good afternoon welcome to the june 20, 2018 special convening of the rules committee today. my name is supervisor safai and we are joined by supervisor yee supervisor testify fannie. stephanie. >> please make sure to silence

off cell phones. items acted upon today will appear on the june 26 board of supervisor's agenda unless other wise stated. >> i will hand it over to supervisor fewer. charter amendment (first draft) to amend the charter of the city and county of san francisco to create the cannabis commission to oversee the department of cannabis; at an election to be held on november 6, 2018. >> supervisor fewer: we have a brand new multibillion dollar industry with a potential to grow much larger than it has.

wife seen the tech industry explode without an equity or justice lens. tech has made a few people wealthy this industry has left a lot of people behind including working class communes of color struckly to stay here. -- that doesn't behind -- welcome give key stakeholders a seat at the decision making table specifically those with a equity lens. [reading] it understand it has been difficult for -- to get a foothold in this market which is why it's critical they have a seat at the table and crit tall for labor unions to have a seat at the table to ensure that the industry is creating living wage jobs and not hoarding profits.

[reading] no new laws, just transparency for the implementation of these laws. with thi have amendments to the legislation and have provided these to the commune members. aim 1, page 1, line 22 used to

read as follows seat h shall be held by a person with household income at or below the poverty line. now reads seat 4 small we held by representative of organizationnizetorganizedlabor. this person will provide a voice for hundreds if not thousands of delivery service workers. amendment 2, page 2, line 7 used to read, seat 8 shall be held by a person with significant experience in the field of economic development and now read seat 8 shall be held by a person with significant experience in workforce or economic development. the only change is to add the words workforce and which ensures the individual has the

experience in workforce develop. this creates a nine-member commission. owner of a cannabis bis permitted through the equity program. representative of organized labor who works with cannabis business labor force. three, ca can any bas manufactureer. five, a person who has lived the last five years twines 1971-2009 in san francisco tracks where 70% of households at incomes below poverty level. [reading] , nine person recommended b between ages of -- at the time

of appointment. office of controller says that should the proposed amendment be approved by voters it would have a minimal impact on the cost of governance. i give it back to you chair. >> supervisor safai: i think maybe we can open it up for lub public comment and then come back for discussion. questions or comments colleagues? seeing none we will open it up for public comment. members who wish to speak please come forward. you will have two minutes please speak directly into the microphone and state your name. thes.please line up on the righ.

step up. >> johnny duoplan. i am asking you to able this matter the cannabis commission, and i thank supervisor fewer for giving me the chance to speak with her about. the industry feels like this is too much too soon. we are constantly facing shifting sands. i understand the intent behind the legislation and it's very well intended and i believe that at some point in the future could be very that's very viable, but at this point we just want to get permitted and don't want to see the rules change and don't want to have to get to know a new bod body and frightened of the fact that we have to go in front of the cannabis commission and then the planning commission.

querinwe are asking to table ths matter and revisit it in next. businesses are failing already left and right especially in manufacturing sector and that is where we want to preserve those jobs that everybody wants to pre serve. thank you. >> bran down brown, treasure of the cannabis retail alliance and equity partner this cvxx. i would have to agree with johnny's comments that we would like this to be tableled until next year. next year.

over this year a lot to learn from the cannabis industry and have to re-teach and rehave all those conferring conversations d and she is receptive and we are moving forward finally. the billion dollar industry you speak up doesn't exist yet and we are already being heavily taxed. equity and the tech industry doesn't have a social equity program, we created one before we had our industry. i think we are good at governing ourselves as far as including society as a whole and pushing equity programs and we have to sign a labor agreement which is ten or more employees which the regular labor agreement is 20 or more. we are having to maco macon se e

make concessions. it's getting scary what the point of this is, but i understand it sounds like a good idea right now and i believe it could be a good idea like the tatask force was a good idea. i think we should push it off until next year so we have data that we are looking at. belle. >> jim lazarus, i would ask you to not approve this at this time but look at your oversight committee and amend legislature

in that area and the makeup of that. the last thing we should be doing and that goes for tax policy as well is putting limitations and constraints on a startup industry that is competing with an underground industry. if we are going to end the illegal underground industry from growing distribution, we have to let this industry grow with reasonable regulations and reasonable tax say. this le legislation is another place for them to go and fight. this is no access to make the opinions known on this industry or other industry. we don't have a san francisco on tobacco or farm sees and we

don't need a san francisco commission on cannabis. what we need is transparency as supervisor fewer said and the opportunity with the public to deal with a robust process but not a charter amendment that puts in place another bureaucratic structure to city government way before it's needed. california is not going to get the underground economy ended in this industry until we recognize that it needs to be regulated like any other business in california. thank you. >> my name is tony delor yo. we represent 12,000 men and women in san francisco and over 100,000 men and women in --

thank you to supervisor fewer for laking taking a leadership. a cannabis commission would further ensure that the cannabis industry creates meaningful jobs with benefits so workers can afford to live in the san francisco bay area and lift themselves up. the teamsters urge you to approve this amendment to create a cannabis commission. thank you. >> my name ise today marcus andm a cannabis user living in fran.

i would like to rewind a bit and bring to your attention that the public showed it's support of cannabis as a fantastic medicine with minimal use for harm. let's stop creating impediments to research and urgently needed medical research with cannabis. [reading] as supervisors of the city you carry great responsibility, please show some compassion. i ask you to consider the question in a basic matter, why are there such excessive regulations on cannabis. there seems to be some confusion

about the lower than expected state revenue and i would like to bring to your attention that i'm not sure why there is confusion. tried and truer economics deter people for various reasons and many people do go to the black market. please don't forgets a you consider changing the hurdles that must be overcome that we are fortunate to have many pioneers of cannabis that work not to fill their pockets but to take care of those in need. cation programs have gone for months without being able to take care of people. your regulatory stance will shape our future. belle.

[bell ringing] >> my name is luke brunner. i would like to also register my request that this matter be tabled and the other speakers have addressed many issues. there is two particular issues that i feel have been entirely lost in this public discussion and it's a source of immense sadness for me. the first is the casual disregard of our veterans. they have done so very much for us and for this country and they are so disregarded. they are still not considered an equity category. multitudes have used cannabis to recover from ptsd and there is a long track of discrimination. i note veterans who have lost

veterans benefits after coming home and dealing with gulf war veterans syndrome and there is not a place for them and they are still not considered an equity group, so i hope we can begin to show the veterans the respect they deserve on the cannabis issue. one of the reasons they don't speak out about it currently because under the trump administration theadministratio. the lgbtg has been completely lost under this discussion. the aids patient and hepatitis patients who began using and are

not included with a place on this commission. i hope there can be substantial amendments and the matter can be tabled and we can do the right thing for veterans and lgbtg. [bell ringing] >> i am a resident of fran as well as owning a cannabis facility here. i want to thank you for the work that you have done for the cannabis industry. my request today is that you table this measure because i think that it's needed but it's a little too early. right now we have what i believe is good oversight, so we work with the department of public health and with the san francisco fire department and with the department of building inspection which includes eleck

from cal, plumbing and mechanical. on state level we are still operating under emergency recommendations which means the next year should be very interesting and there should be a lot of change. keeping the office of cannabis in place as it is and having brought nicole up to speed as well as her ability to manage all of the interests at the table have been useful and i think we need to day agile at this stage so i urge you to table this measure until we are ready. >> may name is lance williams i have been using marijuana for about 20 years and i was born in san francisco. i am asking you to table this.

i am told that it will take a year or two to get a license so i am behind the curve. i think it's a good idea, and i appreciate that, but i don't gamble and this seems like a huge gamble to myself and a few others. i have been around long enough. i was the first medical marijuana person to win a case. it's a risk and it's a risk that i don't need but i do appreciate the thought. i have been around enough to see some of the first commissions started and they were a failure and that was about four or five years ago, and this one will be a failure too, so if you would please table this, that would be greatly appreciated. i don't see any future coming into fruition anytime soon.

>> nina parks, i belong to a group called -- ma disal. medicinal. it seems like the office is having trouble verifies the equity applicants and there is 130 plus that have been verified and everyone is just kind of waiting around to see what is going to happen with this potential oversight committee it will hold up the process more and for some of us that have businesses in the pipelines the longer we make the longer we don't make money and it makes us vulnerable because our capital starts to go down and larger businesses to possibly takeover

our business. there are opportunities to move forward in the industry and they are curious about what that is and theres no one in the office to educate them about this. thank you. hopefully we can label this to a later time. >> chris emerson, owner of a company manufacturing here in san francisco called level. i would like you to -- i am here to state opposition against the formation of the cannabis commission. i applaud supervisor fewer and her intent to bring transparency but as we operating on temporary regulations and permanent won't be implemented until november of

this year. there is a lot of change that's going to come down to pipeline and not the time to introduce a new time of commission when we are still trying to work through the initial process of getting licensed at the state level. if we want better oversight, let's use the existing infrastructure that exists and we can start to introduce it that way. >> jennifer garcia. i am seat 20, the labor seat and co-chair of the task force. there is a labor seat on the task force to ensure that voters have a voice in this process. 648 is committed to protecting workers and their family. we proposed a charter amendment

to oversee a department of cannabis. the idea of a cannabis commission versus the office of cannabis came about a year ago. at that time my opinion was not fully formed since the process has begun my opinion has changed. this is an enormous industry coming outs of decades-long shadows into regulations. as it continues to grow in a regulated market there needs to be a body to oversee the process. key communities and stake holpr. i would like to state that the task force take our position seriously. i just wish we had spent more time on this particular issue at

our last meeting. [reading] the issue was not on the formal agenda. [bell ringing] there was just a quorum at the time the subject came up for a vote. out of the quorum at least four, possibly five of the voting members that day that have a financial interest in the industry that they are making recommendations for. since this item was not on the agenda voting task force members having no idea there was going to be a discussion or vote may have left and didn't get a chance to weigh in. [bell ringing] i didn't feel it was appropriate to vote and i abstained.

>> terence allen and for identification purposes i do serve as one of the co-chairs on the task force my apologies for having a lost voice. i am not speaking on behalf of the task force but as a citizen. as you know the task force and myself felt strongly about having a cannabis mig. in the time between now and the passage of that legislation a number of things have happened that changed my opinion on that and i make a humble request that this be tabled until we have further information about the industry. one of the concerns that i have is i was one of the creators of

the entertainment commission and in that process there was no hearing body that represented and could hear issues about nuisance, could represent neighbors and owners of business in a neutral forum. we have the planning commission that adopted that role and taken on the role after adjudicating nuisance issues. i would implore that during the time that the legislation was being amended we consider readjusting some of the responsibilities so an applicant doesn't go in front of another commission and potentially get appealed and then bounce back and forth. we have to make sure that to achieve equity we have this process that's fair and quick and honest.

> >> supervisor safai: there is a lot of industries that have to go through a lot of different commissions. there is multiple commissions that review applications, so it's not unusual, so i don't necessarily buy the argument that we want to have special treatment for one segment of our economy. next weak. speaker. >> nicole newbetter. new nubert. agreeing with the supervisor's comments but we are all involved in a project of successful regulation and regulation of cannabis that is not the case for other industries is that the

regulated market is competing with the unregulated illegal market. it's a very different animal that you are dealing with with this industry. it has to be nimble as mr. lazarus discussed and more and more expense and regulation at this point is going to make that project unsuccessful. we have to have businesses that are viable in san fran to oversee and to employ workers. i am seeing it every day across the state and unfortunately i see clients of mine that say i can't make it work. i really want to and i want to do the right thing but i can't pencil it out, so i will have to take my chips and move move on. the more we see that is it would become less relevant for

cannabis because san francisco is the birthplace of legalized cannabis. >> any others wishing to comment in seeing none public comment is closed. >> supervisor safai: because i was involved in big the chair of the rules committee as well as the budget committee conferrings therconversations there were a t of supervisors that worked on creating and facilitating and creating a pathway for this industry to grow expand an flourish and we did a tremendous amount of work to create a pathway for equity applicants. as of today there are 47 that have put their applications in. despite what i ultimately

position i might have and i appreciate supervisor fewer moving the conversation forward. there is no way or shape or form that we are what we are proposing today will create impediment to that city expanding. we are having conversations about taxing this industry as we should and this will flowish and grow because we are in th one of the strongest economy. if we invited multiple industries the an and talk to tm about what has expanded with adult use, their business has grown multifold. i was involved in creating a pathway for equity applicants but today's conversation is

about oversight and about fair representation and today's conversation is really about how we are going to move forward in an industry. the task force that oversees this body and that use and time is going to expire at the end of the year is that correct? so that is going to expire, a 20 member body, and i think they have done a fantastic role but it needs to be reconstituted and looked at. this argument that this is going to be an industry that will regulate itself, i mean we want representation for those creating a pathway for equity applicants but this is really about how we are going to shape this industry. the gentleman from level and i visited his business and one of the things we disagreed on in conferrings abstained how to

allow this conversation through to you is how we look at outside investors. if we talked about this, we would find that money from all over the world is trying to invest in this industry in fran an we talked about what percent of ownership would be viable to sell away. we want to go slower to protect the industry. >> supervisor fewer. fewer:thank you. i think we have to separate the ideas of taxes and fees from the commission and this commission heard from the controller who said this is a nominal fee to city government and it does not raise tacks or fees tack taxes .

the commission does not raise taxes or fees. this is oversight of the regulation that we have put into place. this task force will sunset at the end of year so this is a people in the industry to give back what it's like on the ground and challenges and also to give recommendations instead of having a voice at the podium, you will have a voice at the table and i know it's scary for some people because this is a new industry and it's your livelihood. there has been some misconceptions and lies going on about this commission because this industry has been dominated by a few and those few have gotten very, very very, very, v. this is the time when this task

force is sunsetting and you will not have a voice any long, it is gone. if we decide to have a commission, people at the table are people who are in the industry and people affected by the industry. what supervisor safai said is we did work really hard on regulations to roll out this now once in the dark sort of industry to bring it into the light. iquite frankly we didn't know what we were talking about we are not in the industry. we didn't know. a commission would have a voice on that.

everything people said at the podium you would have a voice to say that and an authorized voice to say that. i think that's been missing. also a point about organized labor. i think that every part from the people trimming the plants to the people selling the product or delivering, that can be organized union workforce. you are right it is not a billion dollar industry here. we want to grow this industry and make it robust. a commission would lend accountability and transparency, but be really a body that has a first hand knowledge about the industry and because there is equity applicantcy on the commission, how hard it is to start a business like this in fran and how legislatures could

make it easier. today i am bringing forward some simple amendments and they are to add a labor seat on this for the seat that was for a low income person and to add workforce instead of just workforce and economic development to page two, line eight. >> supervisor safai: god it. got it. can we make a motion to accept those amendments. motion moved. we will accept those a proposed. >> i didn't catch who made that motion? >> supervisor safai: made by supervisor yee. >> thank you.

>> supervisor yee: thank you supervisor fewer for bringing this to our attention. when a few of the comments were made i had to reread the charter amendment because i thought i read it wrong and i don' my understanding of this is we will have a department and we will have no oversight at that point in march and this isn't immediate but march of next year, so i didn't get what people were talking about in the sense that there is unfinished business as it is now and certainly there is eight or nine months where the task can forward some of the issues they are working on and i didn't see

anywhere in the charter amendment where we are beginning to reverse anything in terms of a permit process. the idea when we had voted to support the office of cannabis that the task would create some of the initial pathways for people and it seems like some of that is happening i am inclined to support this and something that we need for the department to have oversight and we can't just have somebody running a department without somebody to oversee the director. i guess that is all i have to say is that i will be supporting that as amendmented.

>> supervisor safai: deputy city attorney. >> every amendment made to a charter amendment or other ballot measure triggers a continuance automatically. >> supervisor safai: if no one else has any comments we will continue to item to the next scheduled rules meeting. [gavel] >> so this item is continued to the call of the chair as amended. >amended. >> clerk: yes is item 2. ordinance amending admin administrative code to the appointment of the director and qualifications of the office.

[reading] >> supervisor safai: excuse me if you could take any conversations out in the hall. >> i wanted to ask my colleagues if it was okay if we begin with public comment because several of the speakers and survivors of sexual violence have already had to leave and i want to make sure that we don't lose anyone else. >> supervisor safai: sure do folks want to line up so we have an idea of how many are going to

comment? >> thank you supervisors. my name is jane doe, it has been 898 days since i was drugged and

raped. 898 days since i turned to the police and went to the hospital. 898 days of fighting for this disgusting, violent crime to be taken seriously. 898 days since my life was shattered. i am a long time employee of the city of human rights commission. my entire career has been in public service specifically in human rights. s in washington, d.c. and here in san francisco. i come from a loving family in new york. 898 i wa898 days ago i was tricd drugged and then raped. i woke up during the rape and

found myself paralyzed and unable to move or screen and i didn't believe it when the police could hardly be bothered to take my complaint. the svu treats rape like a fact of life rather than a crime. they tried to pat me on the head and brush me off. when i asserted myself the one working the case desorted to dynamics similar to rape. i remember when he informed me that dna from two men was found on my body and talked over me dismissively. [bell ringing] failing rape victims. we are kept in rooms without

service to call our friends or family without information during the worst moments of our lives and no one is taking our dna or checking on us. we are cast aside and told that rape is complicated. i read the law sympu ciphers, it complicated. i know the facts and evidence and it's a fact and abhor rent and a disgrace but it isn't complicated. the police wrote a warrant for arrest around two years ago. my case has been sitting at the district attorney's office since then languishing and they tell me they believe me and that i have done everything right but they do nothing, no arrest, no prosecution, the rapist and his

accomplices remain free to prey on women and to hunt us for support. predators are embolden by the consequence free status of their crime. we need you to act. we need to hold departments and mepredators accountable, sf general, the da and the medical examiner, everyone needs to do better and they need to collaborate. their failing us. the damage of being discarded by our city departments cuts to the core. oh, and so that you are aware i med a advocate with the national organization of women from

manhattan through my brother who is a prosecutor in new york and she is now advocating for at least a half of dozen of us who have been raped in san francisco due to lack of ad advocacy here. this is a public health and safety crisis and will only get worse if you our leaders do not commit to reform. >> supervisor stefani: thank you so much. >> one last note thank you specifically to supervisor ronen and her office and supervisor stefanny, i ant so grateful to your leadership. >> supervisor stefani: these are just intense emotional stories

and i can't express enough gratitude for you to come out and share these stories and unfortunately we have the rule that we have to give the same amount of time to speak and there is a lot of items on the agenda after this and parents have to pick up their kids after school, so i'm so sorry we will have to limit public comment to two minutes per minute. thank you so much. next speaker please. >> i am here on behalf of a father of a rape survivor in san francisco. in the absence of a murdered victim or brutally beaten the crime of rape is treated differently than other crimes of violence and the victims of rape are being treated like second-class citizens.

whether it's the perpetrators who buy their way out of justice or elite perpetrators caught on top of the victim who get a slap on the wrists the their victims being let down. politicians and celebrities and men in positions of power are finally be brought to justice but the system is still faulty and antiquated and needs the eyes, ears and resourceses to see that not one victim is left behind. in the face of the system's failure i urge to stand up for justice and all victims and support and fund the sharp program. a tough former prosecutor and now retired gunnel in my jurisdiction who i know very well recently was quoted in the

paper describes how she received a call from her adult son telling about his victimization from a clergyman many years ago and she described it as the worst day in her life. stand up to victims. >> i am here to have a spiritual place where we can dpw t go to someplace to talk. if we go to police department and we don't get a good service we need to go to a special place to put our complaints. i think this idea to have a special place with a person who

can help me to solve this problem is good and strongly needed. even if we have a place to help these people who have a lot of problems and sometimes we go with to the department policemen and they don't have us. where can i go with my complaint and who can help me with this. please get this idea to have a special place and i have to say thank you because you are trying to lead this. we need great help. to everybody and many womens who are trying to get some kind of help we are struggling with idea to please support this idea that we need to have some good knew about this to help us with this problem. >> thank you.

>> my name is rachel and it's been 4.5 years since i was drugged and raped and -- for some reason the police investigation is still opened. message from all agencies i saw to the point -- i still haven't seen my toxicology report. we had to continue in civil court without it. victims like myself need sharp and no other one has intervened in cases like mine -- this is

not a jurisdiction or a woman's jurisdiction it's not within their reach. no one has extended anything to the massive problem but sharp and 4.5 years into this, half of my 20s gone panned this is the e first time i have seen something that will help cases and this is truly what victims want. thank you. >> i will have a translation.

>> i am lisa sanchez and i am a sex worker and also a survivor of sexual assault and i am here because i want to speak in support of this issue and i think what is already happening to survivors is that the indifference from the city is hardth part of the violence and the abuse they are experiencing. i have a lot of mixed emotions

that everybody is talking about makes me remember my own assault and all the indifference that we are feeling with authorities is part of what makes me feel uncomfortable. i also want to include a suggestion that we need to make sure that the office staff is diverse so people from different backgrounds can connect with people in the office. it's difficult that people don't

imagine what kind of impact this will have in their lives once it's happening. thank you. >> i it shouldn't be okay that because i am a sex worker that someone comes and violates me. when i say no, it means no. >> good afternoon my name is erica rodriguez from the women's collective. i am here because i want to support that the sexual assault office happened immediately so

that we have more help for victims when they are ignored or mistreated by different departments because we need our voices to be heard and we need to stop this violence. thank you. >> good afternoon my name is maria sanchez from the women's collective. i support the opening of these sexual assault office immediately. to ensure that we have more support for supervisors when they are ignored or mistreated by any department in the city.

there are times when our cases are untouched and completely forgotten. i would like it for this office to open immediately. >> my name is mary fitzgerald and i am a family support manager. thank you to supervisors and supervisor ronen for sponsoring this. i am here today with a perspective as many folks today as a survivor and service provider. my own personal story at the age of 14 i experienced assault and i didn't receive any toxicology report nor did my parents, and ten years later received a call from special victims unit at 850

bryant letting me know they had finally processed my kit and if i wanted to move forward with any action. again that was ten areas and that is unacceptable. unfortunately my story is similar to many stories out there especially those of the families that we serve. so i wanted to speak out and ask you to support this measure and ask that sharp is adequately and equitably funded so meaningful action can be taken. things to consider is making sure that it's equitably represented and that language

barriers around english with a second language folks receive equitable care and response. >> my name is audrey martinez and i am here to support this office of victims assault and harassment. i have been through sexual assaults through my whole life and tired to be told that it is my fault for embracing feminism. where do i go when i need support. i am still sexually harassed even after so much belongings and property taken a way from me. i am a queer man who has gone through a