we also have a program to the hrc to provide surety bonding program for small businesses. i understand that the reduction in the bonding requirement would assist small businesses in general. has the small business commission also helped to reach out with the small vendors, parking vendors who may participate in the parking program? >> we did not reach out in the hrc program. we have one of our commissioners is in the industry. he provided a little bit of expertise, but we did not reach out in relation to the hrc program on this matter. >> and again, we're attacking it from different ways. one is to reduce the bonding requirement for the vendors, which makes sense to me. i think that sounds good. we may also want tone courage people to look into some of the programs that we have for surety bonding. >> and i'll follow-up on that. thank you, chair. >> thank you. okay. thank you. why don't we open this item up for public comment. are there any members of the public who wish to speak on item number 10? >>> good afternoon, supervisors. my name is tim [speaker not understood]. i'

the admin code currently recognizes this is the informally the hrc program which is now under contract division. in 2006 that program was expanded to also include firms that are also outside of the city of san francisco to support the contractors working on the puc and water system improvements programs. as that program comes to an end, which we are in the latter phases of the water system improvement program, we have currently certified 200 plus firms over the last several years. if we don't expand that program, all of those firms that were certified over the last five years or so, those firms won't have any future opportunities to participate under the city's small business program. therefore, working with the puc, and with our partners that manage the lbe program, and developed the proposed legislation, which would expand the program to projects that aren't just funded by the bond dollars for the water system improvement program. but would also include shared cost funds and those outside of the city of san francisco. so this is not a new program. this is really an expansion of the c

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. >> i understand that but democrats i think and certainly groups like hrc would be far less inclined to roll over and come around had this been a republican appointee. >> that's because -- >> that's part of it. >> but why should they trust a republican president and trust a republican nominee saying that comment 15 years ago is not reflected in the policies when the republican party has not done anything favorable to them on a policy ground? >> the gay rights question will not be the big issue in the confirmation hearings. it will be about israel and this attempt by the right to tar him as anti-really and perhaps anti-semitic. the guy voted to fund israel, voted to sanction iran and target hamas. and yet still people talk about hagel has the anti-israeli pro-appeasement of iran and not an option. you know what? i would totally agree that a strike against iran is not helpful for israel because where are they going to retort when they need to respond to that attack? lo look, there's many ways to help israel. say, hey, maybe more settlements is not helpful to israel. and talking to hama

. >> but -- >> hrc, a group i have worked with for years, almost two decades, is with them, they acceptan's change of heart as part of the country's change of heart about gay rights and certainly marriage equality and who are these people that stay in the shadows and say they have a problem with his positions on guns, on israel, on gay rights, on everything? it just seems like quite a potpourri and, therefore, suspicious i think. >> i mean, you look at the list of groups that would oppose chuck hagel who are gay rights groups who would be willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars who don't want to alienate the white house, and you think maybe the list is down here. you think of conservatives who are willing to do that, and the list is a little bit higher. so, i mean, i think the point is people are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars. we don't know who it is. they're saying they're gay rights democrats but the fact they use a media farm with ties to the rnc, christine o'donnell, i mean, it's very sketchy. i think people want to spend all this money to oppose chuck hagel, t