Ready it start the meeting. Sfgovtv, we are ready to start the meeting. This is a regular meeting of Small BusinessCommission Held monday, may 9, 2016. The meeting called the order at 537 p. M. Tonights meeting is televised live and thanks sfgovtv staff for televising and airing live the commission meeting. The meetings can be viewed on sfgovtv 2, channel 78 or going to sfgovtv. Org. Can you pause a moment, we are not live yet. Sf gov tv. Thank you. Alright. Toonts meeting is televised live thanks to sf gov tv staff for televising and airing live. The meetings can be viewed on sfgovtv 2 or [inaudible] member thofz public please take the opportunity to silence wrour phone squz other electronic devices. Public comment during the meeting is limited to the 3 minute per speak answer unless otherwise established by the officer of the meeting. Speakers are requested but not required to state the names. Speaker card will help [inaudible] deliver speaker cards to commission secretary. There is a sign in sheet at the front table for those like to be added to the mailing list. Please show the slide. Sf gov tv, please show the slide. Where is our start here slide . In lieu of our slide i will just say my little bit. As is our new custom here at the Small Business commission, we beknin each and end each meeting with a reminor the office of Small Business is the only place to start your new business in San Francisco and best place to get answers about doing business in San Francisco. The office of Small Business should be wrour first stop when and have a question about what to do next. This forum is also the official forum for citizens to voice their concerns or issues regarding paultss and prujects that effect the Economic Vitality of Small Businesses in San Francisco so welcome everyone to comment on such items. And just remeaner the services of the office of Small Business are free and available in multiple languages including chinese, spanish, and english. So, if you are in need of assistance with Small Business matters starlt here at the office of Small Business. Thank you. Item 1 rkts call to order and roll call. Commissioner adams, hoor. Dooley, here. Dwight, here. Ortizcartagena is excused. Toursarkissian, here. Irene yee riley. Here. Zoo zouzounis, here; you have quorum, and we will take one item out of order we will do item 2, 3 and then 9 and then well do items following 4the last item. We will just move item 9 to the forfront. And then just to let everybody know, for toonts meeting Public Comment is 3 minutes for items 29 and 2 minute for items 1013. Just remember Public Comment when there is 30 seconds left you will hear a gong and when you hear the last gong we grab the hook and drag you to the side and it isnt because we with ogres it is just that is the rule. Iletm 2, discussion and possible action on 160, 383. Amended the code to prohibit it sale of [inaudible] including packing materials made from poly styrene foam or [inaudible] january 1, 2017 and affirming the planning deparnlt determination under the California Environmental quality act. Discussion and possible action item. The presentsers are connor johnson, aid supervisor breed and Guillermo Rodriguez. I will read a brief statement and happy to take questions you may have on the len legislation. 3 days before we celebrated the 47th day president breed introduced [inaudible] after months och work with department oof environment she introduced the ordinance to ban the sale of poly styrene packing materials including the packing peanuts, cooler squz ice chests, pool and beach toys and dock float, buoys and other marine products. The legislation also bans the use oof stirophone packing materials for items package within San Francisco. We are a city prized for the Natural Beauty surrounding by water on 3 sides. We have a moral recollect Public Health and financial responsibility to protect from pollutant like poly tirene foam. It cant be recycled through the blue bin and never decomposes and litter on the sleets, parks and Public Places are where are a stop from the bay or ocean. Plastic pollution continues to worsen. It breaks into smaller non biodegradable pieces. Poly styrene contains a chemical called styrene metabolized after ingestion and threatens to food chain including humans who heat contaminated wild life. According to to u. S. Flood and Drug Administration it leeches into food and drink. The science is clear, this is a environmental and Public Health pollutant z have to reduce the use. More than 100 u. S. Cities have ordinances restricting poly styrene and many local businesses and National Corporations have successfully replaced poly styrene. We in San Francisco prohibited service food in poly styrene in 2007. Thanks to a [inaudible] through the work of dethe department of environment staff that has all must one00 percent compliance rate. What supervisor breeds legislation proposes is the next step. Supervisor peskins law addressed the public impacts. Now we are [inaudible] this is overdue. Other jurisdictions like seattle and palo alto passed this. With that in mind our office put together the toughest antipoly styrene law in the country including new use that have not been regulated. We replace productwise repsychoable ones and there are amyl on the market, continue the work towards zireo waste and protect the Public Health and Natural Beauty. On behalf of president breed i want to thank russell long of sustainable San Francisco who is here today. Clean water action. Jack [inaudible] Guillermo Rodriguez of department of environment and Guillermo Rodriguez is here. The San Francisco chamber of commerce was helpful convening businesses and help improve the legislation, your executive director regina who is my prezsiser. The california grocer association, wall greens, the postal chase and all the companies that helped refine the legislation and legendary City Attorney tom owen. This legislation sh carefully crafted to help businesses comply kw and accommodate. We provided a waver condition for those cases where there is no feasible alternative to poly styrene. The department of environment drafted a waver for pharmacy squz Drug Companies who ship medications. We wirk with grogess. Goods or foods outside the city are not subject for the ban and nat isnt lack of will but lack of legal authority. Reusing the materials is still allowed and donating poly styrene and usesing those materials is still allowed as well. The engoal is clear, stop the environmental and Public Health harm. Poly styrene packaging is used for maybe a week or two and sometimes less than that and we toss the item and it lasts for another few00 thousand years in the land fill or in the bay or ocean. The sitee committed to zero waste over a decade ago and the only wie we can achieve it is confront products like this. Poly sty rene doesnt biodegrade and isnt recycleable and it is a pollute squnt there are better option mpt for our environment and Public Health and behalf of president breed and many environmental groups i ask for your support and happy to answer questions. Thank you very much. Commissioner adams. I know you did a lot of outreach, have you talked to people such as [inaudible] postal chase and fed exto insure there are not unique situations they may come up as far as packaging are concerned . The owner of the postal chase was present at loos one meeting and provided input. I cant remember if [inaudible] coordinateed that or the chamber. We try today accommodate the needs of those business. One reason you see the language to reause or donate package. Thank you. Commissioner dooley have you contacted the flural industry . We am a flurest and we have uses at least at this time cannot be replaced so wonder if a exemption can be carved out. We have and to be candid we are not entirely sure of the use your industry employ constitute packing materials. It is the nature the display or flower arrange. Ment. There is flexibility in the sense the department of environment can issue a waver to a individual business or entire use case but also we set the date of january 1, 2017 so there is time for those specific cases to be worked on. Thank you for your preezen sentation. I have a question. For a merchant who gets poly styrene packaged products, does the business have sth the obligation to repackage . No, i can point to the specific language if you like. That would be 1604 f i believe addresses this. If the prepared food is packaged outside the city and sold or provided to the the consumer in the same packaging in which it was originally packaged that will be not subject to this prohibition. That is the same would hold true for a television. Is there any effort communicate with neighboring cities and other legislatures to kind of come up with a uniform approach and avoid the fragmentation . Within california . Yes russell long can probably speaker better to that than me. One the Important RoleSan Francisco plays in environmental policy in california is be at the forfront and think we doing that with clean power and drug take back legislation and that will spur state wide action in sacramento. That is our hope. Commissioner yee, riley. My question is if the business had already [microphone not working] can they use it until it is gone or do they have to get rid of it right away . That came up in the course of our tracking the legislation. That is one the primary reason we set the date as january 1, 2017 to give 6 months if not more time for that to be sold off and think Guillermo Rodriguez can speak to this better than i can. They try to be accommodated with businesses that have existing stock and not be punitive and more educational and supportive. Guillermo rodriguez can speak to that. Thank you for the presentation. A couple questions. So, i do remember when this was first implemented and my familys business we transferred to compostable spoon squz forks and all that and it was a 4 or 5 times original cost so context how this is felt on a Small Business. So we should consider the cost that that will be happening if there are plans for offsetting or compensating folks we need to look that expenses. For comcoast and recycling fees that are continually rising, im curious if that is something you have thought about as perhaps compost might increase for some businesses or recycling with new materials and also just doing the numbers how much we pay for that a year and it is pretty sizely. So, those were two comments, questions i wanted to ask and see if you had discussion with those type of expenses going up. For the violation, was curious how you will regulate that if there will be sting operations or just check ins or warnings sent without communication or just what the apperates was for that. Congratulations by the way on your appointment. It has been a few months. Well earned i remember working with you before you were a commissioner. Let me take those in reverse. As i said to your fellow commissioner the department orphenvironment try tooz be collaborative and avoid as punitive as possible. They have a track record, they established a precedent with the 2006 legislation work wg businesses rather than aagainst them and have been able to achieve that near 100 percent of compliance because of success work wg businesses. Ill let him address that in more detail. With respect to disposal cost, the main driver is black bin and reducing in the black bin. If there is impact with disposal cost i think it will be a net reduction because we take material out of the black stream. The other interesting thing about poly styrene is it massive and mostly air. To the extent we reduce the volume from the black bin we have net reduction on disposal cost. With respect to the cost of the materials, there is a downward trends in that regard as this industry matureed. Russell long and Guillermo Rodriguez can speak in greater detail than me. I worked in bio plastic so know about it and things were evolving quickly and new products were coming on the market and prices going down. This is a exciting industry and see a lut of competitive products that can perform the same service at competitive prices now. I have a follow up question about section 1606 about implementation talks about exemption. Just question of process so the viewers can understand, what is the exemption process . How do you seek exemption . Is there is a process in place . I was reading and just for clarification. It is designed to be i think careful in the sense the department wants to be very judicious about who they issue exemptions to and why and also responsive. The determination is madethality a exemption is needed the department can move relatively quickly. We saw that as a example in the departments ability to draft a waver for cold medical shipping which they have done in parallel to the introduction the legislation. For the process i would differ to pl rodriguez. Lets make it as judicious as possible. You have gross income less than 500 thousand and it sets forth the requirements, correct . That is if you pursue a particular type of waver for financial hardship. An industry that would be effected would seek a waver, is that what you are saying . Correct. You say you havent exhausted [inaudible] thatheremay be other businesses that would be effected and follow this process . It is possible and why we wanted the flexibility in the legislation. Any other comments . I encourage there to be a application for exemption so it isnt a mystery. You should have a notice or application for exemption for anyone in the future. Not only someone that requires exemption and not heard about this but also anticipating there things in the future that may require a exemption. The other is perhaps a application for depletion permit of some type if someone has a large store of material thal want to get rid of it, it is better if you apply in advance rather than waiting around and i have a birch of stuff i like per mission to do it proactively. The only way to get proaction is make it available by way of having a form or application for such things. Both depletion permit and a application for a waver. The other thing is, is there a list of exemptions or buried in the legislation . Is there a appendix that lists the current exemptions . Which exemptions . Exemption tooz the law. The twhai law is set up are things that are banned and in certain sections there are donating material and reusing donating material so those reside in 1605 d you have to go through the provisions to find the exemptions it is structured so food service wear [inaudible] 1605 lists most of the products mostly enumerated i want to clarify there wasnt a appendix missing. Interesting Apple Computer went through a period getting rid of stiprophone and reintroduced it. To eliminate and reinstitute it i remembered when it happened and thought that was weird so maybe we can go to the south and try to get them to eliminate stirophone. I think the goals are lotable so unless there are comments here and guillermo. Guillermo Rodriguez Department of environment. Happy to be here on this item and next. From department of environment perspective in response to questions raised in thetholful discussion here, approach to zero waste is looking what is left in the black bin and when we look at problem products how do get them out of the system. This ordinance is a good outhgrowth to the 2006, 07 ordinance where we banned poly styrene from food service products. We are talking about 5,000 business in San Francisco that work with the city and the method of enforcement since our department was in charge of that was working with businesses. Our goal is try to change hearts and minds and behavior and find work wg businesses all want to do the right thing and a lot may require time and education and linkages and that is our approach to look at enforcement. Coner mentioned the department indicated a categorical exemption for medical equipment that is shipped and maintained at a certain temperature. We looked at alternatives and there are not a lot yet but will work with the industry to find alternatives. A lot of discussion and thanks to the leadership of president breed and coner have brought together businesses from all type squz answered questions being educated and providing businesses with new information. A lot of the material that would be compliant under this ordinance, they costs are very compareable to current cost of poly styrene foamsy 7 years ago that may have been different than today but there are a lot more alternatives. We think it is the right step and our approach to the whole process will be one of education, providing time to businesses to comply. We wont do sting operations, that is not what we are designed to do. We rely on the public to inform us if they feel that a business may not be complying so we work with that business to try to find information out, try to resolve things before you get into formality and that is our goal. With respect of being clear about the waver process, well take that back and bring that to our staff wile who will manage the process. Thank you very much. Alright, at this point well call for Public Comment. Any members of the public that would like to comment on this item . I will call mr. Henry [inaudible] first who filled out a speaker card. If you would like it speak well call those who submit