>> madam chair, yes, we are. supervisor chu: yes, i would be supportive of supervisor mirkarimi's position. perhaps we can make a motion or take action on the $24,900 in budget closeouts and accept all the recommendations from the budget analyst except the $10,000 for the animal control section? can we do that without objection? ok, we can do that without objection. thank you very much. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you. supervisor chu: the department of technology. >> good morning, supervisors. john walton, director of the department of technology. i am here to give you an update on our discussions with the budget analysts office. we are in agreement with them. these 16 recommendations of the total value of approximately $800,000. unfortunately we are not in agreement with the budget analyst on several other items related to travel, training, equipment maintenance, other expenses to cover unforeseen expenses throughout the year. they add up to a total of $823,041. 16 of the 22 cuts we do agree to add up to -- the

>> madam chair, yes, we are. supervisor chu: yes, i would be supportive of supervisor mirkarimi's position. perhaps we can make a motion or take action on the $24,900 in budget closeouts and accept all the recommendations from the budget analyst except the $10,000 for the animal control section? can we do that without objection? ok, we can do that without objection. thank you very much. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you. supervisor chu: the department supervisor chu: the department of technology.

>> thank you, madame chair. i agree. the department of technology is about to take a leadership position in moving forward some of the strategic initiatives around consolidation, working together, finding ways citywide for folks to come up with solutions that do not replicate procurements as solutions. it is hard to say at this level of production where we would be. what i can say, when we agreed to doing eight of the 10 strategic initiatives, we did not anticipate these additional cuts. there will be some impact if you decided to take these additional recommendations from the budget analyst. we would have to reassess how many exactly we could continue to support. we have been cut back the last three or four years fairly significantly. we are a bare bones operation. at this point, at this level of cuts, though perhaps necessary, would be significant to us and we would have to frankly ss our leadership -- frankly reassessed our leadership position on some of these things. not to belabor the point, but every i.t. investmen

>> thank you, madam chair. greg wagoner. i have a couple of items to submit to you. the first two are items that we have discussed earlier this week, with you and your staff and had intended to submit earlier in the week, but did not make the final submission, so we are doing that now. the first is an addendum to transfer a function letter, which includes a couple minor adjustments that are being approved in the budget that you are adopting, transfer of a total of seven positions -- i'm sorry, eight positions, all of which are simply administrative corrections associated whips management adjustments in the budget -- associated with. when transferred to the administrative services department. seven positions from public works to the public utilities commission, gardners. and 1 position from the department of human resources to the access a recorder, which is a human resources position. i will submit that letter to you and to the clerk. the second piece is our first technical assessment again. this is from earlie

>> we do not have to take any action, madam chair. supervisor chiu: i want to quickly echo our colleagues. you do a lot of this work. we know it will be a very complicated set of analyses, and i really want to thank our controller and our economist for the work they have done already. supervisor chu: thank you. thank you, mr. controller. >> thank you for your support, supervisors. we appreciate. supervisor chu: moving on, the next department is a general city responsibility. i believe the outstanding item we had was the neighborhood transition funds of $300,000. >> madam chair, members of the committee, on the last item, we do have one alternative suggestion on page 64 of our report. the committee has already taken our recommended reduction of $24,000 on this item. $300,000 or remain, which we consider to be a policy for the mayor's transition plan. we ask that the board of supervisors consider placing the funds on the budget and finance committee reserve. it would not be a board reserve. it would be reserved we are suggesting as an i

>> i move to strike the last word, madam chair. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. frelinghuysen: first of all, the committee would like to thank the gentleman from illinois for his service in the air national guard and obvious his service in congress -- obviously his service in congress. the gentleman from illinois has made a compelling argument and we're prepared to accept his amendment. however we want to be clear that we will continue to study the issue as we support the continued advancement of the safety of all of our pilots. we just want to make that understood. it needs more study, we're in support of your amendment. mr. kinzinger: i thank the gentleman. mr. frelinghuysen: i yield back. the chair: the question is on the amendment -- i'm sorry. for what purpose does the gentleman from washington rise? mr. dicks: i just wanted to strike the requisite number of words. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. dicks: the amendment would prohibit d.o.d. from developing or manufacturing

>> thank you, madam chair. i think you have eloquently recognized everybody to be commended and appreciated. i won't return to that roster. i think you thoroughly covered it. i would like to take this opportunity to thank you, madam chair, for your steady leadership in directing this budget committee. this is my sixth year on the budget committee. i believe i'm the longest serving member of the board of supervisors on the budget committee. this has probably been the scariest budget session i have ever been part of. even beyond this bewitching hour, i cannot tell you how concerned i was because of how tranquil and noncontroversial and calming pizzle process has been where i kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. but yet quite frankly, we are beyond the witching hour that we are now reconvening. those shoes did not drop. both feet and legs on behalf of the city are well-planted into the ground. this is a dramatic change from what we have been experiencing the last several years where our budget deficit last yea

waxman: madam chair, i yield myself five minutes. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. waxman: i rise in opposition to h.r. 1938. this legislation is unnecessary and it's harmful. it cuts short the state department's ongoing review of the keystone excel tar sands crude pipeline. it would deny the public an adequate opportunity to comment on whether the pipeline should be built. and it benefits a specific foreign company, transcanada corporation, at the expense of the american people. there are really two distinct questions here. do you think the keystone pealline -- pipeline is a good idea and does it make sense? i happen to think the pipeline is a bad idea, feen you support the pipeline, you should oppose this bill. the keystone excel pipeline would carry a sludge made from canadian tar sands through the middle of america. in doing so, it would raise gas prices, endanger water supplies, and increase carbon emissions. and that's why it should not be approved. keystone excel is a highly controversial project. th

. >> thank you, madame chair, supervisors. we did work with the legislative analyst's office, and they did complete the review. also, you requested a breakdown of how we expect public financing expenditures in 2012 to pan out. i did forward the document to all of you with that breakdown. the only other thing i would highlights while i am here today, last week, i told you the total funds distributed under the public financing program was $1,674,000, and in the seven days since i gave you that figure, an additional $826,869 has been distributed in the last week, bringing us up, that much closer to our estimate. i do not know we will hit the $3.1 million by this thursday, but we're going to come very close. at this point, we are just over $2.5 million in expenditures for this fiscal year on the mural public finance program. supervisor chu: with regards to the campaign fund, we have a balance sitting there that will be carrying forwardthe mayor's s an additional amount in the budget as well. to the extent that, come november, afte

>> madam chair, members of the committee, on page six of our report, we point out the office of public finance reports, using conservative estimates, the total cost of issuing the proposed to tickets of participation would be $316,280,000. that includes the project cost and related expenses, and included the interest cost estimated at $148,165,000. annual interest rate of 5.63% on the cop's. average cost to the city general fund would be about $12,165,00 for a period of 12 years. the cost of financing the $132 million in improvements to the veterans building through the use of general obligation bonds would be an estimated $228,520,000. that is a $7 million less than the cost of funding and the improvements using the proposed cop's. furthermore because general obligation bonds are financed through property taxes, financing would have effectively have no impact on the city's general fund, whereas the proposed cop's do not include a new source of revenue and require general fund expenditures of approximately $12 million per year. however, having said that, it is reported to us that under

. >> thank you madam chair and welcome mr. olsen. you certainly come to this position with an impressive array of credentials and i congratulate you and certainly senator conrad's accommodation certainly speaks volumes about what you represent and what you bring to this position which is obviously a significant as we continue to face a growing threat. i would like to just explore with you for a moment in the aftermath of the assassination of osama bin laden, how would you describe the al qaeda threat and what it poses today? i know you have said it is significant and it remains the most significant threat to the united states in combination with regional affiliates that were dispersed and as you mentioned it is certainly a dynamic and complex environment and certainly an asymmetrical threat. how to identify, how to quantify. where do you think we stand today in terms of one, mitigating the threat and certainly since the killing of osama bin laden? >> thank you very much senator. the threat i think today is as diffuse and as complex a

chair. thank you madam clerk, can you call item 6? >> ordinance amending the election code through part of the director of elections through a process to allow voters to receive the voter information packet and associated materials by electronic means instead of by paper mail. supervisor kim: thank you. the primary sponsor of the ordinance has requested we continue the matter to a special meeting on july 28. which we can do that, but before that, i will open up again for public comment on this item. if there is public comment, please step up. seeing none, public comment is now closed. so this, we will continue this to our meeting next week on thursday, july 28, without opposition. madam clerk, please call item 7. >> ordinance amending the code to allow the city to put to use time limit and pay administrative and employees under circumstances. supervisor kim: thank you. and i had martin grant, but mary howard is here. thank you. good afternoon, supervisors. and mary howard from the department of human resource. you have a prose pod ord

. >> madam chair, 8 through 14 are items regarding litigation. would you like to adopt the motion to convene in closed session? supervisor kim: yes, but before we have the motion to convene, we have several members of the public who would like to comment on these items. so why don't we move first to public comment. if you would like to speak on items 8-14, step up to the mic. two minutes. >> i am speak on item number 9, proposed settlement with t-mobile west. i am bob carson and i was the appellant in this case. as the original appeal was approved 11-0 by the board of supervisors, that gave rise to the litigation and i request that the rules committee vote against the proposed settlement of the federal lawsuit filed by t-mobile. and the lawsuit is simply down to one seemingly simple issue which is there a signal gap, is that a significant signal gap, and even if those conditions are met, is that the at least intrusive in the t-mobile proposed site, the least intrusive one? and there's no compelling financial reason which i'll explain to the city

>> madam chair, for the record, it is $52,981 all general fund recommendations. >> we have that amount for the cuts being proposed that the health service system, mostly in staffing adjustments, some copy machines and specialized services cuts. the department is in agreement with that? >> efp president chiu: can we take that without objection? ok -- supervisor chu: can we take that without objection? ok, thank you very much. the next department is the public library. >> good afternoon. i am the city librarian. we are in agreement with the analyst recommendations and very much appreciate the support and the help we received from javier and kate. we're pleased with the proposed budget. supervisor chu: thank you. >> madam chair, members of the committee, the total recommended cuts are $264,486. they're not general fund reductions. supervisor chu: thank you. and to the comptroller, because these are actually savings from the library baseline, these would remain within the library's budget department. correct? ok, thank you. given that we are in agreement, can we take these cuts without obj

>> thanks, madame chair. mr. olsen, let me carry that question one step further because obviously it is a very, very serious issue when you have a member of congress who thinks that he has been misled so i want you to have the opportunity to explain and i want to quote to you what congressman wolf's recollection of the scenario was in the memorandum that he prepared within the last couple of weeks. i know you had the opportunity to look at it. here is what he says. he said it has recently come to my attention that i was misled about the status of the transfer of the knees in april, to those inclined to read the information confirms the newsweek report the federal employees were explicitly directed to hide the information from the members of congress especially republican members. during an april 22nd, 2009 meeting in my office with members of the guantanamo bay detainee review task force including mr. olsen, i inquired about the status of the potential transfer of uighurs detainee's to the united states. mr. olse

holt: i do, madam chair, i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 12, printed in house report number 112-173, offered by mr. holt of new jersey. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 359, the gentleman from new jersey, mr. holt, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new jersey. mr. holt: thank you, madam chair. for 23 years congress had the benefit of a really excellent organization, the office of technology assessment. the o.t.a. helped congress look at the policy implications of new technologies. then 16 years ago o.t.a. was defunded. when congress turned out the lights, they argued that other organizations would provide what o.t.a. did. think tanks, academy, universities. we now have 16 years of evidence that we have not gotten from these other source what is we got from o.t.a. we need o.t.a. now more than ever and my amendment would shift a mere $2.5 million into o.t.a. to breathe life back into this important ag

>> madam chair, members of the committee, i can make a brief summary of our reports or just pick out the additional. when ever you prefer. supervisor chu: what ever we -- what about the additional information? >> madam chair, super reassert -- supervisor mirkarimi, we stated that our report had factual errors. that is incorrect. we have responded to all of those comments in our letter to the board of supervisors and there are no factual errors in our report. on page 2 of the recology letter to you, they stated that " competitive bidding does not necessarily result in lower rates." by that statement, recology itself acknowledges that competitive bidding could result in lower rates. the it budget and finance subcommittee previously requested last go -- lafco survey other jurisdictions for the process of selecting providers. their initial report found that in the 71 jurisdictions survey, san francisco is the only jurisdiction that did not have an agreement with a service provider and san francisco is the only jurisdiction that has not completed a competitive bidding process for collecti

>> madam chair, members of the committee, we reported on page 5 that we do not anticipate a significant increase in costs associated with implementing this ordinance. although one time resources would be needed to pull in the necessary changes to provide the required reports, costs would be absorbed into the budget. the proposed ordinance to reduce overtime from 30% to 20% would create a significantly administrative burden for the mta, increasing the number of requests for chief executive officers to approve such requests. the overall dollars spent on overtime is determined mostly by transit operations and enforcement management. they believe that it is required to provide the required services. mta will continue to use overtime to ensure levels of service. they are not confident that the reduction will result, as i understand this legislation, which is not necessarily the objective, which is to control over time, as i see at. they reported that if over time is capped at 20% rather than 30% of base salary of them over time be spread amongst a larger number of employees. additionally, if

supervisor chiu: thank you, madame chair. i want to thank the staff on the council for the answers to these questions. have you seen any anecdotal evidence of excessive overtime leading to safety issues? as i said earlier today, when we have been the station agents that have logged literally close to 39 extra hours every week for the entire first half of the fiscal year, that seems to be pretty significant. >> we looked, i know, a couple of years ago we did searches for studies on productivity and over time. there were general statements that basically declining productivity after a certain number of hours, we do not have any evidence. i think that it would make sense. it might make sense to consider -- and i would use the term safety sensitive -- there are certain jobs where a drop in productivity is not explained and you just have to have someone there. an example might be working overtime delivering food. if the person is a little late for the person forgets milk, they can go back and get it. different from someone driving

>> no, madam chair. meeting adjourned. >> that is right. on commissioners campos and weiner for their ongoing leadership. the situation is indicative of what we could see from here on for the next coming year. askehas far as state funding is concerned. prop k funds will be even more crucial as they are stretched to keep programs going, keeping our on going for your use in place. this concludes my report. who, on behalf of director milosevic, will give a report? >> maria lombardo. you have the executive reporters report -- directors report on your desk. earlier this month, the draft proposal was released to be one bay area grant program. this was the server -- first significant item to come out of the process. it has to do with the programming of the federal servants transportation and air mitigation funds, which make up the bulk of the funds. what is unique about this is that for the first time the region is attempting to tie the allocation of transportation investment funds to land use decisions, particularly, to the provision of housing.

>> madame chair and members of the committee, we have a table, table 1, which shows that the amount in this fund or the revenues that have been received to date since the inception -- $9,191,000 -- $1,991,923. expenditures at it from the fund from the inception to date is $4,067,518, so there is a balance in the fund of approximately $5.1 million. if you approve the $325,000, that would leave a remaining balance of nearly $4,800,000. we point out that the requested $75,000 for the asian neighborhood design is in addition to case management services already being provided by asian neighborhood design, under a separate $50,000 community development block grant managed through the office of economic and workforce development. that contract is on a citywide basis. although the requested $75,000, which specifically targets the area, the $75,000 request for services only in the area is $25,000 more than the existing $50,000 from the community development block grant funds where in asian neighborhood design is providing such services city-wide. we also note that asian neighborhood design has

thank you, madam chair. >> thank you. nator begich. >> thank you, senator murray for putting this form together today. i want to thank the witnesses for being here. i will not be able to stay. i could chair cushions coast guard meeting in 12 minutes, but it went at least you know first i received all of your written testimony and i appreciate that. i have questions i will submit for the record. we'll tell you in a short time at the summit and is a member of the committee heard testimony from brave warriors and families over the last two and half years and i want to be clear that expanding the lifetime cost of supporting this new generation of veterans does not mean we will not be there for you. you've answered the call of duty and i've been there for our country and will be there for you. the cost of veterans and their families house suffered both financially and emotionally places burdens that can last a lifetime. with alaska having the highest number of veterans per capita of any state in this country come i have seen th

. >> madam chair, and members of the committee, we have recommended reductions of $74,744, but we will adjust that for the reasons just stated by the department. we would just advise this morning -- and this recommendation, supervisors, on page 7 is the last times on page 7 where we say "disapproval of the interim exceptions for these four positions that do not perform revenue-generating and critical department functions." we were just advised this morning that those positions are actually existing positions in other departments that will be transferred to this department. on that representation, we withdraw that recommendation, and we will adjust our total recommendations for the salary for that one month as well as the mandatory fringe benefits. supervisor chu: thank you. if i understand correctly, there was a series of recommendations with regard to reclassification, and the department is in agreement with those recommendations. >> correct. there were down with substitutions for the three positions and one remains the same period supervisor chu: with regards to the -- the same. supe

. >> madam chair, did you want this to allow to the retroactivity? supervisor chu: yes. we have an amendment according to the budget analyst's recommendations. recommendation will be to send the item to the full board with recommendations. thank you. next item please. >> item 5. resolution authorizing the san francisco municipal transportation agency to amend an expenditure contract with cypress security, llc, to add an additional $18.7 million to continue security services for an additional three years. supervisor chu: thank you very much. on this item we also have ms. hoolihan from the mta. >> good morning again. this is a three-year extension of the existing contract we have with cypress security. basically, under our first three years, our total expenditure was $14.3 million. under the extension of the three years, this includes an 88 cent per year cost of living increase. the total rebuy amount of the contract is $32.9 million. this is including additional services, which is video data assistance, which helps us poll video the after hours when there is a crime-sensi

. >> madame chair, supervisors, my name is tim. 25 years have passed since the loma create your quick and we have seismically updated or demolished all of the buildings near the civic center but two. the veterans building and the health department building. the federal building at un plaza is currently under reconstruction. the veterans building was damaged. no damages were repaired, but it was also seismically impaired. the next earthquake could cause incredible damage in the building and, particularly, damaged the theater. the engineering reports that are mentioned in your document talk about the building on a three out of 4 scale. in discussions with the engineers, reports, testimonies, the issue of whether the building should have been closed was raised. they recommended, if the city had a plan to be -- rehabilitate the building, it would be safe to leave the building open until such time it was closed. if there was no plan, then the building should be closed and boarded up. today, we have a plan, one that is well conceived and well developed. although there is concern in the gene