>> good afternoon. we welcome our viewers to this special day of the san francisco board of supervisors. good afternoon. it's friday, january 8th. welcome to the inaugural meeting set pursuant to article 2, section 2116 of the municipal charter and this meeting will now come to order. as you know, former president of the board norman yee concluded his term and in the absence much the president, the clerk of the board called the meeting to order and assists the board as they conduct nominations and an election for the next board president. before getting to that business, i will begin with the land acknowledgement, pursuant to board rule 4.7.71, and the board of supervisors acknowledges that we are on unseated ancestoral homeland of the first nations.

the original inhabitants of the san francisco peninsula. as the indigenous stewards of this land and in accordance with their traditions, the first nations have never ceded, lost, nor forgotten as the caretakers of this place and as well as for all people in their ancestoral territory. we wish to pay our respects by acknowledging the ancestors and the elders and relatives of the first nations community and by affirming their sovereign right as first peoples. okay, next is the roll call for attendance. for the new members when your name is called just please state "present." let's begin at the top of the alphabet... [roll call] all

members are present.

will the members, are they prepared to say the pledge of allegiance with me? i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the public for which it stands, one nation, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. now to communications. please bear with me, there are several. first i'd like to communicate the credentials for the newly elected members. and the returning members. the office of the clerk of the board is in receipt of the certificates of election for the newly elected who received the majority of the vote cast at the election held on november 3, 2020. and in addition to the re-elected members, the clerk staff have taken the time to frame these certificates for you and they've been placed on your desks if you wish to hang them

right away. additionally, we are in receipt of the controller's official certification that the sure tee bond requirements are met for the newly elected and returning members of the board. mainly in district order. district one, connie chan. and representing district 3, aaron peskin. and representing district 5, dean preston. and representing district 7, myrna melgar. and representing district 9, hillary ronen. and representing district 11, ahsha safai. and now i'll make a communication on behalf of the public for their access. the meeting minutes will reflect the board participated in this meeting remotely through video occurrence to the same extent as if physically present in their legislative chamber. the members are invited to keep their fam rafid on and particularly so when speaking. when not speaking, please make sure that your microphone is on

mute to avoid audio feedback. the board recognizes that public access to city services remains essential during the health emergency. therefore, the following options have been made available for the public to be able to communicate with the board and access this meeting remotely. the written correspondence is received and made a part of the appropriate legislative file. please send to the san francisco board of supervisors, number 1, dr. carleton b. goodwin place. san francisco, california, 90712. and send to bos@sfgov.org. you may watch the live stream on your computer by going to www.sfgovtv.org and watch on your television by going to channel 26. however, be aware of the signal delay when you are readying to make your public comment and it's best to turn down your

television and just listen from your touch phone. it is through your touch phone that you will be able to be in live sync to provide public comment without delay. oftentimes there is -- no one is on the other line when it becomes their time to speak and we may move on to the next caller. we do try to circle back to the ones that were silent, the lines that were silent. so, all right, now it's time for item number 1 on the agenda. to present the official investiture ceremony to the newly elected and returning members of the board we are honored to have with us the honorable presiding. >> samuel k. feng for county of san francisco. your honor, welcome to our remote chamber. thank you for providing this service to the board. the floor is yours, your honor. >> thank you, madam clerk. and, ladies and gentlemen, and to the newly elected

supervisors, to the re-elected supervisors, it is indeed my honor, extreme honor, and privilege to be conducting the investiture and the swearing-in of all of you at the inaugural meeting of the board of supervisors of the best city in this world. before i do anything, i want to just congratulate every single one of you and i am so honored and so pleased to see all of yow through some interactions and it is indeed something that i really look forward to last night. and, again, i want to thank everyone for being here. i will wish that we could all be together and i'm hopeful that we will be together soon. i was told by madam clerk yesterday that it is indeed a rare occasion when the executive branch, the legislative branch and the judicial branch are together at one time.

and, again, it is indeed my honor and privilege to conduct the oath of office. so here's what we're going to do. i will conduct the oath of office and -- oh, before i do, congratulations to the re-elected supervisors peskin, preston, ronen and safai and to the newly elected supervisors chan and melgar. and welcome. so for oath of office, i'm going to ask each person to state their name one at a time. and then after i'm done with that we will do the oath together. i will start with supervisor peskin. after the word i -- supervisor peskin? >> supervisor peskin: aaron peskin. >> and aye, supervisor preston.

>> supervisor preston: aye, dean preston. >> and aye, supervisor ronen. >> supervisor ronen: i, supervisor hillary ronen -- >> and i, supervisor safai. >> supervisor safai: i, supervisor safai -- >> and i, supervisor connie chan. >> supervisor chan: i, supervisor connie chan -- >> and i, supervisor melgar. >> supervisor melgar: i, supervisor myrna melgar. >> and good morning. raise your right hand and repeat after me. i do solemnly swear... that i will support and defend the constitution of the united states.

against all enemies, foreign and domestic. that i will bear true faith and allegiance. to the constitution of the united states... and the constitution of the state of california. that i take this obligation freely... without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. that i will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which i'm about to enter...

and during such time... as i hold the offices of the member of the board of supervisors of the city and county of san francisco... at this time congratulations and it was -- >> clerk: judge feng. >> your honor. >> the commissioner of the san francisco county transportation authority.

now congratulations. >> thank you. >> i want to do this individually. congratulations, supervisor peskin. good to see you again and i'm sure that the judge will send her regards. and supervisor preston, congratulations again to you. and supervisor ronen, it is indeed my pleasure to see you again. like i said, i wish i could see you personally and all of you. please send my regards to your wonderful, wonderful husband and wonderful attorney. and your loving daughter. and also to supervisor and supervisors, i promise you that i will not -- i will not mispronounce your name, supervisor safai congratulations to you. and then to the newly elected supervisors, supervisor chan, good to see you again. welcome. and supervisor melgar, congratulations to all of you. and my wish to all of you is as follows -- i know all of you will work together great with each other, collaboration.

i hope that this will be a year of tremendous peace, tremendous health, and may you act with wisdom and compassion when you look over all of us in this great city and county of san francisco. again, it is my honor and congratulations to all of you. >> supervisor ronen: thank you so much, thank you. >> thank you, judge. >> clerk: all right, thank you to the presiding. >> judge feng, for your kind words to the members. congratulations to the new members. welcome to the new members to the san francisco supervisors. i look forward to seeing you all present very soon. so let's go to item 2, the nominations for the office of the president of the board of supervisors. item 2 is the business of nominations. on the 8th day of january in odd numbered years the board by a

majority vote selects one of its members as the president of the board. while i read the principles for the nominations into the record, i want to make sure with my staff that the roster is clear, okay? so once nominations are declared open, the members may place their name on the roster which is also the chat feature, to make their nomination. and they will be called on as their names appear on the roster to state their nomination. as there is only one seat to fill, members may nominate one person, however, if nominate does get reopened the members may withdraw their original nomination and nominate a different member. the nominations should state on the record a nom -- a nominee should state on the record they accept the nomination. a second is a nice touch, but it's not required. and, nominee, if you would keep your camera feed on, that would be great. the nominees may nominate and

vote for themselves. nominees may also withdraw their own nomination without a second at any time. at the completion of nominations, the nominations are closed and the board will hear general public comment on the names within the nominations. and then public comment will occur and then general discussion by the members on the nominations will begin. okay. are there any questions. and is there any objection to proceeding in this manner? okay, so, madam deputy, i don't see any name on the roster but i just wanted to check with you to make sure. >> i think that myrna melgar put her name above by accident. >> clerk: oh, okay. okay, great. so if the roster is clear and there's no objection to

proceeding in this manner, seeing no objection, the nominations are declared open. >> so, hello, colleagues. thank you so much. it is my great pleasure to nominate my colleague, supervisor walton to be our president. i as a new member have had the pleasure of knowing and working with supervisor walton for many years when he was the president of the board of education, and before that his work in the bayview community. i know him to have a kind heart, a generous spirit, a strong commitment to justice and a strong work ethic. i am very grateful that he is willing to rise to this challenge and to help us by taking on this position. during these difficult times, i know that supervisor walton's

quality and experience will help us to bring our diverse and wonderful city together. leveraging our strength and helping us govern efficiently and fairly. i am grateful that supervisor walton would like to do this and i nominate him wholeheartedly. >> clerk: okay. >> second that nomination. >> clerk: nominated supervisor walton and supervisor ronen has seconded that. okay, supervisor peskin, is your name on the roster? >> supervisor preston: my name is on the roster and thank you, madam clerk, and thank you for your service to this body as the best clerk that i have ever seen in what today is the 20th year since i was first elected. and i just want to start by publicly saying what supervisor

walton already knows -- which is that you have become more than just a colleague, in some ways you have become a little bit like a sibling. i remember the last wall street event that we went to and i think that someone remarked that we were kind of an odd pair -- you tall and black and me short and jewish. and i don't know, but i really have been honored to deepen our relationship which i think that is one of mutual respect since our mutual friend sophie maxwell sat us down in her living room and said that you've got to endorse this guy. and congratulations, my friend. i think that we both and all of our colleagues love this city to the core and we're all going to

keep working at this job during a pretty tough little moment in this city and in this state and in this country. and we've got a whole lot of work to do. and then, colleagues, i really want to address the elephant in the room, which compared to anywhere else on this planet and particularly our nation's capital, is small ball, but i do want to talk a little bit about the political divisions and the camps and i think that these are, frankly, what i would call mini-hatches. and i think that we need to bury them. and i think that we can do that together. i think that the 11 of us need to come together, which doesn't mean that we won't have our policy differences. and the same goes for the relationship between this board and this mayor.

and i've served on a few boards of supervisors, and this board of supervisors was, frankly, elected by the people to do grievous battles with the likes of willie brown and gavin newsome, and i profoundly believe, colleagues and incoming president walton, that now is not that time. now is the time for true, honest, intellectually honest collaboration which, of course, is give-and-take. i don't confuse that give-and-take with abdicating our responsibility to provide checks and balances as what we collectively are -- the legislative branch of government. and there would be a time for those fights in the work in this coming year in an economic recession and covid and climate change is way too important.

so i want to join arms with all of you. i want to really thank my family and my beloved staff and the voters of district 3 and i'm counting on all of you and it's time to get back to work. i've got a ton of emails to respond to. so, thank you, madam clerk, for recognizing me. >> clerk: thank you, supervisor preston. supervisor safai. >> supervisor safai: thank you, madam clerk. i want to echo some of the things that supervisor peskin said. it's my great honor today to support my colleague, supervisor walton. we have worked together prior to being on this board together. he is someone that has dedicated his career to serving the underserved. he has a very strong quiet confidence about him. he's not someone that is bombastic. he's not someone that is about taking credit when it's not his to take.

and i think that he's a true bridge builder. i think that in this time as supervisor peskin said, there has been quite a bit of division. and that's okay, it's okay to have division within this body at times. it's okay to have division with our executive branch, and the mayor, but i believe that the mayor is absolutely dedicated to working with this board and all 11 of us and i know that supervisor walton as he assumes the role of board president will come together with the mayor and work to rise above this time of division. the citizens of san francisco require our unity as we come out of the worst economic calamity and public health calamity that this city has seen in over a hundred years. as supervisor peskin said, that does not mean that we abdicate our responsibility to challenge

the mayor and challenge the executive branch and push for the betterment of the entire city. but it also means that we can come together and challenge be one another in a healthy way and challenge the mayor in a healthy way. we have two new board members. i'm very excited about them coming on to the board. i think they bring a wealth of experience. and they bring a style of collaboration that i'm really looking forward to. so, it is my great honor to support supervisor walton, to encourage his style of bridge building, and, quite frankly, you know, to help not only come and work past this economic and public health calamity. but also to rebuild trust in the city government. the trust in the city government has been shaken over the past year. and that requires all of us coming together, all of us working hard to restore that trust. and i have nothing but faith and confidence in supervisor

walton's ability to do that. and, lastly, i will say that we're going to have to make some tough choices economically and budget-wise over the next year. and it requires someone that comes with a lens of equity. it requires someone that is coming from a lens of thinking about the most underserved first. and i couldn't think of a better person to assume that responsibility right now, to lead this body, than supervisor walton. so it's with great honor that i will be supporting him today. thank you, madam clerk. >> clerk: okay, thank you, supervisor safai. supervisor haney, i believe that you're next on the roster. >> supervisor haney: thank you, madam clerk, and thank you for stepping in and serving in this role in the absence of a president right now. well, first of all, i want to say welcome to supervisors chan and melgar. i think that many of the things that we're talking about -- and i echo supervisor safai and peskin in terms of our hopes and desires to really have a

collaborative board that works in unison, effectively under the leadership of our next president and also with our new board members. i want to congratulate the two of you as well as our supervisors who are re-elected. i have had the opportunity to work with supervisor walton for six years, four years on the board of education, and two years on this board. and one thing that i know about supervisor walton, which many of you have said, is that he is about the work. anytime that you have a conversation with him, he is going to be concerned about the people who are impacted and the work that needs to get done. and this is one of the most challenging years -- well, we've already seen 2021 is not going to be all flowers and roses and butterflies. it's going to be a continuation of the challenges and the recovery and the rebuilding that's needed from what was one of the most difficult, damaging,

devastating years for our city and for the country in 2020. and so i do believe that we need somebody and we'll have somebody in a president walton who is focused on the work, who will bring us together, but who will also stand up for fairness and for people to be treated well, especially those who are most vulnerable and who have taken the brunt of this pandemic. our small businesses, our city workers, our latin x community, and the black community and the a.p.i. community, he is going to stand up for them. so i just -- as someone who has known you for a long time, supervisor walton, i am proud to be a friend as we are all your friend, and i have seen you work. i was a president and vice president with you on the board of education. and i know that you're the right leader for this time and we will all back you up. and we will all need you to have the backs of the residents who -- all of us represent at this most challenging time.

so i'm excited for you and i'm excited for this board, echoing the comments that were just made, working together at a time when our residents need us more than ever. >> clerk: thank you, supervisor haney. next on the roster, i see here is supervisor ronen. >> supervisor ronen: thank you, madam clerk. and i just also wanted to appreciate you for not only guiding us through today, but guiding us through this entire pandemic. you have just -- you and your staff -- have been extraordinary. and always very consistent and prepared and just really appreciate you. thank you. and welcome supervisors chan and melgar. i could not be more excited to see your faces on this screen. i wish we were in person. but it's so great to have you join this board of supervisors. you're already making it a brighter board. so, thank you. and then, finally, it looks like we don't have any other

nominations, so i'm going to assume that our esteemed colleague, supervisor walton, will become the next president of the board. and i just want to say that very little has made me this excited and happy in a really long time. someone soon-to-be president walton is someone who chairs my passion and my focus on the most vulnerable communities here in san francisco. he is someone that leads with integrity, and always does what he believes is the right thing irregardless of the politics and the surrounding circumstances. he is kind, respectful, and, frankly, a natural born leader. and i am so excited that i will

soon be calling you my president of the board, and just feeling happy, happy today to be able to support you. thank you. >> clerk: thank you, supervisor ronen. we are fixing the plane while we're flying the plane. next on the roster is supervisor stefani. >> supervisor stefani: thank you, madam clerk. and i will echo the sentiments of my colleague, supervisor ronen, as to our gratitude for you madam clerk. you have been so wonderful in leading all of us. and welcome to supervisor melgar and supervisor chan. i'm very excited to get the chance to work with you and i love that we've gone from three women to four and we'll keep trying to go up that in the future. but, welcome. and, you know, i just wanted to say that the event -- the events of recent days, which we've seen

which have been very disturbing, a mob of white nationalists laying siege to the u.s. capitol at the urging of the president of the united states have made it all the more important that we have responsible, accountable leadership at all levels. while we may have a renewed sense of hope with the new presidential administration and the new congress, we cannot assume the profound shift in the federal government will solve our problems for us. and for families and working people in san francisco, change starts here at the board of supervisors. in the years ahead, each of us needs to redouble our efforts to confront the city's greatest challenges from homelessness and housing to racial justice and public safety. and most immediately we need to come together to continue to crush covid-19 and create a local economy that works for all san franciscans. i believe that supervisor walton is uniquely qualified to lead the board through the turbulent months and years ahead.

supervisor walton, over the last two years we've served together. i have watched as you have tirelessly advocated for your constituents and the people of san francisco. you're always direct about what you believe in, you speak truth to power, and you deliver results with the legislation that you write and pass. and although we don't always see eye to eye on every issue, i am always grateful for your perspective that you bring to our discussion and the fearness fierceness that you bring to urging your colleagues to follow your lead. we are all better off having you play such an important role as we debate policy here on the board. so that's why i'm proud to support your nomination to the board president today. the issues that you are most passionate about -- equity and racial justice -- are the issues that matter so much and the most to our country and our city right now. and i know that you will use the presidency to advance those necessary goals. district 10 is among the largest

and the most populous in our city and it has incredibly diverse array of neighborhoods. there's no denying that everything that is happening in our city is happening in district 10. and that it is incredibly powerful and a unique vantage from which you will preside over this body. i know your experience on these issues have formed your career in public service and it will continue to drive you as you chart your term as president. two things in particular that i'm grateful for are your work and gun violence. and your long commitment to addressing food insecurity. we as a body are going to face both these issues in the coming term, and as challenging as they are, i commit to working with you to bring an end to both. in closing the events this week reawakened to me just how delicate our government is. and i was thinking this past february -- i was on the floor of the house with my 11-year-old

daughter, 10 at the time, and before i walked on the house floor with my daughter i had to put my phone outside of the chamber. i walked in there and i said, g.g., take a picture with your eyes. the way that i felt in that room, the way that i felt when i was in that room when i was 16, it's such profound respect for our government. and we can't afford to lose that. and i think about my kids and my son is 16, and my daughter is 11. they don't know much different than what we have been seeing in the last four years. and it's on us to show them that we can all work together in spite of our differences. i want to leave that legacy for my children and i know that you all want to as well. and as senator angus king said on the senate floor, we are a 240-year anomaly in world history, democracy as we have practiced it is fragile and it rests upon trust. sadly, untold thousands across

our country have taken that for granted. and as elected leaders we have a responsibility to show the public what it means to peacefully transition. and i just want to note that as we elect a new president and swear in two new members, i want to express my pride and admiration serving with all of you and our collective reaffirmation that our elections are among the freest, fairest and the highest turnout in the country. and that we will work together with respect for our differences, while always remembering that what unites us here in san francisco is so much more than what divides us. i'm very proud to support you, supervisor walton, and i look forward to working with all of you in the coming two years. thank you. >> clerk: thank you, supervisor stefani. i feel your heart. supervisor mandelman. >> supervisor mandelman: thank you, madam clerk. i have been thinking this morning about doris ward, and

the historic nature of today. i -- my first experience at city hall, in this amazing building, was when i was a summer after my freshman year of high school and i got myself an internship in doris ward's office, which was one over from where i am now. and that was a time when san francisco's african american population was large enough to elect not one african american supervisor, but two african american supervisors, to the board of supervisors at the time. it was willie kennedy and doris ward. and, of course, doris ward would go on to be the first black president of our board, the first african american woman president of our -- of this board. and today we are joined by two extraordinary women, connie chae representation matters. it is not everything about these people, but it is worth noting that connie chan i think is

going to be the first native cantonese speaker in many, many, many years on this board. i think that we'd have to go back to mable tim, and it should be that we should have a native chinese speaker on this board. so that is exciting, in addition to all of her accomplishments behind her and ahead of her. and myrna melgar's election as my neighbor to the east -- or to the west, rather, in district 7. it addresses another historic wrong on this board that we -- that for the first two years i was on this board and even prior to that we had no latin x representation on this board. and that is insane in san francisco. and so, again, myrna melgar is much more than a latino woman.

but that is one thing about her, and it is worth noting, and it is important to have that representation on this board. and we are going to elect the first black man to be president of the board of supervisors. and that is a huge deal. and supervisor walton is much, much more than the first black man to be the president of the board of supervisors, but it's worth noting that. i have not known president -- soon-to-be president walton, as long and as deeply as some of the other folks on this board. but i have did have the honor of supporting him two years ago in his run, and i have had the honor and privilege of serving with him in the last two years. and i have seen some of his great strengths. he has a backbone of steel. he is not afraid to challenge some of the most powerful interests, not just in san francisco, but in the world.

and i have stood by him in one of those fights around our healthy airport ordinance. and that -- and it was a privilege to do that. and i note that he's been doing it in a number of other areas as well. his commitment to afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted is unmatched. and -- and he is kind and respectful. so i, as i said when i traded voicemails and spoke with him earlier today, i think that these are going to be a rough couple of years ahead, but i'm happy to support -- to support supervisor walton as the board president and i would provide any help that i could provide during his term. >> clerk: thank you, supervisor mandelman. next on the roster is supervisor preston. >> supervisor preston: thank you, madam clerk. and, madam clerk, thank you and

your whole team as we're starting a couple months to a year of these remote meetings and all of you and your team doing incredible work to keep us all together, even though we can't be physically together. i want to join with my colleagues in welcoming supervisors chan and melgar to the board. very excited to serve with you both, and congratulations on your victories. i will be casting my vote today for supervisor walton for board president. and i'm excited to do so. i believe that supervisor walton has the integrity, and the independence, the skill, the dedication, and the staff, and the relationships with his board colleagues to be an excellent board president. and i believe that he'll bring an incredible amount to this position. you know, a lot of folks who are watching us, colleagues, are very familiar with what a board president does and the

importance of this role. but just for the benefit of the public who may be watching -- the board presidency is a very important leadership role in san francisco city and county government. including such things as making appointments to committees, to commissions, to task forces, presiding over our board meetings, acting -- serving as acting mayor if -- if the mayor no longer served. and really being the leader of this 11-member body. and i believe that supervisor walton will provide the leadership that we need during what is going to be a really tough couple years as we get through this pandemic and recover. i also want to say, you know, my district includes the philmore and western edition, one of the last remaining african american neighborhoods in san francisco. and supervisor walton and i have

partnered on many efforts to really center black lives in city policy. and our work together -- i know that it will continue. and from a lot of african american residents of my district who i have spoken with in recent weeks, i know that -- that a lot of folks are excited, as am i, for such an outstanding black leader to be selected for board president here in san francisco. i didn't really know supervisor walton. i hear some of you talking about your years and decades and i have always heard great things about you. but we didn't really know each other before 2019. so my very deep respect for supervisor walton has emerged from working together over the last year during this unspeakably difficult time in a pandemic on this board. we agree a lot. we don't always agree, but

there's one thing that i know and have learned and that is that supervisor walton makes his decisions always based on what he thinks is right. and what he thinks will help the people of san francisco. the person of enormous integrity and i'm very, very proud to support you today, supervisor walton. >> clerk: thank you, supervisor preston. supervisor mar. >> supervisor mar: thank you so much, madam clerk, for convening this inaugural meeting and for all of your incredible work as well as the clerk's office during the past challenging year especially. i want to start, like others, by saying to my friends supervisor melgar and supervisor chan, welcome. the voters of district 7 and district 1 chose wisely and in many ways district 4 is a sister

district to both of yours. and i can't wait to get to work with you both in close collaboration and to listen and to learn from your depths of experiences and insights. and i do want to add my enthusiastic support for supervisor walton, as the best to lead this board in the coming two challenging years. i'm very grateful to supervisor walton for his willingness to step into this role in service to the board of supervisors and the entire city and in just two years, supervisor walton has build effective working relationships with all of us and distinguished himself as a powerful voice for justice and compassion and equity. so we're in very good hands and i'm thrilled to work with supervisor walton and this entire body to push for solutions that center the most vulnerable and that meet the scale of the problems that we face. thank you.

>> we're here to serve the good

people of the city of san francisco. it's an honor to be joining you today. >> thank you, madam clerk. thank you for leading us an moving us forward through all of our work for the board of supervisors with grace and efficiency. i appreciate you and your entire team. i want to say one thank you so much to supervisor melgar for nominating me. i was supporting both of you in your elections and through the campaign. i'm excited to have two women of

color serving alongside all of us. to all of my colleagues for one, speaking up. i appreciate all of our relationships and all of the work we've done together. i won't speak long because if things go the way i think they will, we'll be coming back and making comments again. i graciously and humbly accept. >> the board president i'll just ask are there any further nominations. i'm looking at the roster. i doan see any names on the roster. nominations are now closed. before any further discussion or the vote is taken.

let's call for public comment. >> we welcome your public comments. please turn down your tv. as there is a delay. when you hear the prompt please enter the meeting id. press pound and pound again. you will hear that you joined the meeting as a listener. to get into the queue to provide public comment, press star three

and listen carefully to the prompt that you have been unmuted. when you hear that prompt, that is your prompt to begin speaking. just a quick word about what is eligible for public comment today. you may speak for items on the agenda. this will be your only opportunity to provide comments on the nominations. you may make comments on items four through seven. you have two minutes to provide your testimony. address your comments to the legislative bodies as a whole . the office of civic engagement have provided three interpreters who are available to jump in and

assist. (speaking foreign language)