fisherman's wharf restaurant a long long time ago. and back in the 70s. i worked at a famous unionized house and those days almost all of the restaurants were union. and at this job, i learned well how a busy restaurant could be run. and when the workers are respected and valued and also learned that the respect that we received derived from the union contract and we were workers from all over the world and i met my first chinese person and i worked with my first chinese person from main land china in that restaurant. men and women who labored fast and hard in a crazy business environment and what we got in return was not just money we got a predictable environment and a voice and a set of rules and received excellent health benefits and paid vacation and time off with breaks and even during a busy shifts, and we were part of our jobs and part of our stats and status as union members. i left that job when my

daughter was born and went to live in europe where we lived no 18 years and fast forward to 2001, our family back to the states and so our daughter... >> thank you. >> we came back and i got a job and fisherman's wharf. and the conditions were terrible. >> thank you. >> what i am trying to say is we need... >> thank you. >> next speaker. >>

>> what we are known for and what the life in your neighborhoods and the activities that we create and support and foster, and then the attempt to make the small business owners and we are saying that we are clawing the money, this is not accurate. and i am asking you. health in all of these instances are my main concern and i do the best that i can for my employees and they are wonderful and they appreciate

us. and we have a great relationship, and i am like to the division and i like, to support and cohesion and this is not happening here today and i am running out of time. but, i want to make known that we can work together, instead of separating each other. >> i am filling in for ed who had to leave who you called earlier. and so we are representing a community organization here in san francisco about 2,000, lower income, and families, living throughout the city. and you know, a lot of our members are part of the kind of the new vision, and the model

for healthcare that was passed with the healthy san francisco. and continue to push for achieving healthcare, just like you all, and just like each of you have, very good health plans, and we provide as a non-profit and the health plans that the good health plans for our employees and just like the last business center and actually provides, and sounds like the good health plan for her employees and we expect all, you know all businesses to provide, good healthcare and as we face kind of the health in equality and we also face the health and in the lower income community and if we are going to stand for you know, the remaining lower income working class familis that live in san francisco and we need to come together and make sure that all businesses are providing healthcare as well as helping to keep, families here in san francisco. so we urge you to support this, thanks. >> thank you very much. >> next speaker, please?

>> hello, my name is brenda and i work at san francisco general hospital in the adult medicine clinic which is one of the biggest medical clinics primary care clinics in the public health system and so, we really need to close this loophole, and i have been here before you know, you are starting back on when it got implemented and trying to get it and i am glad that you are doing it, and the others, and we really support that. but, the other part that the people need to realize is that within the healthy san francisco, and a lot of that care, that the people are getting within the primary care, is paid for with those. and the patient education, and the new nurses that we are payed for and a lot of those things are paid for with those dollars and now healthy san francisco goes away and then

the system that we are building to be a great system, and i think that we have one of the better systems is going to change. and it is going to make it go down. and so yes, i understand the business's point but, i as a city employee, have sacrifice and i fought my foughts and everybody has to pitch in and the businesses whether they like it or not, need to help to make sure that we do have hel indicatinger for everybody and everybody has to play a part, and the people paying the premiums, but they have to be reasonable to pay apart and the labor has to pay a part. and the businesses have to do their part and i think that two of the three have already done that but businesses needs to step up and really pay their part and some are and all businesses are not avoiding. but, the ones that are need to pay up, and so that the whole system becomes stronger for all of us. >> thank you. >> next speaker.

>> amber bower and the political director of the san francisco labor council and i am here on behalf of one of the working families that is struggling to stay here in san francisco and i am lucky that i work for a great union and that i have healthcare and my husband, actually has an hra, and i just, i really take exception that this is not a loophole, that the restaurants are using to avoid the obligation to provide the healthcare and most do provide healthcare and those that don't, you know i have talked with a lot of these workers and they are afraid to be here because they think that they are going to get fired and that is not an entirement where they feel they are being told, you know we want to give you healthcare but we can't afford it and so we are giving you the hra instead. and a majority of the restaurant who do have them, do have a surcharge and that mandate is being funded, by their customers. and i don't know if you ever used an hra but i have. and i think that i am a fairly

savvy person and i have the internet and able to get on-line and it is extremely difficult to use that money and so when the people come up here and say our employees are only using 50 percent, or 30 percent of it, well, i am not sure if you know how challenging it is but it is not an easy process to use it. we actually still have not used all of hours and my husband has not worked there for over a year, and you know, i wonder if some of the people sitting here have a credit card because i know my husband does not he has what i like to call musician credit he is a performer and works in a lot of restaurant and does not have great credit or any credit. so putting out the paying those money to get healthcare and get reimbursed is totally unreachable for many of these people that work these restaurants if you don't have the money to pay for x-rays and medications and preventive care and then, this is a loophole.

and it needs to be closed. i thank the supervisor for the work. >> and urge you to vote yes. >> next speaker. >> hi. >> thank you for having this hearing and serving on this important committee for this important issue and my name is cathy and i have been a resident of district one for 40 years and i have taught as a part time instructor at city college for 35 and i just thank you. and but i am here for 2121, and because many of the current students and especially many of the efl students as wells graduates of the culinary arts and hotel and restaurant programs work in low income positions and they need to be reassured that the healthcare will be covered by the employers simply in order to make ends meet. and one young man in my family, actually works three part time jobs now and struggles to cover rent and basic necessities which at this point does not even include a cell phone.

so, and when this young man can't even afford a cell phone i am sure that the healthcare on his monthly income is not going to be affordable, and in addition to the students, we are finding that the part time faculty members are turning to healthy san francisco and when the administrative decisions are made to cut the classes and the 2121 believes that education and healthcare are human rights. >> hi, my name is laura and i started a business about 17 years ago, in golden gate park. the restaurant and we also

build another business, the park shalet. and we have employed thousands of people over the years and we have promoted from within and we have launched careers, and we have previous employees that have gone on to start their own businesses and we have contributed thousands of hours to the community and non-profit and we are part of the fabric and we love the city and we work very hard for the city and i also find it upsetting that businesses are as previously speaker said vilify and we do ever health insurance and pay 50 percent for any full time employee for over 30 hours. they do not allow you to do that. and i am not opposed to hpso and the current legislation, closing the loophole, it does

not even totally make sense to me because, there is thousands of employees here in san francisco, including thousands of city employees that are not eligible for hcso or they work for small businesses that are not required to comply and so none of those tens of thousands of employees will actually benefit from this augmented premium assistance, that... and i just want to say that i oppose this, in its current form and in the time frame that we are looking at i think that we need time as a business as businesses, and as a city, to really look at how we can make this work, and how can we get the funding mechanisms to work to be, and make sense for all businesses and for the employees, and we don't want to go out of business and we are facing a lot of additional expenses, that we are not even

clear on how we can plan for. and so, i just i urge you just to please give this some time, and so that the businesses can understand how aca is going to work for our employees and we work very hard to try to educate our employees on this. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. >> next speaker. >> good afternoon neighborhood services. ♪

>> thank you, next speaker. >> >> i work in a city agency. >> and i am greg and we are both shoppers for nhw. and we are the concerned that the cpnc is making 100 million profits in a year, and my co-workers and some of them they don't have a total access to 100 percent and they don't

have vision and dental. and don't have the coverage and we are asking you guys to look at this loophole that they are doing to us. >> and we support your legislation like he said before, many of our members don't have the insurance through the employees so they have to do it through city and need affordable healthcare thank you very much. >> thank you very much. >> i have another speaker card, kim tavaloni and anyone who has not spoken who would like to speak, please come forward. and i know that there is people in the overflow rooms, if there is still anyone in there, come forward and you have an opportunity to speak, thank you. >> hi, good afternoon, i am from california nurse's association. and it was perfect timing to go after healthcare workers at cpmc because you know while the face of the op sis today is

small business owners, cpmc is the number one user of some loophole. and they and you know, the hospital that in the same 7 years, that the healthy san francisco has been in place, they made four billion dollars as a hospital, chain. and so they are making plenty of money and they can make sure that the workers are getting the healthcare and you know, this kind of fuzzy history about whether or not this is a loophole, i was involved, with amiano's office when i worked at the council in crafting this legislation and this was never, ever ever ever an intention of the legislation.

patients who are working and doing what they are supposed to be doing and trying to make the ends meet and they can't afford the insurance or the medication they need and the hospital sends them home with life threatening issues and give them two weeks of medication and what do they do after those two weeks of medication is up? these are the kinds of realities that the nurses are seeing every day and it is very frustrating to hear the dph that should be leading forward, and leaning forward on this issue and leading this issue to make sure that san franciscans are getting healthcare, and that the dollars that are intended to go to healthcare and yet they are putting up a huge roadblock that is exactly what this means when you say let's study it more and wait and see that means that you are not going to do anything about it and we should be on the cutting edge of this in san francisco. and like we have been for so many years. and we thank supervisor campos for bringing this forward and the supervisors who are supporting this and, supervisor mar and we hope that the supervisors will lead on this issue and again, get to 11-0, vote.

thank you. >> the next speaker. >> my mom owns a small business here and i am a big supporter of business, and i often go to restaurants, and i am against chains, and i don't go to chains, if i can avoid it. and i feel as a citizen of san francisco, i supported the hcso legislation and i pay it gladly when i go to restaurants and the fact that it has not been spent, on healthcare for members, which is what i was told, is appalling because i kind of feel like i was..., and the other thing is that i support small business and i think that labor supports small business and we all do. but we all know that there are big companies like cpmc that will take advantage of this loophole and that needs to be closed. and it is small business needs help, i am all for it. i know a number of restaurants

that have gone out of business, not because of healthcare, not because of wages for employees, but because of predatory commercial real estate rules. and where they come in and they raise the rents, and the biggest chunk of most of the small businesses that i know are complaining about the rents. and so, i don't think that it is a matter of making their employees healthy and i don't think that about the rate that they pay the employees, that is putting them under there is a lot of other reasons and that should be explored and i encourage the board to do that. it needs to be closed now and they apartment complex afford to go without it and i would strongly encourage all supervisors to pass legislation and to pass it now and i am also very disappointed in the department of public health for their stance on this. and it is really sad to see one of the greatest departments of public health, to really take a stand and not support,

healthcare for all. it is disappointing. >> thank you, very much. and i am going to again, last call for public comment, any member of the public who has not spoken, who would like to speak, come forward. seeing none, we are going to close public comment. >> yes? >> larry and i have coverage california and i don't understand why given coverage california you are not really as sick as some people who really need the insurance, and i am looking at it and it seems like, we are dealing with housing issues here and in for the people like me, low income and the people on social security, and i am wondering that i am still, where they are giving insurance and no housing and the housing and no

insurance, and it seals like something that can highlight what is going on with this insurance. and the coverage, thank you. and it is my birthday today. and i am 53 and i am three months older than the president and i hope that his care, and i hope that the first lady there and they are going to do something about habitat for humanity because, if america follows san francisco trend with the hud housing, and the word is on that the people of this country and we need to not be fooled about the care and it will not do anyone any good if people are going to have to go to jail to get housing, and insurance, and it seems like that is why we are going to be going back to this. and so, happy birthday to me,

and... america i have never been more hopeful than i am tonight that we will get there, i promise you that we as a people will get there. >> we cannot have a thriving wall street. while main street, suffers. >> thank you. >> i think that it is only appropriate that we end public comment, happy birthday indeed, the public comment is closed. supervisor yee? >> thank you, chair. campos. colleagues, first of all i want to thank everyone who came out and testified today. and it is clear from the people's experience that we are currently not fully implementing the vision of the healthcare security ordinance,

and the aca. and also, i wanted to thank the department of public health for their presentation. and i have been and i am just going to interject just a little bit, and as the people were talking about their issues and other people, and the people that are just supporting and so forth, it reminded me of myself, and when i was much younger, and where, i didn't have health insurance for the longest time and nor did my parents. and in fact, even when i had my first i was going to say, first kid. i didn't have health sxins it was a struggle to even raise the money to pay it off. and having it a delivery, and so, i kind of understand, where the people are coming from in this. and the but, you know, this, and there is, and i certainly

in terms of your legislation, i fully support the notion of it, and i really want and i see that the hra and you know, i am realizing that health insurance, and healthcare itself is a very big puzzle. and there are many pieces to this. and so, the hra pieces are a piece of that puzzle. and not a total piece, to look at that resource and see who we will utilize it the best that we can and not get or be stuck with the original and the necessary of the original

notion of what it is. and the, and i guess when i was trying to question, the health department in the representation and i was trying to figure out, where is it breaking down? what is it that we really need, and one of the things that i i have seen a lot of programs where the intentions is there and in a few years later, it is just like what happened? and i don't know if what, my thinking right now is that i would like to continue this item. and have these questions answered. and i am going and i need the department to come back and if not, we will go with it as it is, okay? and i want the department to

come back and say, what are the parameter and what are the issues that you are envisioning, potential, and hazardous, and issues that the question of whose, and what does it cost to leave, and we have put ourself into the program where the cost is going to over run the resources. and so, how do we handle that? and so that is where we are in that. >> supervisor, if i may just ask you a question, because i think that it is really important to recognize that there are many issues here but two of the larger issues are one the question, of the loophole. which i believe that the evidence is very clear, that the loophole is there and that is needs to be closed. and i don't know that we need any additional information on that. where i think that there is an openness to make sure that we get more information is on sort of how the rest of the program works and how it interacts with

the affordable care act. and so i am wondering, if you have my willingness to state that we should continue this, is just based on the second piece, which is and to make it the strongest program that we can, and not, and i am not talking about waiting for two years an hour or something, and i am talking about several months where the people can actually get a handle on it, and and that might be helpful, but i think that for me, it is not about the data from the aca and it is about what kind of program, what parameter and what is going to be successful. and the closing the loophole or whatever you want to call that, and the resources that were

intended for people, to use, for health insurance period. and there are a lot of good businesses, and i know that. and i know, i mean a lot of people get health insurance from their business, and from where they work. and so, when several of the speakers talked about small business, and they are, you know, you can't to the category and you can't lump them into one category and 90 percent of the businesses whether they are small or large and actually do the right thing and so, it is getting after those or not doing the right thing and so i am very supportive of the first piece which is what you called the loophole. >> thank you, supervisor. and supervisor, mar? >> thank you. >> and i think that we are on the same page, and i am strongly supportive of the closing the loophole, and i

think that the small business, the folks that have come out today, and i am in strong agreement, that the small business owners and their workers are the back bone of our economy, but, no sick person in san francisco, should be left behind, as others have said, and in their remarks, and closing the loophole is absolutely critical right now, and i think that as small businesses and others, come with the different suggestions on how we can create a more efficient affordable care act. in our city that leaves no one behind, and that accounts for the undocumented people that were not covered by the aca, and the many, i think, some said, 26,000 workers or others that are not being covered, that we should put our heads together to insure that we have the most efficient program and i think that supervisor campos's proposal is a really, a great one in my opinion, but i would like to know from miss

chala or hopefully or miss garcia can come to the next hearing that we can have the strong suggestions and others said that we cannot wait for a year or two years before making sure that we have health access for everyone. and i wanted to also thank tran from supervisor or from the assembly man's office and to making it clear that universal healthcare was the intent and i think that this or the 75 percent for example, of the money, 80 million dollars in 2012, that is pocketed by the employers and not going to the health needs of workers, that is definitely it is shocking but it is not surprising given that we have known about it for many years and i hope that today we can move this forward so that we close this loophole and insure that everyone can be covered and from what miss tran said on