San Francisco Public Safety Committee Special Meeting - March 18, 2021
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San Francisco Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee Special Meeting - March 18, 2021
The Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee held a special meeting on Thursday, March 18, 2021, at 12:15 PM, chaired by Supervisor Mar, joined by Vice Chair Catherine Stefani and Committee Member Matt Haney. The sole agenda item was an ordinance amending the Police Code to create a right to reemployment for employees laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The meeting was held remotely due to the COVID-19 health emergency.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Chevy Fani, Director of Public Policy at the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, called in to express support for Supervisor Mar's amendments. She noted that changing the restaurant threshold to apply to operators with 200 or more employees per location was helpful and thanked the supervisor for listening to industry concerns.
- No other public comments were received; the clerk reported reaching the end of the queue with a single caller.
Discussion Items
- Right to Reemployment Ordinance (Police Code Amendment) – Supervisor Mar summarized the amendments made in the previous week’s meeting (March 11, 2021), highlighting two key changes:
- Tailoring applicability by industry using definitions from existing worker retention laws, which narrowed the number of affected businesses (particularly restaurants) and set thresholds familiar to employers and the city.
- Narrowing rehiring requirements to only positions with comparable job duties, pay, benefits, and working conditions that the worker held in the 12 months preceding layoff, removing the requirement to offer jobs that would require training or were not previously held.
- Supervisor Mar noted this was the third committee hearing and the 11th vote on the policy in some form, emphasizing that the amendments struck a balance between worker protections and business flexibility.
- Vice Chair Stefani thanked Supervisor Mar for the amendments but stated she still had concerns about impacts on seniority issues and women, and would vote no, as she had on previous iterations.
- Supervisor Haney did not speak but voted in favor.
Key Outcomes
- Motion: Supervisor Mar moved to send the ordinance to the full Board of Supervisors as a committee report with a positive recommendation.
- Vote: 2-1 in favor (Chair Mar and Supervisor Haney ayes; Vice Chair Stefani no). The item was recommended to the full board for consideration at the April 6, 2021 Board of Supervisors meeting, with a note that it could also be considered at the March 23, 2021 board meeting per a memo from the chair.
- The meeting adjourned with no further business.
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon. The meeting will come to order. Welcome to the Thursday, March 18th special meeting of the public services. I'm supervisor, the chair of this committee, and I'm joined by Vice Chair Catherine Stephanie and committee member Matt Ainey. And I'd like to thank this committee's clerk, John Carroll and also SFGov TV for staffing this meeting. Mr. Clerk, do you have any announcements? Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. In order to protect the public, board members, and city employees during the COVID-19 health emergency, the Board of Supervisors, Legislative Chamber, and Committee Room are closed. This precaution is taken pursuant to all various local, state, and federal orders declarations and directives. Committee members will attend this meeting through video conference and participate in the meeting to the same extent as if they're physically present in their committee room. Public comment will be available for the one item that is on today's agenda. Both San Francisco Cable Channel 26 and SFgovTV.org are streaming a public comment call-in number across your screen. Your opportunity to speak and provide your comments during the public comment period is available to you via phone by dialing 415 6550001. Once connected and prompted enter the meeting ID of 1876. Following that, press pound twice to be connected to the meeting. When you're connected, you will hear the meeting discussions, but your line will be muted and in listening mode only. When your item of interest comes up, and since there's only one, uh would be a good time to do it. That'll star followed by three to be added to the speaker line to speak for that item. A system prompts will indicate that you've raised your hand. Please wait until the system indicates you've been unmuted and you may then begin your comments. Best practices are to call from a quiet location to speak clearly and slowly, and to turn down your television, your radio, or your streaming device. Everyone must account for potential time delays and speaking discrepancies that we may encounter between live coverage and streaming. Alternatively, you may submit your public comment in either of the following ways. You may email me. My name is John Carroll, and I'm the clerk of the public safety and services committee. My email address is J-O-H-N, period C-A-R-R-O-L-L at SFGOV.org. Alternatively, you could send your public comment to our address in City Hall. Our office's address is room 244. One, Dr. Carlton B. Goodlit Place, San Francisco, California 94102. Of course, all this contact information is available on the front page of our agenda for this meeting. And finally, Mr. Chair, items acted upon today will appear on the Board of Supervisors Agenda of April 6th, 2021, unless otherwise stated. Thank you, Mr. Clerk. I want to start by thanking the members of this committee and the clerk's office for accommodating this special meeting. This item was substantially amended the last time it appeared before this committee, one week ago today. And this special meeting is to accommodate public comment on the amended version of this ordinance. This is the third time this item has been before us. Sorry to interrupt you, Mr. Chair. Would you should I should I call the items that we have it before us? Sorry about that. Agenda number one is an ordinance amending the police code to create a right to reemployment for certain employees laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. If their employer seeks to fill the same position previously held by a laid-off employee or a substantially similar position, and to reasonably accommodate employees who cannot work because of a family care hardship for those folks who have called into our meeting and are listening on the public comment call-in number style star three. If you wish to provide public comment on this item, now will be the time to do it. And finally, Mr.
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