Questions around unemployment, helping to alleviate the questions that come up in the challenges to make sure to get through to Unemployment Insurance. The state is working hard, they are overwhelmed like a lot of systems are experiencing strains. We support the state to answer questions as best we can. Nearly 1,000 participants on the weekly Rapid Response webinairs where our Staff Services team are an addition the state of california and the Labor Council working with airport workers an hour and hour and a half of question and answer. I will conclude and say on behalf of our department i want to express thank you, supervisor mar, to work to address the concerns raised in various form forums. As someone who has answered phone calls myself to make sure we are staffed on the hot line, it is a big question folks have. If i am laid off will i be able to return . In the case of collective Bargaining Agreement that is the rock of gibraltar. The Labor Movement is the ability to return and seniority. It is definitely important to have tools we can to make sure if the temporary layoffs get everyone back to work as soon as possible. With respect to the role you have created and thank you to edward in your office for working with us and the dialogue with you personally. The role for our office we believe we have the infrastructure in place to perform the responsibility ifs, particularly in the emergency period of the ordinance. We will be upfront about being sure we have the capacities to meet the need and a lot of staff is the citybuilt staff fielding phone calls, particularly the by link guam calls and other lack languages. We are committed to this resource and working with you. Thank you again. Thank you for all of the work you have provided for workers impacted. The multilink gal hot line you the hot line and website is most comprehensive list of resources that have been created to support workers and businesses. You guys have played an Important Role in helping workers and businesses weather the storm. I look forward to having you add if the board moves forward with the adoption of back to work ordinance, information about this new policy and worker support benefit. Thank you so much. Colleagues, any questions . I dont have questions but i have comments and questions for you as sponsor. Why dont we hold that. I want to go to the second informational presentation that we had scheduled with katie who is staff tore for legal aid at work and she has been providing Important Information to workers who have been laid off. The unprecedented number of workers laid off locally in this crisis. Thank you for having me here to speak. As supervisor mar mentioned. I am a staff attorney at legal aid at work, a nonprofit in San Francisco dedicated to workers rights and helping families with low income find stability and justice at work. The reason i am here today is to make clear the extent to which workers have been forced out of jobs by covid19. Especially the Lasting Impact of these job losses on workers and their families. At legal aid at work we run a help line and remote legal clinic to help workers. Since the shelterinplace order we have been getting more calls than offer. Normally we get 3,000 calls in a year in two months we received over 1,000 calls. Many felt unsafe at work, worried about losing their job or pay to take time off. Many were calling because they had been laid off and didnt know what to do. As he mentioned, according to the Employment Development department the state unemployment has risen to 14. 4 and 12. 6 in San Francisco county, with the biggest job losses occurring in leisure and hospitality. Over 50,000 between San Francisco and san mateo counties. Many workers are low paid immigrants and people of color. The reason this is critical to talk about is because the longterm consequences of unemployment is associated with significant harms for families and communities. Research by the urban institute on the consequences of longterm unemployment found that longterm unemployment can lead to in addition to loss of income, of course, lower wages at the point every employment leading to a lifetime of lower wages for that worker and increased likely wood of workers abandoning the labor market altogether. It also found that longterm unemployment is associated with worse selfreported health and wellbeing. Lowered lifespans and possible decline in mental health. For the children of people who experience longterm unemployment, it results in lower grades, lower graduation rates, increased cognitive stress. These are harms that dont impact only the individual but the entire community. It is critical that workers are able to stay home when working is unsafe. Only asked to return to work in safe environments. If workers are not given the opportunity to return to work, families will face additional risks and hard ships. Thank you so much for your work to support san franciscans through this difficult time and thank you for giving me this time to speak with you. Thank you for your presentation. Thank you for the important work you and legal aid have been doing to support laid off workers navigate unemployment and weather the storm. Colleagues, any questions from legal aid at work . Thank you for your presentations. I want to move ahead with just some quick overview to the back to work ordinance, key provisions and talk through the outreach and input process we have engaged with over the past week. Then i will present a summary of the amendments that i am presenting today. For the back to work ordinance as introduced, i wanted to go over the key provisions. This is the first hearing we are having on it. Laid off workers will have the right of first refusal for jobs if and when the former employer reopens and rehires. Which is going to start to happen at an accelerated rate in the coming weeks and months. Hiring will be priority by seniority by each job classification. It requires wages and scheduling and benefits unless the employer is unable to maintain these terms in which case they are exempted. The former employees position is not rehired they will be offered any similar position they are qualified for. The employers must provide notice to the city of layoffs and provide information on available city resources. In terms who is covered by the back to work ordinance. The requirement applies to any employer who lays off 10 or more employees within 30days starting on february 25, 2020. In terms who is not covered, employers with fewer than 10 employees and this is on the ordinance as introduced employers with fewer than 10 employees are exempt. Employers who do not layoff less than 10 and employees covered by collective bargaining are exempt. We know workers are facing this crisis, so are Small Businesses. We know Small Businesses need support now more than ever. I will shortly share the changes we are making in this ordinance to address the concerns we have heard from Small Business owners among others. I want to be clear we have met with and worked with more business stakeholders than anything else we ever worked on including Small Business owners and commission and chamber of commerce, golden gate restaurant association, sf committee on jobs, sf hospital council, sf hotel council, Manufacturing Council and sf city. In addition to their feedback we have worked with Worker Centers and labor advocates in preparing these amendments. I want to give an overview of the amendments before we go into discussion about the ordinance and to Public Comment. I want to ensure the public is informed about the changes i intend to make today. I want to note that we all have received letters expressing concerns about this ordinance from Small Business owners and Small Business commission. I believe firmly we have addressed these concerns with the amendmentses presented today. These include exempting employers with less than 100. This is on larger employers. Iin alignment with the office of Small Business. The process of preparing this has been difficult as we acbeinr acknowledge it is a tradeoff. We are removing protection for workers. This is the difficult decision and one we do not make tightly. We have been convinced of the necessity by Small Business stakeholders including Small Business commission, office of Small Business and council of district merchants. We exempt Healthcare Operations employers. In collaboration with hospital council, we want to also limit administrative impacts on Health Care Providers due to unique and urgent circumstances. We are therefore exempting them from this ordinance. We are removing th the 90 day retention requirement. We understand the emergency they are operating under and are not in a position to guarantee employment retention. We dont know what may come in the next 90 days. We are removing that requirement. We are adding an employee misconduct carve out for reemployment offer. In cases where former employees committed misconduct to justify ending employment and where it was discovered, the employer will be exempt for having to offer reemployment. We are carving out severance agreements where there is a formal agreement of severance this would not over rule that and they would be extent from this law. We are removing most of section 5a4 and 5a5, the provisions that required list of laid off workers to be provided to the city with workers authorization. These were the most burden some administrative requirements for businesses and city agencies. We removed them. We are preserving that requirement that eligible workers be notified about layoffs and be provided with hot line number to call to access further information and support. We are offering email and text. Requiring mailing of notification to workers only if email and text are not an option. This makes it easier to quickly bring people back to work and represents a careful balance between the need and preserving a reasonable duration of job offers for those seeks reemployment. We clarify the notification period is longer for retroactive notification. 30days from the Effective Date of the emergency order. This is a cleanup change to clarify the notification timeframe to laid off workers for employers who made layoffs before this is effective. We are authorizing olsc to issue regulations and do rule making to provide clarity and guidance and minimize litigation without requiring staff for administrative work. Given did hiring freeze and limited staff this is the most responsible choice. We are directing layoffs and reemployment notifications to oewd and replacing the hot line included in the employee notification with one managed by oewd. Oewd already received layoff notifications under both the federal act. It makes sense to receive these additional notices, too. In addition owwd manages a hot line for resources to workers employed or unemployed. This will make it more accessible to those who need it the most. We have updated the findings to reflect the numbers on unemployment claims filed by those in San Francisco. That is an overview. It is quite a list. We are advised by the City Attorney they are non substantive. We can act on the amendments today. Colleagues, any questions or comments before we go to Public Comment . I can hold my questions until after Public Comment. Me, too. Thank you. Mr. Clerk, why dont we go to Public Comment. Any callers on the line . For those connected press star and 3 to speak. For those on hold in the queue please continue to waits until prompted to begin at the beep. Those watching on cable channel 26 or streaming or through sfgovtv if you wish to speak, please call in by following the instructions displayed on your screen. 415 6550001. Access code for today 145 4314683. Press the pound symbol twice and star three to speak. Do we have any speakers for agenda item 8 . Yes. There are eight callers in the queue. Caller good morning. I am matthew toy. I am a worker. I have been a worker at tar teen for 2. 5 years. I started in the factory in alabama street in San Francisco. In september i moved to the berkeley location. I am thankful to have gordon mar give us input and ask for our input. This is a hard union antiunion campaign from our employer. Right now we are in a situation where many of us are laid off, and we are not too sure if we are going to come back. Right now tar tain is hiring people at lower wages. For 18 an hour are now minimum wage is one example. When we first started to give input to gordon mars office. It was just we wanted this ordinance and we wanted our input to include a lot of city workers. We really appreciate the way that the office of gordon mar made sure to reach out t to the business and labor community. There is a smaller idea now expanded. A lot of workers dont have any protection to come back to work because most of the time it is due to bargaining. I really want to be able to see this ordinance through and i support this ordinance. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Caller i am john. Shop stewart at anchor. We fought long and hard for a contract that had this particular wording in it. I think i it would be beneficial to all workers in San Francisco to be covered by that same wording. My one comment would be 100 employees or moi mois mo or ma high bar. Think about that with your decision. A lot of workers are in the industry with companies with a lot less than 100 employees. I fully support this. It would be great for the community. That is my comment. Thank you for your time and good luck. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. Karl is the third speaker still connected . Am i on . Yes, we are ready for your comments to agenda item 8. Caller thank you. I am denny miller. I live in San Francisco and i fully support this proposition. I agree with the earlier caller about 100 employees. That is a lot, especially in San Francisco. I would like to definitely think about reconsidering that number. I think there is a very, very important proposition. I support it 100 . Is thank you very much for your comments. Next caller, please. Caller yeah, good morning. I am pat thomas. I am a district 5 resident, employee at tar teen bakery as well. I am calling to express my support for this ordinance. As someone who has witnessed firsthand the way that the company will fight tooth and nail to undermine the employees attempts to unionize, i would be heartened to see the city enact this to ensure employers dont take advantage of this pandemic as an opportunity to clean house. I dont see this ordinance as being particularly burden some on employers as it doesnt require businesses to hire people before they are ready to, only when they do the jobs are offered to workers who had them before. As someone who has been working to establish new footholds for organized labor in this city, and who doesnt believe that a pandemic like this should constitute a setback for such efforts. I urge the board to vote yes on this ordinance. Thank you. Next caller, please. Caller i am hope williams. I am a board member of the Harvey Milk Club and advocate for union workers. I would like to thank the Committee Members and supervisor mar and the cosponsors of this item, haney, preston, safai and fewer. From the economic Recovery Plan to the listing of shelterinplace, the city is prioritizing the needs of businesses. What about the workers. Workers create the wealth of the businesses. They are more essential now than ever. They need protection. They need support from the city and access to reemployment. This policy should be a nobrainer. Laid off workers should be rehired before being replaced. This shouldnt be controversial we cannot replace vulnerable workers. The Democratic Committee has fought for the lanegor movement and voted to support this. We urge you to support it. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Caller good morning, supervisors. I am katie hansen with the california restaurant association. This fames to take into account the manner in which restaurants operate. Those that remained open on limited service modelings during the crisis did so with many of the fulltime fixed costs and challenges. Under this new mandate being proposed restaurants would be forced to rehigher staff based on seniority rather than need such as chefs and cooks. Providing up to 10 days to respond depending how it is offered is unworkable for Restaurant Community employers. An employer will not be able to offer open positions to anyone else due to the level of seniority. If there are four positions open it could take a month to hire those. When restaurants are barely able to reopen, this will further damage the ability to successfully operate. It has detailed requirements for Record Keeping and providing notices to employees, employers and the city regarding layoff and reemployment offers. Restaurants dont have the in house personnel to process the recordkeeping when they are trying to reopen doors and struggling to comply and comply with health orders. This will delay the ability of restaurants to reopen to further unemployment and lead to the loss of tax revenues to San Francisco. We urge you to oppose this proposal as drafted as it would have a detrimental impact on the entire Restaurant Committee in San Francisco. Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony. Next speaker, please. Caller thank you, mr. Chair. I am bermita. An organizer with the longterm workers. I want to echo some of the statements that supervisor mar said. San francisco is a union town. When we talk about being a union town, we could say i it is a lar town. We want equity for all workers, not just people who have the luxury of being luxury or goodwill of having a union contract. We need to protect all workers. Right now due to covid19 a lot of workers recently laid off do not have a contract, do not have the right to go back. We need to provide that to them through there legislation. I have had numerous calls which workers laid off said do you know if i will have my job back in this is our only recourse to pay the rent. How will we do it if the restaurant get us back to work . All of this legislation will do is give security, needed security to those workers that are suffering right now. They are struggling in the city and county of San Francisco. It will live them security that once the restaurant opens it will call them by seniority and of their classification. No one is expecting everyone is going to be called back immediately, no one is expecting not the workers, not this legislation doesnt mandate that everybody be called back immediately. It is when the restaurants are in line to begin operations, then they will go back and call the persons that already have been working there and know the procedure and how to operate and how to do what they do best. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Caller i am hall. I was laid off had march after working for two years at the bakery. I have been involved with the union. Basically, every time i talk to my friends and family i am asked if i get my job back. I have no idea. It is very stressful to be in the state of limbo. Most Service Workers are in a similar place. We know it wont happen all at once. It will take a long time. We deserve to know we arent replaced. Four of the six people i live with are in the same position. We dont all work at the same place, we have the same type of jobs. These are careers. I dont want us to find our positions on craigslist. It is the simple thing to do and the right thing to do. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Caller hello. I work at coffee roseters in San Francisco. I am calling to support the current item. I think it would be really important to also prioritize black and Indigenous People of color who have put time in, who have seniority. These are like every day people who build their careers and Service Industry and it is important that the Restaurants Community step up to make the appropriate call and to center their workers and do better on hr. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. Caller hello everyone. For me the situation feels familiar. I came from new orleans when the hurricanes came through. That wasnt the only storm. There was an economic storm that completely wiped out communities totally untouched with flood waters. My grandmothre had been with the same legal firm for 30days. She was replaced by people. My black cousins were fired. White colleagues got jobs back. The exact same factors and exact same reasons why those decisions were made in louisiana in 2003 are the same factors that those decisions are going to be made in San Francisco today. This is very personal to me. This is not hypothetical. I know exactly what will happen. I am furloughed. I am not advocating for myself. I am for the grandmothers. I dont want families to suffer. This would have been alive safer. I urge you to pass this ordinance. Thank you. Next speaker, please. That completes the queue. Thank you. Hearing no other callers on the line, Public Comment is now closed. Colleagues do you have questions or comments . Supervisor peskin . I appreciate your work on this and all of the Public Comment we have gotten and your acknowledgment that we have heard from a lot of folks, including some you didnt mention, nonprofits that many of us hold near and dear. I am relatively certain that the changes you are proposing today will go a long way if not all the way to meeting the concerns that we heard expressed in those quarters, but because i have not had i only got the amendment last evening and given this morning havent had a chance to reach out to those folks to make sure they feel the same way. My proposal would be to send to the full board without recommendation. It is going as Committee Report so i can get between now and tuesday to get with those folks to make sure it is meeting their concerns, addressing their concerns. Thank you, supervisor peskin. I appreciate your support of the ordinance and consideration of the amendment. I understand your interest in checking in with some Key Stakeholders. I also appreciate your willingness to move this forward along the timeline that we have proposed, which is having the full board vote on it on june 23rd because we would like to get this enacted as soon as possible. Businesses are starting to reopen and rehire. Thithis is an an important timeo move it forward. Supervisor haney. First of all, thank you and your staff, supervisor mar. I am proud t to cosponsor this and workers and those who collaborated on it. I appreciate the amendments. They address some of the issues that have come forward. We absolutely do need to be prioritizing workers during this time and not seeing a situation where people are pushed out of their jobs during this pandemic and having rights violated and not allowed to come back. There are a number of folks who called in from restaurants or cafes, and it is my understanding with the amendment that most of those types of businesses would be excluded because of the sort of size of employees that are required. What are your i would like to hear more what we can do for folks in those situations. The folks from tar teen and i dont know if that would be a business that would be excluded. I understand that, you know, the reasons for the Small Businesses excluded. Would you speak about that and for some of the folks who called in who may no longer be covered by this legislation. Thanks for the question, supervisor haney, around the amendment that increases the covered employer thresholds from 10 to 100 or more employees. This was made, as i stated, to address the concerns of Small Business community and Small Business stakeholders about the challenges that this requirement would present them as they navigate reopening their businesses, and you know it was made with the understanding that Small Businesses face or smaller employers face more challenges than larger businesses with a larger pool of laid off employees to draw from. Yes, that is true. It does reduce the number of businesses that are covered. [please stand by] thank you, and i know that theres legislation at the state level that may impact or accomplish similar things or and is this how did this interact with some of the legislation thats been potentially proposed . Or proposed to be heard at the state level, is there a similar efforts that are happening in the states. Theres a similar proposal a right to reemployment proposal that was included in a state bill that and so that is you know, its still under sort of consideration on a state level. Its my understanding that its uncertain whether that is going to make it through legislatively on a state level and be adopted. So i think that this is an example of San Francisco, you know, helping to sort of lead the way on expanding workers rights and support for workers in a way that could help move the policy forward on a state level and in other cities. I know that l. A. Los angeles passed a similar ordinance but it was a much more limited in scope. And then other cities are considering it. Oakland and san jose as well on a local level. So i think this is where just like many of our progressive local labor laws that we have created here in San Francisco, it can help to benefit not just the workers here in San Francisco, but workers elsewhere by just sending a model, an example. Great, thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you for your work on this. Great. Well, thanks again. I just want to, again, to thank everyone that has provided input on this really on groundbreaking and bold but very important policy measures to support laid off workers in our city. You know, i want to thank all of the labor the labor and Worker Rights advocates that initially, you know, brought this proposal to our attention and who work with us closely over the last week. But also i want to thank all of the businesses, Small Businesses and the Large Businesses and the associations that weve worked with to craft the best possible policy that also that takes into consideration, you know, the needs and the concerns of the businesses and employers. And i want to thank the City Attorneys office, particularly jenica, the deputy City Attorney that worked on this with our complicated ancomplicated and gg legislation. And thank you to joss and the economic Work Development and pat mulligan in the labor standards enforcement who have also consulted with us and helped to shape this policy with the amendment. So finally, i want to acknowledge all of the work, incredible amount of work, that edward wright, my legislative aide, has provided on this this very complicated policy. And really excited to to really move this forward to the board. So i guess per supervisor peskins request to to have more time to to consult with Key Stakeholders around the amendment that were just presented and i would make a motion that we move this forward oh, i would like to make a motion that we accept the amendment that i presented today. Mr. Clerk, can you please cull roll. Clerk on the motion afterred by char mar to amend the emergency ordinance, vicechair peskin. Peskin, aye. Member haney. Haney, aye. Chair mar . Aye. Mar, aye. Mr. Chair, there are three ayes. Supervisor mar thank you. And then i would move that we have this item as a Committee Report to the full board without recommendations to the june 23rd meeting of the board of supervisors. Clerk on the motion that the emergency ordinance be forwarded to the full board of supervisors as amended without recommendation. Vicechair peskin. Aye. Peskin, aye. Member haney. Aye. Haney, aye. Chair mar. Mar, aye. Mr. Chair, there are three ayes. Supervisor mar thank you. Great. Mr. Clerk, is there any further business . Clerk there is no further business before the committee. Supervisor mar thank you, we are adjourned. It. Shop dine in the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges resident to do their shop dine in the 49 within the 49 square miles of San Francisco by supporting local services in the neighborhood we help San Francisco remain unique successful and vibrant so were will you shop dine in the 49 chinatown has to be one the best unique shopping areas in San Francisco that is color fulfill and safe each vegetation and seafood and find everything in chinatown the walk shop in chinatown welcome to jason dessert im the fifth generation of candy in San Francisco still that serves 2000 district in the chinatown in the past it was the tradition and my family was the royal chef in the pot pals thats why we learned this stuff and moved from here to have dragon candy i want people to know that is art we will explain a walk and they cant walk in and out it is different techniques from stir frying to smoking to steaming and they do show of. Beer a royalty for the age berry up to now not people know that especially the toughest they think this is i really appreciate they love this art. From the cantonese to the hypomania and we have hot pots we have all of the cuisines of china in our chinatown you dont have to go far. Small business is important to our neighborhood because if we really make a lot of people lives better more people get a job here not just a big firm. You dont have to go anywhere else we have pocketed of great neighborhoods haul have all have their own uniqueness. San francisco has to all the annual celebration of hardly strictly bluegrass is always a hit now completing itself 12 year of music in the incredible golden gate park. This is just the best park to come to. Its safe. Its wonderful and such a fun time of the year. There is every kind of music you can imagine and can Wander Around and go from one stage to another and just have fun. 81 bands and six stages and no admission. This is hardly strictly bluegrass. I love music and peace. I think it represents what is great about the bay area. Everyone is here for the music and the experience. This is why i live here. The culture out here is amazing. Its San Francisco. This is a legacy of the old warren hel ment and receive necessary funding for ten years after his death. There is a legacy that started and its cool and hes done Something Wonderful for the city and were all grateful. Hopefully we will keep this thing going on for years and years to come. I went through a lot of struggles in my life, and i am blessed to be part of this. I am familiar with what people are going through to relate and empathy and compassion to their struggle so they can see i came out of the struggle, it gives them hope to come up and do something positive. I am a community ambassador. We work a lot with homeless, visitors, a lot of people in the area. What i like doing is posting up at hotspots to let people see visibility. They ask you questions, ask you directions, they might have a question about what services are available. Checking in, you guys. Wellness check. We walk by to see any individual, you know may be sitting on the sidewalk, we make sure they are okay, alive. You never know. Somebody might walk by and they are laying there for hours. You never know if they are alive. We let them know we are in the area and we are here to promote safety, and if they have somebody that is, you know, hanging around that they dont want to call the police on, they dont have to call the police. They can call us. We can direct them to the services they might need. We do the three one one to keep the city neighborhoods clean. There are people dumping, waste on the ground and needles on the ground. It is unsafe for children and adults to commute through the streets. When we see them we take a picture dispatch to 311. They give us a tracking number and they come later on to pick it up. We take pride. When we come back later in the day and we see the loose trash or debris is picked up it makes you feel good about what you are doing. It makes you feel did about escorting kids and having them feel safe walking to the play area and back. The stuff we do as ambassadors makes us feel proud to help keep the city clean, helping the residents. You can see the community ambassadors. I used to be on the streets. I didnt think i could become a community ambassador. It was too far out there for me to grab, you know. Doing this job makes me feel good. Because i came from where a lot of them are, homeless and on the street, i feel like i can give them hope because i was once there. I am not afraid to tell them i used to be here. I used to be like this, you know. I have compassion for people that are on the streets like the homeless and people that are caught up with their addiction because now, i feel like i can give them hope. It reminds you every day of where i used to be and where i am at now. Hi. Ow. Im Chris Mathers with channel 19, and youre watching coping with covid19. Today, im going to be talking about exercising during the pandemic. First, im going to tell you what ive been doing, and then im going to be checking in with some friends and family. Ive been riding my bike. All i take is a pair of gloves and a mask if i come into contact with anyone. I try to ride my bike during the time im sheltering in place. I try to ride for at least 30 minutes. Surfing is my other regular outdoor activity. California state guidelines recommend you dont drive more than ten minutes for a spot to exercise, and although im close to ocean beach, im a bit wary to go there, so im using the time to do some maintenance. Filling in gouges and dings, and sanding it down. Im also repairing holes in my suit. Fellow sfgovtv producer chris took his first yoga lesson a couple of years ago and used to go to a class regularly before the lockdown. He and his wife set up a space in their garage for exercising. This routine is from an online class by power yoga. Deann and andy have been using the ping pong table that they bought off craigslist and set it up in their back yard. Ellie has been using this home gym to stay fit. It has everything she needed. And lastly, if the weather is bad outside, you can exercise your mind by doing a puzzle, sudoku, or just by reading a good book. Heres a quick recap. Since i started this episode, the guidelines have changed. For instance, jack may be able to go golfing with some restrictions. Go to sf. Gov to get the most uptodate right before the game starts, if im still on the field, i look around, and i just take a deep breath because it is so exciting and magical, not knowing what the season holds holds is very, very exciting. It was fastpaced, stressful, but the good kind of stressful, high energy. There was a crowd to entertain, it was overwhelming in a good way, and i really, really enjoyed it. I continued working for the grizzlies for the 20122013 season, and out of happenstance, the same job opened up for the San Francisco giants. I applied, not knowing if i would get it, but i would kick myself if i didnt apply. I was so nervous, i never lived anywhere outside of fridays know, andfridays fresno, and i got an interview. And then, i got a second interview, and i got more nervous because know the thought of leaving fresno and my family and friends was scary, but this opportunity was on the other side. But i had to try, and lo and behold, i got the job, and my first day was january 14, 2014. Every game day was a puzzle, and i have to figure out how to put the pieces together. I have two features that are 30 seconds long or a minute and a 30 feature. Its fun to put that altogetl r together and then lay that out in a way that is entertaining for the fans. A lucky seat there and there, and then, some lucky games that include players. And then ill talk to lucille, can you take the shirt gun to the bleachers. I just organize it from top to bottom, and its just fun for me. Something, we dont know how its going to go, and it can be a huge hit, but youve got to try it. Or if it fails, you just wont do it again. Or you tweak it. When that all pans out, you go oh, we did that. We did that as a team. I have a great team. We all gel well together. It keeps the show going. The fans are here to see the teams, but also to be entertained, and thats our job. I have wonderful female role models that i look up to here at the giants, and theyve been great mentors for me, so i aspire to be like them one day. Renelle is the best. Shes all about women in the workforce, shes always in our corner. [applause] i enjoy how progressive the giants are. We have had the longer running until they secure day. Weve been doing lgbt night longer than most teams. I enjoy that i work for an organization who supports that and is all inclusive. That means a lot to me, and i wouldnt have it any other way. I wasnt sure i was going to get this job, but i went for it, and i got it, and my first season, we won a world series even if we hadnt have won or gone all the way, i still would have learned. Ive grown more in the past four years professionally than i think ive grown in my entire adult life, so its been eye opening and a wonderful learning valencia has been a constantly evolving roadway. The first bike lanes were striped in 1999, and today is the major north and south bike route from the Mission Neighborhood extending from market to mission street. It is difficult to navigate lindsay on a daily basis, and more specifically, during the morning and evening commute hours. From 2012 to 2016, there were 260 collisions on valencia and 46 of those were between vehicles and bikes. The mayor shows great leadership and she knew of the long history of collisions and the real necessity for safety improvements on the streets, so she actually directed m. T. A. To put a pilot of protected bike lanes from market to 15th on valencia street within four months time. [ ] valencia is one of the most used north south bike routes in San Francisco. It has over 2100 cyclists on an average weekday. We promote bicycles for everyday transportation of the coalition. Valencia is our mission fits our mission perfectly. Our members fall 20 years ago to get the first bike lane stripes. Whether you are going there for restaurants, nightlife, you know , people are commuting up and down every single day. I have been biking down the valencia street corridor for about a decade. During that time, i have seen the emergence of ridesharing companies. We have people on bikes, we have people on bike share, scooters, we have people delivering food and we have uber taking folks to concerts at night. One of the main goals of the project was to improve the overall safety of the corridor, will also looking for opportunities to upgrade the bikeway. The most common collision that happens on valencia is actually due to double parking in the bike lane, specifically during, which is where a driver opens the door unexpectedly. We kept all the passengers the passenger levels out, which is the white crib that we see, we double the amount of commercial curbs that you see out here. Most people arent actually perking on valencia, they just need to get dropped off or pick something up. Half of the commercial loading zones are actually after 6 00 p. M. , so could be used for fiveminute loading later into the evening to provide more opportunities or passenger and commercial loading. The five minute loading zone may help in this situation, but they are not along the corridor where we need them to be. One of the most unique aspects of the valencia pilot is on the block between 14th street. We worked with a pretty big mix of people on valencia. On this lot, there are a few schools. All these different groups had concerns about the safety of students crossing the protected bikeway whether they are being dropped off or picked up in the morning or afternoon. To address those concerns, we installed concrete loading islands with railings railings that channel channeled a designated crossing plane. We had a lot of conversations around how do you load and unload kids in the mornings and the afternoons . I do like the visibility of some of the design, the safety aspects of the boarding pilot for the school. We have painted continental crosswalks, as well as a yield piece which indicates a cyclist to give the rightofway so they can cross the roadway. This is probably one of the most unique features. During the planning phase, the m. T. A. Came out with three alternatives for the long term project. One is parking protected, which we see with the pilot, they also imagined a valencia street where we have two bike lanes next to one another against one side of the street. A twoway bikeway. The third option is a Center Running twoway bikeway, c. Would have the two bike lanes running down the center with protection on either side. Earlier, there werent any enter lane designs in San Francisco, but i think it will be a great opportunity for San Francisco to take the lead on that do so the innovative and different, something that doesnt exist already. With all three concepts for valencias longterm improvement , theres a number of tradeoffs ranging from parking, or what needs to be done at the intersection for signal infrastructure. When he think about extending this pilot or this still this design, theres a lot of different design challenges, as well as challenges when it comes to doing outreach and making sure that you are reaching out to everyone in the community. The pilot is great. It is a nobrainer. It is also a teaser for us. Once a pilot ends, we have thrown back into the chaos of valencia street. What were trying to do is incremental improvement along the corridor door. The Pilot Project is one of our first major improvements. We will do an initial valuation in the spring just to get a glimpse of what is happening out here on the roadway, and to make any adjustments to the pilot as needed. This fall, we will do a more robust evaluation. By spring of 2020, we will have recommendations about longterm improvements. I appreciate the pilot and how quickly it went in and was built, especially with the Community Workshops associated with it, i really appreciated that opportunity to give input. We want to see valencia become a really welcoming and comfortable neighborhood street for everyone, all ages and abilities. Theres a lot of benefits to protected bike lanes on valencia , it is not just for cyclists. We will see way more people biking, more people walking, we are just going to create a really friendly neighborhood street. [ ] hi, youre watching coping with covid19. Today im going to the grocery store. Now, im not an authority about the virus. Im just showing you what im personally doing. To find out the most definitive and uptodate information about the pandemic, i highly recommend the f. A. Q. Available at sf. Gov. Im taking a list and before i leave i put a sanitizing wind and pair of gloves into a plastic bag. Im wearing a mask and taking the smallest number of items with me. Just my car key, credit card, i. D. And the batching im not taking my phone with me. Even if i use it to pay, i either have to touch the p. I. N. Pad or sign the screen anyway. Im concerned about crosscontamination. I dont want to transfer the virus from my gloves to the phone and then to my face. Whin i get out of the car, i put on my gloves and get a grocery cart. The essential workers at my store are doing a great job. Theyre sanitizing every cart and limiting the number of shoppers. Having a cart can help you protect your space. In this store, there are two new science on the floor. Ones directional to encourage everyone to take the same route around the store. The second is to remind shoppers to maintain a safe distance from each other. When im done shopping and ready to pay, i stand in line at least six feet from the shopper in front of me. After unloading my car at check out, i go past the cashier and pack my own bags. That is one less person touching my groceries and less of a burden on the stores employees. I thank the cashier and leave the store. On my drive home, im careful not to touch my face. I leave my outside shoes on the porch and as soon as i get through the door, i wash my hands for at least 20 seconds. Next, i wipe down my debit card, i. D. And car key. And then i wipe down the front doorknob, clean the sink taps and wash my hands again. I wash my vegetables in cold water and remove the package aing from my proteins and other items. I leave the nonperishables in my garage for a few days unless i need them immediately. My refrigerated items get a quick winddown to be on the safe side and, of course, i wacker my hands again. Heres a quick recap of my visit to the grocery store. That is it for this episode. I hope you found it helpful. President breslin the San Francisco health board will now come to order. Madam secretary, roll call, please. Clerk agenda item 2, roll call. [roll call] clerk president breslin, we have a quorum. President breslin very good. At this time, i would like our secretary to explain some procedures about this virtual meeting. Clerk thank you. Yes, just a reminder, this meeting is being televised through sfgtv so there is about a minute, twominute lag time between what were seeing as the producers and members of the live t. V. As opposed to the live event. So please be mindful of that during the presentation. We are going to have Public Comment on almost every single item on the agenda, and so everyone who wants to give Public Comment needs to dial into the conference line listed on the screen. Everyone will have three minutes to speak unless the board president shortens that time at some minute during the meeting, and we will be giving about a 30second delay between the start of Public Comment when its called by the president. Please follow the directions on this screen as it will be shown before every Public Comment for your use at home. Thank you, and that is my guidance for Public Comment. President breslin thank you. Item number 3, please. Item 3 is the approval, with possible modifications, of the Meeting Minutes set below. The following minutes were set before the board for their approval and review. The finance and budget minutes from february 13, 2020, the governance Meeting Minutes from february 25, 2020, the regular Meeting Minutes from may 14, 2020, and the special Meeting Minutes from may 28, 2020. President breslin all right. Are there any corrections from the board to the minutes . Commissioner zvanski yes. This is clare speaking, commissioner breslin. Im just going to send in a few corrections from the minutes on may 14 and may 28. Theyre just small corrections on names and a couple of typos. President breslin anybody else . Vice president follansbee president breslin, this is commissioner follansbee. I submitted a few corrections to the Meeting Minutes of may 28. I dont know if you have them in front of you. I have my own original copy there it is, so those are the suggested modifications, one of which is just a typo, and the other is some a couple of them are just adding what i heard as recommendation from the kaiser representative and then some explanation for what i was saying under the on page 32, 33 of the kaiser presentation. President breslin okay. Thank you. So i will need a motion to to jutorey d. Sco this is commissioner scott. I move all four sets of minutes be approved with the edits and corrections that have been highlighted. Commissioner zvanski second. This is clare. President breslin very good. Any Public Comment on this item . Clerk we will now move into Public Comment. We will give the public about 30 seconds to catch up to the content thats being displayed. Once that contime is over, i will begin calling for them to begin comment. Operator your conference is now in questionandanswer mode. To summon each question, press one and then zero. Clerk all right. I want to make one more reminder. This is Public Comment, not questionandanswer, as the voice has declared. I know its a bit confusing for some people calling in. This is just Public Comment, not questionandanswer. Moderator, will you please open up the Public Comment line for the first caller . Operator you have zero questions remaining. Clerk that concludes Public Comment. President breslin all right. All right. The motion has been moved and seconded to approve the four different minutes. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. All opposed say nay. Its unanimous in favor of approving the minutes. All right. Item number 4, please. Clerk item 4 is general Public Comment on matters within the boards jurisdiction. President breslin this is a Public Comment item. Clerk again, were going to give about 30 seconds for those at home to catch up with the lag time, and then, well open this item up for general Public Comment. Clerk all right, moderator, will you please open up the line for the first caller . Operator you have zero questions remaining. Clerk president breslin, that concludes Public Comment. President breslin all right. Next item, please. Clerk item 5 is the president s report. This report is given by president breslin. President breslin all right. I just wanted to mention some sad news, that our secretary, natalie eckbert, this will be her last meeting, and i want you to join me in thanking her as she starts her next chapter in new york city. In front of me is a very artistic message that someone did a very good job on. Since february, miss eckbert has served as the secretary to the Health Services board and executive assistance to abbie yant. She is the pinnacle of diligence and grace. She is a great colleague, and we wish her all the best. Yes, thank you. I wish you all the best in your future endeavors, natalie. Thank you for all your service on the board. Clerk thank you, karen. I didnt know this was happening, so thank you. Vice president follansbee this is commissioner follansbee, and id like to add my sincere thanks. This has been a couple of years of transition, and natalie, you have been remarkable in not only adapting to the changes but troubleshooting and helping to facilitate the changes, keeping all the Board Members in the loop, working with each of us in our own weaknesses and some of the challenges that weve faced, so i want to thank you, too, for years of challenges, and you will be missed. Commissioner scott this is commissioner scott. Natalie, youve been an absolute star during the operational transitions that weve had to go through, and i wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors. Clerk thank you, both of you. Thank you. Commissioner zvanski it is commissioner zvanski, and natalie, i would not be here if this meeting it wasnt for you, and i just want to thank you for all your technical knowledge. Im sorry about dexter barking in the background. Ive monitored all of your work over the last couple of years, and as i have previous secretaries, and youre just outstanding. I cant believe youre leaving. Its just killing me, so i want to definitely agree with my fellow commissioners. Youve been wonderful, and i wish you the best in new york. But just know that you can always come back to San Francisco. Some of you will always need your technical expertise. Clerk thank you, clare. [inaudible] i just want to thank you for walking me through all the various details. I totally appreciate you, i appreciate your kindness and your knowledge, and i will really, really miss you. Clerk thank you, commissioner howe. I will miss you. Supervisor preston this is supervisor preston. Natalie, thank you for all of your work and helping me get up to speed as the newest member of this body. Appreciate all of your patience and help. I wonder what kind of motion we can pass to make you stay, but i know the attorney will tell us we cant do that. I wish you all the best in new york, and thank you, thank you so much for everything youve done. Clerk thank you so much, commissioner preston and whoever put this together. Thank you to that human. Its nice to have this moment with all of you but its also very hard with me because ive built relationships and kind of molded this job into something i dont see as a job. Its more of just who i am, so i am going to miss each of you in this position and my sfhss family. I truly became a better person because of all of you, and just guiding me with patience in the moments that i did not know what i now know. I did want to thank abbie, too, because she saw something specifically in me that i didnt know was here, and i think ive uncovered it over the past two years and really continue to develop it, so her guidance and leadership and just presence in my life has changed my life. So i am grateful for this experience, and i will miss every single one of you. Natalie, this is chris kent, and i will miss you. Natalie, we had a team behind you putting this together in secret, so that was fun. And i think it epitomizes who you are. Have fun in new york, and stay in touch, and well miss you so much. Wait for that new york winter to hit you. Youll be back in San Francisco. Looking forward to some snow, but seriously, thank you. Thank you, everyone. Also, im looking forward to when we can get back to i inperson meetings so our members can express themselves in person, and i also want to thank our First Responders who are doing so much in this challenging time. Lets move onto item 6. Clerk karen, we need Public Comment. President breslin oh, Public Comment. Clerk thank you. Im going to start the 30 seconds now. Clerk all right. Im going to ask the moderator to open up the phone lines in one moment. Im going to ask everyone whos dialed into the conference line, you must press onezero to be added into the queue. You are able to listen to the whole meeting on this conference line, however, to get in Public Comment, you must press onezero to get into the queue. Okay. Moderator, can you open up the lines for Public Comment. Operator you have one question remaining. This is maureen oshea, and i would like to address the Health Insurance board, the retirees. I hope im not out of line, but my time is limited. I would ask the board to consider establishing a provision that the retirees would be able to enroll in the plan one City Health Plan as we previously had the opportunity. I feel that retirees should have more than one option as we currently have with medicare advantage. I had, as a 30year employee, always been enrolled in the city plan one, and at the age of 80, i am beginning to have more health problems, and it would be beneficial to me, as im sure to many others, that we have access to the best health plan available, and thank you for your consideration. Clerk thank you very much. Moderator, will you open up the call line for the next caller. Operator you have zero questions remaining. Clerk president breslin, that concludes Public Comment. President breslin okay. Thank you. Item number 6, please. Clerk item 6 is the election of the Health Service board officers, both president and Vice President , for fiscal year 2020 through 2021. This presentation is done by president breslin. President breslin every year at this time, we have an election for our officers, our president and Vice President , and at this time, i would like to nominate dr. Stephen follansbee as president for the next year, from 2020 to 2021. Are there any other nominations from the board . Seeing none no . I wou no i would like to secondly nominate chris canning as Vice President to the board. Are there any other nominations . Commissioner scott this is commissioner scott. I move that we accept the recommendations for the new officers for fiscal year 2021 of dr. Commissioner Stephen Follansbee for president and commissioner chris canning for Vice President. This commissioner hao ts commissioner had commissioner hao. I second. President breslin okay. Public comment. Clerk Public Comment will begin in 30 seconds starting now. Clerk all right. People who are on the conference line, please press onezero to be put into the queue, and moderator, will you please open up the line for the first caller on the line . Operator you have zero questions remaining. Clerk president breslin, that concludes Public Comment. President breslin all right. The motion has been moved and seconded to approve the president as commissioner follansbee and the Vice President as chris canning. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Any of those opposed, say nay. Its unanimous. All right. Item number 7, please. Clerk item 7, vote on whether or not to cancel the july 2020 Health Service board regular meeting. This is presented by abbie yant, the executive director. Yes, good afternoon, commissioners. We are recommending that we do not have a july meeting. I think the commissions worked really hard this year, and i know the last two years, youve served your vacation month, and well be in transition with a president who is ready to go for the august meeting. President breslin all right. Do i have a motion . Do we need a motion . Yes, we need a motion. This is chris canning, and i move that we cancel the july board meeting. This is commissioner hao, and i second. President breslin okay. Public comment on item 7. Clerk this is the time for Public Comment on item 7. Please press onezero to be added to the queue. All right. We will now begin Public Comment. Moderator, will you please open up the phone line for the first caller. Operator you have one question remaining. Clerk hello. If youre on the phone line, we have you on Public Comment. This is fred sanchez, but i wanted to actually talk on item 8, plus 10 and 11, not on this particular item. Clerk no problem, mr. Sanchez. If you just want to hang on the line, we will close out this part for you on the conference line. Dont hang up, and when we get to those items, just press onezero to be added to the queue. Thank you so much. Clerk thank you. Moderator, will you open up the phone calls for further Public Comment if there is one. Operator you have no further questions. Clerk madam secretary, that concludes Public Comment. President breslin okay. Were going to move into the rates and benefits section of our agenda, and next item, please. Clerk item 8 is review revised rates and benefits calendar plan year 2021. This is also presented by abbie yant, executive director. Commissioner scott excuse me. This is commissioner scott. We did have a motion on the floor. We didnt take the vote. Im sorry. I meant to get in before. President breslin oh, thats right. All those in favor of cancelling the july meeting say aye. Are there any opposed to cancelling the july meeting . Okay. So the ayes have it. Sorry about that. Now were at item number 8. Do you need to call the agenda again or should i just jump in . President breslin i think just go ahead. Okay. So the rates and benefits calendar is moving along. Assuming we are able to pass all the recommendations today, that will conclude the Health Service boards duty of approving rates and benefits that will be carried to the board of supervisors for their budget and appropriations committee, i believe its now called, on july 15, and then, a First Reading on july 21 and a second reading by the full board on july 28. Any questions . Commissioner scott this is commissioner scott. Im just were all going to rely on supervisor preston to be vigorous and active in his support of our recommendations to the board. I put that forward at this time. Commissioner zvanski this is clare. I just want to second what commissioner scott said, but please let us know if our testimony is needed to support the departments budget. In the past, when the board of supes held Public Comment in these hearings, it was easier for us to go to the chambers and support our executive directors, so i know that abbie and pamela have gone to these meetings, but if you need us to support you, supervisor preston, and Department Heads abbie we will be on call and stand by to be able to testify in support of that testimony. Okay. And just to be clear, this rates and benefits package is a separate item than the departments Budget Hearing or theyre different agenda items. Commissioner zvanski yeah, either of them, im just notifying you of that possibility, that we can join those meetings if we need to. Supervisor preston yeah, this is supervisor preston. Im looking forward to working with director yant and presenting this with my support to my colleagues on the board with further testimony and support if we need further information. Thank you. President breslin okay. I dont think we have Public Comment on this item, because i forgot to do that on a previous item, so now, well have Public Comment on item number 8. Clerk thank you, president breslin. A reminder to the public, if youre wishing to add Public Comment, press one and then zero to be added to the queue. Well pause for 30 seconds and then begin Public Comment. Clerk all right, moderator, will you please open up the conference line to the first caller . Operator you have zero questions remaining. Clerk president breslin, that concludes Public Comment. President breslin okay. Thank you, item number 9, please. Clerk item 9, review and approve the 2021 dental plan rates and administrative fees. This is presented by mike clarke from aon. Hi. Mike clarke from aon. Before i begin the dental presentation, two comments. I echo everyones comments, natalie. Its been a pleasure working with you the last two years, and i represeecho the comments everyone at sfhss. Tom ricks has chosen to leave the Aon Corporation recently, and so perhaps fitting that i announce that during the dental presentation because he would often present the dental rates to the board. So good luck to tom, as we always do, but we did notify president breslin earlier this week. Just wanted to provide that information about tom leaving aon. So with that, i will begin my 2021 plan renewal presentation. So ill start with some of our rate setting methodology previous that we did for the health plans two weeks ago, focusing on the dental plans and then launch into the 2021 plan ratingum renewal summary. First for the delta dental p. P. O. And then the fully assured planned which included delta retiree p. P. O. And the United Health care and delta dental h. M. O. S, and then, ill ask for a statement from a delta dental plan of california representative. So with that, to start our rate setting methodology process, youll recognize this slide from last time, and what weve highlighted is where the dental plans fall into the funding method chart. So youll see on the left side of the page, under selffunded, that the delta dental active employee employee p. P. O. Is selffunded, means its paid by dollars provided by service members. Aon is the actuary and use the plan to determine functions as well as Health Service board retirees. Youll see the delta dental retiree p. P. O. , the delta dental care u. H. O. , and the delta dental h. M. O. You next slide. And similar to last time, this is the fivestep process, except for dental, we do not have sfhss specific cost elements, so its essentially a fourstep process for the dental plans to determine the needed rate change factor in this case from 2020 to 2021. Next slide. So with that, well review ratings summary for the plan that well review today. Next slide. Next item, please. The covered populations for the sfhss dental plans as well as the member contributions are outlined on this page. The active employees of three employers are offered dental coverage throughout sfhss, and those are the city and county of San Francisco, the superior court, and the municipal executive employees. For the ccsf, ccsfmea, and meamta employees, they pay 10 a month for single tier and 15 a month for family tier in the p. P. O. These employees pay no contributions for the two dental h. M. O. S that are offered. The superior court and superior court m. E. A. Employees pay no contributions for dental coverage, and the active employees of the San Francisco Unified School District and city college of San Francisco do not elect to provide dental through sfhss, so their dental occurs outside of sfhss. And all of those employees participating are offered dental plan coverage in retierr retirement, and retirees pay the full cost of each employer dental plan with no employer contribution. Next slide. This page illustrates the renewal action summary that ill be presenting today for recommended Health Service board action. Weve focused on, for 2021 plan year, understanding how plan costs in 2019 are impacting 2021 rating actions, and youll see the summary of changed recommendations along with the total enrolled employee and retiree members in each of the programs offered for dental through sfhss. Youll see only one plan is proposed for a rate change action plan increase, and that is the employee action p. P. O. With a modest 0. 6 increase. All other plans are proposed for a decrease due to the elimination of the federal Affordable Care act Health Insurer tax into the 2021 pay year. Next slide. This page illustrates the total cost rates on a monthly basis for 2021 across the active employees in the first three columns of this illustration and the retirees in the last three columns of the illustration. With the delta dental p. P. O. In the top set of figures, the midd middle p. P. O. In the middle set of figures, and the delta h. M. O. In the lower set of figures. So todays recommendations that ill cover shortly are the 0. 6 increase in total cost increase in the delta dental care p. P. O. , a 3 decrease for the United Health care dental h. M. O. Plan, and the [inaudible] retiree p. P. O. Next slide. So with that, well go into the active employee p. P. O. Fees and rates. Next slide. Again, 0. 6 is the recommended change in rates from 2020 to 2021. This incorporates favorable rate change as well as one half of the existing Rate Stabilization balance as was approved by the Health Service board in the may 4, 2020 meeting, and the recommendation includes a new recommended nitrous oxide and noni. V. Sedation benefit to support members during dental procedures which is expected to add 126,000 in aggregate claim dollars for 2021 or 0. 3 which would be funded by the members in premiums or fixed dollar amounts. This is a slide that we reviewed earlier in previous meetings to look at the experience of the dental plan, both in 2019 and over the course of time, and you can see that the loss ratios have been favorable. 100 in 2019, and the per employee per month claim and fee cost has been relatively constant each of the past six to seven years at 120. Next slide. The administrative fees are under a rate guarantee, with 2021 being the third year of that rate guarantee for delta dental of california. You can see the history of the administrative fees on this slide, most notably 4. 62 for employee per month will continue to be the ad stiff fee into the 2021 plan year for the delta dental p. P. O. Next slide. And so this illustrates our calculations that lead to the 0. 6 increase in premium rates for 2020 to 2021, which includes one half of the rating buydown application and the addition of the nitrous oxide nonsedation coverage for the active employee p. P. O. The claims are used from january 18 to december 2019 to generate these rates with a 2 annual trend assumption, projected to 2021. And so our recommended 2021 selfinsured rates for on a monthly basis are 57 consid 57 employee only [inaudible] next slide. So now, well transition into conversation on the fully ininsuri insured dental plans. Five fully insured plans are provided for h. M. O. Plans and all for the active retiries, and because of the removal of the Affordable Health Care Insurance tax result in decreases. You can see it results in a 5 for delta dental, and a 3 reduction in uhchmo. So this results in the delta dental care rates transitioning from 2020 to 2021 for the active employees on the top part of the table and the retirees at the bottom part of the page. Next slide. We present a similar exhibit for United Health care dental h. M. O. , where you see the rates decrease by 3 from 2020 to 2021, with active employees at the top of the page, active retirees at the bottom. Next slide. And for the retiree p. P. O. , delta dental has agreed to add the nitrous oxide and noni. V. Sedation benefit described earlier for the active employee p. P. O. At no additional plan premium to the retirees. And so the 1. 75 reduction due to the elimination of the federal Affordable Care insurance federal tax will hold, and no additional premium is being added into the eat for the nice russ oxide and noni. V. Sedation benefit addition. Next slide. So with that, ill recap our recommendations for Health Service board action today. Number one, for the delta dental active employee p. P. O. , recommend acceptance of the p. P. O. Rates represented in this document, to the total premium rates, which include the provision for the added nitrous oxide and noni. V. Sedation benefit, as well as the holding of the 2020 administrative fees for the 2021 plan year, and then, tot the insured dental plans, accepting the rate renewals as presented in this document, which includes the provision for added nitrous oxide and noni. V. Sedation coverage being provided to the retiree. And with that, transition to the next slide and ask for a statement from the delta dental representatives. Do we have a delta dental representative on the line . Clerk mike, i dont see her name on the list, but im looking right now. Give me one second. Let me reach out to her directly. Give me one second. Commissioner zvanski this is commissioner zvanski. Mike, do we have representatives from the other plans who will be speaking or just delta . There are representatives from the other plans that will be available. Were not going to do this request for statement, but the representatives are available from the other plans as i do those presentations for any questions that are best answered by the plans. Commissioner zvanski thank you. Natalie, we can move on, if youd like, to commissioner comments and questions. Clerk yes. We can move onto commissioner comments and questions, and i will continue to reach out to her directly. Great. So can we go to the next slide . Thank you. President breslin . President breslin okay. Are there any questions from the Board Members . Vice president follansbee yeah, this is commissioner follansbee. I just want to make sure that im clear, that the only benefit change in these four requested actions or in the delta dental active employee for the nitrous oxide and noni. V. Sedation coverage, is that true. And also for the retiree, as well. The addition of nitrous objection item and the noni. V. Sedation coverage for the active employee and retiree p. P. O. Are the only changes to the policies. Vice president follansbee this is commissioner followans b follansbee. I do have a little bit of concern in older individuals. As far as the sedative is benzodiazepines, and im concerned if the study included some sort of observation on discharge from the practice because i do want to make sure that the benefits that we approve are, indeed, applied safely to all of our members. And again, older members may be on medications that may enhance the effects of noni. V. Sedation, but they may also be true of the delta dental, to active employees, as well. Id just like to hear from delta dental about that. If i may, dr. Follansbee, this benefit or these procedures are being done now. They were not being paid for, so your questions on the sedation and the safety protocols in place are valid, and im sure that they can be validated. In the terms of the dental benefit, there are people that wont go to the dentist unless they get nitrous oxide or some sort of sedation, so it was looked at from that lens, but we do want to assure that it is being practiced safely. Vice president follansbee can i just maybe have some clarification. Before we covered this, were members being billed additionally, then, for nitrous oxide and noni. V. Sedation . Yes. Vice president follansbee i appreciate this may be something thats already in process. It adds a certain element of risk now to us as a Health Service system if we are now covering this to know that those procedures are now in place. True, and yes, theres many examples of that. I dont know if theres any liability. That would be sort of a legal question, but yes, i mean, we always would look to a best practice and standard practices for these types of procedures. Commissioner scott this is commissioner scott. I have a question for mike. Has the preventative side of our benefits utilization increased, stayed the same year over year . Can you give me your impression of that, mike . Certainly. It actually has improved somewhat, so in the last year, comparing statistics we received from delta dental specific to sfhss employees and retirees on an aggregated basis, we did see a decrease by 0. 5 on the active employees, and 0. 7 on the retirees on the overall percentage of covered members who are accessing at least one covered service during the course of a year. President breslin i would add to that that delta dental, we have been working with them to do more aggressive campaigning about utilization of the dental benefit, and they were working toward that when this covid hit. And so obviously, thats been put on hold for the time being. And we did include, in the directors report, a utilization summary over the last number of years, so we do continuously look at that with del delta. Commissioner scott yeah. I was just going to make one last small additional comment. Delta dental gives us their book of data, and it is higher among sfhss active employees than it is for book of business. Commissioner zvanski this is commissioner zvanski. Its been a long, long time since i sat in on those negotiations to get the dental plan. I thought at one point both unified and Community College merged their active dental with ours from Health Service, and im just wondering when they split off because we usually say to the School District, if you take your actives, you take your retirees with you, and i notice that we are covering both School District retirees, and theyve