good morning, everyone. the meeting will come to order. welcome to the september 30th, 2019, meeting of the rules committee. i'm supervisor hillary ronen, chair of the committee. seated to my right is rules committee vice chair shamann walton and seated to my left is rules committee member supervisor gordon mar. we are joined by supervisor aaron peskin. our clerk is linda wong, filling in for victor young. and i'd also like to thank jesse larson and kalina mendoza at sfgov for staffing this meeting. ms. clerk, do you have announcements? >> clerk: please make sure to silence cell phones. complete the speaker cards and documents are included should be submitted to the clerk. acts acted on today, will be appear on the board of

supervisors agenda on october 8th. >> thank you. >> clerk: item number one. an ordinance amending the administrative code to add a preference in city affordable housing programs to tenants temporarily evicted from rental units for capital improvements or rehabilitation work. and requiring landlords who regain possession of such rental units to provide evidence of complying with a tenant's right to re-occupy such tenant's rental unit. >> thank you, colleagues, for hearing this item last week, where we heard testimony from the community about the impact since 2017 of some 400 -- over 400 temporary capital improvement displacements or evictions. many of which have gone well beyond the three-month time limit for temporary displacements. as to supervisor mar's question, i believe that we actually were able to provide data later last

monday. and the temporary evictions have largely and often become permanent displacements which have had the added effect of not only pushing tenants out of their homes, but also taking rent-controlled units if permanently off of the market. i tried to solve for both of these issues in this legislation, but after some discussions with dan adams, from the mayor's office of housing, we've really been trying to collaboratively brainstorm to see how we can best address those concerns. so today i'm going to ask you, colleagues, to duplicate the file and leave the chapter 47 parts here, as to neighborhood preference. and to forward -- and then make some amendments to the chapter 3 parts, which i believe the city attorney believes are substantive and will require a one-week continuance. all of this is not to say that we don't have a responsibility

for our rent-controlled tenants, we do in the same way that we have a responsibility for our school kids and for -- my point here is that it's not just inclusionary units and b.m.r.s that are our responsibility. but what i'd like to do here, with your support, is to duplicate the file, leave the -- take out the chapter 47 neighborhood preference items. and then make a few changes that are before you as to the role of the administrative law judge and the findings that they would have to make, as well as some findings as to their role and applicability, which is set forthright now in section 4, which that it should apply and include any rental unit where a notice to vacate or notice to quit has been served, as of the

legislation's effective date. so those are the amendments that i would like to make. and if a subject to public comment member of the committee is willing to do that, we would leave the chapter 47 parts here in committee and call the -- move those to the call of the chair and send the chapter 37 -- make the chapter 37 members and continue at one week. >> supervisor ronen: sounds good. you keep calling it the neighborhood preference. you mean the new preference. >> the new preference. right. >> yes. >> supervisor ronen: the city and county is laughing, as i was. >> the temporarily capital improvement eviction preference. >> supervisor ronen: thank you. okay. that makes sense. if there's no comments, we'll open up this item to public comment. if there's any member of the public who would like to see. seeing none, public comment is closed. does anybody want to make the motion requested by supervisor

peskin? >> so moved. >> supervisor ronen: and if we can take that -- would like to say anything, supervisor mar? no. without objection, that motion passes. [gavel] i will make a motion to continue this -- so there's now two pieces of legislation. i'll make a motion to continue the substituted piece of legislation to the call of the chair. and a motion to continue the other part -- the original file to next week. >> clerk: committee report. >> supervisor ronen:. >> chair peskin: no. we can't send as a committee report today, because mr. givner deemed these amendments -- >> supervisor ronen: sorry. i didn't hear you. it's not a committee report, we're just continuing the original file one week to the next rules committee meeting. >> clerk: thank you.

>> supervisor ronen: did i get that right? without objection, that motion passes. [gavel] thank you. miss clerk, can you please read item number 2. ordinance amending the administrative and planning codes to establish the south and market community planning advisory committee to advise city officials and agencies on implementation of the central soma plan. advisory committee and the eastern neighborhoods citizens' advisory committee. >> supervisor ronen: thank you. we're joined by abigail from supervisor haney's office. hello, good morning. >> good afternoon, chair ronen and supervisors. i do have the amendments with an applicable chart, with all of our suggested amendments, if i may hand it to madam clerk. thank you so much. the legislation that is going to

be shortly passed to all of you today would establish that the south of market planning community advisory committee, the c.a.c., and amend provisions of the eastern neighborhood citizens' advisory committee and the soma stabilization fund, citizen advisory committee. in going through the process, we have been very thoughtful and engage, both the soma c.a.c. and the eastern c.a.c. in several meeting. and received continual input on this legislation, to make sure their voices were heard throughout this process. we also worked closely with planning and mocd in considering the amendments that are before you today. since the current city members -- within the respected groups, we found it essential to incorporate their feedback and their suggested amendments. we honored those amendments as best as we could and believed the version that is before you this morning, incorporates that feedback. this ordinance would also create the 11-member south of market

community planning advisory committee, the soma c.a.c. the general purpose of the soma c.a.c. would be to improve input in the city's decision makers regarding implementation of the central soma plan. , the western soma area plan and the east soma plan. the soma c.a.c. would also provide advice regarding the following community improvements projects and other public investments, funded by the central soma infrastructure impact fund. improvements, projects and other public investments, related to transit, parks and recreation, complete streets, environmental sustainability and schools and childcare ra also reflected there. if we turn to the chart that i have provided to all of you this morning, it does have some cleanup amendments in modifying certain residency requirements with the soma stabilization c.a.c. clarifying that the soma planning c.a.c. members and alternate members serve as

pleasure of the respective appointing authority, clarify that the members and alternate members again serve at the pleasure of the -- of the authority and that same idea would apply to the eastern neighborhood c.a.c. there's some clarifying amendments that we worked with with the city attorney, which should be that alternate members of the soma planning c.a.c. must meet the standards set forth in the voting members and subsection 5.26-2 section a. it clarifies that service on the soma stabilization c.a.c. of two more years of a term, shall be deemed a full-year term. we also removed the language reference in the charter administrative code regarding the conflict of interest provisions, applicable to st. joe's stabilization c.a.c. and lastly, we clarified that the at-large member of the eastern neighborhood c.a.c. i,

appointed by the mayor, may represent mission, or central waterfront neighborhoods. again all of the amendments before you were presented at planning commission. it was unanimously voted in favor. we had a strong showing at planning from all of the c.a.c.s that came out during public comment in support of the recommendations that are before you this morning. thank you very much. >> supervisor ronen: thank you so much. if there's no questions from my colleagues -- oh, i -- hello. good morning. >> good morning. i'm just here to convey that the planning commission heard this item on september 19th of this year and voted to recommend approval, with modifications. we thank supervisor haney for considering those modifications in this ordinance. my name is aaron star, manager of legislative affairs. thanks. >> supervisor ronen: thank you, mr. star. if there are no questions from my colleagues, i will open this item up for public comment. please come forward.

good morning. >> good morning, supervisors. i'm john albing, the taco group. i would greatly appreciate if you would send this up for action today. this c.a.c. legislation is one of the final pieces of the central soma plan. it's taken a year since you approved it last year to get to this point. it will ensure that there is a really robust community participation in the south of market from now on, for implementation of the central soma plan. and all of the future decisions that that will affect the course of all of south of market to come. it will empower the community and the stakeholders to really have all of the information they need from the city agencies, to be effective and, of course, many of those issues will come to you for final action. i really appreciate the work of the city to get us this far. the legislation was introduced by supervisor chen last year

originally. and now supervisor haney's office has worked at taking it all the way through to this point. so please support it. and we'll see you >> supervisor ronen: thank you. next speaker. >> hi, good morning, supervisors. my name is allen sampson manolo. and i am here to represent the soma stabilization fund c.a.c. i've been the chairperson of the -- of this particular c.a.c. for about three years now. and have been a member for about nine years now. oh, my gosh. i can't believe that. the c.a.c. has been around for 1 -- 13 years. it was representing the south of market families, the non-profit organizations, and the cultural workers to help them make decisions on how the stabilization fund should be implemented. it's been quite successful. our process has always been open

to community members. and they have done so much good work in their suggestionser in these 13 years. we provided seed funding for the bishop, the housing project, which has placed more than 400 households to date. we did -- we provided funding for united players, so that they can acquire their offices and their clubhouse to prevent eviction. we've also administered soma community action grants to help our neighborhood acquire some funding for some of the community engagement activities. we even had a small-sized acquisition project and saved a couple families there from eviction. so i thank you for listening and hope you can support. thank you. >> supervisor ronen: thank you so much. is there any other member of the public who wishes to speak? seeing none, public comment is

closed. [gavel] anybody want to make a motion? >> excuse me. i move that we send this forward of positive recommendation from the committee. >> supervisor ronen: as amended. >> as amended. >> clerk: would you like to adopt the amendments first. >> i move we adopt the proposed amendments. >> supervisor ronen: without objection, those amendments are adopted. [gavel] >> my first motion is we move this forward with a positive recommendation. >> supervisor ronen: as amended. without objection, that motion passes. [gavel] thank you. thank you so much. miscellaneous clerk, can you please read item number 3. >> appointing one member indefinite term, and three members, terms ending april 29th, 2023, to the children and families first commission. there are four seats and four applicants. >> supervisor ronen: thank you so much. i will call the applicants up one by one. i just would like to note that joan miller is not able to make it today, due to a medical appointment.

she did send an email and i'll just note in my opinion, exceptionally qualified for this position. for seat 6, linda asato here? good morning. >> hi. >> good morning, supervisors. my name is linda sasat. pronoun, she, her, hers. i have a statement of qualification i'd like to give to the clerk. thank you. appreciate the opportunity to just highlight some of my qualifications for re-appointment to this seat. my entire professional life i have focused on serving children, youth and families, my current position i am an executive director of an organization that focuses on children, youth and families at the state level. and i'm very familiar with policies and practices.

and use that information to support what i do here on the commission. i also have a long history serving san francisco as a non-profit e.d., focused on early childhood. so, yeah, i appreciate your consideration for my re-appointment. thank you. >> supervisor ronen: thank you. if there's no questions from my colleagues, we'll move on. thank you so much, mrs. eights. we're really grateful you're willing to serve in this capacity. next is suzanne giraudo is here. good morning. >> good morning, supervisors. i'm happy to be here and request my re-appointment to the commission. my experience is i am a practicing child and adolescent

psychologist. i'm the director of california pacific medical center's child development center and have been for a number of years. just for information, we have about 18,000 visits of children each year from all economic classifications. i'm on the ground working with children and families and see the increasing need for support and access to services. i've been on the commission for a bit. i have served and continue to serve as president of the commission. what i'm looking forward to, as we move forward, is the request to align both the first five and the office of early childhood education, which is going to be essential to put the work of the

city and county for our kids together in not siloed departments. the goal really is to focus this alignment on evidence-based practices, not just what we think might work. so our focus for this alignment is on the whole child, both early education, health, behavioral health, and mental health, which has become an increasing need, always has been, but it is now very much at the forefront. and our goal is for prevention, also in these areas at an early age. so for these reasons, i do request re-appointment to the commission to be able to move this vision forward. thank you. >> supervisor ronen: thank you so much. and thank you for all of your

service all these years. it's much appreciated. no questions. for seat 9, lynn merz here? miss merz? no. all right. good morning. >> hi. i have a copy to put in the record. thank you. good morning, supervisor, ronen, mar, and walton. i request re-appointment to the children and families first commission. i have served on the commission for the past eight years and wish to continue to serve during this important period of streamlining and realigning all of the care and education services in the city.

i currently am chair of the fiscal committee and a member of the program committee. i see the next four years as an exciting time for the commission, as we actively work with first five and the office of early care and education to systematically develop a comprehensive system of services for all young children and their families in the city. i served as the executive director of the mimi and peter haas fund for the past 12 years. in this position, i'm committed to the goal that all children deserve access to high quality early education programs, that assure that they enter kindergarten ready to learn. i stand committed to guarantee low-income and new immigrant families high quality programs in education, health services, parent support, and human

services, that build their children's social/emotional growth, as well as improve their academic performance. in my position as executive director of the fund, as well as throughout my production -- professional career, i'm committed to achieving equity for all underrepresented groups. i open to be reappointed and ask your consideration. >> supervisor ronen: thank you so much for all of your service. thank you. >> any questions? >> supervisor ronen: thank you. supervisor walton has a question for miss giraudo. >> supervisor walton: thank you so much, commissioner giraudo. just a quick question. i know you talked about wants to combine the office of early education and children and family first commission.

have you had conversations with the state about this? or is there going -- do you anticipate any issues with the state, because of how first five commissions are set up? >> it's not a merger. it's align aligning the two pro. and we're very well aware. we've got two different streams of funding. and obviously we -- the first five is funded by the prop 10 funds. and so this is where we're looking at aligning the services, not merging them at this point. that would be a discussion with the state, with the city attorney and god knows who else. but it's really looking at the services aligned. and if, in fact, we even are

able to cross staff is a work in progress, because the h.r. systems are very different. we're very aware of that. right now we have two different silos, two very different departments. and a very confused public and community providers and who does what. and that's part of the alignment goal is kind of figuring out who is doing what. but that the services, in fact, are aligned and not two separate silo. yes. >> supervisor walton: gotcha. i just wanted to ask that yes. >> no. no. we've been asking it, too. walton it's a good idea. i figured it would be a little bit complicated, too. >> of course, it is. even in the city h.r. it's really complex. >> supervisor walton: thank you. >> any other questions? >> supervisor ronen: no. thank you so much. we will now open up this item

for public comment. any member of the public, please feel free to come forward. hello, good morning. >> good morning, chair ronen and supervisors. my name is theresa, i'm the interim director of first five san francisco. 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