captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- supervisor campos: good morning, everyone. but to the july 12, 2010 meeting

of the board of supervisors will committee. to my right is the committee vice chair, supervisor alioto- pier, to my right is supervisor mar. we have been board -- joined by the board president. staffing and covering the meeting are charles [unintelligible] and bill dillman. are there any announcements, madam clerk? >> please turn off all cell phone devices. please provide a speaker card if you wish to speak. if you are submitting documents, please provide documents for -- copies for the committee. supervisor campos: thank you. we're going to start with item no. 2. >> item #2, charter amendment (first draft) to amend the charter of the cityfrancisco by amending section 16.23-10, to extend thepublic education

enrichment fund 2016; amending sections 16.123-2 and 16.123-8, to make conforming changes; 16.123-3, to use any surplus returned from the library preservation fund baseline to disbursements under the pubic education enrichment library programs; amending section 16.123-5, to allow the to pay college tuition and fees for students attending city amending section 16.123-6, to authorize the youth plans submitted by the school five commission, amending section 16.123-8, to require theday reserve policy for the san francisco unified school district covering local revenues suspend disbursements from the fund to the school district section 16.123-7 as obsolete. supervisor campos: this item was introduced by supervisor alioto- pier, we know the chest to leave soon. supervisor? supervisor alioto-pier: i am sorry, we have a hearing soon, i will jump out, go to my hearing, and i will be back. what i would like to do with this charter amendment, it is nowhere near ready for the ballot. [laughter]

i would like to change the date, making it for the following november election. that would give it time to work it through in the intervening months and have it back on the agenda during the next charter season. supervisor campos: so, a motion to continue it to the call of the chair? supervisor alioto-pier: with that work? i suppose so -- how would that work? i suppose so. right now we would not do it for this election cycle. supervisor campos: before we take action, maybe we should open it to public comment. any members of the public? good morning. >> thank you very much. i did not prepare one of my eyes presentations. you probably imagine that anything the library administration takes a position on, i can be allied -- relied upon to take the opposite position. this is not one of those cases. this is an attempt to capture

some of the leftover funds from the library preservation fund and put it towards another use. at first brush, it seems like a good way to turn some of the resources back to the city. in fact, what you really need to ask yourself is does this move towards democracy? or is it just substituting one special interest or another? what we really need, what i tried to advocate, is the idea that we should make library money accountable in useful. this does not move in that direction. if we are just taking money out of the library budget, i am not

really in favor of that. although you might think that i am. the real issue is to take all of these proposals and make sure that we are moving in a direction of accountability. now, you may be cognizant of the fact that we are entering an era of financial hard times. i remember when i was a kid in high school, we used to get these presentations from these guys who were about the age that i am now. they would come give us the wisdom of their years. because of what i was in high school, it was the wisdom of the great depression. i wish i could channel those guys. most of what i have learned is how right they were over the years. the public sector is what we

look to when hard times come. the public sector runs on a bunch of principles that are completely different from the private sector's values that we run done now. we run on the idea that people are visionaries and that morality is irrelevant. what we need to turn our attention to is the idea that everybody has a place and that we know everyone a debt of honor. supervisor campos: thank you, is there any other member of the public that would like to speak? seeing no one, public comment is closed. we have a motion to amend the date and to continue this item to the call of the chair by supervisor alioto-pier.

can we take that without objection? thank you very much. madam clerk, please call item no. 1. >> item number one, and county of san 8a.106, 8a.107, a8.428, and deleting section andsplit appointments to the san francisco municipal board of directors, allocate a share transportation fund, agency budget if its budget is rejected by the board of of the mta inspector general, and eliminate formulas governing operator wages and benefit payments and subject these matters instead to supervisor campos: thank you very much. this item was introduced on june 25 by a number of us on the board of supervisors. a charter amendment that has been co-authored, besides myself, by supervisor mar and supervisor chu.

let me begin by saying that this charter amendment is pushed forward with it the understanding that something has to be done about the mta. as someone who rides all of the time, i can tell you, the sense that i get as a writer and from other writers is that the system is broken. and that the only way that you can say that this charter amendment is unnecessary is if you believe that muni is working fine, which i think that most san franciscans would say that that is not the case. this amendment tries to provide a comprehensive approach to reform, recognizing that there are different elements that must be at rest, different issues. we have a number of amendments that i would like to speak to

end introduced today. in our view it will and hence the charter amendment as a whole. let me say that we are working with the deputy city attorney, who is right now in the process of finalizing the language. but i would like to proceed to make oral amendments with the understanding that the actual language will be distributed to the members of the committee and the public very shortly during this meeting. the first amendment relates to the issue of the office of the inspector general. there are a number of issues that have been identified by the comptroller. as pointed out, correctly, in trying to make sure that we had a functioning and independent third party, in this case the

inspector general, we need to make sure that we in no way undermine the authority of the comptroller's office. those points are well taken. they are balanced against the need that many of us see, that there is a tremendous benefit in having an independent function in the internal audit within muni. that there is something to be gained from that function. my experience as someone in the public described it to me, which i think is a good comparison, look at the police department and its function and goal of the office of citizen complaints. that office certainly adds value to police oversight, even though there are still functions that the comptroller's office plays

these heavy -- vis a vis the comptroller's office, this notion that they will continue to do their work under the charter but that the mta as an agency will benefit from having an inspector general that will still provide specific functions. the functions that are outlined in the charter amendment and that are embedded in this amendment to the charter amendment provides that the inspector general will conduct a management performance audits of mta programs in operation, review and report mta management practices, act as the storage meeting agency performance standard implement her of customer service plans. under this amendment i will shortly move that the comptroller continue to provide technical assistance to the mta, receive and investigate whistleblower complaints, and

conduct consumer satisfaction surveys. the amendment also recognizes that the mta board of directors, the mayor, the board of supervisors, and the comptroller's office itself may, at some time, at any time, i request that the comptroller's office conduct an additional audit or review. the way that i see it, you have two offices. the inspector general and the comptroller's office would have concurrent jurisdiction over a number of items. it does not take away the authority of the comptroller, but it does provide the independent authority to the inspector general. so, the language that i am proposing in hereby make a motion to, it adds review of the mta to the comptroller, determining whether or not it is necessary for the office to

conduct review. with respect to funding, if the increased set aside goes into effect, the controllers audit fund goes in at 4/10 of 1% for the mta and we appropriate one half of the amount that would normally be a promotion -- a fortune. it would be a 50/50 split. the amendment would increase what is set aside, we propose increasing contribution funds at 2/10 of 1% of what would otherwise be apportioned. the last piece that is important to me is making sure that we add language that makes it clear that in the event that the funding provided in the charter amendment does not provide the

inspector general with sufficient funding for him or her to conduct their duties, that the mta board of the back -- board of directors shall provide additional funding to the extent necessary. i would make a motion with respect to the office of the inspector general to amend the along the lines described in the language provided. the other amendment to this charter amendments relates to the budget process. it would clarify that the mta board of directors must not only analyze some of the findings, but must respond to the findings. with respect to the budget, should the board of supervisors respect the budget, we want to make sure that that is clarified in the language. in other words, if the board of

supervisors rejects the budget, for whatever reason of concern or lack of accountability, that the board would make findings along those lines and that the board of directors would respond to those findings and submit a budget to the board of supervisors. the language simply clarifies the response by the mta board of directors as required. i would make that motion as well. there are also other technical revisions that are being introduced that i would motion as well. the revisions that are technical in nature will be provided to the committee and the public shortly. now i would like to turn it over to president chu, who is going to address another piece of the

charter amendment that deals with the issue of funding and specifically setting aside. >> thank you, mr. chair. i know that all the staff and all of us have been in many communications with the public and transit advocates on how to make this reform measure better. i would like to offer them data related to the funding provisions proposed in the charter amendment. these are ideas i discussed of the last time this measure came before the committee. in general the goal of what we are trying to do is connect additional funding to our beleaguered transit agency. particularly muni writers who have seen service/. -- slashed.

i am going to propose that we reduced the amount for $100 per assessed property value to one penny, generating about $50 million. i would propose the condition of this revenue on the passage of revenue measures in november that are worth at least $40 million in the general fund revenue. in other words, this charter amendment will not lead to additional funding unless voters in november decided we needed. -- need it. matt ford stated that we continue to face a structural deficit to the tune of about $100 million and an additional $15 million obviously does not give us very close, but it does get us one step in the right direction and it is something that we need as part of a comprehensive effort to reform

muni and make these changes more complete. as the men and said and the supervisor discussed, we are waiting specific language from the city attorney. colleagues, when the amendment comes i hope that this committee will adopt it as the next version of this legislation. supervisor campos: thank you. i have been informed that there are technical difficulties right now and it may be that we get the amendments later on in the meeting. at some point we might need to come back to this item. before we open it to public comment, i would like to provide an opportunity to the other co-authors of the charter amendment. if they want to add anything to what has been said. i know that we have supervisor mar and supervisor mirkarimi

here. sue riser mirkarimi -- supervisor mirkarimi: i want to congratulate the attitudes of his office to have joined our effort, particularly the staff that helped to shepherd the behind-the-scenes process of trying to design and concoct a comprehensive package of reform. two of the pieces i spoke to one week ago, speaking to areas that needed to be effectively address that were not addressed well enough by other charters that would potentially be on the ballot. of course, that is on the labor reform peace and not work orders. i think you all feel that these

are slices of a larger piece of pie, critical slices that make the pie more palatable and productive for the long-term benefit. and, i think, adding to long- term enhancements of us making sure that the mta is getting the support that it deserves. so, i look forward to the next step of the next week for more discussion on this. ultimately doing everything we possibly can to see this as a success in november. thank you. >> thank you. supervisor mar? supervisor mar: i wanted to thank the transit riders organizations and a number of other community-based organizations that weighed in on this, and -- in addition to nathaniel ford. i am looking forward to the amendment language said the side

of the president mentioned. i think it is a wise decision to have it not impact as much on the general fund. i know that was a concern from a number of different advocates. i am appreciative of the changes in clarifying the role of the inspector general and the comptroller's office as well, making sure that there's a balance of funding. overall, as mentioned, this is a much-needed reform of the immune system that will insure that we will have better balance and accountability for writers and the public in governance. i appreciate the amendments that have been made supervisor campos:campos -- have been made. supervisor campos: i am also very appreciative of the work done by the city attorney's office, the comptroller's office, by the mta, particularly to the advocates who have been

advocates for quite some time and have been valuable and good in what they have provided. lastly, i must say that if you look at the staff work done on this charter amendment, it has been very impressive. so, particularly to the staff of the respective offices, beginning with my legislative aides, who have done tremendous jobs in putting these together. tremendous work. with that, let's open it up to public comment, unless colleagues have made in more than ad. if we could open it up to public comment? please come forward if you wish to speak and thank you for your patience. >> good morning, supervisors.

i am with the san francisco bicycle coalition. we have been very pleased at the intelligent and spirited engagement from the supervisor'' offices. i am personally pleased to see each of these amendments coming forward. each of the elements, i think, will strengthen the overall oversight with the mta. it is important to have balance and equity, which is where we start with operator contracts. this is about equity, balance, and fairness. so is the board composition. it is important for everyone to regard the proposal as an equitable and balanced proposal. the trigger of the proposal for the revenue source has the same concern that we did.

i am pleased to hear the conversations with the comptroller's office have come to this point. at this point we are very supportive of this and we asked this committee to move it forward to the board and get it on the ballot. thank you. >> good morning, supervisors. formerly manager of view -- muni service plan in the end the day -- in the mta, particularly with the amendments being introduced today. easily the most important issue facing the mta today is financial sustainability and revenue issues. to that extent, the revenue compels as extremely important, particularly in the way that it

stands with the amendment as introduced today. it is important that the revenue be generated to a general fund mechanism so that it can be acquired going forward. it is critical that the derived revenue, which will hopefully be approved by the electorate in november, not to be slight already. i think it is a critical aspect of the amendment as introduced today, especially in the face of the state level opposition's we are facing. in terms of the role of the board of supervisors, worthy of support.

a somewhat not realistic perspective that the board of supervisors should not be involved at the policy level is on realistic in a city where public transportation is as perceived as important to the citizens of 7 cisco. i think that the language in this measure relates the board's role more explicit rather than indirect or covert. similarly, dealing with the issues of what happens when a budget is rejected, it currently calls into structural ambiguity. the draft that i have read, what

happens if a budget is rejected the second time? i think that addressing the operator wage issue by moving their wages up to the collective bargaining process is something that most in the city think our positive. i am glad to see that incorporated in the measure. i urge support for this. supervisor campos: thank you. thank you very much. net speaker, please. >> good morning, a supervisor. regarding the original

amendment, including language about specific qualifications for the board of directors, it recommends including language about the timely fill of the vacancy. going forward you may want to take a look at that. right now there are two vacancies on the board of directors and we have no idea when those positions will be filled. i do not know what they're going to say as a group regarding 1 cents, with a simple majority is projected in the budget. for the sierra club there is clarification under the definition of abandonment for the issue of cumulative effect.

producing one route by 3% one year, 3% the next year. there are five recommendations that the auditor be directed to perform the recommendations. i do not know how the sierra club will react when i go back there and say that the function of the inspector general has been defined differently. the sierra club supports charter amendment operators on collective arbitration should it fail, supporting the making of conversation option. >> thank you very much. are there any other members of the public it would like to speak?

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