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Minutes of Meeting on June 12, 2006 at City Hall – Room 416
The meeting was called to order by Commissioner Diana Lau at 5:10 p.m.
I. Roll Call:
Members Present: Commissioners Lau, Alexander, Dajani, Haile, Jones, McCoy, Melara, Ng, Nguyen, and Lee were present.
Members Absent: Commissioners Escobedo, Enssani, Kaff, and Spektor.
Staff Present: Dang Pham, Executive Director
Guest Present: Samara Marion of the Office of Citizen Complaints and Emil DeGuzman of the Human Rights Commission
II. Approval of Minutes: The Commission approved the minutes of February, March and April 2006 meetings.
III. Public Comments:
IV. Presentation:
Ms. Samara Marion of the Office of Citizen Complaints (OCC) indicated that since 1999, OCC has received ten (10) formal language access complaints. In each case individuals complained that because an interpreter or an officer speaking the person’s primary language was not provided, the accuracy of the information the police obtained and the police service rendered were deficient. According to Ms. Marion, the lack of a qualified interpreter resulted in an inaccurate account of the case and also impacted on the resident’s legal rights.
In response to these complaints, the OCC worked with a number of community advocacy groups to craft a comprehensive language access protocol for the San Francisco Police Department. The group met with Chief Fong and senior leadership team in several times to persuade the leadership to agree to the proposed language access protocol.
Ms. Marion also proposed the draft of Resolution for endorsement of the OCC’s proposed Department General Order for the San Francisco Police Department to establish a comprehensive language access protocol for limited English proficient (LEP) persons.
Commissioner Jones made the motion to approve the proposed draft of the Resolution and Commissioner Haile seconded. The Commission unanimously adopted the proposed Resolution of the Language Access Protocol for LEP persons.
Mr. Emil DeGuzman of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission (HRC) provided the update on the draft of the joint Report between the Human Rights Commission (HRC) and the Immigrant Rights Commission (IRC) on Real ID Act. According to Mr. DeGuzman, the Real ID Act makes it harder for people fleeing persecution, torture or beatings to get asylum in the U.S. The Act lets immigration judges deny asylum to victims based on their emotional state. Also, asylum seekers must prove a main reason their persecutors harmed them is because of their nationality, race, religion, political opinion, membership in a particular social group. States have until May 2008 to comply with the driver’s license provisions of the Real ID Act.
Since July is the neighborhood meeting, The Commission will take a formal approval of the draft of the Report on Real ID Act in the August meeting.
V. New restriction on Medi-Cal to citizens & legal residents
Commissioner Haile indicated that based on the Deficit Reduction Act, after February 8, 2006, states couldn’t receive Medicaid funds unless they verify citizenship by checking documents such as passports and birth certifications. The City and County of San Francisco needs to assure that a society is healthy for everyone who lives here. The City must assure that every person, including legal and undocumented immigrants have access to health care.
Commissioner Haile request that the Commission to pass the Resolution to urge the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors to take all necessary steps to see that immigrants of all kinds and citizens are able to get and continue receiving Medicaid (Medi-Cal in California).
Commissioner Melara made the motion to pass the proposed Resolution and Commissioner McCoy seconded. The Commission unanimously adopted the proposed Resolution.
VI. EAS Public Hearing:
The Commissioners made suggestions in improving the outcome of the hearing of the Equal Access to City services (EAS) Ordinance in the future. The following suggestions were made by Commissioners:
- Consider to conduct two separate hearings - one for public and one for the City departments
- More control in timing so everyone has opportunity to speak at the hearing.
VII. Neighborhood meeting:
The Commission decided to hold the July neighborhood meeting at the Visitacion Valley district. The meeting has been scheduled on Monday, July 10th from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM at the Visitacion Community Center located at 66 Raymond Street.
VIII. Director Report:
1. Update on the 2006 EAS Compliance plans:
To this date, the Commission received twelve (12) 2006 compliance plans from the following departments: Election, Controller’s Office, Human Services Agency, Public Health, Public Transportation, District Attorney’s Office, Emergency Communications, Fire Department, Juvenile Probation, Police Department, Public Defender’s Office, Rent Board.
Two (2) City departments did not submit their 2006 compliance plans are: Adult Probation and Sheriff’s Department.
The Commission voted to request staff to draft the non-compliance letters to the two departments so the Program Access Committee can review it and the Commission can approve it.
2. Commission’s Budget Proposal:
The Commission’s budget proposal for the new fiscal year is $110,050. This amount includes the funding for the Outreach and Compliance position and non-personnel cost. The Commission suggested that the salary of the outreach and compliance position should be higher. The classification for this position should be Program Analyst.
3. Cultural Competency Task Force:
The last meeting of the Task Force took place on August 2, 2006 at City Hall. At this meeting, the members of the Task Force approved unanimously the final draft of the Recommendation Report. The Task Force will schedule a meeting with the Mayor to officially present the Report to the Mayor.
4. Second Summit on Immigrant Rights in 2006:
The Mayor’s Office has been supported of the idea to plan for another summit on immigrant rights in San Francisco. The Mayor’s Office has been designated Agnes Briones Ubalde, Executive Director of the San Francisco Small Business Commission as the liaison to the Mayor’s Office in the summit planning process. The Commission needs to vote on this suggestion before we can go to planning steps.
5. Co-sponsor for the town hall meeting in Mission District for the binational same sex couples:
The Commission received the request for co-sponsor of the Town Hall meeting on binational same sex in Mission District on June 15, 2006.
The Commission unanimously approved the co-sponsor request of this meeting.
IX. Committees Report:
The Program and Access Committee will meet on June 28 to discuss of ways to enhance the Equal Access to City Services (EAS) Ordinance.
X. Adjournment:
Commissioner Lau moved and seconded by Commissioner Haile to adjourn the meeting at 6:55 pm.