San Francisco Budget and Appropriations Committee Recessed Meeting - June 26, 2023
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San Francisco Budget and Appropriations Committee Recessed Meeting – June 26, 2023
The Budget and Appropriations Committee, chaired by Supervisor Connie Chan, held a recessed meeting on June 26, 2023, to take public comment on the City's Annual Budget for FYs 2023-2024 and 2024-2025, including the Budget and Appropriation Ordinance (File 230644), the Annual Salary Ordinance (File 230645), and related budget items. Committee members present were Vice Chair Rafael Mandelman and Supervisors Ahsha Safai, Hillary Ronen, and Shamann Walton; President Aaron Peskin joined later in the meeting. The committee heard hours of public testimony from residents, service providers, and advocates, and then voted to continue the agenda to Wednesday, June 28, 2023.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Women's services: Multiple speakers from Community Forward SF, the San Francisco Women's Housing Coalition, and allied organizations urged the committee to invest $2.2 million in women's services. They cited 2,600 women turned away from victim services and shelter each year, 3,000 unhoused women/transgender/gender nonconforming individuals on the streets each night, 99 women's shelter beds, 157 housing units for female-identified clients, and 80% of unhoused women reporting severe trauma. They argued that low-barrier services should not mean low-quality care and asked the city to make ending homelessness for women a priority.
- SRO families and housing rights: Tenants and organizers from SRO Families United Collaborative, Chinese Progressive Association, Mission SRO Collaborative, and Just Cause urged restoration of $5.2 million for SRO collaboratives and the Code Enforcement Outreach Program. Many described unsafe conditions—broken stoves, leaky bathrooms, fire hazards—and said language-accessible organizers were essential to getting repairs and protecting tenants.
- Worker rights outreach: Workers and organizers from the Workers' Rights Community Collaborative, Chinese Progressive Association, Filipino Community Center, and Trabajadores Unidos requested $400,000 in restored funding for worker outreach and education. They said wage theft and labor violations are widespread, and education in workers' languages is necessary to enforce rights.
- Homelessness and Proposition C reallocation: The Homeless Prenatal Program, Larkin Street Youth Services, HESPA, the Coalition on Homelessness, and many families and youth opposed the Mayor's proposal to reallocate $60 million in Our City, Our Home (Proposition C) funds from families and transitional-age youth to adult shelter expansion. Speakers said children who experience homelessness are five times more likely to become homeless adults and argued the money is for future family and youth housing, not one-time savings.
- Food security: Representatives of the SF-Marin Food Bank, Booker T. Washington Community Service Center, Farming Hope, Filipino Community Center, the FACTS Coalition, and recipients opposed cuts to food programs. They noted pop-up pantries serve nearly 20,000 households weekly, 44% of surveyed SNAP recipients reported skipping meals in May 2023, the food bank's hotline saw a 64% increase in calls from January to March, and proposed food funding represents a 40% cut next fiscal year and 70% in FY 2024-25. They called food a human right and asked for continued funding.
- LGBTQ history and services: The GLBT Historical Society, historians, educators, and community members requested ad-back funding to restore previous cuts and prevent service reductions, citing more than 500 anti-LGBTQ bills nationwide, the museum's reach of 25,000 people annually, and the archives' importance to students and researchers.
- Immigrant legal services: The San Francisco Immigrant Legal Defense Collaborative, Justice and Diversity Center, Dolores Street Community Services, CARECEN, La Raza Centro Legal, and others asked for expanded funding. They reported more than 1,600 San Francisco residents represented, over 525 people on waitlists including 200 children, asylum seekers 2.5 times more likely to win with counsel, and only 8 out of 1,000 immigration court respondents obtaining pro bono representation between October 2022 and April 2023.
- Child care / Baby Prop C: Dozens of parents, educators, and providers urged the committee to reject proposals to change voter-approved Baby Prop C and to maintain child care funding. Speakers highlighted the need for special-needs child care support, paid living wages for teachers, and the Family Childcare Small Business Program's $200,000 request. Some referenced 700 ECE community members turning out during budget season and opposed using child care funds to close budget gaps.
- Public safety and policing: Speakers were divided. Several residents and business advocates supported Mayor Breed's proposed increases for SFPD, the District Attorney, drug market enforcement, ambassador programs, and treatment on demand. They cited about 1,500 police officers versus 2,001 authorized, open-air drug markets, retail theft, and public safety concerns. Other speakers—including law students, the San Francisco Public Defender supporters, Coleman Advocates, Anakbayan, and others—urged diverting police funding to housing, food access, mental health, and community services. They noted the public defender's office receives roughly half the District Attorney's funding ($50.2 million vs $84 million) and that the DA budget is set to increase 6.9% while the PD budget increases 1.3%. Some opposed $20 million in APEC-related spending and increased police overtime.
- Other requests: Speakers asked for CART (Compassionate Alternative Response Team) funding of $6.8 million placed in the Department of Public Health, disability housing subsidies and senior services, an SRO elevator replacement fund, human trafficking hotline funding, library safety officers, street showers, Great Highway sand management option three, and various community garden and arts funding.
Key Outcomes
- The committee did not make substantive amendments or vote on the budget itself during this recessed meeting.
- After public comment closed, Chair Chan moved to continue the remaining agenda items to Wednesday, June 28, 2023. The motion was seconded by Vice Chair Mandelman and passed 4-0 (Supervisor Safai absent).
- The committee then voted to recess until 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, June 28, 2023. The motion was seconded by Supervisor Walton and passed 4-0 (Supervisor Safai absent).
Meeting Transcript
Good morning. The meeting will come to order. Welcome to the special June 26th 2023 meeting of the Budget and Appropriation Committee. I am Supervisor Connie Chan, Chair of the Committee. I'm joined by Vice Chair Rafael Mendelman and Supervisors Asha Safai, Hilary Ronin, and Shaman Walton. Our clerk is Brent Halipa. And I would like to thank everyone. I have a whole list of names here, but just want to thank everyone from SFGov TV for broadcasting this meeting. Mr. Clerk, do you have any announcement? Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a friendly reminder for those in attendance to please make sure to sound cell cell phones and electronic advices as to not uh interrupt our proceedings here in the chamber and your public comment. Uh the Board of Supervisors and its committees are convening hybrid meetings that allow in-person attendance and public comment while still providing remote access and public comment via telephone. Those attending in person will be allowed to speak first, and then we will take those waiting on the telephone line. For those watching remotely and streaming through sfgovtv.org, the public comment call and number is streaming across the screen. And when connected, you will hear the meeting discussions, but you will be muted in in listening mode only. Uh due to our board rules regarding standing in the chamber. Speakers should be in line to speak. And those not intending to speak are welcome to sit if available. Otherwise, we have observation areas in overflow in committee rooms uh 263, which is right across the hall, and the North Light Court on the first floor. Uh those on the telephone should dial star three to be added to the speaker line. And if you're on your telephone, please remember to turn down your TV and all listening devices you may be using. Uh alternatively, you may submit public comment and writing in either of the following ways. Email them to myself, the budget and appropriations committee clerk at brent.j.org. If you submit public comment via email, it will be forwarded to the supervisors and also included as part of the official file. You may also send your written comments via U.S. Postal Service to our office in City Hall. That's one Dr. Carlton because the place room 244, San Francisco, California 94102. And for our public comment day, we are working with intergraphics to provide interpretive services during public comment in Spanish and Chinese. Today we are working with uh Agnes and Carlos Rodillo, as well as Raymond Boris from our Office of Community Engagement and Immigrant Affairs. To provide services in Filipino. Uh starting with Agnes and Carlos. If you can kindly provide our public comment instructions and language, please Agnes will go first. Go ahead, Agnes. Thank you. Go ahead, Carlo. Thank you, Agnes. You have been unmuted for empassar sus commentarios. Tienen un minuto para hablar. Gracias. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks so much to the three of you for joining us today and assisting us with our process. And Madam Chair, that uh does conclude my announcements. Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Uh before we start, I'd like to take a quick moment uh to uh let everyone know how today we'll proceed. For the past two weeks, we have had budget presentation uh from all the city departments, and we have comb through their budget and had discussion and questions. Um we also as a body uh of this com as a committee, we have articulated our priorities, and we expect that city departments uh answer our questions, which mostly they have uh provided the answers either via correspondence and written memos uh or when they were before us last week.
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