mr. pollock? >> another way to think about that is that the united states does have, has had and continues to have, as my old friend john macon used to say, competitive advantage in wealth storage services. and that's an advantage that arises out of social infrastructure, all the things that norbert said, rule of law, enforcement of the contracts, strong financial system and, of course, a powerful government enforcing all of that. i think that will continue. but we talk about bank notes and u.s. dollar paper currency does circulate around the world, as we know. nonetheless it will become more dominant despite the advantages in some situations that paper currency has, like privacy. >> dr. prasad? >> it is difficult to see an asset that has no intrinsic value and no backing by the government maintaining value. the initial promise of something like bitcoin might become an effective medium of exchange and that promise hasn't quite panned out because it is very inefficient and very costly to transact u

mr. pollock: i don't know. the extent that critter currencies are used, i expect they are to some extent. so is cash. rifles are chiefly used for hunting. afles designed to not have thing or them are predominantly used for crime. rep. barr: the jacobins time has expired. the bells signal that votes have been called on the house floor. we will go to mr. hill for questioning. then we will recess and then we will return. we will reconvene for the remit of the hearing and your questions after votes. we will ask mr. hill for his five minutes of questioning. we will ask mr. hill for his five minutes of questioning. >> i was of u.s. chamber this morning talking about the advantages of exploit how block chain can change business economics and accounting and majestic. it is a very interesting topic. they're talking about a headline that is constantly chattering about crypto currencies. when i listened to your testimony, i have -- had flashbacks to the 1830's. i am thinking about while cap ranking when we had no central

mr. pollock understand that why is this any different. i can't imagine that anyone privately issued crypto currency could be any more accepted than another. in the big picture sense. why is it not like wild cat making of the 1830s. and try to suggest that in my testimony. maybe my book is not as fast as yours. at 3-dollar bill issued by the fire company. in this time you're talking about. most currencies did have a claim on the assets of the bank. thank you for that. dr. michelle i think if i remember article one right. queenie money is an enumerated power of the congress. we get the question this morning. whereas all of this would still be pursuant obviously to congress saying that we are doing this. tell me your views on this legally. i hate to venture a guess because they seem to be able to do quite a bit without legislation. and then dr. beside a question for you. he talked about this because a block chain truly and innovated area. you and make some forms of money or credit obsolete. if you think about this. many inefficiencies. if yo

mr. goebel or questions. commissioner pollock. >> vice chair pollock: thank you so much for this, and i think that having a clear, guiding document helps us, you know, as commissioners to talk about the work that we're doing on lafco. and, you know, it certainly helps you in working with other -- with the agencies to talk about the work that we're doing. i wanted to ask specifically on objective 10, is in the current budget does this include funding for the commission to pay for these types of classes and skills enhancement for you? >> i think that there might be a little wiggle room in the budget for these, yeah, um-hmm. >> vice chair pollock: great. i wanted to offer the suggestion that if things come up that were not budgeted for that you bring it forward to the commission so that we could take a look at those and approve those for you. >> absolutely. >> supervisor fewer: absolutely. i think that there may also be, if there's cal lafco meetings that you may want to attend with other lafcos, if they have those convening but i t

mr. pollock win. >> thank you for being here.ou have been here for almost three hours with a 10 minute break. you look like you need a vacation. i want to remind you that we are a vacationland. you don't need air conditioning up there. i'm sure you and your family would enjoy it if you want to go up there. give us a call. sir, the past couple years the economy has been getting stronger and stronger. you mentioned in your testimony unemployment rate has been the lowest it has been in 20 years. in maine, we have good news. the unemployment rates are up 2.8 -- are about 2.8% or drugs are making more money. they are able to change jobs. if they don't like the one they have. some of our workers are able to come back to the state where in the past, they have not been able to. our confidence with our consumers and small businesses is strong. if you look at the prior 7-8 opposite wasact going on. unemployment rates were high. confidence was low. taxes and regulations were high. we had a real problem. my point to you, and if you would agr

>> commissioner pollock: thank you so much. mr. l, just looking at the draft letter for 813, has that already gone out? >> it has not. >> commissioner pollock: i want to ask if there's any way we could add language that sort of gives it a time stamp in terms of noting that we're opposing the legislation as it's written because i know that the sfpuc is -- and others are talking about some amendments to add. and so just to give, you know, that -- some air in the room in terms of the room that they're doing is to just clarify that we're -- guewe are opposing it it's written at a later date -- you don't need to put this part in the letter, but at a later date, we may become neutral or change our position on that. >> okay. i'll be happy to do that, and i'll also confer with miss merkelson from the p.u.c. >> commissioner pollock: thank you, and i would trust you on the language that went out. >> supervisor fewer: thank you. is it miss merkelson? so on sb 237, could you give us sort of the view of the p.u.c. or the opinion of the p.u.c. >>

mr. logan, commissioner pollock. >> vice chair pollock: just a quick question. when you look at the labor piece specifically, is it a focus at all that we look at labor practices of companies that receive either contractual or public land designations, like i'm thinking of curbs or right-of-way in turns of the use of the roadways. i know that the city and the county has set up when you sign a contract with the city that you have to have certain labor practices. you have to have certain, you know, benefits for employees and that sort of thing. i don't know if partnering for curb space or, you know, bike racks and that sort of thing is also a contractual obligation in terms of labor practices? is that a sort of gap that's also been identified? i don't understand the labor sort of piece in terms of contracting for those things. >> that's a great question. i think that one of the mechimisms that we have in the city to sort of push our goals and agenda for good labor practices is, in fact, through the permitting system that operates through the public works departmen

>> commissioner pollock: thank you so much. just to build off of mr. brooks' comments, i know that mr. gobel has been working around advocates around clean power 2.0, so just ask that you continue the work that you're doing in that. and in that, i believe the local buildout has been a feature of that ongoing investigation and that you continue to look at that. thank you. >> supervisor fewer: and mr. gobel, i would like you to expand your scope when -- of study around the taxi drivers and the medallion issue to include a racial analysis, also. thank you very much. thank you, michael, for that suggestion. >> you're very welcome. >> supervisor fewer: and then -- there's no action for this committee to take. madam clerk, can you please call item number seven. >> clerk: item number seven. public comment. members of the public may address the lafco on items that are within their jurisdiction and not on today's agenda. >> supervisor fewer: are there any members that would like to spe speak? hello. >> hello again. this time i would like to speak to a false nar

mr. river and pollock from which she won the academy award. she currently stars in the cbs medical drama code black. in her real life she is also a mother, a caregiver and a strong advocate for alzheimer's disease awareness. last month she published a personal memoir which is entitled the seasons of my mother, a memoir of love, family and flowers. in her book, she writes about her mother beverly's babble with alzheimer's disease detailing the struggle, small victories and how their relationship evolved over time. today she honors her mother's legacy in the way that all of us here honor our loved ones with alzheimer's disease by keeping our memories of them alive by fighting to find a cure for this devastating disease. next, i'm very pleased to introduce doctor lisa maguire who leads the alzheimer's disease and healthy aging program at the centers for disease control and prevention. doctor mcguire has served at the cdc since 2004 and published more than 75 articles and book chapters on aspects of chronic health conditions, caregiving, aging, yo

mr. gibner for being here with us today. commissioner pollock. >> vice chair pollock: thank you very much, thank you, mr. goebel for your presentation and mr. gibner for being here today. you know, i think that just having some longevity on this body, i just want to echo what mr. brooks said which is that nancy miller, our prior counsel, was not a resource to us. we paid a lot of money to their law firm and, you know, contrasted miss stricter is responsive and local and has been so valuable over the last year as our commission has changed. but miss miller was our representative for many years from that same law firm. and i found it very difficult to reach her. i wasn't -- my emails weren't responded to. and i was unsure whether she was representing lafco, the body that was paying our bills, and, you know, whether or not she had a conflict of interest with the city and county of san francisco. so that is something that is -- is troublesome. and so while we have miss stricter who has been quite, you know, wonderful and just a delight to work with,

mr. clerk, is there any further items before us today? >> clerk: there is no further business. >> supervisor tang: okay. great. we are adjourned. [inaudible] >> supervisor fewer: thank you. moved by commissioner ronen and seconded by commissioner pollock. without objections, these minutes are approved. madam clerk, can you please call item number three.