and then i would just want to know, from that is there a quick, like a bullet point listed for the employ ears and because i feel like the small business committee is dark in this area about what to tell the employees and like your contributions stopped, you know, as of january first, 14 and you know, there was just something out there that is just, straight forward for employees, or employers to let the employees know what is going on >> that is a great question, but i think that there are many, resources about the affordable care act in general, that are fairly straight forward that maybe we can point or pass along to regina, we are actually working on something specifically about hras, and that we are working on with dph, that hopefully it will be fairly straight forward. that we can provide to you,

that will pass it on. >> there is also a section in our faqs that is specifically for the employees. >> okay. >> any more commissioner questions before we go into public comment? >> okay, seeing none, i would like to open it up now to public comment. and item number 6, do we have any members of the public who would like to make a comment? >> welcome. >> good evening, >> tim, san francisco calm ber of commerce and thank you for taking the time on this subject and we have been spending months working with the health department and on the sc on this and we appreciate their hard work as we all tried to understand the implications of the affordable care act and its impacts in this transition year on the employers and because the employer mandate catches up with us next january. and the limitations on reimbursement, and they are available.

to employers, and under the healthcare spending ordinance in san francisco. this is a huge problem, it is a huge problem for small businesses, with 20 or more employees, who don't provide insurance or have a large part time workforce because the number one way that those thousand employers have attempted to comply with the spending requirements is to create health reimbursement accounts, and those health reimbursement accounts are drastically limited to the affordable care act that you have heard. there is probably 80 million dollars of rollover money that ends up not being spent every 24 months. that 80 million dollars, is not from 27,000 employers. and or 10,000 employers, that 80 million dollars is on the books of 1,000 employers. and 80,000 dollars per

employer, on average, i would guess. and that is because the average employee is actually looking for dental and vision care under the hras and that is where most draw downs occur. and not in the general medical care area, because a lot of these people are young, and these people that ought to be getting insurance under coverage california or should have been insured any way. and we are confronting a huge job in business bottom line crisis. and if hras the limited hras that are allowed, are not going to be allowed in san francisco, and the proposal in the faq, which is going to have to go over into a rule making process, i guess for the next few months, is going to limit employers to only credited 20 hours of dollar amounts per week towards an accepted benefits dental, vision, hra which means that other money is going to have to be spent other

ways, which is not reimbursable, if it goes to the city mra, where it is a 50 or 60 percent draw down, and it is not 100 percent. but you spend 100 cents on the dollar, when the money goes from your pocket to the city mra. and whether that is the goal and i mean that we went through this battle, two months, or two years ago. and we had a piece of legislation be, or we had some compromised legislation signed by the mayor that created the 24 month rollover but still gave the employees, or the employers the opportunity to select a cost effective method for complying with the city ordinance and we need your help on this matter in the coming months, thank you. >> great. >> thank you very much. >> next speaker please? >> good evening, the small business network and the accounts merchants and i would like to focus on a lot. and how is this going to put

san francisco small businesses to an advantage to all of the competitors and whether they are the peninsula or the rest of the state or the country and a lot of this is how are they going to catch the employers that are not doing this or the employers who do not even know about it. and a lot of it is employees will make a complaint. and if the city is going to buy a whole bunch of microphones and they put it out to bid and somebody in mississippi decides to sell it to them, do those employees at that company selling this to the city, get the same things that we have to give to our employees? i don't think so. and i think that it is hard to catch. the caters who are down stairs now at city hall, are they going to be mandated to do this, and how is anybody going to catch that, it puts us at a very much disadvantage here in the city for small businesses. i think that that is something that we have to really look into. thank you. >> great, thank you.

>> next speaker, please? >> scott how, town insurance. and i think that one of the things that is significant is that most small businesses will probably most small businesses are using 35 or 40 hours aca requires, 30 hours, and dropping it down to 20 hours, and i understand the obligation, but saying that the accepted benefits will only go up to 20 hours, and i don't fully understand why that is required, the other aspect is that i am not clear, if you go into the accepted benefits, and i believe that it says, that you can use over 20 hours if the employee actually files for additional payments on dental or vision. and i seem to hear from the city in this, and maybe i misunderstood, but i seem to

hear from the city that the employer is supposed to true up every quaut and her i don't know how they do that, and if you have it go into for a year or even two years to determine whether the employer is going to use it. so i think that there is some real questions there. commissioner white, i applaud you for your question about how the employer is going to comply, there is so much confusion out there right now, with the employees. and the employers, and the employees, for that matter, and on how to comply and i am also a little concerned about the administration of all of this. and with the multiple hra and how to comply and what the time limits are, but i really think that it is important that the city put out something to clearly identify how to comply. thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> any other speakers? >> seeing none, public comment

is closed. commissioners, this was agenda as an action item in case there was any specific action, you are not required to take any action. so, eventually the commission is going to put forward a list of recommendations and relationship to the report, and guidance and to the city? terms of you know the direction that we are going in, participating in, more further development of perhaps, with the faqs and so, you are welcome to provide some sense of that, you know, through your comments and direction to the city tonight. and then we can take that information and as we start working on a formalized letter of recommendations, that it will be good for christian and i and also for other city

family to hear what you are thinking, and you are thinking, and your thoughts, and where you have confusion, and where, the things of that sort, but, there is, and you do not, and it is agenda as an action item, but, i did not anticipate that you would be taking any formal action tonight. but it was there just in case. commissioner dwight? >> personally, well, first of all, thank you all for your presentations and for coming out tonight, personally, i would like to let this information percolate a little bit. and also as an employer that is in the gap between 20 and 50, i would like to go back and talk to my benefits consultants and understand kind of where we are and so i can get the real world's view of this. and because i think that is what is the most important thing as the companis that we represent here start to deal

with the real world realities of how you go about complying with the variety of things that actually seem to be in conflict with one another. and also, i think, you know, hearing a little bit of more from the chamber of commerce, and you know, and specifically, jim who is, you know, has got a lot of experience in this area, and kind of what some of the issues are facing the cities specific plans, and we can't do anything to change and we can but we are not going to do anything to change the state or the federal situation but we can deal with trying to address some of the issues that seem to be swirling around our own efforts to provide health coverage for our citizens. so, i want to spend more time thinking about it. >> great. >> commissioner dooley? >> i want to add to it, commissioner dwight said is that i spent some time, earlier today, with one of my employers who owns a restaurant and he had specifically requested me

to come back to him after this hearing. and go over this, to see, you know, how it really effects him. and he had said, he would have to get rid of all of the hra and that was the only comment tonight and so there is clearly, and there is just so much confusion and i think that we need to go directly to the people affected with these comment and come back. >> how soon until the city's website is updated? because that seems to be a big and, here we are, i mean, the third week in january, the second week in january. >> well, i think that there is not a significant change on this, on the eligibility for the city option, and i think that what was requested. and the eligibility for san francisco for healthy san francisco and the city mra are continued to be the same as they were before, and i think that it just was never really and it was recently pointed out

to me that it was never really appropriated described on the website. but it is not changing the programs but improving the language on the website. >> great. >> commissioner dwight? >> i think that the other thing that you know, we will try to bring to our constituents, the small business ss a way to sort of get over the obvious ject and healthcare is always an issue for employers because we want to provide for our employees and it is more expensive and complicated and it is easy to roll your eyes and so what i would like to do is get past that myself even. and really talk to the folks that we have consultants that are helping us with this situation, and it is their job and so, but i think that i take some solice in knowing that even scott is confused by this and that is his business. and so, good i am not the only

one. and i don't want to make bags. so. but any way, i think that in dealing, and again, dealing with it, you know, on the ground, in our own companies and we will get to sort some of this out and get passed the emotional part tf and figure out how we are going to make this all work. >> thank you >> commissioner white? >> yeah, just to piggy back with commissioner dwight, i too have a, you know, health benefit consultant that is helping me through this, because it is quite confusing. however, maybe, all small businesses don't have that. so, can you tell me a little bit about what the out reach has been in the small business comment. in information in regards to this new. >> yeah, i can speak briefly to

that. and we do have, the office of labor standards has an hot line and an e-mail address and i have been answering the questions about these issues on throughout the fall and into this year. and we also have a e-mail list of 5,000 e-mails, people who are interested in the healthcare ordinance and we did send out an e-mail notifying the people to check the website on guidance to these issues >> thank you. >> we may have to think. >> there has been no out reach to the community groups on this. >> especially the merchant groups in the city. >> not to get through our office. >> okay. >> commissioner o'brien? >> yeah, ways just wondering. if we wanted the experts here

could tell me, if we were to close out the healthcare ordinance, would that leave a gaping hole of people not covered? >> i think that it came in and i think that the mayor newsom was involved in part of the process and i think that he was there to try to have san francisco as an shining example of providing healthcare for all of san franciscans and so, i get the feeling and like everybody else, i am very equipped to comment too much on it based on my level of understanding on the whole thing, because it is very confusing. and so i am just, just a curious spot and if there is a gap of the people that would end up being exposed if we were to ultimately phase out the healthcare ordinance. >> that is a good question. >> and so, without the healthcare security ordinance, the employers would be required or would be penalized if they didn't, to provide the health insurance, only the large employers and so the employers

with 50 or more employers would be required to provide health insurance or be penalized. >> all individuals are required to have health insurance, but i think that it is how they get the health insurance that would be affected. so all individuals would technically be required but the employers sponsored health insurance may not be an option for those under 49 employees or under in san francisco. and were it not for the healthcare security ordinance. >> okay. >> thank you. >> commissioner riley. >> yes, my question is for the director. do we get a lot of inquireries for the business owners regarding this healthcare and how do we handle it? >> we have not been getting a lot of inquiries through our office. we have been communicating through the ebulletin in terms of changes and any updates, you

know, any new updates that olsc has been providing. and i do think that a lot of, you know, a lot of communication that businesses are getting, primarily, their primary form of contact is through, and if they have a benefit's provider is the benefit's provider. and then, for those that are associated like with the, through a member group, like, with the chamber of commerce, the chamber of commerce has been providing updates to the golden gate restaurant has been providing updates and if there is a business that is not sort of taped into one of those kinds of entities, and then the likelihood is that they are not really, you know, getting updates. >> but, i do think, you know, the fact is that most, the

employers that do reporting, know that the office of labor standards and enforcement exists and i know that they have been calling to get the clarity on some of the issues. i have heard that it is confuse and especially those that self-administer their health plans, >> thank you. >> did you want to add something,? >> if i may? >> yes, you may. >> i am donna leavitt and i head the office of labor standards enforcement and one other thing that i wanted to share is that the olse, during december, did our annual mailing of the notices that

employers are required to post about san francisco labor laws. and we did a separate mailing to employers with 20 or more employees specifically to address the healthcare security ordinance. and the family friendly workplace ordinance. and to remind them about the information that is available on our website. also, as elen, mentioned earlier, every employer who submitted an annual reporting form, in previous years, in other words, they are covered by the healthcare security ordinance, we automatically e-mail with updates about the law. so, we have sent out notifications about the updated faqs to those employers.

we have seen an uptick of inquiries from the business owners. both e-mails, and phone calls. and it was from those questions that we composed the faqs to try to address their most frequent questions. >> thank you and i did receive that by the way. >> great. >> yeah. >> okay, any other questions? comments? >> next item. >> 7. >> discussion and possible action on board of supervisors file number 1 31138 hearing road work and infrastructure oversight. this is a discussion and possible action item. >> commissioners so, the as the commission we have been forwarded supervisor weiner is going to be conducting a hearing on january 27th at the

land use committee meeting, and they have provided us the commission with an opportunity to provide any sort of comments, recommendations, suggestions, as it pertains to the hearing matter. which is a hearing that is directed to the department of public works, municipal transportation agency and the public utilities commission and the pacific gas and electric to explore issues including where projects were occurring including sewer, water, natural gas and road resurface and so taking a look at infrastructure projects when they take place, there is the city it does have a policy and around, you know, the city does have kind of a mandate that once a road is resurfaced no work can be done for five years. and in terms of trying to sort of aggregate, you know, all of

the road work, happening at one time. and so, cpw does not come in, and then, puc comes in and then, pg&e comes in and so, the work to try to aggregate all of that work together at one time to minimize the impact and so i just jotted down a few things and this does not have to be, you know, extraordinarily detailed or subnative and but it provides an opportunity for the commission to be able to forward some thoughts, recommendations, suggestions, questions, that the supervisors may want to ask, and so, i just would like to hear your thoughts and you know, what experiences have you had? or you know, merchant corridors that you work with and you are familiar with that you have had the feedback about, you know,

when these infrastructure projects relatively simple, and not like the central subway, but relatively simple in terms of redoing the sewer pipes or what have you, that is not simple. but not to the degree of the central subway, if there is any feedback that you have heard from the merchant groups? >> yes? >> do you want to go? >> sure. >> and one thing that i have noticed is on some of these projects is that it seems as though the project will be completed basically, but the obstructions for the parking, stay in place, and just sort of the general debris and in that area is, you know, very impactful for the businesses, and i am thinking of a business that i know that was on a corner and you know, there was a hanging flower basket above and they knocked it down and threw it on the trash and then, you know, kept it blocked with

the big red, orange, you know, don't walk on this side of the sidewalk, way past when the project was completed. and i think that you know, we need to talk about removing the rest of what went with that project in a timely manner. >> clean p up your mess. >> yeah. >> any other comments? >> i just, i just want to say, in my time, you know, which is you know, almost 20 years living in the castro and being involved with mumse, i got and this is a positive thing, you know, every project in that area, whether it was in the merchant area or even on the side streets, you know, pg&e would come to our munsi meetings and let us know what was being done.

dpw, especially when ed riskin was in charge, let us know ahead of time what was going on, and you know, if it had to do with the holidays or pride, or halloween or something, they were very, very respectful about that. and stopped work during those times when there was a large influx of, you know, tourists in the neighborhood, and you know that i will get phone calls tomorrow saying that something is wrong. >> i got to tell you that pg&e we have a liaison and we have had good ones in the past. some of them better than others. but, you know, we all had the phone numbers and if there was an issue and they could call and they were very responsive. and if pg&e, the out reach was good in the castro and it still is, and i have not heard any complaints and they are doing the big fro ject on 17th

street that seems to be going on forever. >> they are coming to the meeting to explain why and they are doing it on 17th street and right in front of supervisor weiner's house and the new water lines and the gas lines and the new sewer lines and they are doing it all at once. so, i am going to stay positive on this and the out reach with dpw and pg&e and those two projects and the projects in the castro neighborhood and in my opinion have been dealt with very well in the last, you know, 15 years, so, they do show up at the munsi meetings and they know if they don't, they could be part of it too. so, i am just going to leave it at that. any other comments? >> i would like to open this up to the public comment, do we have any comments on item number 7? >> seeing none, public comment

is closed. and any other commissioner comments to give her on this item. >> just following, and i just want to sort of repeat some of the points, so communication, early, often, you know, before during and after which kind of goes also to your point, commissioner dooley about, if there is after communication, and then there is the ability to talk about the clean up afterwards, and the liaisons, and i also put that the stages, you know, that the staging area for vehicles and equipment materials were not in use, is not on the commercial district or in front of the businesses. and then, of course, to reiterate that having quality pavement is essential to bike safety. and prioritize commercial districts work to not to take place during the pique retail times and we hear more and more that as you said, commissioner adams, about the sensitivity to

that, and being responsive to that, and then, lastly, just to insure that if a street is in more moratorium there will not be delay issues should a development projector a business need to cut into the street for increase electricity or waste water. >> so those were sort of the points that the staff came up with. >> great. >> thank you. >> okay, next item, please. >> >> mr. president, that takes us to item 8, director's report, this is a discussion item. >> so, commissioners, we want to inform you that on july 27th, you will be receiving a presentation on the what we are calling the business tax and because it is not just a gross receipts and the business registration is changing and you will be receiving a presentation on just the reminder of the schedule and the changes and the dates that

things were changing and the next business registration, payment, and payments are going to be going up, and then, also including the out reach program, our marketing program, and our marketing and communications program. and as well. so, starting this month, we are going to start slowly inveiling all of the different elements that we have been working on for doing out reach an education to the businesses on the gross receipts and we have developed a new website that will or is a landing page to help to direct people for information, and it is not quite live yet. but it is sfbiz text.org. >> on-line business portal. tomorrow partners has been awarded the contract to build the portal and we are excited about that. the target date for the

delivery of the portal is august and jane has moved over to the department of technology to be working on the project. and informed you that our first key to the zip was fully funded right after the holidays, and so that is very exciting and now we now would like to find two more businesses that we can refer and we can refer as a trustee. to keep a zip. in your packet, is let's see. okay, you know i didn't get it printed out, but i will forward it to you, kind of the list of criteria that we use to sort of prescreen a business, for eligibility. then, i provided you with the fiscal quarter q2 for the 2013, 14 fiscal year. and we are up