OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Oakland Rules & Legislation Committee Meeting - March 5, 2026

City CouncilThursday, March 5, 2026
BodyOakland, California
SessionCity Council
DateThursday, March 5, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 43:45
Transcript — Verbatim
4:53

Good morning and welcome to the rules and legislation committee meeting on this Thursday, March 5th.

5:00

The time is now 10 34.

5:04

And before I call roll, I would like to give instructions on how to submit a speaker card for an item on this agenda.

5:13

If you are here participating with us in chambers in person, please submit a speaker card to a clerk representative before the item is called or 10 minutes after this meeting has begun, which this meeting began at 10 34, so that will be 10 44.

5:32

If you would like to register a speaker card online, those were due 24 hours before this meeting began, so that would have been 10 34 yesterday.

5:41

So again, if you would like to submit a speaker card in your hearing chambers, please fill out a speaker card and turn it into a clerk representative before the item is read into record or before 10 44.

5:52

With that being said, I will now commence with roll on roll for this meeting.

5:58

Councilmember Brown.

6:00

Present.

6:00

Councilmember Fife, present.

6:06

Present.

6:07

And Council President Chair Jenkins.

6:11

Present.

6:11

Good morning, Governor.

6:12

Good morning.

6:13

Thank you for that.

6:14

Before I go to the first item, Council President, do you have any announcements?

6:18

Yes, the rules for next week will start at 9 a.m.

6:23

Again.

6:23

The rules for next week will start at 9 a.m.

6:28

I hope everybody's here.

6:39

So noted rules next Thursday will be at 9 a.m.

6:45

With that being stated, we're going on to the first item.

6:47

Item number two is approval of the draft minutes for the committee meeting on February 19, 2026.

6:52

We have no speakers.

6:53

Need a motion.

6:55

I'll move approval of the minutes.

7:00

Second.

7:02

And that was a motion by Councilmember Brown, seconded by Councilmember Fife to approve the draft minutes for February 19th, 2026.

7:10

On roll, Councilmember Brown.

7:12

Aye.

7:13

Councilmember Fife.

7:14

Aye.

7:14

Councilmember Ramachandran.

7:16

Aye.

7:16

And Chair Jenkins.

7:18

Aye.

7:18

Item number two was approved with four eyes.

7:22

Moving on to the new scheduling items, starting with item 3.1.

7:29

Item 3.1 is a resolution authorizing the city administrator to apply for, accept, and appropriate up to 1,600,000 in funds from the state of California Department of Housing and Community Development.

7:42

Pro housing and this incentives pilot program for capitalized service reserves for affordable housing and two make grants or development loans upon the new construction of the multifamily rental affordable housing program or the rapid response homeless housing program contingent on funding availability, and this is being requested to be scheduled for March 10th, 2026 community and economic development committee agenda.

8:41

Item 3.2 is receive an oral informational report on the Oakland Police Department's compliance with the negotiated settlement agreement, and this item is urgent because council has not heard a status upd to be scheduled for the March 26th public safety committee agreement.

8:57

And this is very important for the podium.

8:58

Good morning.

8:58

Michael Wimsat with Council Member Wong's public safety priorities.

9:12

Um city administration has pointed to the availability of presenters by this date as well.

9:19

Thank you.

9:20

So it's my understanding to the administration that there is a report that comes in April.

9:25

Is that correct?

9:27

To the chair.

9:28

Um, yes, staff is planning to schedule this item under item four today to go to the April 21st meeting.

9:36

Um I think she would like an earlier appraisal of what NSA compliance efforts are looking like in addition to April.

9:42

And we have spoken to OPD indicating their availability as well.

9:46

What's the adverse impact that would occur if it's not heard?

9:51

Um just in the earlier the better in terms of informing ongoing oversight and budget setting priorities, then the public safety committee will consider.

10:04

I guess to the rest of colleagues, I'm not hearing an adverse impact and also rule 26b of the council rules of procedure, planning and coordination of informational reports depending on the complexity.

10:18

Informational reports can be costly to the city because their preparation can expend its significant staff time and other resources accordingly.

10:27

Requests for informational reports should be minimized and shall be consistent with the city council approved meeting calendar, which details due dates for reports to the city administration's office, reports to the clerk and agenda distribution.

10:45

So if we're hearing a report in April, and there's no valid adverse impact that would occur if we waited till April, uh, I want to let the rest of the colleagues weigh in to this.

11:00

What do you guys want to do?

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Procedural█████████████████████████████████████████████59%
Public Safety█████████████17%
Homelessness███████████14%
Public Health█████7%
Land Use and Zoning██3%
Summary of Proceedings

Oakland Rules & Legislation Committee Meeting - March 5, 2026

The Rules & Legislation Committee of the Oakland City Council convened at 10:34 AM on Thursday, March 5, 2026, in the City Council Chamber, with Council President Kevin Jenkins presiding. Members present: Councilmembers Rowena Brown, Carroll Fife, Janani Ramachandran, and Kevin Jenkins. The meeting focused on scheduling items for upcoming committee and council meetings, approving minutes, and addressing a special request regarding the Encampment Management Policy.

Consent Calendar

  • Item 2: Approval of the draft minutes from the February 19, 2026, Committee meeting. Unanimously approved (4-0).

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Rajani Mundal (District 4): Speaking on Item 3.2 (OPD NSA compliance report), urged that the upcoming report include updates on the 2024 AA discipline report disparities and the qualitative study connected to DGOM3, emphasizing that sustainable compliance requires understanding process, not just statistics.
  • Kevin Daly: Expressed support for learning more about OPD compliance and exiting the consent decree. Also commented on Item 4, looking forward to the BPAC annual report and requesting early release of the parking reorganization report.
  • Open Forum: Rajani Mundal raised a concern about the Oakland Police Commission's role in tracking NSA compliance, arguing that creating a parallel reporting structure would add administrative burden when the department should focus on sustainability and exit from the NSA.

Discussion Items

  • Item 3.2 – OPD NSA Oral Report: Councilmember Wang's office requested an oral report on NSA compliance for the March 10 Public Safety Committee. The committee noted that a more comprehensive written report is already scheduled for April 21, 2026, and found no adverse impact from waiting. The motion to schedule was not taken; the item was withdrawn.
  • Items 3.3, 3.4, 3.5 – State and Federal Resolution Support: Rule 24 statements were read and accepted, bypassing committee. These resolutions (support of CA SB 959, support of H.R. 5356, and travel reimbursement for federal advocacy) were scheduled to the March 16 Special City Council agenda on consent.
  • Item 3.1 – Prohousing Incentive Grant: Urgency finding accepted; scheduled to March 10 Community and Economic Development (CED) Committee.
  • Items 3.6–3.13 – Various Scheduling Requests: Informational reports and resolutions scheduled to respective committees on dates ranging from March 10 to April 21, 2026. No debate recorded beyond scheduling.
  • Item 4 – Review of Draft Agendas and Pending Lists: Significant discussion ensued when Councilmember Houston requested scheduling the Encampment Management Policy (EAP) to full council or alongside the Mayor's Homeless Strategic Action Plan on March 10. After debate, the committee agreed to schedule a special city council meeting (date TBD) to hear both the EAP and the strategic action plan. Additional changes included: a title change and urgency finding for the Lead Hazard Reduction Grant (CED), scheduling of HHAP-6/Winter Relief/OPRI to March 10 Life Enrichment Committee with urgency, scheduling of BAC parcel tax report to April 21 Finance & Management, scheduling of BPAC annual report to March 24 Public Works & Transportation, scheduling of OPD staffing report to March 24 Public Safety, NSA report to April 21 Public Safety, and Head Start grant to March 16 Special Council with urgency.

Key Outcomes

  • Vote on Item 2: Approved 4-0.
  • Vote on Item 3: Approved as amended (withdrawal of 3.2, rule 24 on 3.3-3.5, urgency on 3.1) 4-0.
  • Vote on Item 4: Approved as amended (including all scheduling changes and urgency findings) 4-0.
  • Special Meeting Scheduled: A special city council meeting (date to be determined) will be held to consider the Encampment Management Policy (EAP) and possibly the Mayor's Homeless Strategic Action Plan.
  • Meeting Canceled: The March 12, 2026, Rules & Legislation Committee meeting was canceled; a special Rules meeting is scheduled for March 12 at 9:00 AM.
  • Item Withdrawn: The planning appeal for 1205 Franklin Street (Item 4.1 on the March 17 agenda) was withdrawn by staff.

Meeting Transcript

Good morning and welcome to the rules and legislation committee meeting on this Thursday, March 5th. The time is now 10 34. And before I call roll, I would like to give instructions on how to submit a speaker card for an item on this agenda. If you are here participating with us in chambers in person, please submit a speaker card to a clerk representative before the item is called or 10 minutes after this meeting has begun, which this meeting began at 10 34, so that will be 10 44. If you would like to register a speaker card online, those were due 24 hours before this meeting began, so that would have been 10 34 yesterday. So again, if you would like to submit a speaker card in your hearing chambers, please fill out a speaker card and turn it into a clerk representative before the item is read into record or before 10 44. With that being said, I will now commence with roll on roll for this meeting. Councilmember Brown. Present. Councilmember Fife, present. Present. And Council President Chair Jenkins. Present. Good morning, Governor. Good morning. Thank you for that. Before I go to the first item, Council President, do you have any announcements? Yes, the rules for next week will start at 9 a.m. Again. The rules for next week will start at 9 a.m. I hope everybody's here. So noted rules next Thursday will be at 9 a.m. With that being stated, we're going on to the first item. Item number two is approval of the draft minutes for the committee meeting on February 19, 2026. We have no speakers. Need a motion. I'll move approval of the minutes. Second. And that was a motion by Councilmember Brown, seconded by Councilmember Fife to approve the draft minutes for February 19th, 2026. On roll, Councilmember Brown. Aye. Councilmember Fife. Aye. Councilmember Ramachandran. Aye. And Chair Jenkins. Aye. Item number two was approved with four eyes. Moving on to the new scheduling items, starting with item 3.1. Item 3.1 is a resolution authorizing the city administrator to apply for, accept, and appropriate up to 1,600,000 in funds from the state of California Department of Housing and Community Development. Pro housing and this incentives pilot program for capitalized service reserves for affordable housing and two make grants or development loans upon the new construction of the multifamily rental affordable housing program or the rapid response homeless housing program contingent on funding availability, and this is being requested to be scheduled for March 10th, 2026 community and economic development committee agenda. Item 3.2 is receive an oral informational report on the Oakland Police Department's compliance with the negotiated settlement agreement, and this item is urgent because council has not heard a status upd to be scheduled for the March 26th public safety committee agreement. And this is very important for the podium. Good morning. Michael Wimsat with Council Member Wong's public safety priorities. Um city administration has pointed to the availability of presenters by this date as well. Thank you. So it's my understanding to the administration that there is a report that comes in April. Is that correct? To the chair.

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