Good morning everyone. The committee will come to order. I apologize for the delayed start, but hopefully we will have an opportunity to hear from the secretary and learn of the president s views for the department of energy. Secretary perry, i want to welcome you to your first hearing following your bipartisan confirmation here in the senate. While it took us a little bit longer than wed hoped to get you in this role, were glad to have you at the helm. We look forward to helping you get a full compliment of folks there at the department as well. The budget request for the department of energy takes a different approach this year than weve seen in the recent past. The president has made a concerted effort to increase funding for the National Nuclear Security Administration to focus on our Nuclear Weapons program. This is a portion of the department that falls outside the scope of our committee here. The administration has also requested robust funding for the cleanup of Nuclear Waste l
Of openness. That is not the case when it comes to filling foya requests. March 2014, the Associated Press reported the Obama Administration more often than any other administration had sensors government files or outright denied access. The administration used exemption to withhold information more than 550,000 times. Agencies must consult with the white house on all document requests that may involve documents with white house equities. Just in the last year the government fully denied access or censored records in at least 250,000 cases or roughly 39 of all whys. This is the highest number of denials in the history of foya. We waited to hear from individuals to get Public Records they requested. This came from media and the foya system is broken and probably broken by design. In preparing for this hearing, the Committee Received numerous examples of delays, unreasonable redactions and abuse of fees, all of which hindered transparency. The epa strategically avoided disclosure disclos
Good morning. We are meeting today to consider the nomination of mr. Wilbur ross to be the next secretary of commerce. If confirmed mr. Ross would bring decades of business and entrepreneurial experience to this position best known for revitalizes distressed businesses such as those in the United States Steel Industry. At a time most inventors aban n abandoned the industry, investors abandoned the industry he organized the International Steel group in 2002 through acquisitions of the largest Steel Company in north america, later it merged to form the largest Steel Company in the world. Mr. Ross strong record of achievement led Bloomberg Business week to name him as one of the 50 most influential people in Global Finance in 2011. Its also why he is the only person elected to both the Turnaround Management hall of f. A. M. E. And private equity hall of fame. Mr. Rosss business is complemented by a service 0 the communi community. Mr. Ross served as First Lieutenant of the u. S. Army and
Move to continue number one and items number 12 ab for one week second. Thank you commissioners on probation officer motion to continue items as proposed commissioner fong commissioner koppel commissioner melgar commissioner moore commissioner Vice President richards and commissioner president hillis so moved, commissioners, that motion passes unanimously 6 to zero. Jonas i think as acting da ill request for variance one week also. Thank you acting Zoning Administrator. Commissioners under our consent calendar commission. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a member of the commission, the public, or staff so requests in which event the matter shall be removed from the consent calendar and considered as a separate item at this or a future hearing. We have one item under content case 2 this is the baby diaper changing accommodations planning code amendment. There are no speaker cards. Any Public Comment on item number 2 proposed to be approved by content seeing non
Disruptions of any kind. Proceedings. And when speaking before the commission, if you care to, do state your name for the record. Id like to call roll at this time. Commissioner president hillis commissioner Vice President richards commissioner fong commissioner koppel commissioner melgar and commissioner moore. Commissioners, that places you under your is consideration of items proposed for continuance number 1888 tennessee street large project authorization is proposed for continuance to april 27, 2017. Commissioners further under our discretionary review calendar items 12 ab 659 guerrero street discretionary review and variance staff is prop a one week continuance commissioners sort of oddly enough 4 drs with filed during the notification period we received a 5 dr requester that was filed on valentines day february 14th that dr requester is unable to attend todays hearing to afford that person due process i think we have at least continue is one week. I do know that the dr requester