Good morning.

My name is Ben Weber.

I'm the Boston City Council for District 6 and the chair of the Boston City Council on Ways and Means.

Today is April 23rd, 2026, and the exact time is 1011.

This hearing is being recorded.

It's also being live streamed at Boston.gov slash city dash council-tv and broadcasts on Xfinity Channel 8, RCN Channel 82, and FIOS Channel 964.

You can do this in several ways.

First, you can attend one of our hearings and give public testimony.

We'll take public testimony after the counselor's first round of questions.gov slash council dash budget.

Our scheduled listening sessions where the public just gives testimony are both in person here at City Hall.

Tuesday, April 28th at 6 p.m.

And again on Thursday, May 26th at 6 p.m.

Again, both right here in this chamber.

You can give testimony in person here in the chamber or virtually via Zoom.

For in-person testimony, come to the chamber and sign up on the sheet near the entrance.

For virtual testimony, you can sign up using our online form on our council budget review website, or by emailing the committee at ccc.wm at Boston.gov, or by emailing uh Karishma Chohan, that's K-A-R-I-SHMA.CHOUHAN at Boston.gov.

When you are called to testify, state your name and affiliation and residence, and please limit your comments to two minutes.

Email your written you can either testify in person or by Zoom, or you can submit written testimony to the committee at ccc.wm at Boston.gov.

A third option is to submit a two-minute video of your testimony through the form on our website.

For more information on the city council budget process and how to testify, please visit the city council's budget website at Boston.gov slash council uh council uh dash budget.

Uh in person public testimony will be taken again here after our first round of questions from counselors.

Uh individuals will be called on in the order in which they've signed up, and we'll have two minutes to testify.

Uh again, uh you know, if you if you're looking if you're watching online and want to testify, email Karishma Choan, that's K-A-R-I-S-H-M-A.C-H-O-U-H-A-N at Boston.gov for the zoom link and your name will be added to the list.

This morning's hearing is on docket numbers 0733 to 0740 and docket number 0748.

An overview of the FY27 operating budgets for the Office of Labor Compliance and Worker Protections, the Law Department, and the Property Damage Revolving Fund.

These matters were sponsored by Mayor Michelle Wu when we're referred to the committee on April 8th, 2026.

I'm joined by my colleagues in our order of arrival, uh, Councillor Murphy, and I've received an order a letter of absence from Councillor Flynn.

Uh no, just kidding, he's here, of course, and he was here first.

Uh uh yep.

Uh I've re um I've received letters of absence from Council President Braden and Councillor Santana.

Um we wave opening remarks at these hearings.

So we're going to go directly to the panel, uh, who I'm going to introduce.

Uh we're joined by uh Mike.

Is it Michael?

Is that Mike?

Okay, Michael Firestone, Corporation Counselor for the City of Boston.

Uh Sam Dinning, uh for the Chief of Staff and Policy for the Law Department, uh, Kristen Coventry, uh, Office Manager for the Law Department, uh, Monique Mitchell, uh Senior Program Manager for the Office of Labor Compliance and Worker Protections, and Jody Shergerman Brazen, Deputy Chief of the Office of Labor Compliance and Worker Protections.

Um I'm gonna hand things over to the panel.

I think I I saw slides or you got a presentation.

So however you want to go about this, uh the floor is now yours.

Great.

Thank you so much.

Um good morning, counselors.

My name is Jody Sugarman Brisan.

Um I have the honor of serving as deputy chief in the worker empowerment cabinet and direct the Office of Labor Compliance and Worker Protections.

We're gonna go through our slides really quickly to give you an update on what we've accomplished over the last year and what our plans are for FY27.

So first, just a little background.

Um, the worker empowerment cabinet includes three departments um the Office of Workforce Development, the Office of Youth Employment and Opportunity, and the Office of Labor Compliance and Worker Protections.

And we're here today just speaking about the Office of Labor Compliance and Worker Protections.

We our budget is 1.8 million.

Um about 64% of that budget is specifically for the Boston Resident Jobs Policy Office, and that is also where 10 of our 13 staff reside.

Our budget this year has seen a 1.4% decrease of about 27,000 dollars.

Um I will go in now to a little bit more about what we do.

Um the Office of Labor Compliance and Worker Protections is a central resource for workers.

We protect and promote labor standards and policies that create fair workplaces for all workers.

And primarily we're charged with enforcing the city's labor policy and worker protections.

That includes the Boston Resident Jobs Policy, the Boston Jobs Living Wage and Prevailing Wage Ordinance, the Boston Wage Theft Executive Order, and now the Heat Illness and Injury Prevention Ordinance.

We also provide free worker health and safety training, and we uh coordinate a workers' safety and rights initiative.

I'm gonna go very quickly through the Boston Resident Jobs policy because that is something that we had a hearing on just last week or the week before.

So we've had a lot of time to talk about this, but Boston Resident Jobs policy was established in 1983 with updates in 2017, and basically it sets goals for private development and projects over 50,000 square feet uh that have to meet certain employment standards, at least 51% of total work hours for Boston residents, 40% for um people of color, and 12% for women.