senator mark leno who couldn't join us today as been quoted as saying, quote, there's been no evidence to suggest long prison sentences deter or limit people from abusing drugs. in fact, time behind bars and felony records often have horrible, unintended consequences for people trying to overcome addiction because they are unlikely to receive drug treatment in prison and have few job prospects and educational opportunities when they leave. this legislation will help implement public safety realignment and protect our communities by reserving prison and jail space for more serious offenders. commenting on the fact 13 other states have moved in this direction, senator leno has said, quote, in fact, the experience of these other states when treating drug possession as a health issue has resulted in better public safety outcomes which can result in safer communities. george, why don't we start with you. you've dedicated post of your adult life to fighting crime and trying to make communities safer as the elected district attorney of san francisco, you've committed yourself to that, and yet

he has -- senator, mark leno. he has taught me many, many things performs one of them is we will always stand with our transbrothers and sisters. it is a great honor to welcome senator mark leno. >> thank you, scott. let's give a great big san francisco transwelcome to the supervisor of district 8, scott weiner doing a great job not only representing this district but the entire city. welcome to san francisco's largest transgender pride celebration of the year. one of the largest transevents anywhere on the planet earth. let me tell you, you looking fabulous. this is a wonderful community. one of my favorite events. been here every one of the nine years. we're going to have our 109 anniversary next year. let me just -- 10th anniversary next year. it has been a real honor, privilege and pleasure working with the transcommunity going back to my days on the board of supervisors when we formed the first transgender civil rights implementation task force from which came the first of its kind local ordinance making sure

the panel began, you shared with me that your organization has previously supported a measure that mark leno brought forward to lower the punishment for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana to a misdemeanor to an infraction. in this case your organization is essentially opposed to it. what do you say to mr. adelman and mr. gascon? >> i think one of the things i want to point out is that in terms of the changes currently taking place in california's criminal justice system is that we have embarked on a very, very large experiment and that's called realignment. prison population in california is going to approach by -- or sometime next year the federal mandate of 130,000. we've already released some 50,000 individuals to serve their time locally, and these offenses that we were talking about here are currently in the list of offenses that were to be served in county jails now. and if the notion here is to provide services and treatment to these individuals from a practical point of view, and i lean heavily on my experience as a misdemeanor prosecutor for all those years when we did po

[applause] >> tal, let me follow up and just say opponents of mark leno's measure would say it's not the amount of drug that somebody is in possession of, the fact that they're using drugs indicates they've got to find a way to supply themselves with ongoing, you know, sources of drugs or by taking the drugs, they're going to place themselves in a state that makes them more likely to commit crime. is this a valid argument? >> well, i think there are -- i think not everybody who uses drug is a drug addict. and there's a segment of the population that recreationally uses narcotics and don't necessarily need treatment and they certainly don't need a felony conviction. that having been said, if you are an addict, it doesn't make any sense to turn you into a felon addict. we just heard that person before very eloquently talk about spending most of his life incarcerated. and he's made it. but the fact of the matter is, encumbrance of a felony conviction is so debilitating. countless of times you run into people who can't get housing, can't get education, can't get jobs, it's a trap. if we

[applause] senator mark leno. [applause] assemblyperson tom amiano. [applause] san francisco treasurer jose cisneros. [applause] the recorder of the city, phil. [applause] the president of the sentences court of supervisors, david ch iu. [applause] supervisor campos. [applause] supervisor wiener. [applause] supervisor cohen. [applause] and we're thrilled to have so many of the grand marshals at the parade. [applause] carmen carrera of ru paul's drag race. [applause] global grand marshal bishop christopher. [applause] [applause] gilbert baker award recipient, gilbert baker himself. he is the creator of the international symbol, the rainbow flag. [applause] individual community grand marshals rebecca, gary -- i do not know if he is here today because he has a very busy day. he hosts the pride run that is gone on in about 30 minutes. -- that is going on in about 30 minutes. and we are thrilled to once again have the san francisco lesbian and gay bad, the official bant -- band, the official band of pride week. [applause] we have the board chair, lisa will

in san francisco, more than a decade ago supervisor mark leno past position to provide equal health care for transgendered city employees. we have a trend in california in moving away from discriminatory health care practices. for example: the california legislation banned gender rating which is discriminatory against women. the ama has a knowledge of these procedures are medically necessary. -- acknowledged these procedures are makleys -- medically necessary. this will help the transgendered community to address the massive economic disadvantage of the -- that the trans community experiences. there twice as likely to have college degrees as the general population's but transgendered californians experience unemployment and poverty rates twice the state average. one in four transgendered people earns wages below the national poverty level. average income with a bachelor's degree is under $30,000 compared to $50,000 for all californians with a bachelor's degree. two-thirds report workplace harassment or discrimination. almost half of transgendered people report a loss of employment as a r