certain categories. that is something we would like to work with our office ontari. >> commissioner dooley made the motion for both items. gooaxe commissioners, item numbr three, file number 1.2671, row appeals second-hand dealer and anti permit requirements. we have a motion to recommend approval with the request that they work with the staff to ensure appropriate and where regulations for best buy. gooon that motion --

[calling votes] that motion passes, 5-0. item #4, file no. 1.2672, a police code allowing dogs to be fastened to allow those, hydrant, or tree, revealing outdated recommendations. we have a motion. a second. roll-call -- [calling votes] that motion passes, 5-0. would you like to call the next items together?

>> yes. five item to make possible recommendations to the board of supervisors on 120681, enacting gross receipts and phase out expend tax. item #6, discussion to make recommendations to the board of supervisors on file no. 1 to 0 6/8 to -- file 120682. item six was introduced by supervisor avalos. in your packet is those ordinances, and in item number five, we have a summary of the response of the proposals we

sent to the board of supervisors, the mayor, and other stakeholders, and we have some detailed pages regarding your recommendation to allocate $700,000 to the office of small businesses. in the back pocket is a fact sheet for each ordinance along with a copy for the referral. both items on the discussion and action item. i will refer to the director. >> the agenda is this. >> of this point there is no new

updates. the board of supervisors is hearing it on wednesday. we will begin to hear what thoughts and reactions. i will be there. the recommendations have been recommended by a written document. we talked to some supervisors. goone of the things in the upda.

we are going to develop technology and infrastructure communication. we put in some recommended herriot'areas. it updates for the need to come for the business engagement tool. for $700,000, how it will be broken down. if you can go to the computer, and i wanted to show you the small business web site and give you an idea of where we could possibly go.

it is a little bright, but you will see the stage in your packet, -- you will see things in your packet. it has things laid out, and there are different subsections about business courses, and not legal assistance, so really connecting the resources to our development organizations, and legal assistance commo, lending, procurement, and being engaged with the government. the next page you could go today' is launching a business,d

if you could scroll down a little bit and go to business express. with the nyse business express, -- nyc business express. there is the ability to be able to locate different licensing promise -- to look at different licensing promisermits. you can look at of port au as you are developing your business -- look at a portal as you are developing your business. they have different incentives. could you go to the top? this is what you have as the

next stagpage in our book. you can click in is it going to be dealing with health care or food collectives. it starts to take you through bonconnections, so running throh those questions and everyone needs to be asking themselves in terms of regulatory requirements, so these are some things that have long been discussed but we need to develop, but those take money. at the next commission meeting, i would like to have jane show your what we are developing,

which is a condensed version of what is serious -- what is is. it has a certain level of sophistication, but not nearly what we want, so we need to enhance these tools. the website is very intensive. we asked what it would take, and if the revenue generation, those are not allocated to the particular type, with this additional funding, we can begin to build on a yearly basis in terms of what our website can begin to provide for the business community. what is in here in terms of the

breakdown is $650,000 each year to work on developing these tools, and one of the things fed would be great is being able to integrate and connect with all of our departments but have programs like green business programs, so all of the programs but also help businesses that are administered through other departments, that is easily found in one place for business, so i did not know if you wanted an opportunity to be able to provide any additional direction to the board of supervisors of this time.

gooaxe i would like to figure ot how to advertise this a little more and efficiently. i find very few people know this is available in any form, so i think we need to include some out leasreach so businesses aree familiar with what we have to offer. >> before we take any more comments on item number five and item number six, and we have public comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. would you like to take any actions on what we have?

we went over this pretty thoroughly it last time. >> i think this ratifies. >> we have to wait and see. >> next item. gyou are now on item number seven, discussion of the implementation of the checkout bags and checkout by ordinance -- checkout bag ordinance. this is a discussion item and an agenda item should you want to make any formal recommendations. >> there is lots of material. good evening, director of policy and communications with the department of the environment. thank you for the opportunity to

come back to this commission. i was here to talk about the ordinance, and i wanted to talk about two topics. one is the out reach our office is doing to educate consumers about the ordinance. a little bit about the legal challenge that has been filed, and where that stands, and quickly end with a quick update on sacramento with some pending legislation. first let me share my out reach. one of the last amendments to the board of supervisors added was specifically are references and a direction that they

engaged in prior to the implementation of the ordinance, so since the passage of the ordinance and been filed into law in february, our office has been putting into law an outreach program. it is modeled after successful outreach efforts they conducted when the city banned styrofoam for retailers, and really connecting merchants with vendors selling new products but were a acceptable under the city ordinance, so building on that as hour basis, so the specific tactics we have been using to educate business owners about the new policy, first we mailed an official notice in three languages to approximately 10,000 san francisco businesses. we led businesses know -- let

businesses know about five outreach events. we also mailed a small placard they can use as an example of how to reach materials -- example of outreach materials of the point of sale so they can be very clear as to when the ordinance is engaged. the mailing was targeted to the retail businesses but would be impacted, october 1. iwe plan the second mailing fora year from now when that impacts restaurants. in addition, we are hosting 5 vendor events.

the idea is to bring business owners together with the vendors selling products that meet the definition of the reusable bag, what is available to them, other than a single use plastic bindeag, to really use that opportunity to get merchants to look at what is susceptible -- what is acceptable and to educate them when they are making buying decisions so they are educated and are asking important questions so the bags they are purchasing meet the definition. we have posted five of events, -- have hosted five events, and

it has been successful. good one of the commitments are department made was that we would have of fleabag and giveaway program -- have a free bag giveaway program. you suggesting that we we go to the store and bring our own pride, but we are avoiding a charge -- bring our own bag, that we are avoiding a charge. for the first 100 businesses that show up to each of our of landevents, we gave them 25 reue bags. these are manufactured from cloth, so it is a real nice cayenntie-in, and the vendor is

participating in a vendor fair we are having. the first event we did was in chinatown. we targeted chinatown, given the questions and significant attention we haven'd when we fit did discussions. we deployed the majority of bilingual workers in our office to help with translation and to help with communicating iwith businesses that showed upo. it was communicated to businesses, radio, as well as the examiner you're a good it was pleasing to see these merchants specifically testing -- as well as the examiner. it was pleasing to see these

merchants specifically testing these bags. there was concern they would not perform, so you were able to see merchants polling as hard as they could, and they are an option, and we feel that market is really growing and prices are coming down, but it was important to get a chance to touch and feel what the alternatives are, and i feel like we got some good feedback on that process. our next event is tomorrow, and we will follow that up on july 17 and on the 24th is when our

events are going. i would like to thank the office of small business for helping us merchandize all of these events, working with supervisors, all of the merchants associations, clearly the office of small business has been very helpful in getting the word out. just because we mail something does not mean it goes into the blue been automatically. good -- the blue bin automatically. we have employed them tune in walk around the event, and encouraging them to come and answer questions, so we are doing the footwork fed is necessary for the decision makers and individual neighborhoods to try to get folks out.

we are targeting smaller retail establishments. we are not worried about some of the larger entities as they are making an initial calls to as to make sure they qualify. we are focused on grass-roots campaign. one of the things we heard in early discussions is i appreciate you educating me as a business, but i need your help in educating consumers so i do not have to explain to everyone why the city is making me do this, and we clearly heard that. our first step was to hit the vendors about the decision making about new checkout bags,

but part of it is this example of a placard we made available at all the events. i have seen them in my own neighborhood, where they have been taped of already. we made available some posters to educate consumers about to bring your own dragobag. if you do not, there is a 10 cent charge, and that is a paper bag or are reusable bag, or a compost of vote buying, so the idea is there will be no more -- a compost bag, so the idea is there will be no more plastic bags.

of we will focus on the consumer, using an additional outreach materials to try to get consumers to change behavior appear eager -- to change behavior. we are not the first to do this. we enacted a very similar program common-la, and from ther discussion, consumers have been quick to adapt to the new policy, and that behavior change is very significant your readers that has been helpful. i wanted to share a little bit about legal challenges and open it up to questions people may have. the city is being sued by the

save the plastic bag coalition, made up of distributors of plastic bags. they have challenged the ordinance, and there are 50 people around the state. with the city of los angeles being the single largest in the country to implement a program like ours. first they filed a contemporary -- a temporary restraining order for the official notice and preventing us from having five affairs. -- having bag fairs. they apply for a preliminary injunction. now it is to the core of their

argument that is to fold. the first argument they are making is that it violates ceqa because the city use the categorical exemption. the upside to this is the city is three confident in our interpretation -- is very confident in our interpretation of sequenccequa. we feel we are in good position to prevail on that argument. the second argument is in respect to the state health code. the ordinance is an environmental measure commo, noa health measure, soenacting thisn restaurants, so, again, this ordinance was not designed as a food safety item.

it was designed as an environmental policy, and the city feels very confident that we will prevail on that matter, and as i mentioned at the outset, this could be removed in one way or another. the state legislature actually has advanced a statewide ban on plastic bags. just last week, they passed a key committee in the senate. it goes to one more committee, senate appropriations. ab 1998. if that is successful, there will be a statewide ban starting next year, and this will essentially require that the entire state have a model that is similar, so this should give you an idea of the amount of cities behind this, the number of municipalities, a lot of the

large manufacturers, and grocers association. they feel this is different than a city by city by city resolution, so this is kind of like where ab1998 is. it will hopefully be on the governor's desk sometime in august. that is the legal case. a quick preview. i am happy to answer any questions and take any recommendations that you may have on how we can continue our outreach campaign. it really is a continuing ongoing discussion. we are not done. we also have the restaurants to focus on, so we are certainly open to additional comments and suggestions. president adams: any additional comments? commissioner dooley? commissioner diooley -- dooley:

i hear almost all of the time at the big stores them explaining this to their customers, and it is great to see them teaching them what is coming up next, so it is working, your outreach. >> thank you. the president of -- president riley? -- president adams: commissioner riley? commissioner riley: what type of attendance did you have to >> the feedback we got from, folks, again, general surprised about what products are available. i'd think most were surprised at the alternative check out that they can use.

i think they did not do a formal sit-down presentation. we have a lot of merchants that would bring in a lot of their bags and say, "would these qualify?" i think they really felt comfortable having a better understanding when they brought their own bags that they are currently using to see if they would qualify or not. two, we answered a lot of questions about grocery. plastic bags that they currently used to wrap food in or other food products, if they would be counted or not counted, so we addressed a lot of these on the mental issues kind of one-on-one rather than in a large setting, and that was successful for us. the fee that we have been getting is very positive. one of the recommendations is that we have been holding these events in the early mornings,