commissionerses represent a critical intersection of our work at first five san as you he already heard. with their expertise spanning child psychology, child youth and family services and the public, private and non-profit sectors. as you have also heard, they deeply understand the next phase of our work in this city, creating an enterated and aligned early childhood system. they are extremely committed to improving the lives of san francisco's youngest residents and their families, through equitable access to quality early childhood initiatives and programs. and they have worked tirelessly with us as commissioners toward realizing this goal. i also would like to add that joan miller was unable to make it here today, as you have heard. but she is also an important new partner, as the director of human services, children and family services and joint funder

with our -- along with first five for our city's jointly funded family resource center initiative. our work is stronger because of the participation, engagement and guidance from our commissioners, that you have met here today. and i urge you heartly to support their appointments and recommend them. thank you. >> supervisor ronen: thank you so much. [bell dings] is there any other member of the public who wishes to speak? seeing none, public comment is closed. [gavel] well, we're lucky. we get an easy one this morning. we have four exceptionally qualified people, who have done this -- three of which have done this work for quite some time. we're so grateful for you lending your expertise to the city in this way. your work is so important. as you mentioned, as mental health becomes every day a bigger crisis in the city, we know that the best way to

prevent people from declining to a state, where it's very difficult to help them, where they end up on the streets, is to get them while they're young. and to do the preventative work in the first place. so hearing that from you today it meant a lot. please know how much we appreciate your work for the city. it means a lot. so thank you. and with that, supervisor mar, would you like to do the honors. >> supervisor mar: sure. actually i'd like to echo chair ronen's words of appreciation to our great and committed commissioners. and thank you so much for just your willingness to continue to lead on this really important body. i think for myself and my colleagues on this committee, as working parents, we very much understand that the importance of these issues and the challenges that families face in our city. so thank you so much. so, yeah, i would like to move

that we -- move this forward to the full board with positive recommendation. the appointment of let me make sure i get this right, sylvia deporto to seat 2, linda asato to seat 6, suzanne giraudo to seat 9 and lynn merz to seat 9 for children and families first commission. is that correct? >> supervisor ronen: yes. >> that would be joan miller to take the place of the seat vacated by sylvia deporto. >> supervisor ronen: that's right. and then -- i would just add that we are also doing a residency waiver for joan miller in seat 2 and lynn merz in seat 9. >> clerk: per the city attorney's advice, seat 2, the residency waiver is not required for seat 2.

>> reporter: -- >> supervisor ronen: okay. it is for seat 9? >> clerk: yes. >> to correct. correct my motion, so that would be joan miller to be appointed to seat 2 and then a residency waiver for lynn merz for seat 9. >> supervisor ronen: great. without objection, that motion passes. [gavel] thank you. thank you so much. miss clerk, can you read item number 4. >> clerk: item number 4, hearing to consider appointing nine members, terms ending december december 32020, to the cannabis oversight committee. >> did you want to make any opening comments? >> may i please do. thank you, chair ronen, the committee for hearing this item today. with the legalization of recreational cannabis in california, we have a brand-new

multi-billion dollar industry, with the potential to grow much larger than it already has in san francisco. we have seen the tech industry explode into a massive industry very quickly without an equity of social justice lens. so tech has certainly made a few people very wealthy, this industry left a lot of people behind, including working class of color who are struggling to stay here. with the legalization of cannabis, we have an opportunity here to grow this industry in a way that benefits all of our communities and doesn't leave behind the communities of color, that have been decimated by the war on drugs. we can do 24 by giving industry experts and key stakeholders a seat at the decision-making table, specifically those with a social justice and equity lens. i understand that it has been difficult for many small equity businesses to get a foothold in the market, which is why it's critical that they have a seat at the table. it's also critical for labor unions to have a seat at the table to ensure this industry is creating living-wage jobs and

not hording profits among a few at the top. i believe the creation of a public advisory body, made up of the key stakeholders to oversee the office of cannabis and the implementation of laws governing commercial cannabis activities, the best way to provide transparency and accountability for this brand-new growing industry. this advisory board will also provide valuable insight and recommendations to the board of supervisors, as we implement the voter mandate of recreational cannabis. i created the legislation of a cannabis oversight committee to provide the board on regulations, growth of the industry, and to help the board meet its goals of equity within the industry. i want to thank all of the applicants for their interest in serving on this committee, as it is an all-volunteer committee. we appreciate your interest and willingness to help us create a cannabis program in san francisco, that can thrive, be an important part of our local economy and also meet our equity goals. thank you. >> supervisor ronen: thank you

so much. any other colleague wish to make any opening comments. supervisor walton. >> supervisor walton: i want to say as we're working to make sure that individuals, who have really suffered and been criminalized because of marijuana convictions and making sure that our equity agenda and platform is really adhered to here in san francisco, this oversight committee is very important. and i just want to also say that i'm excited about the number of applicants that we have. and the number of people that actually take this serious, because we have a lot of work to do under the equity program. so i appreciate everyone wanting to serve and be a part of this committee. thank you. >> supervisor ronen: yes. i also wanted to thank supervisor futurecast for creating this body and bringing this forward. i agree. it's extremely important. and we can see from the

overwhelming responses, 24 applicants for 9 seats, that there is a lot of peopling to engage and participate in a voluntary way for this body. so we're so grateful to all of the applicants today. and because there are so many of you, i'm thinking we'll just ask any of the 24 applicants that are here to just come up one boy one. anybody in any order that you would like. so feel free to just come up and start us off. and then get in line whenever you want to. >> good morning. my name is eric pearson. i've applied for seat number 12. the seat is dedicated to a person who is an owner of a cannabis retail establishment. i've been an owner/operator since 1998, when i moved to snow

sa know ma college. we operate three dispensariaries. we also farm in sonoma valley and santa rosa, where we manufacture cannabis products. we're a vertical company with a deep understanding 6 most aspects of the industry. having say the on working groups and non-profits related to cannabis, i understand and respect the commitment required of this position. because cannabis was recently illegal, and has been slow to legalize, a lot ever work to do by our government and community and operators, in order to right the wrongs of the past and find equitable solutions for the future. i believe that my experience and dedication to this issue will serve the cannabis oversight committee well and hope you will feel the same. i humbly ask for your support today. thank you. questions? >> supervisor ronen: any questions? >> supervisor fewer: that's great. for seat number 12, my question to you is, how do you -- how

would you advise the board of supervisors on support of cannabis businesses, in light of the sometimes fierce neighborhood opposition? >> well, we're seeing a lot less of it than we used to see. so i feel like we should be having a lot less neighborhood opposition. but if we're seeing neighborhood opposition, i think the best thing this committee can do and the board can do is to take applicants and introduce them to those neighborhood groups. and also work with existing operators potentially to show those neighborhood groups, through a dispensary, and show them what it looks like. i think there's a lot of misconceptions and fear around cannabis businesses. and so if you can show people

and educate people what they look like, i think that's the first place to start. >> supervisor fewer: thank you. >> good morning, supervisors. good morning. chairman ronen, my name is -- i've been in the city since 1997, when i started at u.s.f., coming here from germany as an 18-year-old. i haven't left the city since. i started in cannabis in '99, also when i got arrested. and i was fortunate enough to not get convicted, but the arrest record obviously has been following me around my whole life. every time i come to san francisco airport, i get pulled out for a cannabis arrest record. it takes me about three hours to leave the airport. the reason i'm here and applied for multiple seats, i'm one of the few cottage producers from the sunset, that managed to raise $2 million, $3 million from the public company. we managed to transition out of the sunset and out of the back

of the plant cafe into a very nice manufacturing space, that we're currently building out and almost finished. i think we were one of the first cannabis companies to actually navigate the d.b.i. process. and i've been following supervisor fewer's legislation since she put it forth. i think my main motivation is seeing how many people from the smaller and disadvantaged neighborhoods got left alongside of the road and are not able to transition to the legal business. that's my main motivation. as an operator and manufacturer, we're doing fine. we sell to dispensaries and they're probably one of the best dispensaries to tell you in neighborhood impact. but we have a lot of friends that didn't make it, whether they were brokers, small growers, small manufacturers, kids that are still sell going on the corner of some streets. like that's who we need to bring in. having navigated this process and restructure companies, restructure applications, made

for a really good working relationship with the department of health, the office of cannabis. so i'd like to kind of pass some of that knowledge on, help people raise money for their small businesses. and in light of that, i actually hook hooked up with the renaissance non-profit group, who recently got $300,000 in funding to start a program at ccsfto teach disadvantaged kids and youth and younger people to get into the industry. so, yeah, that's my main motivation to help people successfully transition. and kind of stop the gate keeping that's been going on in front of the office of cannabis, with the various bodies that have been, you know, keeping gate keeping essentially. that's my consideration. >> supervisor fewer: i have one question. >> supervisor ronen: there's lots of questions. >> supervisor fewer: i just wanted to ask you. what do you see as some of our main challenges in ruling out -- in rolling out our equity

program? >> i think one of the main challenges is misinformation. a lot of the equity applicants are under, you know, under wrong conscious they're operating under the wrong premises, thinking they don't apply. because they -- no one has really walked through them through the entire application process. raising funds and having a venue. that's one of the things we want to do with the renaissance group is essentially try to form a marketplace, like the ferry building, a place where you can teach people, have a stall where they wouldn't have the overhead cost of building out a building in san francisco, which is almost impossible. we've indebted our selves $3 million to get to the point where we are today and we have to do another raise. we need to create a space that allows people to come and sniff out the industry, see if they're made for it. because the commitment up front is too high. we have a lot of equity applicants who are looking for a lease for over a year. and they keep putting money into

their brands and keeping them alive. we had to do it with t-shirt sales. just to keep our brand alive, while we weren't able to produce. i think there's a lot of experience that me and my group have gone through trial and error, that we would really like to share with the applicants. and telling them it's not scary to go this way. that's the main hurdle is people just think the barrier to entry is too high. and it's -- i have to say i had a 22,000 square foot canopy permit in oakland, that we decided not to pursue, because of the taxes, because of the difficulty in legislation. as a verified equity applicant, i feel like i can give a lot back to the equity. as a minority-owned business as well, of course. it's not easy to raise money and a minority with an arrest record. and i'd like to give people some of my experience and share that with them. >> supervisor fewer: thank you. >> supervisor ronen: supervisor walton. >> supervisor walton: my question is for mr. pearson. i'm sorry i didn't ask you.

i'm going to ask every candidate this question. how do you think diversity is for this oversight committee? >> i think it's the most important part. yeah. i think that what the legislation that supervisor fewer put forth, in an ideal world, it would have gone through last year. as a city, we lost a little bit of our head start. seeing like so many l.a. products populate our stores to a local producer, known as an artisan, it really hurts. because we have so many good producers in town. i also think that to our point of the disranged neighborhoods, we drove mostly brokers out of town there. these kids were brokers that were taking it from the grower around the dispensary, showing it and doing the part that we didn't have the time to do. so running them out of business is to me one of the parts that just -- on the social justice that really gets me. >> okay. >> supervisor ronen: don't go far. i have one more question for

you. >> no. no. after you. >> diversity is very important. diversity and race and we need diversity in a way that we define these seats, to have various business interests, equity interests. so on and so forth. i agree with the lack of equity that we see in this industry nationwide. i do a lot of work in sonoma county. there's nothing diverse about the industry up there. so the more we can focus on this, which is i think one of the main points of this committee, the better off we'll be as an industry and as a city. >> supervisor ronen: thank you. have you been an equity applicant? >> yeah. i was approved in august of last year. i actually had that on my application. i just saw now that that seat was not on there any more. >> supervisor ronen: i'm wondering -- >> 8, 9, 13 and 16. >> supervisor ronen: you are

8. >> 8, 9, 13, 16 is what i would qualify for. >> supervisor ronen: my bad. never mind. great. thank you. >> thank you. >> supervisor ronen: thank you so much. >> good morning, supervisors. i'm coming up, not only for myself, but also for my colleague jen garcia, who is unable to be here today. they're actually doing the elections for the union. so she wasn't able to meet. so i'll start with a letter from her. jennifer garcia apologizes for being unable to attend today's hearing and requested that i read this letter into the record. my name is jennifer garcia. i'm a union representative and organizer for ufcw local 648. we are local that represents over 4,000 members working and living in san francisco in various occupations. i'm applying for seat number 10 on the cannabis oversight committee. i served as an original three-year member of the san

francisco state cannabis legalization task force. i was co-chair for the last two years. as a co-chair and as a working member of the task force, we were charged with proposing cannabis policies of the board of supervisors. i had great interest in all five topical areas in task force, that task force made recommendations in but my main focus is on the workers in the cannabis industry. my interest in serving on the cannabis oversight committee continues to be related to the owner/operators in the growing industry. lows receiving a living wage, having safe working conditions and receiving benefits for which they're eligible, like s.d.i. and workmans' comp. being appointed to the cannabis oversight committee with ensure workers in the industry will continue to be educated on the workforce rights and responsibilities. thank you for your time and consideration. my name is sarah.

i'm the public education officer for the apothecary in san francisco. and for three years, i served as co-chair of the state legalization task force and also seat 12. as a cancer survivor of stage 3 colon cancer, i started my journey with medical cannabis. prior to my work in cannabis, i worked for a non-profit such as earned assets, resource network and in civil rights for legal -- for lccr. i lecture nationally on policy and education, helping new states come up with equitable and education-rich laws and policies. i lecture at ucsf, kaiser and i created the first cannabis education program, for extended learning for city college of san francisco. and i'm also a writer. my focus is education and creating safe access. education is important, both on a policy end to keep the public

safe and also what i worked -- when i ran my compassion program for five years, i not only got free cannabis to those who needed it, because of critically ill, are constantly struggling to make ends meet. with cannabis not being covered by insurance at this time, it's very expensive for people to have access to their medicine. not only do i educate patients on how to use cannabis to provide relief, but in my compassion program, i actually geared donations, that were generously donated by the greater cannabis community, to actually help for specific issues that my patients had. i'm very passionate about the work that we did in task force. we did a lot of amazing stuff in our three years. we have so much more to do. and i thank you for your consideration. >> supervisor ronen: thank you so much. i think there's a few questions for you. >> supervisor fewer: if you

don't mind. >> supervisor ronen: supervisor fewer. >> supervisor fewer: in light of all of the excitement about recreational cannabis, how do we protect safe access? and how do we protect the integrity of the medical cannabis program? jersey what i would say is that adult-use cannabis, we still see a great majority of people coming in to get therapeutic relief. they were uncomfortable about getting recommendations and having conversations with their doctors. although i always tell them conversation is normalization. when i do my training withs the csf pharmacology staff a few times a year, we talk about what their patients are seeing. because health care professionals learn from what their patients tell them. i think education is key to safe access, whether we call it recreational or medicinal is a substance that creates a reaction in the body. even though there are no fatalities from cannabis, people can get really uncomfortable or

frustrated because they're not getting the relief they need. so through educating the public, through educating our officials, we can create a safe container for cannabis use. and i also believe that we have a lot of work to do as far as making cannabis affordable for those who most need it, because if they can't get it from the dispensaries, they're going to go outside of the dispensaries. though we do have people who do create good, safe products that are outside of it, unfortunately they aren't able to participate right now in our legal market, the fatalities that we have had with patients are people's compromised immune systems, who came across flowers that have enriched in mold, mildews, things like that. if you have issues with your system, people can actually die from yeast infections if you have a compromised immune system. so we really need to find a way for these people to be able to afford their medicine in the dispensaries.

or more importantly if we could even relieve them of that stress, by creating rich compassion programs, so that they can have access. >> supervisor fewer: so what your opinion on some of the states that actually accommodate medical patients with not paying the state tax or not -- and yet in certain states, loose leaf is not sold widely. it is all packaged. and part of the medicinal process is also smelling, what we've heard from patients, it is not just about like buying a whole packet of something. but really sometimes it's a combination of even products. so in light of state regulations and federal regulations, how would you -- what is your opinion on how we could still accommodate our patients while we're in light of all of these regulations that are put down from the state and federal.

>> supervisor, accommodating in which way, i'm not sure i understand. >> well, i think that when i've spoken to you, and this is something when we actually were talking about our cannabis program, that we heard from patients that said that if everything is packaged, and nothing is loose leaf and we have this regulation that everything is to be sealed. how do we have access to actually the medicine that we need? because sometimes it is not just a one strain, it is a combination of strains that your body interacts with in a very unique type of way. and then also -- so how do we give them -- keep access to that. and then also the affordability and keep them safe also from federal regulations, too. >> so one thing i would say is in the states that i have gone into, a lot of policy is based on state culture, because they're very different and stigma. and so education is a huge part

of creating good policy. i'll say it again. conversation is normalization. we've had years of stigma that when people realize that everything that they've heard about cannabis is pretty much wrong, they're always surprised, especially when it affects somebody that they love. i think one of the saddest things is that when i worked behind the bar, i like the fact that people were able to smell what i was actually going to send home with them. the profiles of these flowers are very important, because they not only create the therapeutic relief, in conjunction with the cannabinoid, but create the subtle differences with the spectrum of feel, which we call endica. i think we need to have greater flexibility on what people can purchase. i used to have people coming in ask following $5 worth of cannabis. and the prepackaging is not only

prohibitive for people being able to purchase, because they have to purchase certain amounts, but also california we can do better. because we have an enormous amount of packaging. and it's wasteful and it also puts a lot of pressure on our producers. that's another reason that our prices have gone up. the testing is excellent. we need to have testing. but the pricing was testing, all the permitting, the packaging, all of the stresses that go on our producers, in addition to all of the taxation, the victims are our patients. and we need to do better by them. i also think that we need to do a lot of work around sampling, because for my patients to be able to take a financial risk, to purchase something sight unseen is really hard for them. to spend $60 plus tax on an eighth of flowers or a package of edibles that they've never tried before, it destroys people. people come in crying it's not working and living off only so much a day. so when we were allowed to have

producers come in and actually do sampling in our stores, so people could take home a small amount and see if it worked well for them and came back. it made a huge impact because we were -- producers were allowed to donate these samples to our compassion programs to work with our patients and try things they weren't considering before. and gave them much more relief than what they were familiar with and using. i think that we need to have -- we need to allow sampling again. we need to have more flexibility on what people can take home. and so we really need to push to educate everybody, so that we can make good policy. >> supervisor fewer: thank you. >> thank you. >> supervisor ronen: excuse me, sorry. >> thank you. just same question. how important do you think diversity is on this committee? >> diversity is incredibly important. as a civil rights professional,

i was with lccr for five years. and the african-american agenda, post 9-11 discrimination, all of the things that come into contact with, in addition to homelessness, too. we have -- to be perfectly blunt, when you look at the cannabis industry, we see a lot of white male faces and that needs to change, especially because the industry -- or actually the movement -- a lot of our most wonderful products have actually been brought to the table by women. and even though we say that women's time has come in cannabis and there are a lot of leaders, that has changed with the legalization and it's becoming same old, same old. the fact that we have people -- we have white people who are making a lot of money off the backs of people who are suffering in jail is crazy. we have a lot of work to do.

and we really need to do it. we really need to push and i really thank my colleagues that have gone the extra mile to highlight this. it's a huge problem. and we have so much more work to do. >> supervisor ronen: supervisor mar. >> supervisor mar: thank you, chair ronen. and actually thank you so much just for all of the work you've done, as such a strong advocate for medical cannabis patients. and i had a question around just wanting to hear your perspectives on the labor issues for the cannabis industry, since that's also an important area, you know, i think for the board and in setting up this oversight committee. yeah. and for the apothecary itself, are you a union employer? >> we are not a union employer. however, our employees have always been paid with checks. we have 401(k), which is matched. our health benefits are fully

covered. we have vision, dental, medical. they are paid a living wage. and we also have a great deal of education that comes before they come on the floor. one thing i'm really proud of, because people don't stay with you forever, is when my staff leaves, having apothecary on their resume is a sign that they've had a good work experience and they are ready for the professional world of cannabis. we have a very diverse staff, including people of color, lgbtq, many women that are in leadership. and we're really proud of the work that we do. >> supervisor ronen: thank you so much. >> thank you. >> supervisor ronen: next applicant. >> good morning, supervisor fewer, supervisor mar, supervisor walton. my name is -- i'm currently operating a small independent san francisco native-owned --

and i'm working on opening retail with two of my best friends. michael and angel davis, through the equity program. my mother is an immigrant, my father is first-generation chinese, whose parents came here. angel and i started working in cannabis about seven, eight years ago. the equity program was designed to serve people like my partner mike, individuals persecuted and punished for what's now legal. a program designed to give those from the city a chance to stay and give back to the community, because this is our home and no one else will take care of the city the way someone who truly loves san francisco can. i believe i'm a good candidate for the cannabis oversight committee, being a chinese- american san franciscan, i can see the split within the community. i hope to educate and do the outreach necessary to introduce the community to cannabis in a newly regulated and legal market. having opened a fair share of small businesses, i know all too

well the difficulty of navigating through the bureaucratic permitting process of san francisco, from d.b.i. to planning to health, to fire, to the o.c.c. i see this as an opportunity to serve the city as a way to take fewer resources from the city and instead to have a greater impact on the industry and to help san francisco position itself to be a model, to leaders in restorative justice. i do not take this opportunity lightly. i hope that you value my voice as i bring -- as i feel like i bring a diverse viewpoint from a large, cross section of community. in addition, my business partners also bring perspective in shaping how to do this business together from their communities. as a native san franciscan coming from the african-american and native latino community. >> supervisor ronen: thank you. supervisor fewer. >> supervisor fewer: thank you. how do you see the cannabis

delivery and the brick and mortar retailers working together. is it possible for them not to work in opposition to each other? >> you're talking about delivery versus retail? >> supervisor fewer: yeah. >> i think part of the problem right now is that even though there's regulations for delivery businesses no the to deliver into san francisco, they still do. i think this, you know, i think that's where a large part of the problem comes between the delivery and the retail. retail actually is given a delivery license, but a lot of them don't operate it. i think that because of the bigger companies that come in from outside of san francisco, they don't even try. >> supervisor fewer: so it an opportunity for san francisco-based brick and mortar retail stores to actually have a delivery service amongst them together? what do you think of that?

>> i mean, i think that's possible. that might be lower down on the list, as things that need to be fixed too. >> supervisor fewer: as a chinese-american, when there's fierce opposition about cannabis, what do you think this -- why do you think this is and what can we do to help combat that? >> my grandmother is absolutely opposed. i think she found out i was doing cannabis, you know, it would be over her death bed. and now that i manufacture a c.b.d. pain cream, i haven't told her that it's cannabis. she uses on her joint. my aunt has used it. i mean, it's -- they're asking for more of it. like, i mean, it's -- it's all about education, you know. i think that once the stigma is lifted, you know, the younger generation, the millennials, you know, their first question is always this is great, you know.

it's the older generation that just needs to be educated and brought in, especially in the asian community, right. >> supervisor fewer: you're right. so when we see 300 people pack this chamber, anti-cannabis or anti-cannabis in their neighborhoods, what do you think as a city and county of san francisco. a part of this advisory board will be also to help advise the board of supervisors, that's probably the main purpose. so what kind of advice would you give to the city and county of san francisco and the other partners that are nonvoting partners on the advisory committee, such as public health, d.b.i., all of these other city departments. what advice would you give them around this population, that has actually so uncomfortable with the idea of retail cannabis in their neighborhoods. >> i mean, everything is education. but the other most important thing is neighborhood outreach, right. my partner angel and are now on 11 different neighborhood

associations in hayes valley, castro, and now in the dog patch, now on petro hill. you have to go and -- it's one thing to say you're going to be part of the community. it's another thing to actually go, go to every meeting and hear everybody out. and, you know, i think that eases a lot of the stigma around it. i think also, you know, making places a little bit nicer, you know, not just the place where people come in and -- the stigma is, haney, i'm going to come in and get something here. but to make it beautiful and to make it medicinal and to have the education talks in there and to get the right people in. i also want to say like i think, you know, we've been talking about it this evening, this afternoon, but you know local san francisco brands. things that are made here. i mean, we -- i think san

francisco makes some of the best products in the world, you know. >> supervisor fewer: i was just saying this. i thank you. i would just say in our neighborhoods v1, v4, v10, they're not in neighborhood associations. those are english-centric most of the time. we are talking about immigrant chinese, whose first language is chinese. these are -- this is in our neighborhoods where permits are pending, that as we have seen such great opposition, are you a chinese speaker? >> i am not. no. >> supervisor fewer: so this is the population when we talk about neighborhoods. and i think we've also heard from applicants about the neighborhoods. we get it. but actually i just want to say personally as a fourth-generation chinese-american, that the chinese community has not been outreached to, quite frankly. the opposition to cannabis has

outreached to them. and that is the only information they're getting. so i think that more chinese-americans need to actually represent sort of the cannabis industry, too. because i think that they're not seeing, even though we know that cultivators, people grow houses in -- for example, in d4, rev leapt, a lot of them young chinese really ex-students from like lincoln high school, for example. >> wash. >> supervisor fewer: yeah. we're just not seeing i think the transition to a level of comfort around cannabis, that it is basically here to stay. when we go out to the neighborhoods, what we hear is we want it to be illegal, even though 74% of san franciscans voted for it to be legal. thank you very much. i appreciate that. >> supervisor ronen: thank you. supervisor walton.

>> supervisor walton: thank you, chair ronen. just same question. how important do you think it is to have diversity on this committee? >> i think it's the most important. i think that my entire business, my partners, like i said, my equity partner, who i have known since i was a little kid, is african-american, my business partner in the delivery manufacturing and distribution is -- she's half hispanic, half korean woman. we've been meeting with, you know, local men and women that are, you know, low-income, diverse. i think that one of the things i'm excited about is that i hear that the office of cannabis is going to start making retailers put equity products on their shelves. i think that's very important. yeah. that would be my answer. >> supervisor ronen:

wonderful. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> supervisor ronen: next speaker, please. >> hello. good morning. my name is andrew silva. i'm an attorney practicing cannabis law. i have been for the past five years, since law school. i worked in dispensaries during law school. i've been around cannabis prior to prop 215. during 215 and now prop 64. yeah. i basically have been dealing with cannabis every day. and i'm here just to lend my voice. i see what has gone on with article 16 and the great intent of it. but the actual practicality of it hasn't been all there. so i just want to lend my input on trying to make this program run a little bit better. >> supervisor ronen: supervisor fewer. >> supervisor fewer: you're applying for seat number 16, is that correct? >> correct. >> supervisor fewer: my question to you is very much the same around how can question protect safe access for patients

and also the issue of the state regulations and how can we provide still safe access. and also medicine that folks need, in light of state and federal regulations. >> yeah. definitely. when i was working in the dispensary, we used to have a compassion program every sunday. that program couldn't be instituted, implemented today because of the testing and packaging requirements. however, you can have a hybrid of giving out tested pre-rolls, doesn't have to be loose-leaf medicine. there's alternatives that can happen. the other issue is with taxes. any kind of cannabis products that you give out, is still taxed. so who is going to pay for that tax. you might as well just sell it. any businessman will think that way, right. that's one issue. the other issue is patients getting their medical cards. a lot of them don't want to register with the county and the state. prior to prop 64, you could just get verified online or through the doctor directly.

and not have to kind of go through a registration system. i think that put a lot of people off. >> supervisor fewer: do you think that streamlining that medical approval permitting would ever -- licensing, streamlining that, would actually allow patients to be able to access medicine less expensively? do you have any ideas. i know in some states if you have a medical card, that you don't have to pay the 20% tax. and they waive it. and i think that's a state regulation. what are some of your ideas around that? >> yeah. it has to trickle down from the bottom. so give cultivations, manufacturers the incentive to, haney, you don't have to pay taxes on this part of the grow, if it goes to the compassion program. something like that. ii think that would be the way o go. >> supervisor fewer: okay. thank you very much. >> supervisor ronen:

supervisor walton. >> supervisor walton: same question. how important do you think it is to have diversity on the committee? >> that's pretty much the way -- the reason i'm here today. seeing this program going the past couple of years and just kind of be stagnant, a lot of people in the industry get left out, that want to stay in the industry. it's pretty much, you know, a voice that needs to be heard. >> supervisor walton: thank you. >> supervisor ronen: thank you so much. >> all right. thank you. >> supervisor ronen: thanks. next applicant. good morning. >> good good morning, superviso. thank you for the opportunity to come here today and tell you a little bit about myself. my name is they tess rhea. and i'm currently the city representative for laborers local 261. i'm on leave with the city of san francisco currently. i was hired by the city and county of san francisco in 1996. oh, to start, i applied for seat number 15, the workforce

development seat. i was hired by the city and county of san francisco in 1997, as a laborer. i got really involved with my union to promote women in the trades. that is the trades are primarily male-dominated field. and we needed to have a voice at the table as well. in 2004, i became the co-chair of our public employee committee. in 2009, then mayor gavin newsom assigned me to work at the local, to develop public/private partnerships. in 2010 we launched our horty cultural program. followed by 2014 we developed the may's pre-apprenticeship program. from there we developed in 2015, i assisted in developing the arborist apprenticeship program,

another one of the first state-certified in the country. then in 2017, the city and county assigned me again to the california statewide cannabis apprenticeship committee. there i assisted in developing apprenticeship standards for the cannabis industry, under the direction of the governor, to have multiple career pathways under the cannabis apprenticeship. so in january, it was finally approved by the state, where we have cannabis apprenticeship programs, that has cultivation pathway, a pathway for delivery, manufacturing, and also for pharmacy tech. despite some claims that san francisco doesn't have much in the way of cultivation or manufacturing, we know that there's a considerable amount being done in district 10 primarily. if i was given the opportunity to serve on the cannabis oversight committee, i can bring

my experience with workforce development and providing legitimate career opportunities and transferable skills in the cannabis industry. >> supervisor ronen: supervisor fewer. >> supervisor fewer: thank you very much. what are some of the your ideas on how we expand the cannabis workforce into a bona fide profession at every level, with levels of progression. within all levels of the industry, retail, production, the first-line employees, trimmers. and how do we get a local hire component in with it, combined? >> so with the -- we can deliver it through like -- with the ordinance that was passed earlier this year i believe, where it's a two-pronged. if we have the pre-apprenticeship, it's mainly about education. the ones that were negatively impacted by the war on drugs,

shouldn't be left behind a second time. so we really need to take this time and this advantage to give those folks training. so that way they're not left behind, where they can move on. through the education of the different career pathways, you know, once they get a grasp on the industry and they have the skills, then they can progress. so, you know, they can move on to be owners or cultivators or, you know, whatever pathway they want. we also have to educate the industry. because right now there's a fear. there's a fear, well, if we train the folks. we're going to lose them or they might steal the secret sauce, like the recipe on how to do things. but we need to -- we need to really do the social justice the right thing. we have to right the wrongs that have happened in the past. so we would have to educate employers. because they also are fearful if they begin training, that they're going to become union. that's not necessarily the case. you can still train folks and you don't have to be unionized. >> supervisor fewer: and what about a partnership with city

college? >> that would be great. i mean, we need educational facilities to be involved. we do have an l.e.a. with the statewide. but we are currently seeking also other educational agencies to come on board. that way it can be more robust. right now, i mean, there's things going on up north. there's things going on down south in california. but we really need to have a local agency involved. >> supervisor fewer: because we, for example, into the trades and that's what you're familiar with, we have city mr.. we like people to hire directly from city build. just knowing a baseline of skills that they have been taught. so i was wondering what your ideas might be if city college were to provide something similar to city build, but also actually give the baseline, so it is -- so employers can feel as though they can pick employees from this group of people and we give actually some

preference to equity applicants also to enter this program. what do you think? >> i think it would be a great idea. like i have heard the term city grow spread around, which we really do need to launch. as a pre-apprenticeship to provide the baseline of, you know measurements and different things that you need to know the minute you walk into the door of an employer. but then from there, then they can move on into the apprenticeship. so more of the standardized, more largely training. but, yeah, you really need to have the first step of the pre-apprenticeship. >> supervisor fewer: thank you. walton railroad just one question. how important do you think it is for diversity on this committee? >> diversity -- we need diversity on the committee. we've also heard we need it desperately in the industry. but you know, every sector of our population should have a voice, especially when it comes to this new industry.

we definitely need diversity. >> supervisor ronen: thank you. is that all? supervisor mar. >> supervisor mar: thank you, chair ronen. i just would be interested in hearing your thoughts about, in terms of local hire. and also building career ladders for folks, especially those impacted by the war on drugs. is there a role -- do you have some idea about potential policies that the board or the city could enact to really make hiring and promoting practices much stronger in the industry? >> yeah. we have some ideas. like maybe with the permit process. if, you know, employers are committed to hiring -- work with the apprenticeship but also hiring local. where they move up in the permit process perhaps.

because right now it's like a long -- you're just in line forever. i think that would be a start. we have to just get it out there where we need to have local residents, because we've seen in other states, like colorado, where people fly in, the mothership flies in and then the locals are all left behind. in san francisco, and in california, we know we can do better and we have to do better. we can't leave the locals behind. you know, we can't have people coming in from other states and taking what rightfully should be nose negatively impacted. they should have a voice in their city and have a seat in their industry and a seat in their city. >> supervisor ronen: thank you so much. >> thank you. >> supervisor ronen: next applicant. >> good morning. supervisor fewer, supervisor walton, supervisor ronen, supervisor mar, my name is burke hanson. i'll tell you a little bit about myself, just so you kind of know where i'm coming from. i'm a bay area kid, graduated

from berkeley high. spent a few years living abroad and came back to san francisco to go to hastings. i was in mexico and japan and i have to say that's that kind of diversity of experience, living in other countries, is one of the greatest experiences you can have. it's something that i have carried with my whole life. i spent seven years living in the tenderloin, in the mid otts, when frank and skyline realty were going around basically with, you know, guns, rolling people out of their apartments. i was one of those guys. and i had worked back in the late '90s at the hope center over on 6th and market. really it was the only dispensary at the time. they had a compassion program. so every day we had a lot of transgendered people, people from that area, it's a very difficult part of town, coming up and we would give them

cannabis for free, to take care of their ailments. now i am a verified equity applicant. i'm also a cannabis attorney. i've been practicing cannabis law for five years now. i had been doing criminal law when i first got out. criminal defense. then i did labor law for a few years after that, both discrimination and wage and hour type stuff. so i've got a diversity of experience in terms of the type of work i've done as an attorney. i've also -- i'll just say now, i kind of threw my hat in the ring for three different spots. one was the equity applicant, was one the expertise applicant. as an attorney, i understand how important it is for something like the office of cannabis to get good advice. i can really appreciate this. and i understand sort of the position they're in. i have co-sponsored legislation with chu's office before, so i

understand the difficulties of the sausage-making process. one of my goals, should i have the honor of serving on the commission, would be to help the office of cannabis be a little more efficient in terms of getting equity applicants through. i believe we're still only a two-equity retail permits that have been issued, after two years. so i think this is one of the major flaws of -- not how the system is set up, how it's been interpreted by the office of cannabis. and that's one thing that i think. from my perspective as an attorney, who has help set up a lot of these businesses, i'd like to be able to work with the office of cannabis on that, that particular issue of getting the whole process moving faster. i have worked with people like aleh here in the past and really deeply invested in the local cannabis, cannabis community. i'd love to -- we've also -- one other thing i did, i have set up a couple of different

non-profits. ones is a c3, which recently got its tax i.d., devoted to -- it's really designed to help people with cannabis give back to their communities. the and the other one was an organization called the coalition for common sense regulation, which was designed to do things like get legislation passed that helps the industry as a whole. ab1159, that i worked on with chu's office, made sure that cannabis contracts were legal, in spite of the federal prohibition. it also maintained attorney-client privilege. a lot of people in the industry were appreciative of us for really pushing that through. so, yeah, if you guys have any questions, please ask. >> supervisor ronen: thank you. supervisor fewer. >> supervisor fewer: yes. thank you very much. what do you see as some of our main challenges in rolling out our equity program? what's the recommendations you might have? >> i think the equity program, as it was conceived, is great. part of the problem has been the

office of cannabis is sort of micromanaged everything, right. and because of that, i know them, they're good people. but they've been maybe overly cautious in terms of, you know, obsessing over every single piece of paperwork that somebody has. you have people reading over long, complicated agreements, rather than focusing on the stuff that should be more of their concern like security. are they in the track and trace program, do we know that there are cameras where they're suppose to be, that kind of stuff. i think another big problem for the equity program has been the unlicensed cannabis activity. there's a lot of reasons for this. one of the big reasons statewide has been -- has been it's difficult to get permitter licenses at the state level. a lot of people just dropped out. some places got kind of zoned out of he wassence. all right. this happened in sonoma, where originally # 1/2 acres to grow and turn around and change the

rules on everybody and said you have to have 10. you've had a lot of legislative challenges. i do think that my perspective is something that would help out the commission in terms of, wait a minute, is this going to be a workable program or not. i think with the equity program that we've got, there's sort of kind of an unintended victim of the fact that the black market is continued to thrive statewide. but i would really like to see the process in the office of cannabis streamline just to help equity applicants go forward. because if you're stuck sitting on a lease for four years, you'll probably go bankrupt. i think the bureaucratic -- the bureaucratic efficiency would go a long, long way towards getting equity people into the market actively and running, you know, profitable businesses. >> supervisor fewer: okay. thank you. >> yeah. thank you. >> supervisor ronen: supervisor walton. >> supervisor walton: just the same question. how do you think it is for diversity on this committee? >> i think it's key. that's one of the most important

issues in terms of providing different perspectives on what kind of legislation do we want in the city. how do we want the office of cannabis to run. obviously a lot of people have been sort of held back by the war on drugs for years, not just the initial incarceration, but the loss of job prospects, for example. so there's a lot of -- there's a lot of damage that's been done. having people understand that goal is absolutely critical. >> supervisor ronen: thank you so much. we really appreciate it. >> yeah. thank you. >> supervisor ronen: good morning, mr. block. >> good morning. my name is doug block. i'm with teamsters joint council 7, representing over 100,000 teamsters and 1500 different industries, including 12,000 who live in the city and county of san francisco. and about myself, this was my

25th year as a laborer and a community organizer. and the teamster, as you know, are a transportation union. we know delivery so as such i'm applying for seat 11. i want to thank supervisor fewer for this legislation. we think this commission is really important. our union, including myself, was intimately involved in crafting the legislations regarding this emerging industry, both here in san francisco and in sacramento. and as you've heard along with the ufcw and the laborers, we're proud to be leading things on the labor side in san francisco. we're organizing here and around the state and the country, but unfortunately despite very strong regulations, most of the workers remain unorganized. i serve on numerous