Good morning, everybody, and welcome to our June 15th, 2026 Rules Committee meeting.

I'm your chair's supervisor Shaman Walton.

I'm joined by Supervisor Alan Wong, and soon to be joined by President Mandelman.

Today's clerk is Victor Young, and I want to thank Jamie Eschevery with SFGov TV for making sure that this meeting is publicized and made available to the public.

Mr.

Clerk, do we have any announcements?

Yes, public comment will be taken on each item on this agenda.

When your item of interest comes up, public comment and public comment is called, please line up to speak on your right.

Alternatively, you may submit public comment in writing in either of the following ways.

Email them to myself, the rules committee clerk at VICTOR.yo N G at SFgov.org.

If you submit public comment via email, it will be included as part of the file.

You may also send us a written comment via US mail to our office in City Hall 1.

Dr.

Carlton B.

Good place, room 244, San Francisco, California 94102.

Please make sure the silence also phones and electronic devices.

Items acted upon today are expected to appear on the board of supervisors agenda of June 23rd, unless otherwise stated.

That completes my initial announcements.

Thank you so much.

Would you please call?

Oh, before we go to item number one, I'd like to make a motion to excuse Supervisor Sherrill for today's meeting.

Yes, on the motion to excuse uh Supervisor Sherrow from today's meeting.

Uh member Wong.

Member Wong Aye.

Member Manelman.

Aye.

Madeline Aye.

Chair Walton.

Aye.

Walton aye.

That motion passes without objection.

Thank you.

Motion carries.

Please call item number one.

Item number one.

Is ordinary to mending the administrative code to change the name of the status of women's domestic violence program fund to the domestic violence shelter-based program fund.

Revise the purpose of the fund.

Establish the mayor's office of housing and community development or other agency designated by the mayor as the administrator of the fund with delegated duties.

Update the provisions regarding the fund to reflect state law changes related to fee collected by the county clerk for the fund and eliminate the requirement to deposit certain funds collected by the county clerk into the same sex domestic violence program within the fund.

Thank you.

President Mendelman.

Thank you, Chair Walton.

Um, the item before us today is an ordinance to update the administrative code sections governing the domestic violence shelter-based program fund.

The ordinance consists of a set of fixes that will help ensure that our laws reflect the reality of how gender-based violence prevention work is currently being delivered, administrated and funded in San Francisco.

Um the item may sound familiar, at least to you, Mr.

Chair.

Uh it was previously heard in rules committee in October of 2025.

Um, and at that meeting, we made the decision to continue the item to allow for more discussion and to uh address concerns that have been raised by the domestic violence consortium.

Since then, our office has worked uh closely with interested parties and uh the ordinance before you today reflects those efforts.

Um by back by way of background.

Uh the need for the item originated from the 2024 budget process, um, where it was contemplated that the gender-based violence grant portfolio would move from the department on the status of women to the mayor's office of housing and community development.

Um that transition is now well underway, has been underway for some time.

Mo CD conducted a comprehensive procurement process in late 2024 and early 2025, and new grant agreements with community organizations, community-based organizations took effect in early July of last year.

Um, despite that transition already being underway, our administrative code still assigns oversight of the domestic violence shelter-based program fund to the department on the status of women.

This ordinance corrects that outdated reference and finally moves administration of the fund to Mo C D, the department now charged with overseeing the work.

Um while working on the ordinance, I think thanks to Beverly Upton.

We also discovered some additional inconsistencies in the code.

State law changed in 2023 to require that $23 dollars from each marriage license fee be directed to support shelter-based domestic violence programming, but our code still refers to the old $8 amount.

This ordinance updates our code to match the $23 aligning with state law and there are other small changes, including updating the name of the fund to the domestic violence shelter-based program fund and the specification that no more than 8% of the funds be expended for administrative expenses, which is in accordance with state law.

As part of the code cleanup, this ordinance also originally contained a provision eliminating the requirement that domestic partnership fees be deposited into the same-sex domestic violence project fund to contest to contextualize prior to the legalization of same-sex marriage.

Many same-sex couples registered as domestic partners as an alternative form of legal recognition.

Existing law specifies that fees collected from those partnerships are to be deposited in that same-sex domestic violence project fund.

However, since legalization of same-sex marriage, the clerk's office has not performed those ceremonies in more than a decade.

So the fund at this point is essentially vestigial and unused.

At the October rules meeting, uh, folks from the domestic violence consortium raised a concern that there would no longer be any formally designated funds for LGBTQ plus domestic violence prevention work with the official elimination of that fund.

And so we uh undertook to have more conversations with it, uh, or about that challenge.

Following those discussions with um stakeholders, I think we've come to consensus that the most appropriate approach is for the consortium to develop its own internal framework for allocating funds to LGBTQ plus organizations rather than codifying specific requirements in the administrative code.

The amended ordinance I'm introducing today keeps all the other technical fixes I spoke about and the transfer of the portfolio to Mo CD, but no longer mentions the fund associated with domestic partnership fees.

This ordinance brings the administrative code into alignment with state law, current city operations, and the city budget, which assumes that the gender-based violence share of marriage license fees go to Mo CD for disbursement to the appropriate organizations.

It's a straightforward update that ensures our funding mechanisms match our structure and that we're doing everything we can to support survivors and the organizations that serve them.

I want to thank Mo CD, the Department on the Status of Women, the County Clerk's Office, Jesse Minardi and the City Attorney's Office, and Grace Wong in my office for all of their work on the legislation, and I want to thank Beverly Upton and the Domestic Violence Consortium for reviewing and providing feedback on this legislation, their continued advocacy to support victims of domestic violence.

That's what I got.

Thank you so much, President Mandelman.

I do want to thank everyone for coming together and working hard on these changes.

This is important work, and I know it took some time for us to get here, but appreciate everyone working to make this happen.

Seeing no other comments or statements from colleagues, we will go to public comment on this item.

Yes, members of the public who wish to speak on this item should like to speak at this time.

Each speaker will be allowed two minutes.

Good morning, supervisors.

Beverly Upton, executive director of the San Francisco Domestic Violence Consortium.

Uh, we want to this is a big step forward uh in our work and also uh keeping the spirit of this legislation alive that would take a portion of the marriage license fees in all counties in California and um help to support the direct services uh done in the shelters, and some counties have also uh figured out ways to um uh help with other uh service providing as well.

So this is a huge step forward for us.

We want to thank President Mandelman and his team for all this work.

It's been a long time.

I'm so happy to see my colleague from CUAV here.

It's been a long time, but I think the work was worth it.

Uh I will still say that we do hope uh for opportunities to refine this legislation in the future as uh the political atmosphere may change, but San Francisco continues its strong and historic commitment to ending uh same-sex domestic violence or domestic violence, sexual assault, gender-based violence in the LBGTQ plus plus communities.

So we really appreciate this.

Thank you, President Mandelman.

This is a big step forward.

I was just saying I do hope there are some opportunities to refrine, and I really appreciate your comments today about the TVC uh working on an internal framework.

Thank you so much.

Are there any additional speakers for this item?

And if you would like to speak, please come line up to the left of the podium, excuse me, to the right of the podium.

Yes.

Good morning, supervisors.

Thank you, rules committee, for uh this uh open forum.

Uh thank you to the people for allowing us in the people's house this morning.

Um my name is Pablo Spinosa, I'm the executive director of CUAV Community United Against Violence, and we for the last 47 years have helped survivors of violence in the LGBTQ community, uh both from hate violence as well as domestic violence.

Cooper has been tracking domestic violence and intimate partner violence in the LGBTQ communities since the early 80s when we started to have a functioning uh hotline back then uh answered by volunteers, and many of the calls that we got were from folks who were uh experiencing violence at the hands of people who loved them and people who they lived with or they dated uh and for us as part of also the domestic violence consortium here today, um, we just really want to thank all of you for continuing to have intimate partner violence and domestic violence that affects LGBTQ people at the forefront of the work in the fight to one day say that domestic violence doesn't happen anymore.

But in the meantime, we're your partners, we're the people where the organizations that the people of San Francisco have entrusted to address these issues to help survivors of violence to heal, to find a way out of violence, as well as to find a way to negotiate violence in their lives.

Because not everyone is ready to leave.

So thank you for being our partners, and I look forward to answering any other questions.

Thank you.

Are there any additional speakers for this matter?

There are no additional speakers.

Thank you.

See no additional speakers.

Public comment is now closed.

Supervisor Wong.

I want to thank Beverly Upton and President Mandelman for their ongoing work on this.

That's it.

Thank you, Supervisor Wong.

Mandelman.

Thank you, uh, Chair Walton.

Um, I believe uh the amended legislation has been circulated to each of your offices and to the clerk.

Um, and so uh I will make a motion to uh accept the amendments and forward the legislation to the full body to the full board with positive recommendation.

As amended.

As amended.

Mr.

Clerk on the motion.

Yes, on the motion to amend and recommend as amended.

Uh member Wong.

Wong aye.

Member Mandelman.

Aye.

Mandelman, aye.

Chair Walton, aye.

Walton aye.

That motion passes without objection.

Thank you.

Motion carries.

Thank you, everyone.

Mr.

Clerk, please call item number two.

Item number two is a hearing considering appointing one member term ending July 1st, 2030, to the entertainment commission.

One seat, one applicant.

Thank you so much.

And I believe Maria Davis is here to speak on her appointment.

Good morning.

Uh, thank you, supervisors for reconsidering me for this seat.

Um, I've been in my seat as I took only a little more than two years since I went in to replace uh Stephen Torres' seat, and it has been a privilege and an honor uh to serve on the entertainment commission.

I uh am heavily involved in the nightlife industry as I've been the uh one of the owners of the stud for the last 10 years, and I have owned St.

Mary's Pub by myself for the last 15.

Uh I've been active in a lot of different initiatives that have been partnered, have partnered with entertainment commission, such as uh overdose prevention in LGBTQ plus spaces uh and uh the don't get roofied campaign, although I don't like that term.

Um, and uh it is uh just excited to continue and represent uh San Francisco as the industry rep.

Thank you so much, and thank you for being here this morning, Commissioner.

I don't see any comments or statements, questions from colleagues, so we will go to public comment on this item.

Thank you.

Yes, members of the public who wish to speak on this item should line up to speak at this time.

Each speaker will be allowed two minutes.

Are there any members of the public who like to comment on this matter?

There are no speakers for this matter.

Thank you, CNL speakers.

Public comment is now closed, and I would like to forward this appointment to the full board with recommendation.

Yes, I'm the motion to Ford Maria Davis to the full board for a recommendation for seat two appointment.

On that motion, member Wong.

Wong aye.

Member Manaman.

Aye.

Madam and I, Chair Walton.

Aye.

Walton I.

That motion passes without objection.

Thank you.

Motion carried.

Congratulations.

Mr.

Clerk, please call item number three.

Yes, item number three is a hearing to consider appointing one member term ending January 1st, 2027, and one member term ending January 1st, 2028 to the behavioral health commission.

Thank you so much, and uh always want to thank everyone who is willing to serve.

Uh this is an important commission, and we appreciate everyone wanting to step up.

Uh, as we know, there are only two seats, and we have a few candidates, and so if for some reason you are not selected to serve in this capacity, we hope that you continue to seek ways to serve this city.

With that said, I am going to call individuals up to speak for about two minutes in the order that you appear on the agenda.

And so, first we will go with Athena Bin Ying Ng for seat two.

I did receive a message.

She is unable to attend this morning, but she is still interested in being appointed.

Thank you so much.

Lisa Mapson.

Gabrielle Okamoto.

Please come up to the mic.

One moment.

Good morning, members of the rules committee.

My name is Gabriel Cervantaz Okamoto.

Um, and I am honored to be here to be considered for one of the commission seats with the behavioral health commission.

San Francisco is at the forefront of behavioral health.

Um we have innovative approaches to care, advancing equity, addressing complex uh mental health and substance use challenges.

Um, I served in both the United States Army National Guard, California National Guard, and the United States Army Reserve.

My military service taught me discipline, accountability, and an importance for caring for people under intense pressure.

It gave me a deeper understanding of the behavioral health challenges faced by veterans, service members, and families navigating trauma, transition, and access to care.

During COVID 19, I worked at a COVID testing facility clinic here in the Bay Area, supporting public health operations and community access to care.

I also supported the State Deputy Survivor intimate partner violence through through behavioral health for veterans and their families.

I learned tools and strategies that have allowed experience to continue daily life, being productive in helping the public.

Professionally, I served as a consultant for the California State Senate Rules Committee as advisor to the Senator representing San Francisco and supported the district office on caseworking community engagement.

I developed knowledge of the Mason's Manual of Legislative Procedure, which strengthened my ability to support effective governance, public meetings, and orderly decision making.

Also was placed on special assignment by the Secretary of the Senate to support Senator Dr.

Pan and his district office, helping our constituents gain access to services like the ones we have here in the city.

Some of those experiences reinforced me that behind every policy decision is a person, a family, and a story.

I carry those lessons with me with my work of public programs in matters requiring urgency, discretion, and sound judgment.

That experience straight from my belief that government works best when it is responsive, organized, and accountable.

Last year I've attended behavioral health commission meetings, both in person and virtually.

That attendance has given me a clear understanding of commission's commission's responsibilities, its role in public oversight, and the importance of maintaining meetings that are respectful, productive, and action oriented.

If appointed, I hope to bring my background in public service, veterans' advocacy, lived experience, and parliamentary procedure to help the commission move forward.

Um I believe thoughtful process leads to stronger outcomes, and I believe San Francisco has an opportunity to remain at the forefront of behavioral health policy access equity and innovation.

I believe in the mayor's mission on moving the city forward, and look forward to working with fellow commissioners, the board of supervisors, the Department of Public Health, and community stakeholders to support practical, compassionate, and effective solutions for San Francisco.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next, we have Carrie Burns.

No Kerry Burns for seat two.

Okay.

Lisa Marie Bleischer for seed two.

Lisa Williams for seed seven.

I don't see Lisa.

Oh no.

Good morning, commissioners.

I'm great to see you again.

Um I'm here because I have had 25 plus years with experience with the mental health community.

Um, I was prior on the commission, and I stuck with commission through a lot of our challenges.

Prior to that, I was on the mental health board, where we did a lot of work and throughout the communities.

And one of the things we did that I would like to bring back is we went out to community.

We need a way for them to come to us.

I've also done a number of work in nonprofit communities, the BIPOC community, the black community, the LGBTQ community.

But most importantly, I'm getting concerned about increasing numbers of young people and seniors that are meeting a lot of challenges in mental health.

And for us to be available for them, I would like to continue to advocate.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next, we have Nicholas Chapman.

No Nicholas Chapman.

Raymond Ding.

Good morning, Commissioners.

My name is Raymond Dang, and I'm a resident of San Francisco, where I've lived for nearly 15 years.

I am a healthcare services researcher and a data scientist.

I went to medical school down at Stanford and I hold an MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health.

For the last two decades, I've researched addiction programs for veterans at the Palo Alto Veterans Affairs, Health Systems, Capacity Building at the World Health Organization, and value-based contracts that minimize cost to maximize quality in Medicare and Medicaid programs across three healthcare startups.

Perhaps most importantly, I have a brother named John who has been struggling for two decades with opiate addiction.

I originally relocated him to San Francisco from Michigan, where we both grew up because he was getting in trouble with the law and abusing prescription painkillers.

But John's addiction grew worse after the move, where he began using heroin and ultimately fentanyl.

After he ping ponged an overdose three years ago, I asked him to live with me and my partner in Patrol Hill, where he has been since living thankfully sober.

He's currently employed, takes monthly supplicate injections, is involved in AAA groups throughout the city and has a sponsor.

He's about to begin sponsoring someone himself, and I couldn't be more proud of him.

Although our journey has been long, it's given me the intimate knowledge of the depth and breadth of resources it takes to build a life back, that is the the crucial but uh the crucial but patchwork network of social and mental health services across the city, addiction medicine, and the important role of the medical establishment and how to balance the dual mandates of care and boundary setting, support and accountability.

The city's mental health uh and addiction programs have arguably saved his life, and so I have a very personal interest in funding the programs that work and ensuring their long-term success.

I will bring to the seat a healthcare services researcher's eye for measuring efficacy and the pragmatism of someone whose life has been greatly impacted by the tragedy of the opiate crisis.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Some right Roy for seat seven.

I did get a notice that he is unable to attend today's meeting, but he's still interested in the seat.

Thank you.

Teresa Muellerbauer.

No Teresa.

All right.

I don't see any statements or comments at this point from colleagues.

So we will go to public comment on item number three.

Members of the public, we should speak on this item.

She'll line up to speak at this time.

Each speaker will be allowed two minutes.

Are there any members of the public who would like to comment on this matter?

There are no speakers for this matter.

Thank you.

Seeing no speakers.

Public comment is now closed.

And again, I just want to say thank you to everyone who is willing to serve.

As you know, this is always the toughest part of our job, selecting from a list of qualified applicants who want to serve the city, knowing that we only have two seats available at this time.

We'd look at experience, we look at diversity, but also allow opportunities for new leadership as well.

And so I would like to make a motion to move forward.

I like to thank all the applicants for applying as well.

There are 10 10 applicants for uh for two positions.

So just so much experience here and just having to choose from so many people for just two seats is uh very uh very hard.

So I want to thank everybody for coming out here and making the submissions.

Thank you, Supervisor Warren.

And on that motion, Mr.

Clerk.

Yes, on the motion.

Uh member Wong.

Wong aye, member Mandelman.

I manelman aye, Chair Walton.

Aye.

Walton aye.

That motion passes without objection.

Thank you so much.

Motion carries.

Congratulations.

Mr.

Clerk, do we have any more items this morning?

Uh that completes the agenda for today.

Thank you.

We are adjourned.

Um, uh