Word in about toni. Ue gene has also been coming to meetings quite regularly and i dont know the third candidate but it is tough decision but i encourage you to make one so we can continue to have a quaurm. Thank you mrs. Burkes i have a couple questions. In the last couple years i known you you did a lot of good work. Im curious to know, one thing i know is there seems to be a consistent struggle for quaurm. Is there something we can do to help you meet your quaurm . Are we not selecting the persons with the commitment . Is itim just trying to understand better how i can help you we havent had a consistent struggle. We went flow a period where we were down. We have a total membership of 17 members, which means we have to have 9 members show up at every meeting and one of the members is the board of supervisors and we have only just recently gotten a board of supervisors on so that meant we were at 16 so if we ended up at 12 or 13, part is the nature of the fact that we have 5 people who are complinets who go through periods where they Mental Health issues and cant show up to meetings and the other is Family Members so they have a client in the family that goes into the crisis on the day of the meeting. Some of the nature of the board but maybe i emphasize we need quaurm too much. I have actually done very well. Terri, a board member, we havent missed quaurm in a year. My apology maybe just me saying we always need to keep quaurm there is 17 members is there a reason the body has to be so large . If you condense oo 7 or 9 . When i arrived in 1999 it was 17. I believe we are acchel the largest membership in the state and so i donti havent been able to find history that explains why we have 17 members. The advantage of the large number, i think we get a diverse board from all aspects from age, ethnicity, experience and you can be a Family Member with a child or with a parent or a brother or sister so that can be 3 seats there and a very different experience and for the consumeratize is a very different experience. Im actually okay with 17. It is a lot to keep up with but wree fortunate in San Francisco to have staff many boards and counties dont have full time staff how many Staff Members do you have . 2, there is myself and a assistant not very mun many . No that is a 2 person staff for 17 member board we only meet once a month. You have a Committee Structure for the body . How many committees do you have . We have 3 committees, a executive committee [inaudible] how often do the committees meet once a month too thank you so much. So seeing no other member of the public come forward well close maximum amount of leave [inaudible]3 4 f1 election to be held on november 3, 2015 i want to start by saying thank you to all my colleagues, all 11 members of the borebd cosponsored this Charter Amendment so just by way of background, back in 2002 the voters adopt the first paid parental leave in San Francisco and im very proud that we took the lead on that and so under the current paid Parental Leave Program employees received 12 weeks or if employees are disabled by pregnancy they get up to 16 weeks of leave after the first adoption or fostering of the chooild so this supplemented state disability, paid sick leave, compensatory time and orelt types of leave. I would like to thank department of human resources. The Charter Amendment we are proposing today we wish we could have done it via ordinance but we have to go before the voters gaen to amendment. [inaudible] allow 40 times of sick hours on the book. Currently city workers must exhaust all sick and vaiication time before beginning paid time off so the change allows parent to address Health Related needs when they return to work or if they get sick which i know happens. Secondly, if there are 2 city workers in the same family each is entitled to equal share of benefit. If there are 2 city workers in the same family they must splint the benefit. If one partner takes 4 weeks off the remaining gets aithd weeks time off. Requiring employees to exhaust all accrued paid leave especially sick leave has the unintended effect och shortening the rate to sickness benefit during the time when it is needed the most come is when they first return or there after and allowing the city workers to be entitled to the benefit if they are married or in a Domestic Partnership with oorlt City Employee is a fair thing to do. So, when we first announced the introduction of this Charter Amendment we announced this is the first step in another year long process that our office will be engaging in with the City Departments, advocates even the private sector to figure if there are other way tooz make the policy more family friendly. I would like to thankthere are many people involved. The Hr Department of labor and womens bureau the department of status of women, [inaudible] dhr, our controllers office, Public Partners include San FranciscoFamily Support network, the healthy mothers work Place Coalition [inaudible] our Wonderful PoliceCommission President , seussy lofts. We have private partners who decide oo join the task force including gap and google who all have set their own examples in the private sector with paid parental leave policy. Again, i ink the changes we propose to make this november are basic but there is a lot more work and discussion to be had about the other things we can doompt im proud to say during the last budget process pented approval by the board of supervisors we were able to secure funding for a paid parental leave counselor at dhr. That was a wonderful idea because manyit is very complicated. I learned myself how challenging it is to understand the various layers of federal, state and local policy that a expecting muckter is to put together. I want to thank janey white prom dhr for counseling our staff. With that colleagues i dont know if you have questions or comments . I just want to compliment you and the staff. I think it is fantastic piece of legislation. I was hapied and honored to join you at the press conference i guess a mupth ago. It is a Long Time Coming so that is all ill say and looking forward to the staff presentation i was very eager to find out the [inaudible] and the earliest is about 10 years ago we established the family leave policy here in San Francisco and you are actually building on the work that was done from years ago and it is great we look how to upidate it as well thank you. With that id like to call up laura [inaudible] first from first 5. She is exectchb director there. Elizabeth newman [inaudible] if dhr wishes to speak or anyone has questions we have staff here good afternoon supervisors. I am once again proud to be part of San Francisco leading the way of the city and the country in this. I think in terms of Early Childhood we know the importance of the first few years of life with all that development and how it is so important to have a safe and nurching virementd for up to 3 year olds and paid parental leave is a policy that is important. A advocate for paid parental leave, we think 9 months would be a good time but i hope this is first step showing the country what we can do in the country for paid parental leave. I do want to say there are 2 other really important policies that may you will consider in terms of Early Childhood, Home Visiting and one and what is Home Visiting . Having a health nurse or Health Worker visiting mothers and fathers when their babies are born and it shows a huge reduction in depression and infant Toddler Development and it is one of the things that will be really important for us to do. We have some programs in San Francisco already but it is snot universal. Again, im happy to work with supervisors on this and proud to bei also want to say that 7 babies have been born in my office over the last 5 years so know the complexities of navigating the system but it is nice we were able to offer that for our employees. Thank you thank you so much laura comock and we really feel that partnership between 0 and 5 is important with first 5 because as we know the cost of childcare in the early days are expensive. In the next phase well see how we can figure more time with the parents to spend more time with their kids. Next we have Elizabeth Newman from department of status on women. Good morning supervisors, my name is Elizabeth Newman and work place policy and legislative analyst for department on status of women. Our director wishes she could be here today but wanted to come and speak in the Charter Amendment to enhance paid parental leave for City Employees. We know the paid leave for sth care and bond wg a new chileds has tremendous benefits for the children and families. Paid leave leads to healthier babies. According to the National Institute of child Health Breast feeding reu results fewer infection, better survive decreased allergies. Studies found there are fewer symptoms of depression with women who take leave than those who return to work before 12 weeks. Paid parental leave increases women life time praijs by keeping mothers in the work force. We are very proud of San Francisco for providing 12 weeks of paid parental leave however we know we can do better and there are 2 especially Important Reasons why the chairfcks to San Franciscos paid leave program are so necessary and why the department on the status of women supports them. First providing each working 12 weeks of paid leave can lead to greater quality and care giving. Evaluation of california paid leave law found having access to paid leave [inaudible] especially in the early weeks after child birth and this has lasting benefits. For fathers 2 weeks or more of paid leave leads to more regular involvement which has long term effects. Women are still more likely to pick up the second shift of care giving and home helt work and giving parents a opportunities to balance care promotes greater equality in the home. This change allows same sex couples to have the opportunity for bond with their children in equal time. The ability to maintain 40 hours of sick leevl promotes healthier babies and families. When parent return to work their care giving responsibility do not stop and allowing to maintain sick leave will give parents the time they need to take the wellness exams, make sure the sure the children are immunized or [inaudible] this is so important at a time when Family Finances are already stretched by a new addition and the department on the status of women supports the Charter Amendment to enhance the paid parental leave. Thank you supervisor tank for bringing this forward and thank you for your time thank you very much. At this time i would like to just make a final offer if dhr would like to say anything . Good morning commissioners or board of supervisors. Thank you supervisor tank tang for your leadership on the chapter amendment and want to thank you all the other spl supervisors who supported this. This demonstrates this is a important chapter amendment. As we go all this will provide more bonding time as we heard already and we are providing the bonding time for the future leaders of San Francisco who will one day hopefully be in your spots because they are the children of San Francisco and will become the leaders. Thank you very much, we are in support of the chapter mement and want to thank the board for allowing the extra staff position so we provide more services in paid parental leave. We are here with jamesy white who is the lead manager who can answer any questions you may have. Thank you thank you very much. Those are all the Department Speakers i have today unless anyone wants to say anything else . My name is jamesy white and im the medical leave Program Manager at dhr so i do thank you for the sponsoring this amendment. Just wanted to eco everything that has been said about the great work that will be achieved by the passage of this by the voter squz say that men and women make thg commitment to serve the city often make the difficult choice of putting off having children or being away from their children from prolonged peerds of time so fulfill their obligation to the sitgens of San Francisco so by enhancing the paid leave program and benefit we can demonstrate or commitment to the families of employees who are committed to serve. There proposal insures that parnts will get 12 week which is a wonderful benefit and also allows them to have time on the books when they return from their sick leave. We do have incredbly talented men and women who serve the city and also want to be parents and have sometime to spend with their children, so we are supporting them in fum filling the role. Thank you quick question. Just a point of clarification. This is a unique situation of both parents work frathe city, correct . Yes and there are by estimate approximately 5 percent of inemployees are both parents working for the city thank you so much for your service. At this time i would like through the chair maybe open Public Comment and have a couple speakers i would like to invite up first. We do have here suzy [inaudible] andrew ruso who is San FranciscoFamily Network and [inaudible] if you want to knh up first and anyone else who wants to speak on the item can line up afterwards. Thank you thauchck chairman avalos and supervisor tang and cohen. I benefited from this program. I took mu turnly leave twice. My husband also worked for the city and he was able to take advantage of mu turnty leave which allowed me too study for bar. We struggle with how to make life easier for families, how do we support mom jz parent and what you did here is really important supervisor tang is looked at a program which is a jewel of the sate and something of pride. Something that reflects San Francisco believes in and ask how to make it better. When you called to tell me about this you nail adpiece that never made sense which is if you choose between taking 12 weeks off or saving sick time it is hard for the parent to make. Do i spend the time with the baby or boo a responsible person on the back end knowing i will have to take days off. That never made sense and worked with dhr to figure that out. When people ask when i took the leave how is it possible the city does that . This only sets the standard for City Employees, it sets the stage for what is possible. The last thing i want to say is it made me more loyal where i worked. When you feel your employer takes care of you you are more likely to come back and be excited to serve the city and return to work which is hard for parents. Congratulation jz foin to support this and thank you all sfr your support thank you next speaker, please good morning supervisors my name is androrousso and director and cofounder of [inaudible] supporting and strengthening San Franciscos families every day. The San FranciscoFamily Support network applauds supervisor tang and commend all the other member thofz board of supervisors who supported addressing this. This issue is critical for San Francisco because when families and Young Children are supported, all of us have a brighter future. Too often family leave is seen as a side issue or a womens issue. In fact, it is a community and stoital issue that calls upon all of us to invest in welcomeing and supporting the newest, youngest and most vulnerable members. The San Francisco support Network Stands in full support of this legislation, the Charter Amendment, and looks forward to participating in the task force and welcomes the opportunity to exthend benefits to more San Francisco families. Thank you thank you very much. Any other members of the public who would like to comment . [inaudible] sick leave, parental leave. How about pay of baby [inaudible] thank you very much. Well close Public Comment and i am a cosponsor of this legislation and appreciate it and appreciate the idea of coming back to work with 40 hours accrued sick leave. It makes so much sense. When my daurtd was born she spent 4 months in the howith health issues. She is in fine health och course now and was in good health when she came but had many doctors visits to attend in the first 2 months after bringing her home and having sick leave available to do that was essential and it helped us to really make those first few months very good for our family. It makes sense that we support families in this way and