Transcripts For SFGTV Ethics 20240703

Commission. Todays meeting is a live cablecast on sfgovtv two and live streamed at sfgovtv. Org. Forward slash ethics live for Public Comment. Members of the public may attend in person or may participate by phone or on the webex platform, as explained in our agenda document. Mr. Clerk, would you please explain how remote Public Comment will be handled . Public comment will be available on each item on this agenda. Each member of the public will be allowed three minutes to speak for those attending in person. Opportunities to speak during the Public Comment period will be made available here in room 400, city hall for those attending remotely. Public comment can also be provided via phone call by. Calling 14156550001. Access code is 26643680498, followed by a pound sign, then press pound again to join as an attendee. When your item of interest comes up, press star three to raise your hand to be added to the public. Comment line. Public comment is also available via the webex client application. Use the webex link on the agenda to connect and press the raise hand button to be added to the Public Comment line for detailed instructions about how to interact with the telephone system or webex client, please refer to the Public Comment section of the agenda document for this meeting. Public comment may also be submitted in writing and will be shared with the commission after the meeting has concluded and will be included as part of the official meeting file. Written comments should be sent to Ethics Commission at sfgovtv. Org members of the public to attend commission meetings, including remote attendance, are also expected to behave responsibly and respectfully during the Public Comment. Please address your comments to the commission as a whole and not to individual members. Persons who engage in name calling, shouting, interruptions or other distracting behavior may be excluded from participation. Thank you, mr. Clerk, and ill call the meeting to order. Clerk, will you please call . Roll under item number one. Commissioners, please verbally indicate your presence by saying i after your name is called chair finley i. Vice chair flores fang. Commission salahi i. Commissioner ci is out with an excused absence. Commissioner francois i chair family with four members present and accounted for. You have a quorum. Thank you. Better call. Agenda item two. General Public Comment. Is there any Public Comment in the room seeing none. Mr. Clerk, would you check if theres any remote Public Comment . Chair finley, were checking to see if there are callers in the queue. Chair finley theres one caller in the queue. Welcome, caller. Your three minutes begins now. Caller, are you there . Caller. Youre unmuted. Caller. If youre trying to call in, therell be another opportunity for Public Comment later in the program. You can try again. Then thank you, mr. Clerk. Are there any other callers in the remote queue . Chair finley, were checking to see if there are other callers. Chair finley, there are no other callers. Thank you. Hearing no further, members of the public wishing to speak general Public Comment under item two is now closed. I now call the consent calendar, colleagues, as noted in the agenda, therell be no separate discussion unless one of us remember the public calls for it. Do any of my colleagues wish to address any of the matters on the consent calendar . Seeing none, any of my or, seeing no Public Comment, i think we will now take Public Comment on the consent calendar. Seeing none in the room, mr. Clerk would you check if theres anyone online . Chair, if we were checking to see if there are callers in the queue. Chair. Finley there are no callers in the queue. Thank you. I move to adopt the items on the consent calendar. And those are the draft minutes of the prior meetings on item four, three and four is the executive directors report, which is not an action item. But just for our information, i moved to adopt the consent calendar. Is there a second . Second . Mr. Clerk, would you please take role on the motion to adopt the consent calendar . Chair finley, a vice chair. Flores fang. Commissioner salahi i, commissioner francois i chair and live with four votes in the affirmative. You the motion. Has it been approved unanimously. Thank you. I now call agenda item five. Discussion and possible action regarding the proposed stipulation, decision and order in the matter of David Wasserman , were going to have a thank you. Thank you, i just want to really quickly take Public Comment on this item and then well hear from you. Thank you, mr. Clerk. Would you seeing no one in the room, i will ask you to check if theres any remote callers. Chair finley, we are checking to see if there are callers in the queue who wish to comment on item five. Chair finley, there is one caller in the queue. Thank you. Welcome, caller. You have your three minutes. Begins now. It appears the caller does not have a microphone. Caller has left the queue. Thank you, if those are caller out there again, therell be another opportunity for Public Comment later in the program. So if you fix your issue, feel free to call back, miss matthews, thank you. Happy to hear a presentation. And then well open it up for any questions. Sounds good. Good morning. Commissioners, so this matter was placed on the regular calendar following the request by this commission at the last meeting that going forward, all proposed stipulations be placed on the regular calendar, this matter involves respondent David Wasserman, who is a member of the rent board who failed to report the names of certain sources of income, 10,000 or more, that were derived from his business entity. After comprehensive review of mr. Wassermans form 700 filings over the past four years, investigators identified 28 violations which have been subsumed into one count, as noted in the stipulation, mr. Wasserman acknowledged his mistake and took full responsibility for the violations and also amended his form. Seven hundreds, to come in compliance with the law. The facts of this case are similar to prior matters that have been presented before this commission , and the Penalty Amount recommended per violation is the same as has been considered before and ratified by this commission. Ill be glad to answer any questions that you may have at this time. Thank you. I think this is a great enforcement action. So i want to thank you and the staff for their work. I do have one quick question, but i first want to see if any of my colleagues have any questions or comments. I might have a quick question or comment, but i dont know. It isnt. One of them is in. How about how this information was presented . And the other one was to second what you said about this being a i think, a well explained action. At first i was a little bit taken aback by the number given that he was, you know, a willing, you know, very compliant. Right, i think in understanding what the staff better understanding the precedent and why the 600, per, you know, per penalty was applied and understanding that thats connected to srp and what we did there, that that was very helpful for me, so i think that given that this, this amount, this penalty is appropriate. So i share that in case anybody else is also kind of taken aback by the fact that somebody who was compliant may still be penalized, i would also encourage the public to, when filing, the, you know, form 700 to read the ancillary materials that are in support, even if youve done it several times before. And i say that because there are some sections that say theyre optional and some that arent, but that isnt necessarily obvious from the form, so i would encourage all of us to, to have that handy when we are reviewing, and then as far as how the materials are presented, i think at the bottom it says it kind of implies that this is still part of the consent calendar. So i would just remove the last line, okay. Where it says members of the public may comment on the proposed step, noting that the commission receives Public Comment once for all consent items collectively, which doesnt seem relevant right now, but thats all. Thank you. Thanks for that, yeah, i had one, comment. Again, he, he became compliant, which is great, but he wasnt compliant. Of course, at the time of the problem. So that informs part of the clarification. Yes, but i think its good that the staff considered the fact that he did then voluntarily and quickly become compliant once you all raise it, the one question i had, though, from the stipulation, and we wouldnt go beyond the whatevers in here, but it wasnt really clear what it is that he failed to disclose. I think thats a matter of public record, because now its on his form 700. My assumption is that its a bunch of basically rental properties that he owned or interest in properties that he owned. Is that and again, so im not asking anything beyond whats probably public somewhere. Right. So its i, i think, its helpful that you, you know, didnt think that it was clear, but really, he didnt list the names of each individual source of income. He reported that he received income of 10,000 or more by checking that box, but he didnt go forward, further and list the names of each individual source of income. So, tenants or wherever that source derived from. But it was for him. It was tenants and Real Property. Like, were not talking about stocks and no no no no just right. So sources from Real Property Great Rental Properties to his business. Got it. Thank you. Yeah i think thats just a helpful fact. Even though its in the form 700, we can all see it. But i think its helpful to because thats helpful. Im not sure thats reflected in the memo itself, but again great action. I think given the number of violations, i think the penalty makes sense, anything commissioner salahi or francis francois, i echo both of my colleagues comments and thanks. Thank you for that feedback. Well definitely keep that in mind going forward. All right. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Good case, is there a motion . Ill move. Second, adopt the stipulation. Approve the stipulation. Second. Thank you, mr. Clerk. Would you take roll, please . On the motion to adopt the stipulation and the pro stipulation in agenda item five. On the on the motion to adopt the stipulation on item five. Chair finley i. Vice chair flores feng i commissioner salahi i commissioner francois i. Chair fan live with four votes in the affirmative. The motion is approved unanimously. Thank you, mr. Clerk. I now call agenda item number six. Discussion of possible action regarding proposed amendments to Ethics Commission, Campaign Finance regulations. Good morning everyone. So for anyone that i have not met yet, my name is ryan abuza and i am the engagement and Compliance Officer for the Ethics Commissions Campaign Finance and Campaign Consultant programs , first time in person at the meetings. Have always watched, but very excited to be here and glad to have the opportunity to present our proposed amendments to Campaign Finance regulations on behalf of our policy and legislative affairs manager, michael canning. So before we kind of doing high level overviews across kind of all of our proposed changes, i just wanted to do kind of a quick summary of how we got to this point, and then we can pivot and Start Talking a little bit more about these proposed changes. So kind of within our department and our work as part of our ongoing efforts and review processes, as far as Program Implementation goes, we get a lot of feedback internally and externally and over the last handful of election cycles, we have identified several ways to simplify, streamline and increase transparency regarding the operation of San Franciscos Campaign Finance laws. So kind of our our big ticket change here within kind of all of these suggested changes stems from the temporary Electronic Filing procedures that we had in place during the covid 19 pandemic, when our office was closed, our kind of big changes there are set to modernize our processes to better match kind of both state level procedures and reflect the kind of increasing and now wider availability of secure document signing and Electronic Submission formats. In tandem with that, we have several other kind of proposed changes to the Campaign Finance regulations to clarify rules and processes and better allow our staff to streamline a lot of the commissions functions for sake of efficiency and kind of just our peace of mind when were getting work done. As part of this process. We did hold two interested persons meetings during the month of march, primarily to discuss changes to our Electronic Filing program and solicit some additional feedback from members of the public and regulated community. Kind of for these proposed changes as a whole. So with that, what i would kind of like to do here is do kind of the bulk of the detail here, talking about the proposed changes to our Electronic Campaign disclosure regulations and then from there just kind of do brief, kind of high level overview of what the other proposed changes are. And then of course, opening for discussion, comment, whatever you all might have. If that sounds good, sounds great. Okay, lovely. So this one is the one that i personally am most excited about because of its effect on my program. And we have also gotten overwhelmingly positive feedback from members of the public and the regulated community. So when we are looking at our proposed amendments for regulation 1. 1122, the way that our elected sonic filing kind of process currently exists is very cumbersome for both filers and for our staff. Of course, under the law, all political committees are required to electronically file their Campaign Disclosure statements with our office under the existing language of reg 1. 1122. All responses. Officers for a committee are required to have a form 112 a signature verification card on file with our office in order for any of their statements to be accepted. In order to complete this form. This requires one of two things either an inperson visit to our office or, if they wish to complete the form remotely, they have to do it in the presence of a notary public, which means seeking out a notary reasonably, making an appointment, paying their fees, and then either mailing the form to us, coming to drop it off in person, whatever kind of works best for them. Additionally we are still currently accepting documents through, excuse me, a docusign based temporary transmission portal that we set up through the covid 19 pandemic. And although we are still accepting forms that way, we are really hoping that with these reg changes to basically move our process to be fully online and both compliant with kind of local code and then state laws, the way that this kind of current process looks to stand is full removal of the form. 112 a so we would be getting rid of the entirety of the signature verification process in a kind of an updated format thats going to more closely mirror what the city of oaklands Ethics Commission has done recently, where they would effectively be filing a kind of expanded version of the existing form 112 b that would give us all of the necessary information to register the committee, and we would then be able to set them up with their account so they could file all of their kind of following statements electronically, versus this kind of weird mix of what happens. Hard copy versus what happens electronically versus what happens in hard copy that is then scanned and submitted electronically. Kind of creating too many parallel paths when we could have one much more efficient and much easier streamlined path. Here i will also mention that based on the feedback we received from the secretary of States Office and the fair political practices commission, these proposed changes are acceptable and not disruptive to any of the states practices. As they currently exist, one thing that i will also kind of mention about this process, when they are filling out kind of this updated form 112 b i would also like to mention that it does include kind of a designation of signer authority, of course, with the understanding that electronic documents that bear a persons signature are treated the same as original paper documents for purposes of all applicable state and local laws, those forms are similarly signed under penalty of perjury, and whoever is kind of acting in a signer capacity on that form similarly maintains responsibility for the security of any sort of file or id or password or signature info that our Office Issues to their committee. So that is kind of about as much into detail as i will kind of go pending any questions. But that is kind of our first big ticket item as far as the proposed reg changes go here. I had one quick question on that. Sure. You said getting rid of the e signature requirement, but then separately everything will be filed signed under penalty of perjury. Anyways, so am i understanding that right. Theres no kind of pre signature verification form. Folks are going to submit things that are signed. So that one is kind of a yes and no. So what we are basically doing in lieu of having this kind of physical form that they need to sign, either in the presence of one of our staff members, we are basically folding it into an existing form that we have to expand the information collected to closely mirror the oakland Ethics Commission. I believe its their form 300 that is kind of the same idea. Its a Committee Registration form where we are still collecting a signature, but instead of doing okay, we get a hard copy that were going to have on file. This electronic one comes with a series of kind of attestations where theyre saying, you know, i understand that by enrolling in kind of this electronic version from the get go, instead of having a hard copy, im signing this under penalty of perjury. Everything will be treated as if this were a hard copy, kind of under the original kind of intent of the law. Got it. So kind of cuts out one step of the process and streamlines it. Great. Thank you. Cool. Awesome. So for the next one. So looking at the newly proposed, regulation for 1. 1084 about bank account locations, this one is basically just an attempt to provide some clarification to specify how our office seeks to interpret the law. As far as kind of the designation of an officer bank located in the city and county of San Francisco, of course, with modern banking practices starting to shift increasingly online and with remote capabilities, just making sure that our interpretation of the law includes any bank authorized to do business within the city and county of San Francisco, and acknowledging that Bank Accounts can be established online, via phone or in person at a bank branch for the next two. Looking at the proposed amendments, sorry to interrupt a quick question about that. Is there any implication to the ability to subpoena information from a bank that doesnt have some local physical presence . Oh, that i think i might defer to pat on that one, executive director pat ford, for the record, i dont think so. I think as long as theyre authorized to do business here, they would presumably have an agent for service of process. And thats really what we need. We just have to be able to serve them and effectuate the service of the subpoena. Okay. Thanks thank you. Pat, so for the next one, im going to kind of do these two together. So for the proposed amendments to regulation 1. 1267 and 1. 1273, these kind of propose amendments here basically just seek to kind of standardize the language and make sure that we have a set uniform standard kind of within our regulations. So so the way that the language kind of ended up shaping up is having a safe harbor, basically, for candidate committees that are kind of trying to fulfill their Due Diligence requirements to ensure that any contributions received are legally acceptable, kind of within the law of our campaign and governmental conduct code, we basically have for section one, two, six under the city contractor ban and for section 127 under the contractor or, excuse me, the contribution ban for persons with a financial interest in a pending land use matter. We basically have kind of this safe harbor that exists where committees are able to receive kind of assigned attestation from a contributor saying, this is me verifying that i am legally able to make this contribution to your committee. And so these two amendments basically just seek to standardize that language and make sure that it is kind of clear between both of them that the safe harbor exists, both within the language of the campaign and governmental conduct code, but is also made clear within the regulations, any questions on those . Im just curious, was there already a safe harbor . There just wasnt standardized language for it. Yes. So the way that it kind of existed previously is the safe harbor existed in section 127 of the code and then in the regs for section 126. So this basically just standardizes it to where its clear in both the code and the regs for both of those sections. Got it. Thanks okay lets see. So next up just very briefly these kind of in the same vein we are looking at two new regulations. For 1. 1269 and 1. 1274, kind of in the same vein of looking at potential contributions from prohibited sources, one thing that we were also seeking to do is kind of, for lack of a better phrase, closing this loophole here with some of the language around home office or Office Fundraisers, because the our campaign and governmental conduct code uses the political reform acts definition of a contribution. Shamann. This does include an exemption for home Office Fundraisers. So, any time that an occupant of a home or office, home gets any sort of meeting or fundraising event for a candidate as long as those costs are below 500, it is not deemed a reportable contribution. However for this kind of law as it stands, exists kind of within the interest of the state and not so much the interest of kind of our local laws and regulations here. So this kind of created a workaround where current individuals that would otherwise be subject to this contribution prohibition as either a city contractor or someone an interested person with a pending land use matter would technically be able to host a fundraiser or an event for a candidate at their home or office. And what this seeks to do is kind of update the regs so that it more closely mirrors the state language around lobbyist contributions, effectively making sure that this prohibition ban for certain parties exists across the board and doesnt have any sort of workarounds. There any questions on that . One . Okay. Perfect. Just to be clear, this is expanding the scope of the restriction correct here to include. Yeah. Or to effectively remove the home Office Fundraiser exemption. The next one. So for, for the amendment to regulation 1. 1426, this one was more just kind of a clerical fix. There were some issues with the text that this would correct , and then for the last two, these two new regulations, 1. 170, dash one and dash two based quickly, set up the commission to better specify and require the method by which any sort of documentation is delivered, particularly for sake of our audit team as well as our enforcement team, just to make sure that we have a uniform standard and that making sure that we are able to get through our work as quickly and efficiently and accurately as possible. And so with those, that was everything that i have comment wise. But i will stick around in case there are questions or any sort of discussion that i can provide some details for. I have a question. You mentioned there were a couple ip interested persons meetings. Im wondering if whether any attendees industry folks so on express concerns about any of these, and then to extend that did what you all thought of them or did to address them. Yeah, absolutely. So from the two meetings that we hosted, the only kind of real point of contention that we reached were on these last two proposed reg changes for section 170, just because kind of an issue that we run into, in particular with the regulated community is looking at kind of the spectrum of treasury work that is done from kind of folks that do it either as a Sole Proprietor or on a voluntary basis, versus kind of the larger firms, be they law firms or treasury firms, and kind of their ability to respond to document requests. Its, with the only kind of real issue we ran into is occasionally individual treasurers that are kind of looking to complete this work dont always have reliable access to printers or scanners, and dont always have a reliable way to transmit documents electronically. And so that was kind of the real only point of contention we reached is just making sure that any sort of implementation is mindful of kind of meeting the regulated community where were where theyre at, and making sure that at our discretion, we are also kind of able to receive these documents. But also making sure that we kind of have a uniform standard as opposed to not really knowing what, you know, were going to get when we request documents from a committee or a candidate. Yeah. Well, to that very point, is there some process whereby if a Small Committee or not sophisticated is able to bring their documents in to the commission and have you all scan them or so that is . Let me see. So that is included in the language of these two proposed regulations, is that the commission, at its discretion, is able to kind of set these protocols and procedures for requesting and receiving documents. So granted that that is outside the scope of kind of my position, that would be something handled more by our audit team or enforcement team. So at their discretion, they are certainly able to kind of set that. Got it. Thanks, a couple more questions. Thank you for the overview. So the last provision on 1. 1702, this is just fresh in my mind from our recent hearing on paul taylor. But if a person were to serve objections to a subpoena in a timely way, would is this intended to treat that as a withholding of materials . Oh, that is a very good question. That one i might also punt to pat, if thats all right. Im looking at the draft proposal for regulation 1. 1702, the very last one about provision of documents. And it says that failure to provide evidence, records, documents or information requested pursuant to a subpoena from the Ethics Commission constitutes withholding of such materials, and, you know, we had talked about this earlier about serving objections to a subpoena is usually a one valid way of responding. It was just curious whether this is intended to. Apply to a situation where somebody serves objections but doesnt serve the underlying evidence. Yeah. Honestly im not im not sure. I think youre going to depend on what the objection is, okay. Frankly, i think if the objection actually dealt with the merits, of the subpoena and responded to it in a, in a genuine way that actually took issue with the subpoena itself, i think we certainly would respect that and try and go through a process, to , you know, respond to those objections. But in an instance where either there was no objection served or the objection didnt genuinely address the merits of the subpoena, i think we potentially would still try and make an argument that that was actually not a proper response to the subpoena. I think commissioner salahi raises a really good point, because you could already make those arguments right. If someones not complying with the subpoena. But i dont think i think the concern is that were short circuiting the discovery process, right. By creating kind of liability for someone whos trying to respond to a subpoena, but maybe not the way that staff would like them to do it right away. But there is a process where you have objections, maybe meet and confer. Maybe you move forward. I think i think thats what were getting at or what the commissioner is getting at. And i share that thought, do you have a reaction to that . Yeah. I mean, we definitely go through a process with any respondent. And i should say also that a subpoena is not something that we do out of the gate, we try to get the person to voluntarily provide the documents and i would say 90 or more of respondents do that. Most of them are, you know, willing to work with us. And its not an issue. Its really only the respondents that either ignore us and we just cant get them to engage with us at all. So we have to serve a subpoena in order to try and get their attention and try and formalize the process, or respondent who will engage with us but refuses to provide documents that theyre required to provide. So theres a process that goes on even before we get to the subpoena stage. But then once we do, yeah, we would still absolutely work with them. And the City Attorneys Office will help in that process. That will help, you know, obviously they review the subpoenas. Sometimes they will engage directly with the respondent to so the respondent understands, you know, there is a City Attorneys Office that has authority to enforce the subpoenas in court, we i think the point of mentioning this in the regs is, is that people understand that there is a consequence potentially this isnt to try and make a really onerous or restrictive or overly intense punitive rule around subpoenas. Were really trying to put people on notice so that they understand this has the force of law. You need to you need to do this right. I think that all makes sense what youre saying. But i think that my concern is that looking at the actual language of the regulation as proposed, it doesnt create all that nuance that you just discussed. It has more of a blanket. Failure to provide evidence constitutes withholding such materials, short circuiting the whole kind of objection process. I wonder if we could cure that with a minor amendment that to add Something Like, right here where it says failure to provide evidence, records, documents or information requested pursuant to a subpoena , and then add or a timely response to a subpoena, comma, from the Ethics Commission constitutes withholding of such materials, and then that we could deal with the issue of whether the response was valid or timely. I would i would be fine with that. Personally. Yeah, i think it makes sense to build in Something Like commissioner salahi suggested, i have a timing question. I know that this is on for an action item today, but is there like a deadline for us to act on these proposed amendments, i mean, the only one, would just be so for the proposed amendment, the regulation amendments for 1. 1122, at whatever point that is approved, that kind of sets, a 60 day window that we have once we provide notice of, heres what the new change is going to be. We have a 60 day window before the actual implementation. Just because we have to legally provide that notice. So that is the only one that i think is really on any sort of timeline. Just if it were approved today, we could be active in july, which would make our lives a little bit easier for november. But for you all, please, like whatever timeline you need to discuss is a okay. Yeah, yeah, i think im generally fine voting today, but since we are live amending something, there may be a benefit to taking more time to make sure we have the right language that staff likes and that we are comfortable with on that, what are your commissioners . What are my thoughts is as far as that regulation is concerned. Im comfortable with that. That language i propose if the staff is comfortable with that, i dont. Could you say it again the so it would be, to insert the phrase after the where it currently says pursuant to a subpoena to insert after that, a subclause thats comma or a timely response to a subpoena comma. And then it continues to whats written there. I like the insertion, but wouldnt it go after more information . So failure to provide evidence records, documents or information or timely response. Oh. Thats fine. Yeah, that works too. Yeah yeah. Thats the danger of doing these things. Yeah yeah, mr. Ford, do you have thoughts . So the idea is, that this is specifically about subpoena, right . Not about requesting other kinds of information. So maybe it should go after subpoena. Maybe it would be, failure to provide evidence, records, documents or information requested pursuant to a subpoena, comma, or a timely response to such a subpoena, Something Like that, so that youre specifically calling out the subpoena. Thats what i had proposed. And i think what what, chair is proposing is that you could just add it to the first clause. So its failure to provide evidence, records, documents or information or a timely response requested pursuant to a subpoena. Yeah. Can we just short circuit the whole thing by saying failure to provide a timely response to a subpoena, or does that, leave too much space . Because thats really the heart of it, right . We want people to respond, whether its by producing the documents or by serving legitimate objections, but they cant. You know, not engage, i mean, its fine to listed more in detail to make sure that we dont inadvertently by putting it in a weird place in the sentence, kind of modify the wrong part of it. Yeah i mean, i think as long as on on interpreting really phrased language, i know as long as were fine and interpreting what a response, what timely means, what response means. Because if we want to provide like examples, evidence, records, documents, i dont know, so maybe we do need okay, maybe punting it would make sense. But if we want to spend, i dont know how many action items we have left, but i think ive got one suggestion. And if this doesnt stick, then we can skip it. So my suggestion would be, to insert the phrase after subpoena from the Ethics Commission. So it would go, ill read it out loud. Failure to provide evidence, records, documents or information when requested pursuant to a subpoena from the Ethics Commission. Comma or to provide timely response to a subpoena comma, constitutes withholding of such material, does that work . Sounds good to me. So great. Mr. Deputy city attorney, do you see any issues with that, those, amendments make sense to me. Thank you, were there any thoughts on any of the other. Yeah, just whether there were reactions from, the stakeholders that engaged with you and to any of the proposals that you made and the one that sticks out in my mind as being most substantive is the 500, limitation on using. Yeah. Otherwise, no, those were really the only two. It was just folks were happy about the 112 changes and a little on the fence about the 170 changes, but that was it. That was really the only kind of feedback that we got from folks. And then the only other question would be, and apologies if this is something that, folks who are more well versed in these issues already know, but, the regulation on that issue, says that a contribution includes the value of the use of the home or office as a fundraising event venue is that will there be guidance out there for how to value that thinking . Just private citizen who doesnt normally do that. So theres not really a market for it. Yeah. So that is something that we are kind of currently working on internally to figure out, pending kind of some Additional Guidance and feedback from the fair political practices commission, we are hoping to have guidance on that soon, but it is something. Yeah, thats been in the works because its it is a question that we get not infrequently, so making sure that we do kind of have clear guidance there is important. Okay thats it for me. Great, i think well be able to then vote today, but, well do Public Comment, anyone in the audience wish to make Public Comment . Seeing no one in the room . Mr. Clerk, would you check if there are any remote callers . Chair. Were checking to see if there are callers in the queue to wish to comment on. Item six. Chair there are no callers in the queue. Great i move to adopt the proposed amendments to the regulations, discuss subject to the, verbal edit to the proposed amendment to section regulation. 1. 1702 second. Could you take roll, please . On the motion to adopt to approve the proposed amendments for item number six, chair a vice chair flowers, i commissioner safai i commissioner francois i chair with four votes in the affirmative. The motion is approved unanimously. Thank you, mr. Abuza. Thank you for being here. Awesome. Thank you all so much. Thank you. It was a really clear presentation. Thank you. Thank you to meet you. Thanks for coming. Come again. I now call agenda item seven, presentation on implementation of proposition d. Far does this go here okay. Good morning commissioners peter lotter. Thank you, peter lauterborn, miss mike is a little broken. Apologies, manager for the ethics at work division. I was going to be copresenting with michael canning, manager of our policy division, but he is unavailable today, were going to be talking about the implementation of proposition d, a, something that was in the works. And commissioner request that we bump it up. So were very happy to do so and share this, were going to start first by talking about the results itself and whats next for the policy, so as you probably know, the measure did incredibly well. Its one of the most successful measures in city history and the most successful over the last 30 years. So very excited and honored that we get to implement something with this amount of public support, the policy division, moving forward, i wont be able to get into too much detail since im not able to download michaels brain fully, but there are going to be ongoing conversations with bargaining units. First, on the details around the transition away from the departments unique statements of incompatible activities, which will no longer be taking effect. Theres going to be additional regulations also in the works for detailing some of the specific, details. And then, theyre going to be playing a large part in working with the ethics at work team to make the trainings and the materials, make sure that the forthcoming forms are all ready to go and are able to be, you know, totally aligned with the goals of the policy here, my, pat, is there anything im gleaning over here that you wanted to highlight . No okay. Just to make sure, also, i wanted to give a little bit of a closure to the last year of the ethics at work divisions activities. When we last presented, we were just kicking off our effort to engage individuals, departments and make plans with them to disseminate the materials about ethics, laws and regulations that they needed to follow, we had a wide range of materials made, including web pages, printable materials, videos and online courses that were developed, and we were able to get these out through these departmental plans, that include hundreds of views of, of online views of our videos, advertisement spots on sfgovtv, which they provided for us for, for free, as they do for city departments and a number of live trainings, particularly for members of the municipal executives association, our work with the departments was really wonderful. We were able to make a lot of great connections with departments, a lot of interest in, our work, a lot of grateful anise that this was starting to happen, that there was going to be more proactive engagement with them, the departments that worked with us typically would come up with a plan to say what materials were most relevant. Wed Work Together on that, get certain materials to all staff. Some things would only go to managers, particularly higher level materials. For example, our elearning training on best payments was highly requested, doesnt the departments were able to make these plans with us a number . You know, either did not or engage with us, but the timing wasnt right for them, and its a Perfect Point now that prop d does require this additional amount of training. So weve done the voluntary work. We were able to do that, specify provide targeted content for departments. We also learned a lot about what they value, what they need to see in educational materials and trainings, and now were able to incorporate that into the mandatory trainings that proposition d is going to be moving forward with. As part of the proposition d implementation. So, there are six components which ill go through each which includes the, updating the general ethics training, education materials on the proposition d changes, the requirements around departmental departmental gift disclosures, the personal relationships disclosures and transitioning as we just mentioned, the statements of incompatible activities and then finally, updates to the existing guidance content that we have, each of these, by the way, ill give a short summary of what were, of the steps that were looking at. And then therell be a timeline. Im going to pause on that timeline slide for a couple of seconds, not get into the details. If you do have a question though, just feel free to pause me, so for the updated general ethics training, this is a training that is currently required of officers, mandated by state Assembly Bill 12. 34. This training has been currently be, managed by the department of Human Resources with a lot of input, of course, from the City Attorneys Office and the staff of the Ethics Commission. This is a training that we were already going to sort of take over the management of, from department of Human Resources. They manage many, many trainings. This is one that we could own. Wanted to have updated content, updated scenarios that felt realistic based on the feedback we hear from stakeholders, and update it for accessibility and diversity, this is now going to be the baseline of the training that will satisfy the proposition d requirement that all form 700 filers will be taking a training, we are looking at how module we can make it based on the tools available so that certain staff, certain officers, perhaps commissioners, get something slightly different than departmental staff leadership, when it is appropriate. Thats going to be our long time aspiration to include that. But at the very least, everyones going to be getting this training and have all of not only the state mandated content, but also the content that is, locally unique. Again ill use hazard payments as an example that applies to all forms of 100 filers. I think i just covered a lot of this in the last slide, so i dont need to say that again. Brief timeline. You know, our goal is that this needs to be ready to roll for sure by the time proposition d takes effect in midoctober. Is the current target date. Its something that were able to update as necessary. So, for example, if it was able to go sooner, we could have it available sooner for new hires, minus the things that are unique to proposition d. But again, our goal is to have this go up simultaneously to the to win. Proposition d takes effect education on the changes. So we want to make sure that all city officers and employees are aware and understand what is changing because of this measure. And so in general, were going to make sure that we have materials, faqs, videos available on a proposition d page. That is a, excuse me, available for anybody to access and get that education change, see whats see whats changed for them. But we are also delivering on the agreements that we made with the municipal executives association, which includes two two hour live trainings and four hours of optional self guided content. So these materials will all help each other. What we make for mta will of course be incorporated into what the general public receives and will be available for anyone to use if they decide that they want to do some selfeducation. There the timeline highlight for this really briefly is that the agreement, is that we will have these materials available for their use three months before the laws take effect, and so we are thats our First Priority right now, is making sure that were able to get these because, well, before the law takes effect, were going to make sure that these are ready out there and people can start getting ready for when the laws are real departmental disclosure. So proposition d requires that now departments need to, report all gifts from private entities. We are working on a, were working with the eda division to create the form. And then as well as a communication plan to articulate two departments and their staff as they see fit, what those requirements are, how they can satisfy the requirements and do the reporting appropriately to us. Again, this is making sure that were communicating often to departments that they know the changes are coming and a communication has already gone out from our executive director, but well be wanting people to know that this is forthcoming. This is forthcoming. This is what the form is going to look like. This is how you ask for help about it, so theres no surprises when the law takes effect in october and then continuing to support them if they have questions or need a Technical Assistance thereafter. Personal relationship disclosure. So previously we, while there were, conflicts of interest rules around personal relationships, there were not requirements for or there were not penalties for disclosing them and not a process, for it. So updating that now there will be a requirement that were going to develop, that personal relationships have to be or business relationships have to be reported to their department via a memo. This will be something for departments to manage. But the guidelines, will be set by the Ethics Commission. So working internally to set those standards, working with departments so that they can understand it, get any hopefully useful Stakeholder Feedback about what will and wont work for them. And so that a really common set of guidelines are able to be understood by all the departments and theyre able to comply with it easily, again, the main target here is to communicate to departments that its forthcoming, let them know, early and often what its going to look like, hear their feedback, and be completely ready to go for implementation in october. Then transitioning to the statements, of incompatible activities. So in the past, each department could make their statement of incompatible activities sia, which would often include existing laws that already apply to everybody. But would also go and detail specific rules that apply to their departments. Those no longer exist, and the most Common Elements were incorporated into proposition d, so come october, these will no longer take effect. In the interim. Theres of course, still support to give departments over, you know, providing them advice and assistance with these, with these rules, but then also reminding people that these are phasing out, theres the addition of additional complications that some individuals might feel around the advance written determinations, where people had to understand whether or not a certain activity did conflict with an sia or not. And so well be working with the departments to address the existing ones and what those will look like going forward. Once proposition d takes effect, in some ways theyll still be covered, you know, itll itll be no longer permitted because the proposition d in other cases, that unique departmental entity or rule will no longer be covered by sia because they wont exist, really . A Communications Exercise as well as advice and guidance and support activity. Lastly, we have a lot of content on our website. We have a lot of materials detailing gifts, conflict of interest, secondary employment, joint postemployment restrictions, all sorts of issues. We want to make sure that all of these are 100 up to speed with the proposition d changes. A lot of our materials are high level and dont need to change, but some of them do go into many more specifics. So were auditing the website to look for the materials, some of which predate many of us, or even all of us here. We want to make sure that theres nothing on the website that misleads somebody to, you know, oh, i found this is a great way i can take this home. No, we want to make sure that any content on the website is either updated or if it needs to stay, you know, say there was a press release or an announcement that people are able to find the current information, even if the old content has to stay in place , yeah. And we also are identifying things that are particularly public facing to make sure that were meeting the Language Access ordinance requirements for translation on the website too. So anything that needs to be updated in multiple languages that were doing that as well. Thats the proposition d specific point. Were going to talk a little bit about advice guidance. But any questions or feedback at this stage i have one question. Please if employers are doing the training, do they do it during their workday or do they do it after work hours and are they compensated for that . It is a work activity. It is a requirement of their workplace and they can do it during work hours. However, their managers need them to organize that if theyre, you know. Great question. Thank you, any other questions . Oh, if we could go back to the slide deck, please. Thank you. So we also want to talk briefly here about how were growing the ethics advice program. Weve always been advertised to city officers and employees that were available as a staff to provide guidance. But knowing that with several thousand more people taking required trainings with a lot more content going out there and new rules, we wanted to make sure that we were staffing up to make sure that we could handle the additional expected, incoming requests. So, were as i said, were expecting an increase in that demand. And so the ethics at work team is going to adopt a new system for our advice. This is going to include a new online portal and a articulating more protocol so that we have timely responses, and consistent responses that were giving the same advice to the same questions consistently, not to say that didnt happen in the past, but a system that could rotate between phone calls, emails, teams, messages was, was harder to track than something that now is going to be all based on the portal, a system that we already use for form 700 support and other elements of our external advice. Were going to bring that for this sort of conflict of interest ethics advice. With that open again to any other questions or comments or feedback i havent, i have another question. Im sorry, is there a timeline for them to complete the training, so new employees need to take the required training, is it 30 days from their hiring, or from their taking their position . So thatll be so in october. Once the property takes effect, well have it up there for any new hires, then others will have to take it on the same timeline as their form 700 requirements. So sometime between january 1st and april 1st, or if it was this year would have been april 2nd, depending on those variances, so the annual requirement would be concurrent with their form 700 expectations. Will there be new training that we take . You will be taking the same training that would be available, that you would be taking it as part of your annual requirements. So youd be taking it next winter, spring. Lucky you. Thank you. This is great. Thank you. Good presentation. Great. My pleasure. Thank you. Even though theres no action, i think we still have to take Public Comment on this. So looking in the room, seeing no one. Mr. Clerk, would you check if there are any remote callers . Chair. Were checking to see if there are callers in the queue, chair finley, theres one caller. Welcome. Caller. Your three minutes begins now. Good morning, commissioners, this is Debbie Lerman from the San Francisco Human Services network. Were a Public Policy association of about 80 San Francisco health and Human Service nonprofits who have contracts with the city and county to provide services over the past about ten years, the city and voters have approved multiple laws and measures with enhanced ethics requirements, and many of them apply to city contractors or other members of the public who interface with government, whether theyre property rules, campaign contributions, bastard payments, or others. These rules are often very detailed, and they require action by contractors to remain in compliance. Ive raised repeatedly over the years the need for training to ensure our nonprofits are aware of these rules. I do what i can to educate our members, but i guarantee the vast majority are unaware of things theyre supposed to be doing. So once again, we have a new set of laws and regulations with no effort to inform all affected stakeholders and a focus only on training city employees. I would ask this commission to prioritize the development of training and written materials to educate non profit city contractors on all of the changes in ethics rules, and i am always happy to offer assistance in any way we can to organize training sessions or do outreach to non to the nonprofit sector, or ask departments to do that. And i hope you will take this under consideration. Thank you. Thank you. Chair, there are no more callers. Thank you. I will now call agenda item eight presentation on Campaign Finance dashboards. Good afternoon. Or good morning commissioners im here im tyler field a senior ice engineer with the commission. Im here today to give you an overview of the Campaign Finance dashboards, as noted in the agenda memo, these dashboards are one of the ways the Ethics Commission is trying to make it easier for, the public and interested people to review and compare campaign statements and assist voters in making informed electoral divisions decisions, these dashboards distill a large number of filings into an interactive set of charts and graphs that answer common questions on Campaign Finance. But before i dive into demonstration mode, id like to quickly go over a couple of concepts around Campaign Finance disclosure, when we talk about how much money is in a election, how much money this candidate has spent, how do we know where do those numbers come from . From this form, the fppc the form for 60 local committees, groups that raise and spend money for an election have to file this form with our office, it lists how much money committees raise. Who is giving it to them, where theyre spending it, how theyre spending it, while theyre active. All committees have to file this form semiannually twice a year. And during an election year, there are a couple extra preelection deadlines, the semiannual deadline always falls on july 31st and january 31st, and covers activity during the period before the next semiannual filing, semiannual deadline will be on july 31st this year, which will cover january 1st to june 30th and then the january 31st. Deadline covers the second half of the prior year, july 1st through december 31st. Preelection deadlines are for committees that are primarily formed for a candidate or a ballot measure. In an election, they cover the time period between the last semiannual filing and an election here in San Francisco, we have three preelection filings, in september, october and november. This slide is just another way to visualize the reporting periods and deadlines for the election. So now you know that Campaign Finance data comes into our office by political committees filing statements, which are up there with tax returns on the boring to fund scale statements, get filed over the course of a year. They cover different time periods. And if youre interested in a particular election as a whole, youd have to identify all the individual committees for all the candidates and ballot measures in that election and examine all the filings by those committees over the preceding years, now i want to shift gears and show you how our office makes all that a little bit less confusing and a little more accessible. Heres our web page for the, november 2024 election dashboards. We keep track of all the committees for an election and organize them by contest, candidate or ballot measure and position. We aggregate and tally all the information from the committees filings and present it in an organized fashion. This this tab is, total funds received. And up here at the top , is an overview of totals by committee. And then down at the bottom, the, contributions are broken out by individuals. You can use filters if youre only interested in a certain contest or a certain candidate, and the transactions are organized by type. So if youre interested in monetary versus nonmonetary or contributions coming from another committee, you can also explore how committees are spending money. This tab is organized in a similar fashion to the to the funds tab with general overview up top and itemized individual expenditures down on the bottom. We can explore a lot of the other data thats included in the form for 60 disclosures, but that might not be as evident, this tab groups, contributor by locations and totals inside or outside San Francisco, inside or outside of california. And then by zip code and state of the contributor, we can use the filters here on this page. Well filter down to the mayor election. And then just the candidate controlled committees. And you can see most of the contributions are coming from individuals within San Francisco and overwhelmingly within california, the other tabs on this page, go over some other information about contributors, their occupations and employers, the payments made by, committees through directly or through vendors, expenses that they make on credit and then some timelines of committee , expenses and contributions. Another time based visualization of their estimated cash balances. And then finally a Public Financing tab which shows, or will show the funds that are disbursed, to candidates participating in our Public Funding Program after june 17th, when those fundings, when those funds can be dispersed. The biggest drawback to all of these, from my perspective at least, is that theres a manual step involved. I have to click a few buttons to upload, any changes to these dashboards. So if you remember the filing schedules i talked about, theres only a its not usually a big deal. Theres only a couple dates where lots of changes happen, but what i didnt mention is that during the 90 days before an election, there are some additional disclosure requirements. And during that period, site visitors dont want to wait for me to get my Morning Coffee and click upload. So this year, we have introduced an automated version of automated and simplified version of the dashboards, which shows contests , or is broken up by contests and shows control sessions and expenses by individual candidates, but their candidate control committees and supporting and opposing committees. Supporting and opposing here. And this year we also unveiled an additional set of dashboards for committees that give money to the committees in the main dashboards, this this page shows , Campaign Finance for committees who file locally with San Francisco and contribute to the committees that are primarily formed for this election, there contributions there payments and then also committees that file with the california secretary of state, those committees contributions and payments. These tools that ive gone over today, show you some of the ways that our office is making it easier for, for the public and for reporters and interested people to understand some of the complexities of the Campaign Finance disclosures. And with that, id open up to questions or comments or i think this is really cool. I think the more ways that we can break down the way Campaign Finance works, where its coming from, where its going, how its being used, the better we engage folks. I love the, all the different kind of charts and formats that we have. One thing im curious about is there any way to connect any of it to the precinct level kind of Voter Registration data . That department of elections connects . Im just thinking out loud, like potentially where contributions are coming from, mapping it to a map, i dont you dont have to respond now. Im just kind of planting a seed. And there may be physical, logistical, all kinds of hurdles, but itd be a fun way to connect different agencies data. If you have a reaction, go for it. If not, just take it back and, no, chair finland. That, that does sound like a very exciting, idea. There are some, some things weve been tossing around, some ideas weve been tossing around to be able to do that, but we will have we will have to be conscious of, state requirements or state laws requiring us to not publish individualized addresses, i believe, i cant remember exactly, but well have to make sure were within the, the realm of the law. Of course, im also just curious. Do you track how many folks access this data, we kind of do. We have, some analytics set up, and the for the, for the main dashboards, there is a counter that runs, it shows how many times it has been downloaded, but it doesnt individualize. Those downloads. So if i were to look at it from my computer at work and then the next day reload it, that would probably be two counts. So i see theres some interpretation. Open up. Got it. Yeah, i think as a follow up to that, as long as i think im most concerned with monitoring engagement and ensuring that the way i mean, these charts, i agree, these tables and the many ways we can see this data is very, it seems very easy to me, which is nice and it seems accessible, but im wondering if one weve like how we receive feedback and how weve incorporated that feedback in order to change the way we represent information, and whether we can monitor engagement generally from it sounds like we can, given the analytics, you know, platforms that we may rely upon. But im wondering about feedback otherwise, yeah, were always open to hearing feedback, you can email to Ethics Commission at sfgovtv. Org, and i will also mention, i and ryan and michael canning a couple of months ago gave a presentation to a set of journalists, local journalists about how to think about Campaign Finance and how to use the tools here generally. Its very theyre very enthusiastic about it. And i have since gotten some emails from from journalists saying, hey, what does this number mean . So. Thank you. Any other comments, mr. Field . Thank you for being here. Thank you, Public Comment seeing no one in the room, mr. Clerk, would you see if any remote callers on item eight . Chair, if there are no callers . Thank you. Public comment on item eight is now closed. I now call agenda item nine. Discussion on possible action on items for future meetings. Does any commissioner wish to speak to this item, just one thing that occurred in response to the prior public caller. I would be interested to know what kind of training, resources we have for noncity folks. So nonprofits, city partners. Im not sure if its an agenda meeting item. Maybe its more just an informal conversation with me, so ill leave that to staff to figure out whats the best way to what. Im just curious. What, because i think the caller raises a fair point. There may be a bunch of resources out there that im just not aware of. I mean, i think the prior presentation on property, you know, mentioned that there would be website materials thatd be updated. And so i think that thats its all like forthcoming, but but i agree with you that i, it would be nice to know more specifically how were targeting that audience, and then i think we have to do another Public Comment on item nine, seeing no one in the room. Mr. Clerk, would you check if there are any remote callers . Sure. We are checking to see if there are any callers. Sheriff in live. There are no callers. Okay. Item nine is closed. Finally. Item ten, additional opportunity for Public Comment. Seeing no one in the room. Seeing no one in the room. Mr. Clerk, would you check if there any remote callers . Sheriff, we are checking to see if there are remote callers. There are no callers. Okay. Public comment on item ten is closed. I call agenda item 11. Adjournment gavel down. Thank you conduct a field shelter exercise where we open up a number of tents that animal control has they have supplies and equipment and staff and volunteers. We simulate the need for cape ability after a disaster or earthquake. Animal care and control is your citys animal shelter. We care for approximately 10,000 animals a year. We are opinion for San Franciscos animal in thes upon effect of an emergency. We got our tents and practicing how to deal with that. This is the shelter is overwhelmed with animals after a disaster this shelter is full regularly. If we torch have an event that would cause a number of animals to escape or injured or stray or separate friday their people thats where we would respond. Pets are part of the family and need to make sure they are taken care of like people with the supplies and equip we are able to provide shelter for pets in addition to the existing shelter. We have formulated a plan so this in the event of a disaster we are hear ready to help and support the city. We are able to use the muni bus to transport the people. Animals and other equip if the shelter. Encourage people there is an Evacuation Order to take your pet with you. Very first thing everyone should do is microchip the pet. And pack a bag shelter cert not a place where you want your animal to end up unless the last resort and like to keep most out of the shelter when we can. Take care of your people and your friend and family. Pets need to be takenyou. What do you think about working at an airport and i love it is busy all the time. We want it to be an those away was this is a venture if i didnt love it ill be an accountant. We want the experience that is a nonairport experience the negative stigma were trying to erase that. Everything is in a bad food to excite them about the food and they have time to learn about us. People are imitated by traveling and the last thing to do is come to a place fill of chaos. Telling me how the extent of napa a farms came about. It was a vision of the airport director he had a suspicion of a really cool gourmet speciality market locally friendly products this market local flavors this is the best. Can we get a little tour. Absolutely laughter so first on our tour. We have the clock we like to call it. This is coordinating it is made in San Francisco. What about the customer presence. We like to get the permanent farther i love the cappuccino and you have to go to multiple places for the cupcakes the cup a cakes from karis people want to live here theyre longing phone call for one thing in one spot in you know anything about San Francisco the cheese the most popular cheesy think a lot of the people from the west coast say so this the real San Francisco sour dough and theyre curious. You find people respond to the idea of organic and absolutely. This is autumn. Thank you, thank you and theres a lot of personal touch. I see San Francisco. Its very hands on. Whats the most popular items. This is quite surprising our fresh jotting this is the chronicle special a bowl of warm oats and coconut thats mites farther. And speaking of drinks tell me again the cocktail scenes is that one, the things your known for. The cocktails are fantastic. Really. Fresh ingredients we dont have a mixture it to order this is our marcus bloody mayor. Farmers market bloody mary the bloody marys in the airport are great shikz it up. And then were going to garnish it with olives. And some lime and a fresh stalk of selly. Right on. We like. music . My name is package scott im a general manager and Vice President of the yerba buena ice skating and Bowling Center. We opened in 98, we are celebrating our 25 anniversary. The last ice relation at 48 avenue with the Redevelopment Agency started to reconstruct a yerba buena the city had suggested how about around ice skating we have a podium we run from the tiny to the we have a whiff Adult Community of beginners and entering meats and so many people that only to San Francisco and california for the east coast who grew up circulating and when they finding a pair they fall in love with that. My favorite ring it is a beautiful skyline and yeah. It is really nice background noise. our Bowling Center is adorable perfect for Conference Party and Birthday Party or have a good time and childrens activity and wonderful playground and a great area to relax and enjoy the view it is 35 part of the city and a lot of great places to go around and have lunch. Skating is fun for the whole family we have an Amazing Program a huge Adult Population sea sorry about that in his skating and is or have a ton of programs it is walkable in their yerba buena community. We have everything you need. If i forgot our socks we have those and we charge a. D. Mythics, inc. , if you have no skates the general public typically e traditionally have public skating and open on the weekends and multiple sessions for everyone to i brought almonds. Oh. You know, my budget is. I hear you got a big old budget going. Good evening. The chair has called the meeting to order. If you could please rise for the pledge of allegiance. The United States of america into the republic for which it stands. One nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. President lyons, id like to take roll. Please do. Commissioner benedicto, present commissioner yanez. Present. Commissioner yee, nice present. Vice president carter overstone. Present. President lyons, you have a quorum. Also with us tonight is chief scott from the san franci