And the old, the formerly incarcerat incarcerated, the Business Owner and the day laborer. Every american deserves to have their voice heard. As a person of faith i believe that every person has a devine purpose and divine value. We have a responsibility to treat our sisters and brothers equally and to do everything within our power to help everyone achieve their god given potential. I am proud to join with the members of the drafting committee and members of this community to ensure that our National Platform, our partys statement of principles and values is forged with consideration of every voice in our party. Today we will continue the substantive exchange of ideas that we began last week in washington, d. C. And i look forward to hearing the voices today and more important by the hearts of democrats about our policies, about our party and how we can adopt issues that will build on the success we have experienced over the last eight years. As republicans focus on what divides us, we will focus on how we can bring americans together and expand access and strengthen ladders of opportunity for all americans. Thank you. Thank you very much, leah. I like to thank the individuals you will hear from today for making time to share their perspectives and recommendations on the issues confronting americans. Beappreciate you sharing your expertise and we look forward to hearing from you throughout the forum. Im also delighted to thank the more than 1,000 individuals from 43 states and the district of columbia who have taken the time to share your comments or post written and video testimony on the dncc website. In addition to welcoming those of you here in fee niphoenix, a, im delighted to acknowledge those through the dncc live stream of demconvention. Com. As democrats were committed to addressing concerns at the heart of peoples lives. The problems that they face every day, and challenges. The problems that their children face, their childrens education and the wellbeing, the health and the safety of seniors, the opportunities available in our communities, in our nations future. Among others we began last week by hearing testimony and recommendations on leveling the Playing Field, moving america forward. And americas role in the world over the next two days we will hear from policy experts, Community Leaders and advocates on energy and the environment, health and safety. And protecting the and expanding our democracy. The Democrat Party platform is not about any one of us sitting around this table. It is so much bigger than all of us. It is about the people. And with the platform being a covenant of our shared collective values, its important that the process captures the energy and the breadth of the party. This Diverse Group will allow us to bring together our partys best thinking with a focus on solutions. And so it gives me great pleasure, we are really pleased to have a special guest with us today, that is the mayor of phoenix, mayor greg stanton. Mayor stanton, since taking office in 2012, mayor stanton has worked tirelessly to build a modern economy that works for every Phoenix Family by boosting trade with mexico, investing in biosciencens and lifting up local small businesses. Mayor stanton is leading the way to create an innovation based export economy built to last. Mayor stanton is committed to making our community a more welcoming and open place. Under his leadership phoenix became the first u. S. City to end chronic homelessness among veterans. Phoenix also earned National Recognition as the leader on lgbt issues and became the first arizona city to earn a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign municipal equality index. Mayor stanton, thank you very much for being with us and well hear from you now. Thank you for that kind introduction. Members of the Platform Committee. Welcome to the greatest city in the United States of america, phoenix, arizona. We dont give up easy. We fight in phoenix. We finished second in the competition for the 2016 Democratic Convention. I want to be the first to welcome you here to the 2020 Democratic Convention here in phoenix. Also welcome to the Fastest Growing big city postworld war ii here in america. Phoenix is the future of the United States of america in so many ways. Were blessed to have incredible diversity here in our city and im confident with the intellectual and policy fire power than this committee is going to provide to our party,er going to be successful in the most important election in our lifetime. And congressman you mentioned a couple of the issues that are so important to the people of this party and therefore the people of this country and certainly important to the people of the city. Thank you in advance for your support of the veterans across the United States of america, which i know will be an important part of our platform in phoenix. We were so proud to accept president obamas challenge, challenging every city to end chronic homelessness among or veterans. And phoenix was the first in the United States of america to end chronic homelessness among our veteran population. I want to thank this committee to show support for people. You understand that supporting people is great for the economy of the United States of america. We understand that in cities. Thats why when i became mayor the support for the Lgbt Community was so important. And phoenix arizona last three years has gotten a perfect score by the human equality index, same as chicago, new york, los angeles or any other cities. Phoenix, doaarizona, we accomplished that. We think of Climate Change in the context of how it affects cities on the coastal areas because of the rising tides, rising ocean lines. But in phoenix with the heat youre going to experience over your few days here, earlier than we normally get, rising temperatures, drought is a huge issue in this community directly as a result of Climate Change. The policies that you adopt here, the policies of our party, the Successful Party in this upcoming election are going to benefit us here in the Desert Southwest on the issue of Climate Change and climate resill genesee. I want to thank you in advance for that regard. Phoenix received the award as having the strongest Climate Change policies in the United States of america as a city. Congressman cummings, i want to thank you so much for you leadership on comprehensive Immigration Reform. As i told you privately, when it is successful, no city in the United States of america will benefit more economically from comprehensive Immigration Reform than phoenix, arizona because of the wonderful diversity that were blessed to have, including a city thats soon to be a latino majority city here in arizona. Also thank you for the Infrastructure Investment. In phoenix we just passed the largest transportation Infrastructure Investment in the United States of america by the voters of phoenix, a 35year, 32 billion transportation Infrastructure Investment. Were going to trip tl amount of light rails, significantly increase the amount of bus service, a thousand miles of bike lane, make the city for walkable, dial and Ride Services for our citizens that happen to have disabilities. Were going big on transportation because we know how important it is to connect people to education and jobs, those that are not in a position to afford a car or those that might not want to utilize their car. How important that is for the future of our economy. For that and so many other reasons, i want to thank this committee. The policy recommendations youre going to make are going to be great for cities across the United States of america and great for our country. Welcome to phoenix. Have a great few days of meetings. Youre going to hear from some of the most talented people in our community, the leaders that i have the benefit to work with as mayor of the city. We have a great thriving active passionate and successful Democratic Party here. Thank you so much for letting me say a few words. I want to thank you. As i listen to you, i was saying to myself so often in washington we hear a lot about what cant be done. Thank you for doing things and creating models for the entire nation. We certainly appreciate your hospitality. Thank you so much. Before i get started i wanted to have them introduce themselves, the members of this distinguished drafting committee. They are putting in a tremendous amount of time, taking time away from their families and from their normal jobs because they want to make sure that we, as a party, create a very meaningful platform, not just with regard to the next four years but for the next generation and beyond. So it gives me tremendous honor to have them introduce themselves, the members of the drafting committee, of the Platform Committee. Thank you mr. Chairman. Im warren gunnels, the policy director for senator bernie sanders. Its a pleasure to be here in phoenix. Thank you. Thank you, plmt chairman. Im state representative alicia reese from the battleground state of ohio and it is great to be here. Thanks for welcoming us. Debra parker. Im a member of the tribes and i just want to thank the southwest indigenous tribes for honoring us and allowing us today. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Im bonnie shaffer. Im from two battleground states, florida, north carolina, happy to be here. Im congressman luis gutter reez from the city of chicago. Happy to be here with all of you. Teacher and citizen. Im president of the center for American Progress and its great to be here. Im wednesdndy sherman delig to be here. Thank you for the very warm welcome. [ laughter ] that was very good. Paul booth, American Federation of state, county municipal employees of phoenix. Welcome us all here and im glad to be here too. Barbara lee, member of congress, i represent the progressive 13th Congressional District of children. Happy to be here in fee mix. My late mother lived in sun city, arizona for many years. Ive visited your city many times. Thank you for your hospitality. Bill mckib bonn from vermont. Senior policy adviser for hill clinton, honor to be here. Thank you very much. Howard berman could not be with us today and Keith Ellison will be joining us later in our proceedings. And so again, i want to thank all of the Committee Members for being a part of this very important committee. Also seated with us are two of the many individuals giving us Staff Support throughout this weekend, Andrew Grossman and patrice taylor. Andrew so the National Platform director and patrice is the director of the dncs office of Party Affairs and delegate selection. The staff has been absolutely wonderful and done a tremendous job. Let me take this moment also to thank debbie washerman schultz for her tremendous leadership. She and i have been talking almost every day to make sure these proceedings are transparent, open and fair. I want to thank her for her tremendous support. Finally, our par men tarn. Hopefully she wont have too much work to do. Helen is the dncs par mel tarn and served in this role for many years and can help us investigate any parliamentary issues that may arrive. Today and tomorrow helen will be serving as our time keeper. And i remind the audience and members that today were going to be hearing from 41, 41 witnesses. So were going to be moving kind of rapid he because we want to hear from everyone. Let me just take a moment, too, to remind us that what we do is so important. The idea that just a year ago today in South Carolina at Emanuel Church nine people were slain while sitting in a church basement. And so we have to really look at our nation and try to figure out how do we address these issues. And we cant just continue to turn our heads away from them. Though we now, the purpose of the hearing today and same as the one last week, its to solicit testimony from individuals and organizations regarding the content of the partys 2016 National Platform. Each speaker has been given three minutes for a formal statement. Following each presentation or at the conclusion of the last panel speaker, time will be allowed for questions from the Committee Members. Now i want to remind the speakers that we have your written testimony and so you dont have to read your testimony. You can just come and give us a summary. Because i think most of the members want to theyll have some questions. Were not going to be able to get to all of the questions but well do the best we can. We have a busy and compact hearing schedule today. Each presentation will be timed and the speakers should adjust their remarks accordingly. Once again ill remind us that the undertaking is a serious business. As democrats we need to keep in mind that the differences we may have are relatively small. While we may be passionate our opinions and beliefs, let us conduct this with respect for each other and for those who are taking time to speak to us. So we will begin today this would be session four. Today we begin the energy and environment part of our presentation, a theme that touches each and every one of us, whether we live in cities, suburbs or communities, all americans want to know Energy Sources that Energy Sources are available and Cost Effective. And the environment is respected and preserved for our children and our childrens children. Someone once said that we do not inherit our environment from our ancesto ancestors, we borrow it from our children. Our first group of speakers will share with us some of the approaches and vehicles needed to make that happen. Our first witness will be madeleine foot, the league of conservation voters. Shes with an organization that work to turn environmental values into national, state and local priorities. During her five years with the lcv ms. Foot worked to draft legislation on mnged chemical policy, reform programs and advocated for clean water change. Welcome. Thank you. Good morning. Is your mike on . I believe so. There we go. It is on. Great. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. Sit an honor for lcv on behalf of our more than 1. 3 million members to inform the committee about our top environmental priorities that we believe should be included in the 2016 Democratic Party platform. These priorities include reducing the pollution that is warming our planet, adapting to a changing climate, ensuring that all communities have access to clean air and water, invest in the clean energy economy, protecting Public Health from toxic chemicals and preserving the special places in wildlife that we hold dear. President obama and his administration have made incredible progress in advancing Environmental Protections, especially on the issue of Climate Change. As we look to the future, we must continue to build on this progress. We have a moral obligation to protect our planet and the Democratic Party should lead the way ensuring that we leave a clean and safe planet for generations to come. The urgent need has never been more clear and the platform should include taking aggressive measure to reduce the pollution fueling Climate Change, including from power plants, the oil and gas sector and cars and trucks. The platform should commend the International Agreement forged in paris and recognize the threats that Climate Crisis poses to communities across the country, especially low income families and those of color. We must also leave most fossil fuels in the ground. We urge the platform to recognize that the management of federal lands and waters should protect our National Heritage whiled a advantages the production and distribution of clean energy. The tragic situation in flint, michigan has demonstrated that we cannot take Safe Drinking Water for granted. Cities across the u. S. Have experienced elevated levels of toxic lead in Drinking Water and those fall on those most vulnerable. Protecting and providing Safe Drinking Water for all communities should be a platform area as well as for funding necessary improvement to ours Drinking Water and wastewater infrastructure. Toxic chemicals have become pervasive in our homes and body a