Commissions at the local and state level. Most recently i was appointed by Governor Newsom to his commission on the future of work, which im very honored to serve on. Were looking at a lot of issues that are very relevant to this discussion, including income inequality and how that cuts deeper into immigrant communities and communities of color. Were looking at retail and small business, versus ever consolidating capital. The internet, apps, what we call the Amazon Effect. And were looking at the role of unions and public agencies and education institutions in addressing all of these issues. I believe San Francisco can help define the future of work in the cannabis industry, as it comes out of the shadows. We have always led on the labor side here. But there is so much more work to be done. So i hope to continue this important work on this commission, if you support my nomination. I have a lot of ideas about Career Pathways for people who are victims of the war on drugs. But i will leave my comments brief and just say thank you very much. Supervisor ronen thank you. Supervisor fewer. Supervisor fewer yes, mr. Bloch, good to see you. I wanted to ask, what is your idea on cannabis delivery in the brick and Mortar Retailers working together . And how do we protect against a big economy in this . And also is it possible for them to Work Together, the industry the brick and mortars with delivery . Well, let me start with the gig economy. We addressed that at the state level. When we pushed for and won two very important regulations in sacramento. First, we got rid of uber pot. We got a prohibition on the use of independent contractors to do delivery. Secondly, we had a requirement instituted that anybody doing delivery has to be an employee of the dispensary. So this is really important, because employees, of course, have the right to organize, independent contractors dont. And having people be direct employees of a dispensary, means you cant have temp agencies hiring workers and dispatching them on a daytoday basis to do delivery work. It ties people to the employers, which is where we want them to be and we want them to be organized. And other states are frankly looking at this model that weve done in california. The brick and mortar versus delivery, i think i wish there was an easier legislative solution to that. As i mentioned, were seeing this Amazon Effect impacting not just cannabis, but everything. Absolutely everything. And speaking for the teamsters, we believe that retail is important. The small retail that we we never have any intention of organizing workers in the corner stores, for example. Im not talking about cannabis, but the little familyowned corner markets. But we have teamsters that deliver into those stores. So its very important to protect small and local business. We will come to this commission and urge delivery only and brick and mortar to try to Work Together, because we think theres an important role. But this is where i go back to why i think this commission is so important, because we havent had a place to hash out these policy things. Its happened in this committee here and this here or weve been fighting it out on the streets here or in these hallways. And if were successful with this commission and get the right people here, we can actually look at these issues indepth and hopefully come up with some solutions. Supervisor fewer okay. Thanks. Supervisor ronen supervisor walton. Supervisor walton thank you so much. Thank you so much, mr. Bloch. Just same question. How important do you think it is for diversity on this Oversight Committee . I think that diversity is absolutely important on this commission. I also think having people who have some experience in this industry is very important. And i will say for our union, our focus is on increasing diversity in the workforce, because a lot of these policy debates have had people like me running around, advocating. The worker voice piece has really been missing in sacramento, in San Francisco. And for our union, and i applaud the laborers for the work theyve done, but we have people who come directly out of san quentin and get e. D. D. Grants. And we run them through our Training Program and in five weeks, they have a commercial drivers license and theyre doing union work. And they should be working for recology, they should be working for auto return, they should be working for every Single Company that has a permit or a contract with the city around county of San Francisco. And so thats what im here to say, that were going to bring that same commitment to the cannabis industry. And anybody that has a permit, should be hiring local. Thats our opinion. Supervisor ronen supervisor mar. Supervisor mar thank you, chair ronen. Mr. Bloch, i just had wanted to ask a similar question that i asked of ms. Foglio from the laborers union. I guess in addition to all of the really important work that you you guys are doing to ensure labor rights for workers in this emerging industry, what ideas do you have about how we could strengthen Career Pathways for victims of the war on drugs and other Disadvantaged Community members here in San Francisco . Well, again i think using your power, the power of the permit to tie requirements to that. I go back to the thousandplus workers who drive for facebook, apple, all of these companies, who organized because this body urged the sfmta to put a laborer piece requirement in for those companies to be able to use our bus stops. Every single employer in this industry is coming here to ask for a permit. And again local hire could be attached to that. Across the bay, in oakland, we got a 50 local hire requirement attached to the development of the Oakland Army Base project. So you have all of the power and i believe you have the support of labor in attaching local hire requirements. And then tieing that to Apprenticeship Programs and city college, so that theres a clear place to go and ultimately i would last thing ill say, because im speaking a lot, again oakland is a good example where weve partnered with the west oakland job resource center. Theres a onestop first source, all of the employers have to go to the first source first. And then they can hire somewhere else if they cant fill those positions. But its clear to people in west oakland or if they live in the flats and east oakland, they want to get a job on that project, they know where to go, which is the west oakland job resource center. So there are a lot of good models out there. This is why i said i wasnt going to talk in the beginning. I have a lot of ideas. Supervisor ronen i just wanted to personally thank you, doug, for all of your work on behalf of workers in this industry. As a former Worker Rights attorney, i just had to say that its extraordinary. And the fact that we have all drivers, as employees now, is extraordinary achievement. So thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Supervisor ronen hello. Good morning, supervisors. My name is brian kramer. I was born here in San Francisco. I have lived here my entire life. I went to high school, college, and have worked here. But my primary source of income, since high school, has been through cannabis. I started growing in high school. I started selling in high school. And since then up until i was 30 years old, that was all i did was cannabis. Until i was busted in 1996 and sent to a federal prison for five years for growing weed. When i got out, i was on parole, so i couldnt grow any more. So i started consulting. And thats what ive done since. I have owned several legitimate businesses i guess, you know, coffee shops and stuff like that. But my primary source of income, my entire life, has been through cannabis. I worked for dispensaries, manufacturers, growers, every part of the industry. And now that im consulting, i go all throughout the state trying to help people, you know, maximize and be more efficient. And ive seen a lot of the problems. You know, and a lot of people taken advantage of, you know, in every aspect. I mean, trimmers are at the bottom of the barrel. The bottom of the barrel. Last year, the year before up in humboldt, they were going up trimming, when they were done, they were paid with weed. They werent even paid money. They were paid with weed that was going for pennies, you know, like 400, 500 a pound. So now i work im a consultant also for the laborers union. And i set up a preApprenticeship Program for here in San Francisco. I set upage Apprenticeship Program for the state. And why i came to this thing well, and let me talk about the seat. So i didnt fill out a seat. I just filled out the application and said ill take whatever seat that i fit in. They called me the other day and said you need to fill out a number. I spoke to some guy victor, i told him a little bit about myself and kind of told me ill fill you out at seat whatever. I dont even know what seat he filled me out for. So why i came to this is because theres theres a lot of people here who have certain knowledge about certain aspects of the industry. But id say theres very few who have the experience that i have, that this is all ive done. And i have worked in a very wide range or every aspect of the marijuana industry. And im from here. I have lived in every neighborhood. I have worked in every neighborhood here. And its hard sometimes to see people who arent from here and say make decisions about whats going on here when they really dont know the city. They dont know it. Unless you were born here and raised here, you know, i hear people say, oh, ive been here for a couple of years. Thats great. Im glad youre here. Im glad you like it, because i love San Francisco. But theres very few people who have the experience in marijuana i have. And that are from here and have the knowledge of the city. There we go. Supervisor fewer okay. You want my answer to diversity i can give a generic answer that everybody else gives here. But i think honestly there should be diversity. But i think most of all, for a Committee Like this, you need people who really know what the hell theyre talking about. I dont care what color they are. Oh, sorry. [laughter] supervisor fewer its okay mr. Hanson mr. Kramer. Supervisor fewer im looking at names here. Im so sorry. Youre under number 15, person with significant experience in economic development. Your area of expertise is actually much broader than that. Yeah. Both. Supervisor fewer sent it through different areas of the cannabis industry. I think im qualified for that one. But i think i probably qualify for more of them. I just didnt know. There was a guy victor, he calls me up, he said you didnt fill out a seat. I go, well, i dont know which one im qualified for. He talked to me for a minute, filled it out. I said, cool. Supervisor fewer so thank you, mr. Kramer, for coming today. Let me ask you then, so how do you think that we could expand the cannabis workforce into really professional, to be a profession, from every level . You mentioned people who do the trimming, people first line, like we talked about apprenticeships here, we also talked about local hire. And since youre a san franciscan, im a fourthgeneration san franciscan myself, what are some of your ideas about instituting those types of things . And also a relationship with city college, since we now have free city college. If they taught a course at city college, that would be great. Because thats the problem in this industry right now is that everybody thinks its a gold rush. Like im going to make a Million Dollars in this industry. And some people are. The fact that a lot of people are getting into it and have no experience. And then theyre hiring people with no experience. Then you have a whole workforce that has no real experience. I think proper training would be great. And i think so no within really talks about the issue. This is a money issue. This business is about money. Everybody talks, oh, i want to help this person, help that person. Everybody wants to make a lot of money. You know, theyre not going to sit up here and say that. Theyre all talking about money. And they want some say in where the money goes or how the money is spent or whatever. So there are people making a lot of money. And these are the people that can do the proper training, you know. And just treat people decently. You know, its theres the haves and the have nots. And and thats whats going on. The people coming in with no experience and no training are being treated bad and given crappy jobs and being paid crappy wages, you know. So i think proper training would be a huge thing. Because if youve got people going into the industry, actually knowing what theyre doing and not saying, you know, just give me a job, ill do anything. Ill trim your weed, ill sweep the floor. So people and thats the key thing. When ive gone around, theres very few women at high levels in the marijuana. Theyre trimmer. You know, and theres a lot of hispanics who are being treated. Like i was down at a farm in salinases, they were treated like crap. They were spraying without masks on. Spraying something called abid. You shouldnt even use avid. It has a 50day lifespan, if youre spraying on plants with buds, the workers are doing it and so theres no unified training can say, listen, thats a product we dont use. You know. I go places theres p. G. R. S on the shelves. I ask the guy, do you know what this stuff do does. No, im suppose to give it at week 2. You know, so they dont even though the people who are working dont even know what theyre doing. They dont know the products, they dont know. Youre a san franciscan and you know San Francisco well. Im just going to ask you. What do you think about neighborhood opposition when you go into some of these western west side neighborhoods, that are opposed to brick and mortar, retail in their neighborhood. Ill tell you straight up. I know theres a lot of opposition. You know, i came to some guy asked me to come, i was working for him. He was trying to open up a dispensary in the sunset. And he says, will you come down there. I showed up there. There was a mob out in front. You couldnt even get into the room, you know. He wants me to be involved. I was like, i saw some people, i saw someone i knew and they asked me what i was here for. Im in the wrong place i think. I do not need to be here. I think they need to be given some sort of respect. If a large part of the Community Needs that. Theres no place you cant get weed in San Francisco. Theres nobody in San Francisco saying, gee, i wish there was a spot down the block so i could get some weed. Everybody can get weed in San Francisco. So if theres some communities that say we really dont want this here right now, i think they should be respected. I dont agree with them. I think there should be a dispensary out there. You know, if enough of them live there and they dont want it, respect them. Supervisor fewer thank you. Is that enough for me . Supervisor ronen you already answered supervisor waltons question. Thank you. Supervisor fewer thank you, mr. Kramer. Good morning, supervisors. My name is jeff. I am here as a 25year, but not lifelong resident of the city. I have lived out in the western neighborhoods, out in the Richmond District now for the last five years. Im well aware of the issues that were dealing with. My day job, and what i love to do, is i work at oak dam university. I manage our government and legal affairs. And i work for our business and alumni association. If youre not familiar with us, weve been a brick and mortar cannabis Education School for ten years now. We graduated 30,000 folks from our school, from all over the world. And what weve found is that what we began advocating for, ten years ago, is starting to be lost in the rush to the gold rush, the green rush, which was patients and veterans being able to use cannabis ryan is going to speak to that im sure. Ryan is a great advocate for the veterans community. What we would like to see in the equity realm, someone focused on creating a program that can actually push equity candidates forward. I have had the good fortune of doing trainings at the San FranciscoSuccess Center over on the western addition. And what were finding is theres a real lack of both enforcement teeth against the operators that are going to be the lveimp that stops the little guys and giving the real support necessary to the equity candidates to move forward. We hope with the funds coming down from the state eventually, and being able to be distributed to equity candidates, that will be helpful. We know education is a key. We know all of the issues related to both giving people an opportunity in the industry, but also making sure that we have safety and medical standards intact, is that they are theyre all being overrun by this rush to just make money. And no matter how much we do, at the city level to try to enforce a way the bad operators and give people a leg up, we also need to see that there is some enforcement against these equity incubators, who are creating a notverylevel Playing Field for the equity operators that theyre suppose to be supporting. So one of the big areas for us again is both making sure that we remember that this industry was founded on patients needing medicine and hopefully seeing the board, as well as the city, work with Governor Newsom and representative chu and everyone else from the city to get back to where we were before prop 64 was enacted, where we can actually gift medical cannabis, via a collective or even the San Francisco department of Public Health, to those patients who need it. Because right now the way the standards ar