Good morning, and welcome to the budget and government efficiency committee meeting of March 14th, 2024.

Our committee manager Tyberge will go over instructions for today's meeting.

Thank you very much, Chair Lee.

While members of the public are able to attend this meeting in person, the meeting is also being televised and live streamed on the city's website, and council administration will continue to make arrangements for the public to comment using the Zoom webinar platform.

Members of the public who wish to provide virtual testimony must enter the virtual speaking queue by raising their hand before the virtual queue closes.

The queue will close when the last virtual speaker finishes speaking or five minutes after in-person testimony concludes, whichever occurs first.

This will allow for very main management between the two platforms and ensure the committee is able to manage and conduct, say, business.

We appreciate the public's cooperation.

Chair Lee.

Council President Pro Tem Lakava.

Present.

And our Chair, Councilmember Lee.

Here.

Also attending today's meeting is Charles Monica and Lisa Byrne from the independent budget analyst office, David Powell from the City Attorney's Office, Matt Vespe, Chief Financial Officer, and Matt Yagan.

Oh, and Rolando Charvel from the Department of Finance.

If you are in person today, please complete a speaker slip located at the entrance of chambers and place it on top of the box indicated the speaker's electron at the front of the room.

Please do so in a timely manner to ensure proper main management.

In-person testimony will conclude before virtual testimony begins.

Members of the public can also join the webinar by computer tablet or smartphone by accessing the link, which is listed online in the preamble language of the agenda on the SAE's webpage.

If you need to participate by telephone, you may dial 1669-254-5252 and input webinar ID 161-176-6153 pound.

This information is also available on the agenda and will appear on the screen during the public comment period for each agenda item.

Chair.

uh real with the people and i want to be clear on what i said which was that and i even sent you guys information on sawpaw the so uh Santa Ana watershed project authority um cloud seeding that's taking that was taking place during and before and after the storm um that you know have and um caused such devastation in the city and county and so um I just want to put the record straight and say that it is geoengineering weather modification weather warfare and it's man-made weather so um that's something that you guys can do something about um and it would start with acknowledging it thank you very much for those comments we do have one additional speaker that just raised their hand again this is the public comment period for the past minutes of February 7th 2024 um can okay and that chair will conclude public testimony on the past minutes thank you uh we will now vote on the approval of the committee actions of February 7th 2024 do I have a motion to approve the committee actions we have a motion by council president Protem Lakava and a second by council president uh Ilo Rivera um seeing no other comments we will now take the roll thank you very much Sharon that passes unanimously with councilmember Moreno absent thank you we will now take a non-agenda public comment uh the council members respect and appreciate the public's input and are fully committed to protecting every participant's free speech rights at council and committee meetings Tyler please proceed with non-agenda public comment thank you very much chair per rule 2.7 non-agenda public comment is an opportunity for members of the public to comment on items that are not on today's agenda but within the subject matter jurisdiction of this committee each speaker will have two minutes if you've already joined the Zoom webinar online or by phone you may raise your hand at this time if you wish to speak on non-agenda public comment we do not have any individuals that have submitted non-agenda public comment speaker slips in chambers so we'll move over to the virtual queue and I'll begin the five minute timer for individuals to join if they haven't already we currently have three speakers in the virtual queue and we will begin with Kathleen Lippitt Miss Libby you may unmute yourself you will have two minutes thank you sorry didn't mean sorry uh could you come back to me sure not a problem we can come back to you and move on to our next speaker in the meantime we'll move on to phone number ending in 7968 phone number ending in 7968 you may unmute yourself you will have two minutes thank you Mr.

Birch uh good morning everyone Joy Sanyata District three one of this committee's area of responsibility is IT information technology in this regard I bring the following to you I strongly recommend all of city council plus others who attend closed session meetings and to assist you with the March 18th closed session item number one cyber security risks and so forth please read the Wall Street Journal article from last weekend edition March 2nd and 3rd entitled the invisible 1.52 trillion problem conky software everywhere from this article I learned that the one point five two trillion represents technical debt here is an even bigger figure from the article and I quote it costs the United States two point four one trillion dollars a year in cybersecurity and operational failures failed development projects and maintenance of outside systems end of quote chair Lee the impact on budget priorities will be happening on this with this area the Wall Street Journal article talks about saving dollars when dealing with clunky old software this is our new world are we ready for it thank you so much for listening I hope this helps all of you love to all thank you very much for those comments we'll move on to our next speaker we have the original you may unmute yourself you will have two minutes the original yes thank you I'm sorry I was um speaking at MTS so I had to stop anywho um yes so you know as I was kind of like telling MTS it's interesting with the um you know uh the the legals that are coming across the border and how well facilitated this whole organization is it's a very um well put together um you know crime syndicate I mean we're trafficking human beings um and paying for and it's just interesting to see you know the children like I had told you guys I mean you all have your districts um that are engaging in this and I mean we have children that are being trafficked from the Ramada in Mission Valley um you know people are coming and looking at their you know bodies their hands their feet their faces taking pictures like is that a good commodity or not I mean can I just you know really make a lot of money off of this child it's interesting and it's like funny that no one wants to talk about it.

I mean, can I just, you know, really make a lot of money off of this job?

It's interesting, and it's like funny that no one wants to talk about it.

It's like everyone wants to just like turn a blind eye, like, oh, nothing to see here.

Who cares where those kids go?

We're just paying to get them to their sponsor.

And it's funny, it's like if they don't have sponsors, because sometimes they come and they don't, right?

Then they just go into foster care.

And it's like, foster care also traffics children.

Oh, and we lose so many children a year, it's crazy.

And it's like then we sit and we act like we care about kids, right?

And we're like, well, we love kids, and we want to make sure that they're okay.

We're gonna, but then we engage in the trafficking of them, and like who knows how many are gonna have their organs be harvested.

Who knows how many are gonna become a slave at some like factory?

Um, and who knows just how many are gonna be sold for um just slavery to be a sex slave.

Um, but you know, I don't know.

I mean, because their organs, it's like they're gonna take the organs of the ones that don't look as good, the ones that they're like taking pictures of, and they're like, I don't know if I can really sell you too much.

Um, so we're just gonna go ahead and part you out because like a human body is about three million dollars parted out.

Uh, but it's crazy.

It's like, isn't it weird?

Nobody wants to acknowledge it.

I mean, even you guys, you don't even want to now acknowledge that it's happening in your own city, but you know, that's all right, because um we're exposing it and it will come out fully.

Thank you very much for your comments.

Our next speaker, we have Becky.

Becky, you may unmute yourself.

You will have two minutes for an agenda public comment.

Good morning, Chairley and Council members.

My name is Becky Rath, and I'm a parent and a public health educator concerned regarding the increase in marijuana consumption by our teens and young adults.

President Biden recently released his 2025 budget and acknowledges that the country is experiencing a drug crisis.

The president highlights two key points as it relates to marijuana policy.

One, the policy budget request discusses the harms of marijuana legalization, dating traffickers source the majority of marijuana and THC products from West Coast states, and that black market marijuana sales continue to thrive virtually uncontrolled.

The second point is that the White House maintains two anti-marijuana riders, which prevents recreational marijuana sales in Washington, DC.

Kevin Sabet, former White House drug policy advisor to President Obama, stated President Biden recognizes the harms and failures of state-level marijuana legalization, maintaining congressional writers, preventing further commercialization, and for putting forward a budget request that allocates significant resources to combat trafficking of illicit drugs.

Whether through the illicit market or the so-called state legal market, sales of mind-altering psychoactive drugs have become a billion-dollar industry.

And he recognizes that it's bad for public health and safety.

I urge you to consider making meaningful budget decisions that focus on drug prevention, including stronger regulations and enforcement.

Nothing should be prioritized before the health, safety, and welfare of our young people.