The meeting will come to order.

Welcome to the June 24, 2024 meeting of the recess budget and appropriation committee from June 21st, 2024.

I am Supervisor Connie Chan, Chair of the Committee.

I'm joined by Supervisors May Namalgar and Shaman Walton, shortly by Vice Chair Rafael Mendelman and Board President Aaron Peskin.

Our clerk today is Brent Halipa.

I would like to thank SFGov TV for broadcasting this meeting.

Mr.

Clerk, do you have any announcement?

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Just a friendly reminder to those in attendance to please make sure to silence all cell phones and electronic devices so we can hear all the public commenters that are here with us today.

Should you have any documents to be included as part of the file, they should be submitted to myself, the clerk.

And while not required to provide public comment, we do encourage you to fill out a comment card uh and leave them uh on the trade by the television to your left by the doors.

If you wish to be accurately recorded for the minutes, alternatively, you may submit public comment in writing in either of the following ways.

Email them to myself, the budget and appropriations committee clerk at B R E N T dot J A L I P A at SFGO V dotor G.

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 at 1, Dr.

Carlton B.

Good place, room 244.

San Francisco, California, 94102.

And uh throughout the budget process in partnership with the Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs and Intergraphics.

We arranged for interpretive services in Chinese, Spanish, and Tagalog to uh assist us during public comment.

And uh the agenda will show that some items may be considered today if left undecided from our recessed meetings on June 20th and June 21st.

Items one, five through eleven, fourteen and fifteen were acted on and referred out of committee to the full board and is not eligible for public comment today.

And though items 12 and 13 were opened and left undecided at yesterday's meeting, public comment was opened and satisfied.

And with that, madam chair, that concludes my announcements.

Thank you, Mr.

Clerk.

Just a reminder that today we will be taking public comment on the city's budget.

For the past two weeks, we have had budget presentations uh from all the departments of the city and have scrutinized budgets and have had discussion about their priorities.

Today is a day we hear from members of the public about their reaction to the past two weeks as well as people's priorities for our city's budget.

Policies and procedures for how the day will proceed have been posted in today's agenda as well as on the board's budget web page.

Today, each member of the public will have one minute to comment.

With that, Mr.

Clerk, please call items two through four and sixteen and seventeen.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Item numbers two, three, and four.

Uh consider the mayor's proposed budget for the departments of the city and county and fiscal years 2024 to 2025 and 2025 to 2026.

Hitem number three is the budget and appropriation ordinance appropriating all estimated receipts and all estimated expenditures for departments of the city and county of San Francisco as of June 1st, 2024.

Item number four is the annual salary ordinance enumerating positions in the annual budget and appropriation ordinance, continuing creating or establishing these positions, enumerating and including therein all positions created by the charter, horse state law for which compensations are paid from city and county funds and appropriated in the annual appropriation ordinance, authorizing appointments or continuation of appointments there too, specifying and fixing the compensations and work schedules thereof, and authorizing appointments to temporary positions and fixing compensations therefore.

And item numbers 16 and 17 are the proposed budget and appropriation and salary ordinances, appropriating all estimated receipts, and all estimated expenditures and enumerating positions for the airport commission, board of appeals, department of building inspection, child support services, department of the environment, law library, uh municipal transportation agency, the port, public library, and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, uh residential rent stabilization and arbitration board and their retirement system as of May 1st, 2024 for the same fiscal years.

Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr.

Clerk.

So let's open up for public comments, but any additional instructions?

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Okay, we are lined up accordingly.

And before I call the first in-house speaker, we do have two callers.

We are accommodating under the American Disabilities Act to hear their testimony.

So uh Mr.

Shu, if we could have her first caller, please.

Good morning.

I am Lois Scott, uh 2009 city retiree and vice president of Protect Our Benefits.

I'd like to comment on the health services budget.

Uh 17,000 retirees from the city and county of San Francisco, and some of their dependents have been covered for the past several years by United Health Care for Medicare Advantage preferred provider plans.

The Health Services Board on a split vote, June 13th voted to replace United Health Care with Blue Shield, California, primarily in the belief that this would save 20 million a year in costs over the three-year period.

There are ethical questions on how the vote was obtained.

There were 400 letters and unanimous in-person public comment against.

There has been a history of political pressure from the mayor's office on behalf of Blue Shield in spite of cost and service issues for members in the past.

Please do what you can to mitigate and monitor this situation.