>> good morning, supervisors. i am bradley wheat mire. i am a i hss worker. for over 10 years when i started home care workers were making two and three dollars above minimum wage. prices have gone up incredibly, especially housing. we ask that you move this amendment, this piece of legislation to the full board, and we hope that you will endorse it in the committee today. it is very important for our members and for the whole ski because we need the city to set an example for all employers. right now we have a proposition

that will help children, caregivers and contract workers coming on the ballot. we are already going to be covering a big chunk, more than half, perhaps, of this increase. other people who ask for increases are not asked to come up with revenue. why are the low wageworkers asked to do this? we are going to support prop c. we urge that you take this stand because most of our workers will spend this money right in our neighborhoods in san francisco. so many of them are being forced to move out, and we don't want that. we don't want hard commutes added to the hard work of caring for the consumers keeping them help be and hell -- happy and healthy at home. you must help us have a livable

wage so we can continue to serve san francisco. >> thank you. next speaker. >> good morning. i am adolphus. i work at the san francisco international airport. for the years going by, looking back, the board of supervisors or the government help us to increase wages at the airport. the increase does not only help the employees, it also benefits the management because it prevents large amount of turnover as it is right now because of low wages. with you giving us time to come here today to hear our grief vance, please help us pass this through safely.

it is an increase that is very important for us because transportation has gone up. as well as rent. like the previous speaker said, most of the money is to be spent right here in our community. today with $15 or $14 you can't buy decent tennis shoes for your children going to school. we need your support at all costs. help us. thank you. >> next speaker. i think it is kevin. i will call a few names before you get started. helen car, robert rogers, tom vargas, charles minister, jim castile, romeo.

>> morning, supervisors. i am kevin presard. i am a security officer. i am also a veteran and part of the working poor. i am trying to better myself. i am a student at san jose state to get up to a certain point in my life where i can be financially stable. san francisco international is the second busiest airport in california. san francisco international is also the seventh busiest in the u.s. and the 23rd busiest in the world. last year san francisco international took care of 55.8 million passengers and had

over 450,000 aircraft operations. that is takeoff and landing. we see now what the teachers' strikes going on. they comelingpletely shut down the education system in the respective states. if this would happen at san francisco international it would be a catastrophe to the world. as a member of working poor. i am asking for 16.86, no more. i would like to better myself just like anyone else in here. i would like to have a family. i would like to have kids. but i can't do it here. there is mass exodus in california because of the wage inequality that is apparent. i urge you to please move this mco raise.

thank you very much. >> thank you. next speaker. >> i am charles minister, a resident of district one, a member of senior disability action. i am a retired union worker. as it says you are a union man or woman or boss' boy and girl. i am a man. as a man i retired out of the city of san francisco 13 years ago. at that time i was making $22 before benefits and scraping by my wife and i. i know since that time the cost of living has increased about 25%. current and cost of housing has probably doubled. you can't imagine how you are going to make it on 15, 16, $17 an hour. the minim should be at least

$25. like the old victim of john l lewis said. when you suffer at our table, you have got to work for labor. everybody is at the labor table. without labor we have no services or products. the people that are here today to try to get a raise, back in the 30s and 40s we had strikes. the key strikes in this town would be transport and hotels. i bet people would come up with the money then to pay these men and women who work hard every day to make the city work. this is a no-brainer. this goes to the full board of supervisors and gets passed. thank you. >> hello. i am robert rogers.

i am a housing navigator and transitional housing program for folks on probation. i work at the drake hotel. i wanted to say a few words about the culture of turnover in our city's permanent housing environment. permanent supportive housing. many of my union brothers and sisters are forced to jump from one job to the next in our world for 50 strengths raises -- 50-cent raises. this has an enormous impact on the clients that our case managers see on the folks who want clean bathrooms in their hotels provided by professional

janitors, and you want a friendly safe face to see at the front desk of the hotel. some folks. the most important relationships they have are the most consistent relationships they have are the folks at the front desk of the hotel. it is important for us to have a living wage so we feel like we have the stability to stay in these jobs as long as we like to. we want to stay, we want to work with the people that we build relationships with at the hotels. we want to be paid well-to-do it. thank you very much. >> good morning. i am tony with usc w local 5. i am a union represent. i live in district 9. we are supporting this to get

voted on. local 5 has several thousand members that work in san francisco and at the airport from retail to food to beauty and spas. we need to get these people a living wage that they can affort so they don't have to work so many jobs to support their family. they support their family and parents. please get it to committee so we can vote on it as soon as possible. thank you. >> good morning. i am here with local two. i work for sky shifts. i am here to talk about minimum wage. it is very hard where i am working. i am the coordinator. i come to work and see senior ladies working very hard in the cold freezer. it is rain and cold outside. to wake up in the morning and see them struggling. you know, it is more of a -- my

job you have to be on time. we have delays. each minute delay is $1,000. we make about $40 billion a year they have can't give us 16 to $17. they make 14.52 an hour. it is not fair. it hurts, you know. i see them crying and it is bad. please help them and help us and help everybody here. also, i am a registered voter. i vote and you guys decide here today will affect my vote and everybody's vote, i believe. the thing is if we vote for you why can't you help them? please, please happy us. >> you are for the airport?

>> yes, please if you can. we will really appreciate it. >> thank you. >> good morning everyone. i am romeo. i am an employee sky shift. i am working in the department and i work eight hours a day five days a week. i earn $1,600 for a month. i live in san francisco. i rent a small room. i pay $1,250 per month. i spend almost $100 for the transportation expenses. it is only $250 left on my salary. we are asking you to please

understand our situation. it is the reality of our life in san francisco. thank you. >> ladies and gentlemen can i see by a show of hands how many airport workers are here today? thank you very much. >> yan. claudia, anita anas stashia, nathaniel. alice, josh goodwin and cathy lowry. liliana cortez and william. do you need translation or do you have it? >> i have it.

[ speaking another language. >> my name is natalie. i am a janitor. here with my co-worker asking the city council to listen to our voice. we are working very hard. we are asking to put pressure.

we want to have the at temperature dance. [speaking another language ]. >> we are asking can you offer our good benefit and good wages. thank you. >> next speaker. >> good morning i am claudia. i have been a home care worker in san francisco for 24 years. i am a member of siu2015, the

largest union and low wage work force in san francisco county. thank you for listening to my testimony today. home care providers in san francisco county we make $14 per hour. we were covered by the living wage. but from the year 2000 until now our lives have drastically changed. we can't do it any more. we can't live in san francisco. we can't survive. we work hard.

many of us have to look for two and three jobs just to make ends meet. that means we can't take care of our own children ourselves. some of our providers don't have a place to live. i ask today you start to share with us your hearts the way we do every day. have compassion. for the folks here today representing thousands of workers in san francisco and thousands more that could not be here today with us. please send this out of committee. we need at minimum $16.86 in july to make our lives whole.

thank you. >> next speaker. good morning, supervisors. my name is anita lowe. i am an ihss worker and sieu local 2015 member. that is close to the workers in san francisco. the majority, 98% live in san francisco. we rent a house in san francisco and we ride the muni bus in san

francisco. we shop in san francisco, and we use the medical facility in san francisco. therefore, the one that actually we are th the real code to move forward. so it is time to amend the living wage that is outdated, not catching up with the cost of living. we are calling here to all of the supervisors. to adopt and pass the amendment to give us $1.86 above the

minimum wage. thank you. >> come on down next speaker. good morning. my name is [ inaudible ] i am a member of union scau local 2015. i am working as a care provider more than 0 years. -- more than 10 years. san francisco is one of the most expensive cities to live in u.s. we are living here and work.

our work is as much important as any other work in the healthcare system but paid at least at lowest level. we want and deserve to live with dignity. we have obligation to pay rent and other bills. we want our client to have a good life and we want to save

money to the taxpayer. as i told you, we work so hard and save money to the ta taxpayr doing hard work. >> we save money for the taxpayer. therefore, we ask you to vote for home care providers on mco and raise our salary. thank you.

>> good morning. i am a member of the local. i have worked here for 20 year. i came here today to tell you it is very hard. it is very difficult. every time i am going to pay my rent, i am frustrated. i don't know what to do. i pray to god to help me. to give me a choice how to pay my rent. sometimes god doesn't listen to me. today i came to tell you guys, please, help us. having this and medical insurance is important for us. we work hard in a cold room 40°

poor conditions with low pay. we have to pay for medical coverage out of our own pocket. we deserve better. we ask you to move to minimum wage. thank you very much. >> good morning i work as a janitor. i am homeless. i can't afford sro when i clean. i have every day drug dealers and bedbugs. i can't count on my home due to the high turnover. please pass so i can find a home and work in dignity. yesterday, i don't have enough money to buy a pair of shoes i

went to losses to buy a pair of shoes for $14. a clean feces of other people i don't think you would do that. if you put yourself in my shoes you will understand why i need a raise. that is why we need more money. we need more help. i am homeless. i have a backpack and i walk around the streets. i wake up to go to work in the morning. can i get some help? can we get some help? that is all i am asking. thank you very much. >> next speaker, please. >> good morning. i am a part-time worker within home support services public services. we get $14 per hour pre-taxes. i go to homes and teach the consumer how to work with the

two vader. we try to get the provider. we hope we can get these people to work for this person who needs everything. it is cleaning, whenever they are sick they must have somebody to get to the doctor's appointment, food. they rely on these people entirely. at $14 per hour if anything changes for the provider they can't show up that is reality. i get people hired who have some small change in their life. they cannot be there for the people we are trying to hire. the mentor program is something the board of supervisors pays for. you are the only county that does it in all of california. we are independent contractors to do this work. what i see ask that they are incredibly grateful for us to be there to teach them to be an employer, but when they get someone, that person they have

to leave in a moment's notice. this is everything to them. then we have to start all over. it can take months. there are 20,000 providers, to get an independent provider who is willing to work for you for 12 hours, the next for 10 hours, the next for 15. they don't have very many hours, those providers on the list, there is only 500 of them. why? because there is not must have money. at $14 per hour if they are offered any. >> thank you. come on down next speaker. >> good morning. i amliano cortez. i represent hundreds of workers members of 856. work in aircraft, nonprofit and

public sector stand with everyone struggling to earn a living wage. they can see planely the rich keep getting richer, the middle class continues to shrink. the airport represents an opportunity for so many, it has become one of the more expensive places to work. the high cost of housing has pushed workers to commutes from dysson, fairfield. sacramento, modesto. i could keep on going. the cost of fuel, parking and health care eat away whatever wages is left. car rental workers are among the lowest paid, some get paid lee-lo the mco. -- below the mc on when you consider healthcare. they would not provide a foundation of living wages.

the struggle cannot end in a committee. send this to the full board of supervisors and give the voice to those who need it most. we need your leadership. we call the question will you stand with the lowest paid workers or not? thank you. >> good morning. i am here today speaking on behalf of human services network. the nonprofit sector supports and was part of the 7% minimum wage increase to bring the rate to $15 per hour in july. we support the additional mco increases for airport and for for profit contract workers. we do not support increase to $16.86 for the contracted nonprofits in san francisco as the retired chief development officer at larkin street youth

services i know raising to $16.86 creates serious complications for nonprofits. larkin street is not 100% city funded. this does not offer a plan for supporting the increase. we cannot simply raise rates to cover this cost. this newman date will have -- mandate will affect the financial facilities of our contracted nonprofit service providers which could lead to layoffs and the issues that would arise. it is especially important to note this was put forthwith little or no input from the nonprofit sector. we ask the board of supervisors to address these concerns. either amends the mco to include nonprofits or should the legislation nonprofit remain at minimum delay passage until the city conducts an adequate community process.

thank you. >> good afternoon. i am beth stokes, eckective director of episcopal services largest provider of shelter and housing in san francisco. we understand the economic pressures on the nonprofit employees. with two 50 staff to work on the city contracts, we recognize the need for incremental wage increases. an increase of 12.4% is not a cost our organization can absorb. at the increase of $450,000 annually we would like the city continued support for this mandate. thank you. >> and new take lowe, josh

goodwin. hello, eve meyer and if there is anyone else that would like to speak, please come on up. >> is that's it for public comment? please hurry if you would like to come for public comment. pull the mic phone to your mouth. >> good morning.

i am eve meyer with san francisco suicide prevention. i have an audio visual here. this is what i was told that i needed to explain this so the deputies would not stop me. i have a story to tell you. there was a man once who had a horse and he wanted to teach his horse how not to eat. each day he would subtract one straw of hey from the horse's eating trough. every day he took away one straw from the horse and for a year he did this until the horse died. he never found out he could teach the horse not to eat because the horse died. this is what was left of the

horse. if you teach us not to eat by increasing our salary payment as our rents have gone up 20%, at the same time our health insurance has gone up 6%, at the same time as our other assurances that we are required to carry have gone up, you are turns us to the horse that starved to death. thank you. >> you have 30 seconds remaining. >> in my 30 seconds please do not do this do us. we are not people who it is around and file our nails. our agency takes care of 200 calls from suicidal people per day. we do this every day of the year 50,000 calls each year. we keep people out of the emergency room, out of psychiatric emergency room. it slows us down and you lose

money. thank you. >> next speaker. hello, supervisor, san francisco human services network. we are compassionate about the need for worker whose deserve higher wages. we have worked with the city to forma agreement to phase-in minimum wage increases that have been large for the past several years. we have worked with the city to achieve cost of doing business increases to raise our entire wage structure throughout the work force and pay higher rents and expenses. we support the for profit and airport increases that were proposed a year ago and have been on hold. we cannot support an additional 12.4% unfunded city mandate on nonprofit organizations

overnight too raise wages with no plans on how to pay for it. there is an assertion the city will pay to this. that does not present the picture. nonprofits have to come up for one f undergo for workers not on the city contract. they have to fund the entire work force. we are not 100% city funded and cannot raise prices. our survey of 34 organizations showed a cost impact of $19 million including $6 million for noncity funded workers. the legislation purports to delete lapping wage to require the city to fund any of it based on speculative revenue to cover $44 million. it will create unintended service costs, undermining the cost of doing business increase and allowing funding for no new

programs. we ask the city to take out nonprofits. if you are notfulling to do that we need to delay this until there is an adequate community process as we did with minimum. >> thank you. any other speakers, please come on down. >> good afternoon. i am here to support seiu. four months ago i am trying to find a job. i found out that the money i am earning is not enough to pay one week of my rent. i am looking for housing. i am struggling for four months i could not find anything. sharing a bathroom and one room

for $1,200 or $1,300. i am very, very surprised. 20 years ago i was in san francisco before. the first hourly $16 now it is $15 they are paying in san francisco. every time i go out and go home, sometimes maybe i have to cry. people on the streets is housing is very, very expensive. we have to take care of our people in san francisco. san francisco is the most beautiful city in the world. i started tourism. the fourth most beautiful city in the world. we have to take care of it. we have to keep buildings, not demolished. keep it as it is. you can renovate it.

please give us a little bit raise. $1.86 which we are asking for and supporting you. please support us. thank you. >> i am mike. i am a member of united here local two hotel employees union for 37 years. i am also a native born from san francisco living here all my life. i work as a union extra at the center when it is busy. i feel part of the problem is in san francisco you have a divide between the rich and the working class and the poor. the rich are taking over the city. when you see the gentrification going on in the mission. people are being forced out. something has got to be done about all of that because enough

is enough. people shouldn't have to commute long distances to their jobs. if they work in the city they should be able to live in the city. the city shouldn't be as expensive as it is. there is a time in the city and this pertains to you people on the board of supervisors where you couldn't get elected unless you had the support of organized labor. you couldn't get elected because the unions controlled the politics in the city and everything was just about union. you couldn't work in the city that you had a union contract. i feel this way. the way to cure this is to have every business in the city union. that is the only way to do it. minimum wage doesn't do it.

you have to have good strong union jobs in the city. yes, that is a true fact. the unions are the backbone of the city. they built this city up. that is why a lot of people are suffering. they have to work non-union jobs. >> sir your time is up. we appreciate your time and thoughts. we have to keep moving on. mr. cramer. >> san francisco living wage coalition. god bless debbie layman. we are on the opposite aisle on this. we have been through this movie before. we have heard the same script in 2008. the sky is going to fall, the

sky is going to fall for nonprofits. after the minimum compensation ordinance was passed when the amendments were passed things transitioned smoothly. money was found. .04 of 1% of the city. one of the richest cities in the world. you all can do this. you need to know what side of the fence you are on. you have heard from the workers. we are in a severe labor crisis. we have severe worker shortage because these wages aren't retaining workers. they are not attracting workers. the workers are being pushed out to mooutto mowoutto modesto. you are responsible. you need to bring up the wages to keep the workers.

a note. we did a living wage questionnaire to all of the mayoral candidates. the next person whose most likely to become mayor, those candidates answered they are 100% behind this and behind funding nonprofits to make sure this happens. >> thank you, mr. cramer. next speaker. come on down. >> i am with the teamters 856. i want to hit two key points. the sister from hsn made a comment before she was cut off about a community discussion. that is a point i want to raise. this committee is very important. you have the ability to give voice to both sides of this argument. i am on the side of the workers. i will tell you at the full

board of supervisors peboard ofe they deserve to see their workers and the other groups deserve to hear this debate and have it at the full board of supervisors. even if there is not the comb fort to send -- comfort. these workers deserve more. the second point. teamsters 856 have workers at take airport affected. we have mco workers in the nonprofit, public and private sector workers. our highest paid aircraft mechanics are here today in solid with the lowest paid. in one of the richest cities in the world and country we can afford to do something for the lowest paid. we will hold out and we will hold the line with the nonprofit workers of 2015.

in home health workers and local 10 to 1. we will stand by them until the end. please send this to the board of supervisors, give voice to the debate. they deserve it. >> all right. anyone else that would like to speak? i am going to gavel down public comment is closed. ladies and gentlemen, thank you for taking time of work to be part of this discussion. a couple things i want to share with you. first of all, i don't believe there is anyone in this building that doesn't believe a pay raise should happen. it doesn't surprise me mr. cramer says they support a pay increase. that is not the issue. how do we go about doing that? the devil is in the detail that is the difficulty. there has been not enough

conversation around that. i want to make sure that you guys weren't set up with the expectation you are coming to fight against an enemy that wants to hold your wages. that is not true. the other thing i want to give you a little history, background how we got to where we are here today. i want you to know that march 21 in 2017, legislation was introduced by supervisor sheehy and kim that would bring an increase for airport workers only. an increase of $1.86 which would be phased in over fiscal year 17-18 and 18-19. that legislation for workers at the airport was agreed upon last year it is ready to go. it is communicated through the airport worker through the labor

leadership they want to stay in solidarity with the coalition. the coalition being ihss workers and nonprofit workers. i want it clear this body is not the one that prevented your pay increase. that is the matter of fact. it is a decision for the union and labor business. second, i want to bring to your attention that in april 20, 2017 -- 25, 2017, substituted legislation was introduced to deal with airport workers. may 4, 2017. supervisor sheehy, a member of the committee made a motion to amend and add nonprofit workers, public entities and the file was duplicated. that means he made the motion to add nonprofit workers from 10 to

1 coupling airport workers. it is all one piece of legislation. in the file it was duplicated. the airport only file was sent to the full board with a positive recommendation. that means the legislation that allowed the airport workers to move forward with the pay raise was sent with a positive recommendation with three ayes and two excused. i voted for it. supervisor tang voted for it and supervisors yee and kim were excused. supervisor sheehy amended to the momon nonprofit. i seconded it. he added the nonprofit in the public sector worker to one piece of legislation. i supported that in may of last

year. on may 11, 2017, the file was continued to the call of the chair at budget and finance for the controller's costing. we had a hearing to hear the numbers. at the time when the legislation was scheduled there was no due diligence. we want a desire to give the raises we didn't know a source of revenue and how much it would cost. we are in a different place. we have estimations where those numbers are. i want to assure you that although it is a year's time and it has taken a long time to get the answers to the important questions. now, may 16, 2017, the item that held for the airport workers was heard at the board of supervisors, supervisor sheehy spoke about duplicating the file and asked for the full mco to

reflect all of the parties interested. at the request of tim paulson, chair of the labor counsel and other leaders that request was re-referred to the budget committee. this item today was cents to the full board, labor asked us to send it back. that brings us today. here we are dealing with the same legislation that has not been amended there. is very little changes. at this point, i want to go to the budget legislative analyst to talk a little about the number. there is a report that was given. you should understand the budget analyst has a very important role to the budget committee. it is their job to rise above to politics, it is their job to only make suggestions on where the numbers are. they are dealing with the nulls

and bolts. i want to use this as a opportunity to make sure everyone understands more clearly how much money we are talking about. i want to give you an opportunity to make a short and brief presentation. >> yes, chair cohen. on page 18 of the report we summarize the estimates that were developed by the controller's office in terms of the cost of applying the minimum compensation ordinance of 16.86 an hour to nonprofit organizations. that is 1.86 per hour more than the minimum wage in effect on july 1st. this is looking at the incremental cost. there is also an estimate based on the entire $1.86 if it was applied to the nonprofit workers under contracts with the city. the cost to the city would be

$44 million. that cost broke down as the incremental hourly rate goes down. if rather than $1.86 per hour the min ordinance was applied at $1.50 per hour that would be $38 million. if it was $1 per our $21.7 million. fifty cents per hour $18 million. >> i want to make sure everyone is able to follow the conversation. what she is saying an increase of $1.86 that the legislature would come to workers on july 1st would be $44 million. that includes home healthcare worker and nonprofit workers. thank you for that. now, i want to bring up the representative from the budget office miss kelly.

kelly is going to talk about available funds and money. she worked in the mayor's budget office. she saprocessing department head's budget. we are just getting into the main chunk of the budget process. this is a perfect time to continue to have the conversation. thank you. >> thank you. kelly kirkpatrick acting budget director in the mayor's office. a context where we are in the budget process. we are working to present the balance budget by june 1st. we have a deficit that is arrived at in consultation with the controller as well as the analyst of $137 million that we must balance in the next month and-a-half. i will say that deficit does not contemplate an additional

$44 million for the city's balancing projections. >> thank you very much. i appreciate that. the next presentation we are going to hear from is michelle from the controller's office with a few slides to present. before we hear from her i want to give supervisor sheehy, sponsor of the legislation to walk us through. he had amendments at the beginning of the meeting. we have them in front of us and give the supervisor a opportunity to share. supervisor kim was with us this afternoon. she is still up in tjpa. as soon as her item is heard she will be here for comments on the item. >> the first amendment is on page 5 -- page 1, i am sorry.

line five. it strikes starting at 15.86 per hour on july 1, 2017. we strike that. on page 4 line 16, we strike the entire line beginning on july 1st, 2017 an hourly compensation of $15.86. then on page 7 line 25 beginning july 1st that goes all the way over on page 8 lines 1 and 2 and ends at 15.86. >> one second. supervisor stephanie doesn't have that version you are walking us through. can you give her your copy.

thank you. please continue. >> i just want to note that the original mco did contemplate including nonprofit workers. what has happened is that a giant double cross. nonprofit originated it in good faith. if you look at the language struck out in this at the bottom of page four line 24. that was struck out previously. nonprofit workers were promised in years where we didn't have a budget short paul. it goes on page 5 and 6. what really happened is that the city always has a budget shortfall. the nonprofit workers recognized this could be a burden on the

budget of the city. they were conscientious. they negotiated in good faith and tried to help the city out with tough budget times. we will forego the mco when times are tough. was last year tough? is this year tough? was the year before last tough? we always declare deficit. they never get the mco. i understand why trust is low. and why they don't want us to wait until something is figured out. they made a deal years ago. we made a commitment and declare the deficit. then it doesn't occur and they never get the mco. i would hope we could move it forward to the full board as amended. >> we are trying to understand

the amendments. i want to correct the budget. this hasn't been in a deficit. i am in a surplus. >> i am talking history. i don't know if you have had a chance to look at it. this has been in this form for the entire time. >> yes. >> this language about budget deficits and shortfalls and mco for nonprofits is part of this since it was introduced. this is part of the reason we we are trying to correct unfair treatment of nonprofit workers. the original mco contemplated including nonprofit workers. it promised the mco in years with no budget shortfall. we de care claro we declared a surplus. it denied access to mco year after year after year when we had plenty of money. that is part of the original

file. >> this is the original file reflected at a time when minimum wage was not $15 in the city and county of san francisco. it makes sense if we are looking at something less than $15. we have pass and starting july 1st the law of the land in the city apcounty of san francisco is $15. there is a little bit of desscrip see how you are accounting history before us. i would like to bring in the conversation in the controller to present the slides on the budget snapshot of what the resources are available to us as we deliberate on this item.

>> i am from the controller's office. i have just two brief slides to explain the cost estimate contained in the budget and analyst reports and i am happy to talk about resources of the city. we want to explain our methodology. it is a large number. we want to give more detail what is included in that number. there are two pieces. we estimate the cost of increased wages for i hss workers separately from those increasing wages for nonprofit contractors under contract with the defendants including department of public health,