and ensuring that our immigrants have a right full seat at the table and that our families are respected in where other states and other parts of the country do not. this is part of your amazing activism and mading ideas like many of us are sponsoring today. we want to make sure that we are truly immigrants, the part of who we are, the heart of our city. thank you for your work. i also want to acknowledge supervisor cohen who has a few words to say. >> thank you, mr. president, supervisor avalos, thank you for your leadership, i want to say thank you to you and every member in this chamber who is hearing my voice today. thank you for all the people who have an organization, who are very out front and vocal for this

important cause and also those who do not attend the rallies but also have their way of enter taining the status quo. this is an important piece of legislation that we are passing. this is a great day for all of us and for all the warriors that are out there that continue to lift the immigrant voice and give voice inform a cause that sometimes has gone unacknowledged and unvalidated. today is an in incredibly victorious day. we are going to claim victory on this. we are going to work to get this passed. i want to say hello, thank you, waned need you and applaud you and thank you for being at the table. [ applause ]

>> we have two other colleagues who would like to say a few words. mr. campos. >> thank you mr. president. i will be brief. i think that what this defense committee has been about goes to the heart of who we are as a country. we are a country of immigrant and by fighting to protect the rights of immigrants who often are a group that is marginalized and you are doing so at a time when it's unpopular to do so whether it's the undocumented youth policy that we worked on and to new phase to fight for civil rights that supervisor avalos is sphere heading and to see the cross collaboration and the fact that it's not just the defense committee, but the defense committee working with

domestic violence community working and working with other communities is a testament to how great and powerful this movement is for civil rights is in the city and county of san francisco. thank you very much. >> [ applause ] let me acknowledge our final colleague to speak. supervisor mar. >> i wanted to thank you also for organizing action where women are in the leadership and women from immigrant communities speak for themselves as well and that building of multiethnic unity within the rights community. i want to say from the 80s period there is this tradition, even before it, but from the no human being is illegal campaign to the struggle for a city of refuge and a city of sanctuary for our city. the leadership from the bottom up from the grass roots organization has

been really significant and i'm very proud to have been a part of this as well. you carry on that tradition as we fight to empower immigrants with comprehensive but humane and just immigration reform. thank you for always standing for principles and for having such a strong voice within our immigrant rights community here but also on a national level, thank you. [ applause ] just to close it off, supervisor avalos. >> one last statement, thank you for making us accountable. >> i would like to ask those from the immigrant defense committee to please stand up. [ applause ]

thank you so much supervisor, avalos for this recognition and all of you for your courage and taking the leadership from immigrant communities and as you mentioned the san francisco defense committee came together at a critical time in our city where undocument youth were being turned over without having a day in court and without being able to inform their parents that they were taken in. listening to the needs of the community to pass the policy that supervisor campos spoke about. we this i that the city of san francisco has always been a national leader because of the willingness to work with community members and with the community based organizations and to really listen to that voice and i want to thank you

for continuing that tradition and continuing to partner with us and to continue to bring change about and san francisco and to continue to be a leader really nationally on immigrant rights and human rights and in a democratic process is truly democratic like it is here in san francisco. we want to thank you on behalf of the san francisco immigrants and this committee and everybody who is here and continues to work hard for the rights of all people. [ applause ] >> thank you. thanks to all of our colleagues for their presentations today and all the members of the public who have come to help cherish our come accommodations and awardees.

madam clerk please call item 35 and 36.: cleshg cleshg health service system plans and contribution rates calendar year 2014. health service trust fund. >> madam clerk please call item 71. >> urging chaosing to immediately begin negotiating a fair and pricing model that provides fee and transparency to report back to the board of supervisors on progress of the negotiations. >> supervisor ferrel? >> thank you president chiu. colleagues we are here to

discuss the contribution health plan for city employees and retirees. i know this has garnered some controversy in the past few weeks and something i have been involved in for a number of months now and thanks for raising issues and pushing the dialogue forward. i hope we are at a place to fight for greater transparency from the city's health care providers that we are doing collectively as a board and i will continue to lead a fight on and also to move this item forward so we don't jeopardize the vital services for 10s of thousands for our employees. i think it's important to note that specifically health care plan blue shield has been voted on a full package. this is for all

system active and retired members in the county of san francisco, unified school district, city college as well as superior court. a few comments on kaiser. i believe that we can all agree that kaiser has not been as forthcoming in the past with data backing up their rate increases. i do believe that it is important to note that kaiser does remain the lowest cost provider among the three medical plan options. in regards to rate increase, i do think it's worthwhile to note that despite some of the dialogue in the last few weeks that the sfh board recommended in approving these rates. more potentially in not approving the rates today that people's health care and lives are at stake today with this vote. if

we don't was this, thousands of people will be forced to move doctors and primary care providers and so forth. as well if we don't pass it out by next week, on second reading we do jeopardize open enrollment and other issues with regards to beginning this system. i do want to recognize my colleagues supervisor mar and avalos for discussion over the last few weeks. a number of unions involved in these discussions and questions and i want to recognize, i see a number of the health board here and i don't know if i'm missing someone, but i want to thank them as well as as the staff, the incredible staff that i'm learning to appreciate more everyday from our health care system. i know gray sacs is back there and a special thanks to catherine day to kath --

dodd who has been instrumental in our health care system and one of the most effectual leaders in our city departments of driving a real meaningful change in terms of our health service rates for our current and retired members. catherine has been on medical leave for a number of months now. very pleased to hear that things are going well. catherine we missed you so much at the service board. i want to thank you for being here today. i know it's such an important matter for you and i want to thank you for all of your work on this matter and also to give you the opportunity to talk. i know that you have been watching by your bedside over time as this dialogue has happened over the past few weeks. i want to give you an opportunity to speak about it. i know there has been confusion

and different statements about what would happen if we didn't pass these rate increases. i think it would be great to give you the at some point -- to speak about this. also, it's great to see you doing well. it's yat to have you back. >> catherine dodd, intermittent medical leave. just got an e-mail from my doctor saying the ct scan we got this morning, my spleen has shrunk. i'm in very good space. i want to thank you for attending the board meetings and all the members of the board of supervisors. this is the first time the board of supervisors has stepped up and learned about how complex our rates are. as you know, with health care reform they have only been made more complex. i'm very proud of the rate package

before you today. it represents the 2 years of work in the county care and represents your decision to take on risk by flex funding blue shield which has kept the rates down. i think it's important to point out that the city's cost are only increasing by 0.7 percent. i think anyone would jump for this increase rate in the country. for employers when you include vision and dental, their rate is higher because they have few people in kaiser actually. their's is 2.3 percent. still lower than the national average, lower than calipers and saving the city tense of millions of dollars over the years and as well as saving our liability. i want to recognize as the supervisor ferrel, elisa, when i got diagnosed

stepped up and has been running as fast as she can. we wouldn't have this package without her and greg sacs come back from retirement. i'm in a stable period right now so i'm glad to be here. your question about what would happen, we couldn't have vendors without a contract and we can't have a contract without supervisors board approval. we are required bylaw to notify people about their benefits and rates that they are going to pay, and we have a penalty if we notify them late. working backwards from open rolement, there is not time to immediate that deadline to have actual analysis. i'm confident that kaiser is not going to change their business model for

one employer at least not this year. when more employers join together perhaps they will. we can't meet those open rolement deadlines, if that happens, 108,000 people will not have coverage. we anticipate 52,000 angry phone calls from kaiser members who will be losing their coverage and having to move to blue shield. the specific question in terms of what about patients who are currently in treatment. i will just speak for them since i'm the voice of one right now. when i come back from a stem cell transplant where kaiser

refers us, i will need to find a new doctor, hospitals demand that transition people's lives are lost and jeopardized. if we fail to do this today and if we make thousands of people move out of kaiser. many people's lives are at stake. not to mention many of retirees who have been with their doctors for over thirty years. i want to assure that the service board has been working on transparency. i urge you to pass this package today. they have already begun to meet with kaiser and set up negotiation for the first week of august and we'll keep you a pprising of our progress. i want to thank you for your support and

encourage an aye vote today. >> thank you, colleagues, i mentioned earlier and i think it's a great sign that we ban -- as a board here and talk about transparency. long-term this is going to lead to a better understanding so as a driver of any future rate in creases as to tackle our retiree health care liability. this is a big deal across the board in somewhere in city as well as an employer as well as all of our employers focus on that issue. i look forward to that continued dialogue. i know there is some other comments or questions, but catherine i want to say welcome back and i'm really proud of where you are. >> thank you, supervisor ferrel, supervisor mar? >> yes, i want to say thank you to have our leader katherine

dodd is here today. i want to say they have been amazingly patient with my ton of questions. if supervisor avalos and i had not raised concerns and held this up for a week, we kaiser with much stronger commitment with transparency and accountability and increased commitment to a stronger wellness practice that includes nurses, flu shots and more research for our city that will benefit our members as well. and the efforts to work earlier in the process so that we have fairer rates for 2015. so my thanks to the hard work and coming out of retirement. and the amazing work of elisa as well. i want to say that we wouldn't be in this situation today with stronger commitments and hopefully a better rate for 2015 without the persistence of

public employees in our city that raise concerns about the profits that were shared with the health service board and the health service system and asking questions that kaiser was not answering. i think the process over the past month has been wonderful for me to learn as a 50 year kaiser patient myself how the system works but also how it's our job as supervisors and public employees to raise questions and also to answer why the rates are going up so much. i'm really appreciative that kaiser sent top level providers to meet with us and came to the budget committee meetings and made an effort to apologize for different statements made in the past and making stronger commitments for transparency and accountability for the future. besides the 11 of us signed on and thanks for the

leadership of supervisor ferrel and the 11 of us signing and passing this today, it's another piece of this effort as to senator at the state thatten insures this from other providers as well. i want to thank those that stood with me to raise tough questions to kaiser. i want to thank those that have attended the budget meetings. commissioner lynn and scott and others as well as the wisdom from supervisor and commissioner ferrel as well. i have learned a lot from this process. i think we'll have a fairer rate in the future. without efforts to ask tough questions to kaiser we wouldn't be in the situation we are in today. i'm willing to support

this and want to thank the staff for their hard work. >> supervisor campos? >> thank you very much, mr. president. i want to thank everyone who has been working on this for quite some time and certainly to supervisor ferrel who represents us on the board. i want to thank him for his advocacy and thoroughness and how he looks at the issue that comes before that body. i also want to thank supervisor's mar and avalos and our partners from labor from sciu who have raised some important questions about this process. one of the things that i hope is very clear to kaiser today is that while we may have differences of opinion among ourselves, that at the end of the day, the city as a family is unified

behind making sure that we do right by our workers, by our employees, by our retirees, what ever differences we have we are going to make sure we get the best deal possibly for this city. i would like to talk about a number of amendments that i will make to the resolution in the hope that with those amendments we can have a united front and we have a unanimous vote here at the board of supervisors. i think this can move forward and to highlight the amendments because we have to take public comment before we move before. i want to look at key things that i'm recognizing and i'm recommending change. one of the things that this language makes it clear is that the health

service board directed staff to pursue immediate negotiations with kaiser to prepare a contingency plan to place city employees and other high quality cost-effective plans in the event that rate negotiations for 2015 do not produce the desired the results. i think it's the responsible thing to do. the appropriate thing to do for us to prepare for that contingency. the health services board would be asked on this resolution to build upon the process that they have already created of consulting with public employee unions and retirees of the system as they formulate objectives for the negotiations. i think it's important to be very clear about that. that what we see here and i think there is always something positive that comes out of challenge is that it really has brought a number of parties together. and that

this staff report back to the board of supervisors. and of course it makes it clear also that we are in support of the piece of legislation that senator has introduced. i wanted to leave this last piece to the end because it's really important to me besides thanking my colleagues, thanking our labor partners and i forget to mention paul kumar who is at the result of these investigations. i do want to highlight the very important role that catherine dodd has played. and quite frankly catherine, you know, things get crazy in the last couple of weeks before our board recess. the best news that i have heard in this whole time has been the fact that you are doing so much better. that to me has been the icing on the cake. i have met a lot of public servants, a lot of government workers,

employees, amazing people, but i had yet to meet someone who is you are passes you and your fearlessness, your dedication, commitment, tenancy and i really think it is fair to say that you have saved the city millions and millions of dollars and one of the things that i think kaiser needs to understand and i really believe this, that, but for catherine dodd, i don't think that this item would be going through today. and i think it's a testament to the integrity, respect that she has on all sides that we are going in this direction. so, my hope and i'm hopeful is that we will end up with a good result as we move forward, you know, kaiser has done some good things. my mom is a kaiser member, she loves

kaiser. they treat the workers well. but at the end of the day, this city is not used to being told what is good for this city. we have to come to terms and understanding on our own. we like to see data, we like to see information. it is not enough to trust what they say. we have to verify it. so my hope is that in a year from now whenever this item comes back that we will have seen the fruits of this labor. because if that result is not there, the same people that are standing united today to support this, will be united in finding an alternative. thank you. >> supervisor yee? >> thank you president chiu. councilman, welcome back. nice to see you. i really appreciate your comments. as supervisor campos was saying, your words are more important to all of us here and we know how you say

these with integrity. with all of these things that you mentioned, these are things that i have been thinking about prior to coming in here today to weigh the by vote in regards to what would happen. i think it's important for us to take your issue point very seriously, but at the same time kaiser really needs to take our concerns and our perspectives from the board of supervisors very seriously and be held accountable for the rates that they are asking for. so this is fair warning, i guess. this is really what it is and that if we are not satisfied a year from now, we also need to have alternatives. i always want to

say that i want to thank kaiser for reaching out to the board of supervisors at the meetings and also meetings with individual guest supervisors, their explanation why i was reading with them this morning helped a little bit with regards to why they have made certain decisions. at the same time, understanding that a year from now, those decisions may not be accepted. the other thing i want to say is that, while we are asking kaiser to be transparent it would be fair to ask blue shield to do the

same thing. although they are higher, explain to me why it's higher. maybe this discussion has taken place in the past, but i'm not part of the past. i would like to hear more of why their rates, the other two providers rates are so high and whether or not we can include even more vendors in this. there are individual vendors that can be part of this system. so, once again, i'm ready to at least for this year accept this resolution. >> supervisor kim? >> catherine, i think really good to see you here. i just want to appreciate you being here. during the past couple of weeks when i think many of us were debating this issue, i kept asking where is catherine dodd, i want to speak with her.

i want to concur with supervisor campos that so many of us trust your leadership because we have seen you fight, we have seen you take unpopular positions because you believe in our city and sound fiscal decisions while saving us money and building a healthier population here in san francisco. there is so many things wrapped up in that. i just want to appreciate your work. i want to acknowledge you and i do think we need to congratulations that we are only seeing a 0.7 rise in our health care cost. we've been seeing our cost come down and when this came to my office, i said what happened and why is this coming before us. particularly with kaiser, our population is younger and health ear