Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our July 13th, 2026 rules committee meeting.

I'm your chair, Supervisor Shaman Walton.

I'm joined by President Mandelman and soon to be joined by Vice Chair Stephen Sherrill.

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

Mr.

Clerk, do we have any announcements this morning?

Yes.

Public comment will be taken on each item on this agenda.

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

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

Email them to myself, the rules committee clerk at VICTOR.yo U 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 your written comments via US mail to our office in City Hall.

One, Dr.

Carlton B.

Goodlit Place, Room 244, San Francisco, California 94102.

Please make sure to silence all cell phones and electronic devices.

Items act upon today are expected to appear on the Board of Supervisors' agenda of July 21st, unless otherwise stated.

That completes my initial announcements.

Thank you so much, Mr.

Clerk.

Let's take uh this agenda out of order and call item number two, please.

Item number two is a hearing to consider appointing two members terms ending November 30th, 2026 to the ballot simplification council.

Thank you so much.

And we have a packed agenda this morning.

And so what I'm gonna do is always call up individuals in order that they appear, and please take about a minute and a half to tell us why you want to serve and your purpose.

And so first I am going to call for Ben Landau Taylor.

Good morning.

One moment, my apologies.

Thank you.

Yeah, I have a lot of experience with taking complex issues in social science, in investigative journalism, in civics, in history, and then writing them up for a public audience and taking the often very complicated issues and presenting them in a way that people who are non-specialists can understand.

And I think I'd be doing a good job of taking a lot of the very complex civic issues that get uh that show up on the ballot and putting them in understandable and neutral language.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Next, we have Betty Packard.

Good morning.

Many of you know because I've been chairing this committee for several years.

Um you have my resume.

I've been a journalist for 60 years, and uh I've been very proud of the job that the that the committee has done.

I've worked very hard to make sure that we've been extremely non-biased, that we presented legit uh literature and um uh uh voter handbook that gives the public an unbiased look and a look that can be understood on an eighth grade level.

I've made many enemies in this in this building between lawyers and uh department heads and even supervisors because we've not actually taken their verbiage and and put it in as they wanted it in, but we've taken the language, determined that it's such that the average person can look at it and say, yes, I'll vote yes or no, I'll vote no.

And uh that's been my crux.

When I I've spent the last month, last two months now, really, on the scheduling and the room reservations and stuff without even knowing that I'm gonna be on the committee.

So I uh I appreciate the honor that this city has given me by uh handling this uh this task, and I hope that I get to continue.

Thank you so much.

Uh please remember that we refrain from loud applause in here because we want to make sure we hear the next person or what's coming next.

You can definitely do hand motions if you want to support someone.

Next we have Michelle Anderson.

I did receive information that Ms.

Ms.

Anderson is unable to attend today's meeting and she would like to withdraw her application.

Thank you.

Pamela Troy.

My name is Pamela Troy.

I have served on this committee in 2024.

My background, I've lived in San Francisco since uh for well over 30 years, and my background as a writer includes um writing articles and writing computer documentation.

I have for much of my life uh dedicated it to writing, making even obscure subjects understandable to the average person.

And it is something I'm somewhat passionate about.

I have long had an interest in civic affairs, and um I consider it very important that ballots be worded in a manner that is unconfusing, to the point, and completely unbiased.

I would consider it an honor to serve on this committee and look forward to working with City Hall if you will possibly accept me as a candidate.