Select Committee on Federal Administration and Policy Changes 3/6/2025

Good afternoon.

The Select Committee on Federal Administration and Policy Changes will come to order.

It is 2.06 PM, March 6th, 2025. I'm Alexis Mercedes Rink, chair of the committee.

Will the committee clerk please call the roll and let the record reflect that council member Saka is excused and council member Solomon will be joining in the meeting later.

Council Member Hollingsworth.

Present.

Council Member Kettle.

Here.

Vice Chair Moore.

Present.

Council Member Nelson.

Present.

Council Member Rivera.

Council Member Strauss.

Present.

Chair Rink.

Present.

Chair, there are six members present.

Wonderful, thank you.

If there is no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

Welcome everyone to the first meeting of the Select Committee on Federal Administration and Policy Changes.

Before we move into business, I want to acknowledge again, Council Member Solomon will be joining us later in the meeting.

And additionally, I want to note between the first and second panel as a part of today's presentation, Council Member Strauss will be presenting a sign-on letter in support of our federal workers.

Thank you, Council Member, for leading this at a time when workers who provide our communities with essential services need to hear clearly that we have their back.

And finally, we have an incredibly full agenda today.

I want to be very mindful of our presenters and ensure we end as close to on time as possible, so I will ask my colleagues to save questions until the end of each roundtable and panel discussion.

And to our presenters, thank you.

Thank you for joining Council today for this critical discussion.

I know how precious your time is during normal circumstances, and I think we are well aware that our current situation is not normal.

And I also want to acknowledge all the preparation work done by everyone to ensure today runs smoothly and timely.

And while we have limited time in council chambers today, please rest assured this is not our final conversation on anything discussed over the next few hours.

And to my colleagues in taking on these local leadership positions, we all have our civic responsibility and public duty to the people of Seattle to listen and act accordingly during times like these.

And I thank you all for being up here with me to hear directly from our community on how they are being impacted by the cruel actions of our current national leadership.

And to our neighbors that call this city home, while I do not intend to stoke fear or play into political theater, our community is being threatened daily.

And local government is one of the last lines of defense.

And the city of Seattle has a history of loudly fighting for our rights and values during tumultuous times.

And city council has played a role to lessen pain whenever possible.

Back in 2017, they passed a proclamation on immigrant healthcare and recognized the importance of comprehensive healthcare, including reproductive healthcare.

And in 2022, in a post-World city council passed six pieces of legislation to safeguard and protect abortion access.

And I hope to work with our current council to continue to fight during such a critical point in American history.

And while I really don't want to, nor do we have the time to entirely rehash all of the daily actions by the current federal administration, I do want to highlight several local impacts and reports that have caught our attention.

And these include, but are not limited to, the ongoing demoralization of our federal workforce across Region 10, which includes Washington State, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska.

So far in Region 10 alone, 150 positions in the Department of Housing and Urban Development and nearly 900 positions at the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, including the National Marine Fisheries Service, have been or are in the process of being eliminated.

The possible sale of the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building and Seattle Federal Office Building in downtown.

The 1202 Building and the Federal Center South Building, which house the local offices of federal agencies, including the U.S.

Army Corps of Engineers, the Internal Revenue Service, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the United States Senate after being deemed not core to government operations.

And then there are the numerous local community-based organizations who have been reaching out to my office.

flagging that their federal grants, loans, or contracts are being frozen.

And this includes Enterprise Community Partners, who we learned last week from HUD officials, there is intent to likely terminate Section 4 Nonprofit Capacity Grant Building Programs.

This will impact our housing services and system.

Just earlier this week, Councilmember Moore also flagging organizations within her district, losing federal grant money, which leads to providing diapers for young families in need.

And finally, while we are waiting to see the fiscal impact of newly implemented tariffs and the retaliatory trade wars that are likely to follow the impacts on our city, port, and businesses of all sizes, and the people who live here, we know that things will become more expensive in our community, and this will impact our ability to build housing of all kinds.

All of this, along with topics from energy and utilities, food and nutrition access, transportation, disaster and emergency management, will be explored in this committee in the coming weeks and months.

And I look forward to working with my colleagues on this council to address these widely varying issues and supporting legislation to protect Seattle.

And moving into today's business, we will have two panels, the first on LGBTQ and reproductive rights issues, and the second on immigration and labor rights issues.

Again, thank you to our panelists.

These topics were chosen as this committee's first meeting because individual civil liberties and human rights are under a direct and daily assault.

Earlier this week in a joint address to Congress, we repeatedly heard anti-trans and anti-immigrant rhetoric met with cheers from some of the most powerful people in our nation for over 90 minutes.

And just yesterday, we watched a Republican-led House Oversight Committee attempt to berate mayors for six hours for upholding their own local and state laws and providing human services to undocumented immigrants, including those seeking asylum.

And we cannot sit idly by as local leaders and do nothing.

In addition to today's discussions, my office will be working with community groups on a variety of legislative efforts, including enhancing protections for reproductive and gender-affirming health care and helping city employees and community members better understand rights related to immigration status.

The people of this city deserve leaders who will fight unapologetically for our values and way of life.

And on that note, we will now open up the hybrid public comment period.

Public comments should relate to today's agenda items or within the purview of this committee.

Clerk, how many speakers are signed up for today?

Currently, we have one in-person speaker signed up and there are three remote speakers.

Wonderful.

Each speaker will have two minutes.

We will start with in-person speakers first.

Clerk, can you please read the public comment instructions?

The public comment period will be moderated in the following manner.

The public comment period is up to 30 minutes.

Speakers will be called in the order in which they registered.

Speakers will alternate between sets in-person remote speakers until the public comment period is ended.

Speakers will hear a chime when 10 seconds are left of their time.

Speakers mics will be muted if they do not end their comments within the allotted time to allow for us to call on the next speaker.

The public comment period is now open and we will...

Thank you, clerk.

The first in-person speaker is Andrew Ashiofu.

Thank you, sir.

Okay.

Thanks for this opportunity.

I am here as a queer child of an immigrant, and I grew up in Nigeria.

I have physical and body scars, emotional scars from being gay.

in a space where government did not care about me.

Over the last few weeks, I have seen the federal government strip identities like mine from my race through DEI attacks to my sexual orientation.

And Seattle has been my home for nearly 10 years.

It's been my sanctuary.

It's been my safe space.

It's been where I can be who I am when I leave my apartment, when I walk the streets, when I'm in the train, when I'm in public.

I really want the City Council to not just listen, but please act and be the last barrier for many.

We are at an era where we are in the Underground Railroad 2.0.

We are going to see people move to Seattle for gender affirming care.

to be able to hold hands and love who they want to love.

So I do ask that as we listen to this presentation from both the immigrants and the LGBTQ plus and productive health, the city council takes that into account and pass legislative bills that protect and secure safety, physical, emotional, verbal, and in every way make Seattle the sanctuary city it's meant to be.

Thank you.

Thank you, Andrew.

Our next public commenter will be Rye Armstrong.

It's a little low.

Maybe I can do this one?

Great.

Hi, council members.

Thank you for having us here today and taking up this space.

It's super important.

I think we saw this week an amazing mayor, Michelle Wu from Boston, step up and in that congressional hearing fight back.

I think my main concern is in the ordinance if the language will be a welcoming city or a sanctuary city and what that means for are immigrant friends and neighbors who are also being attacked by ICE.

As a trans non-binary person, we saw in the 90s people fled to Seattle to decently die during the AIDS epidemic.

city has been a home to queer people for a very long time.

I think even the Seattle Times published that we have the highest percentage of same-sex couples in most other regions.

So my ask to you today is not simply put your words into writing and let them sit there, but let them fuel you from the inside as elected officials of this city, of this region, to set a precedent following Tacoma, Olympia, and others.

We're seeing trans kids get attacked in Tumwater in terms of where ordinances are passing.

So I really look to each one of you, Councilmember Nelson, Kettle, Moore, Strauss, Rink, to step up.

Joy, I saw you on the Zoom.

Everyone here in our society and in the LGBTQIA plus community are relying on you.

So thank you for taking this up.

Thanks.

Thank you, Rye.

And moving to virtual commenters.

Let's see, remote commenters, pardon me.

The first remote speaker is...

Roberto Alvarez, please press star six when you hear the prompt.

You have been unmuted.

And you can go ahead.

Hello.

Okay.

Hello.

Full credit and a thank you to each presentation on the docket today.

I want to highlight some of their strongest notes and calls to action.

First, the city council has unintentionally supported policies that harm trans and non-binary communities by expanding tunitive law and order measures.

These policies mirror the administration's regressive approach to criminalize homelessness, poverty, sex work, and drug use, deepening fear and discrimination.

Also, establish a reproductive health equity fund to support communities with the highest barriers to reproductive care.

Audit the city's contract to ensure public funding is not spent on institutions that restrict policies on abortion.

Finally, invest in a welcoming immigrant inclusion program and workforce development, as well as immigrant protections, such as Know Your Rights and Trainings.

Never underestimate that diversity is our strength Thank you, and have a good day.

Thank you, Alberto.

Our next remote speaker is Ashley Ford.

Ashley, please press six when you hear the prompt.

You have been unmuted.

Hi, everyone.

My name is Ashley Ford.

I serve as one of the three volunteer co-chairs for the Seattle LGBTQ Commission.

On behalf of the commission, I would really like to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who's in attendance today.

We especially want to thank Councilmember Rank for really hitting the ground running so soon after being elected and being a champion for us LGBTQ issues and for creating the space today for LGBTQ voices to be heard.

In the past few months, we've seen cruel, misinformed and targeted attacks on the queer community with a particular razor sharp focus on trans and gender nonconforming folks.

Even in Seattle, we've not been immune to these attacks you've heard today.

um seeing many local institutions who are scared of losing their funding taking actions they're already causing direct harm to our community so thank thank you to those of you sitting on this committee those of you who are taking time out of your busy schedules to be here we see you and we're committed to keeping to keeping these conversations going we want to invite everyone here today including those of you on council to our next public lgbtq commission meeting happening two weeks from today on thursday march 20th from 6 30 to 8 30 p.m There's space for public comment, but you don't have to comment to attend.

These meetings happen in person and virtually, so they're very accessible.

You can go to seattle.gov slash LGBTQ to learn more.

Lastly, we'd like to thank the presenters speaking today on behalf of LGBTQ issues who are here today.

We truly can't show enough appreciation for your tireless advocacy, visibility, and efforts during this time of uncertainty.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ashley.

Our last remote speaker is David Haynes.

David, please press star six when you hear the prompt.

You have been unmuted.

Drama.

Nothing but drama.

This committee should change its name to the Committee of Voting Blocks for Progressive Democrats that caused Trump to get elected with a mandate to purge the deviant, racist, scorned experiences dumping their trauma onto everyone else while conspiring to pervert children like pedophile grooming policies and priorities and misinterpretations of reproductive health.

While exemptions for jail for crimes against humanity, it seems to be the extent of the Democrat Party's platform in the Pacific Northwest, using tax dollars to buy off activists.

Maybe we need the Department of Justice to finally investigate the smorgasbord of Seattle government agencies policies and priorities that are a threat.

to innocent children and community.

And maybe some of you all need to get mental health for your trauma that you were victimized by a long time ago, but now you want to dump on other people and fill in the blanks, blaming the wrong people while nonprofits that are politically involved in electing progressive Democrats are showing up, bypassing the need to campaign and just bring their Democrat party operatives to the dais and start paying them off.

while the economy is tanking with debt caused by treasonous, unconstitutional, bottom-of-the-barrel policies that all these devil's advocates conspire.

You all have already done serious damage in trading the integrity of oversight with tax money, trying to solve the homeless crisis that creates your re-election apparatus.

You all need to be investigated if you bring up any money for these organizations, especially One America, who actually funnels money to the person who started it, a foreign-born scorned racist, who does a disservice to this Pacific Northwest.

It should be kicked out.

And that concludes our remote speakers.

We have one final in-person speaker, Naomi C.

Well, that was terrible and also a great reason that we need to have this committee.

I think of anything that's highlighted it.

So I just want to thank, first of all, Council Member Rank for putting this together.

I work in affordable housing.

I'm a queer woman who loves living and working in the city.

And I'll tell you what, having this place to come and your office has been such a resource to talk through some of the impacts on our developers, on our nonprofits, and just the level of confusion and fear we feel.

is so affirming.

So thank you for doing that.

And also Council Member Moore, we love you too.

Thank you so much for all of your work in the housing space.

But I just want to highlight again and just thank you for doing this and thank you for creating a space for us all to come and be able to process horrible, scary stuff like that and really do something about it.

So I appreciate it.

Thank you, there are no additional registered speakers and we'll now proceed to our items of business.

Let's see, we will now move on to our first item of business.

Will the clerk please read item one into the record?

Item one, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer and reproductive rights issues for briefing and discussion.

At this time I'll invite our presenters for today to please join us at the table.

And as you all are getting settled in, thank you again for being here.

And if you could each take a moment to please introduce yourself by stating your full name, organization, into the microphone for the record.

Thank you.

Is this on?

Oh.

Hi, I'm Courtney Normand.

I use she, her pronouns.

I'm Washington State Director for Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates.

I'm Sammy Alloy, she, her pronouns.

I'm the interim executive director of Pro-Choice Washington.

I'm Jalen Scott, she, her pronouns.

I'm the executive director of Lavender Rights Project.

Nicole Quintana, lead attorney with Lavender Rights Project.

And I am Taylor Farley at Queer Power Alliance.

I use they, them pronouns.

Thank you.

Wonderful.

Thank you all.

Colleagues, just as a reminder, we're going to receive all the presentations together.

And so I'll kindly ask for you to hold your questions until we've completed all the presentations for today.

And I believe Lavender Rights Project is kicking us off.

Sure.

Thank you so much for the invitation.

It's so great to be with you today.

LRP, Laverne Rights Project, was founded in 2016. Right here in Seattle, we are one of the largest black trans-led organizations in the country.

headquarters right down the street.

We focus on policy housing service and impact litigation, fighting for solutions for the entire black community in particular.

We're currently at 12 national roundtables fighting for solutions to fight back against Project 2025. Though Seattle is far from safe and a sanctuary for our people, yet it is far ahead of many places, and it says a lot that our organization exists here.

Trans people are not a single-issue people.

Really thinking about Audre Lorde's quote, I know we hear it all the time, there is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.

And let's ground ourselves in the fact that the people who are most impacted by these executive orders and the work of the extreme right in this country are very Black, very Latine.

They exist in the South, the Black Belt, where most of our people live, especially Black trans people, especially Latino trans folk, and especially Native trans people.

Those folks will be the ones coming here seeking care and relief in Seattle.

This new Lavender Scare really hits all of us differently.

It targets us directly as black and brown trans people.

I want to touch real quickly on intersectionality.

It's not just a synonym for diversity.

It's looking at misogynoir, that's misogyny against black women, and anti-blackness, and using it as a strategy to understand how we come to solutions for our entire community.

And...

When looking at the executive orders, the ban on TRICARE for youth and likely for adults in the future, the military ban, which possibly impacts DOD employees, one of the largest employers of trans and queer people of color, the criminalization of our organizations, ban on gender-affirming care, HHS rules for the unhoused, and other criminalizing measures across the country, they threaten us.

They threaten the community that we work with.

What color are the trans people who will be detained first, who will lose housing first, who will not be able to take advantage of the shield laws that I know the city is considering and the state of Washington has passed?

One of my community members asked me to say this when I got here.

We want our hormones, yes, but we also don't want to go to jail and be profiled as a sex worker just for existing as a trans person on the street.

This is all being made much worse by the tough on crime and tough on homelessness narrative that's being driven by the extreme right, but that's making moves in our progressive circles.

There's real concern over crime.

We have lost members, even in Capitol Hill, down the street from our office.

Yes, to some extent, this narrative is rooted in a bit of truth, but it is intended to push forward an extreme right agenda.

Our businesses are struggling.

Our folks are being killed.

That's real.

But the solution is not to unwittingly be complicit in the rise of over-surveillance and criminalization that will further the aims of Project 2025. We're grateful to the Shield Law for the gender-affirming care bill for I-2081 fix that's happening in the state and the solutions being considered in the city.

But we need to be asking the question of how are the Shield Laws protecting the wealthy over the poor?

How is ensuring gender-affirming care access not addressing the growing disparity of gender-affirming care in our communities?

And how are the fixes to things like 2081 and the adoption of Seattle protections protecting trans folks of color not addressing the ongoing crisis of criminalization and health care disparity within our community.

50% of transgender people experience some mistreatment in the healthcare system seeking gender-affirming care, 68% trans folks of color.

67% of transgender and nonbinary young people have depression, have experience of depression, 71% black trans folk.

46% of trans and nonbinary young people considered attempting suicide, 59%.

Given this current crisis and that the science is showing that the disparities, depression, suicidality of our youth is increasing, imagine what that is doing to black community.

An increase from 71% is catastrophic.

Please, as we continue these conversations, and I hope this is the beginning, that we remember it's the black belt trans folk, the folks who live in the black belt who's going to be coming here needing help.

that we're currently at risk of criminalization.

31% of us in the last five years have been incarcerated.

And that state control over our bodies puts us at greater risk by this federal administration.

Thank you.

Thank you, Jaylen.

Hi again, Ikal Quintana, and I'm the lead attorney with Lavender Rights Project.

So in a time of the administration, the Trump administration is seeking to roll back trends, legal rights, history, criminalizing our community, we really need our city council to be centering our communities more than ever.

So thank you for having this conversation with us today.

As a trans-Indigenous attorney who works for Lavender Rice Project and also a former public defender, I am seeing the extreme harmful impact firsthand that the administration is having on our communities, but I've also been seeing it for a very long time.

So the harm that is happening to our communities includes everything that Ms. Jalen Scott mentioned.

And it also includes issues like poverty and homelessness, houselessness, lack of access to services that have been going on for decades.

And so what I'd like to talk about today is we're not trying to point fingers here in the sense of We understand that there are real problems, and we need real solutions to issues such as houselessness, drug addiction, criminalization, and what we need is nuanced and complex solutions.

not the solutions that are easy.

And that's why we're here today to have those conversations so we can hopefully get on the same page.

I'm not here trying to blame anyone for trying to have actions to make our community safer.

However, as a trans attorney that has been in community and out for, oh, since 1997, I have been to a vigil every year of my life since I was 13 years old.

And I can tell you that the solutions are not easy.

They're hard.

And they include systemic solutions for poverty, for houselessness, homelessness, drug addiction, mental health challenges.

And we have those tools.

We can use them together.

And I'm just asking you all, especially in this time, to consider that because another anecdotal statistic may or may not be true is that BIPOC trans people, especially trans women of color, have a life expectancy of 35 years.

I don't know how much longer many of us will be here at this table.

So what I'm saying is we need solutions that can not have regressive policies.

We need solutions that can not include sweeps of homelessness, not include soap soda, and again, not pointing fingers, but those are not going to help us from being murdered.

And this is gonna be a trigger warning, but two blocks from our office, a young trans non-binary person was murdered just a month ago.

And then six months ago, a young trans person was murdered two blocks away as well.

Again, I've attended a vigil every year of my life, sometimes as many as five.

And what's going to help is complex solutions, centering community, centering anti-poverty work, centering treatment, centering services.

Thank you.

Hi, again, I'm Courtney Norman from Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates, which is a 501 organization representing the four different Planned Parenthood healthcare entities across Washington state and in five other states.

I really, really appreciate getting to go after Lavender Rights Project and just really honor the work that you all do.

I appreciate you very, very much.

What I hope to share today is more of an update for you from a healthcare provider perspective about the anticipated and be unfolding attacks that we are seeing from the Trump administration.

And my good friend Sammy from Pro-Choice Washington can also, can kind of round things out with what we think the city of Seattle can do about these problems.

I really hope we can explore how it's not just our rights that we need to be embracing and focusing on, but access.

Because what do those rights mean if we don't have safe communities and we don't have access to the healthcare we need?

So there are six core anticipated threats that we feel are most imminent from the Trump administration when it comes to reproductive health and sexual health.

The first one is attacks through the Title X family planning program.

It's kind of a rerun of what we expect, of what we saw from the first Trump administration.

there was a defund gag rule of Title 10, which is our nation's family planning program.

And at that time, the effort was to change the rules so that abortion could not be discussed, provided, referred for.

If you were an abortion provider, you could not be part of the nation's family planning program.

As you may recall, Washington was one of many states that simply exited the Title X program and was able to backfill the funds that the federal government was no longer providing.

The second threat is truly existential to an organization like Planned Parenthood, which would be to exclude our organization from Medicaid funding, barring patients from being able to take their Medicaid coverage to a provider simply because we offer abortion care.

A reminder that no federal funds are spent on abortion care.

It's simply our existence as an abortion provider that would exclude us from the program overall.

This could be done through rulemaking, by interpreting Medicaid statute in a way that disqualifies providers, or it could also be the possibility of broader congressional action, like the Protecting Life and Taxpayers Act, which would make it illegal for any federally funded entity to provide abortion care, except in very limited cases.

And for just getting a sense of it, about 40% of all Planned Parenthood patients are Medicaid patients.

So it is an existential threat to our ability to be safety net healthcare providers at all in Washington and across the country.

The 340 drug program is a little more nerdy and wonky, and most folks might not have heard of that before.

But it's a really important program that makes it so that nonprofit health care providers can access drugs at a discounted price and be able to make that more accessible to our patients.

Project 2025 has laid that out as one of their blueprint ideas of a way to, again, strip access to reproductive healthcare, not only through the Title X program, but also through the CDC's sexually transmitted disease prevention program.

A fourth threat, if you're keeping count with me, is already unfolding, banning federal Medicaid coverage of gender-affirming care.

And we are very proud gender-affirming care providers will continue to offer this care no matter what and will not proactively consent to what we're seeing happen at the federal level, but just want to make you aware that, again, patients on Medicaid could be barred from accessing care with us, which I think really helps to underscore the threat that Jalen was talking about, about disparities in access according to your wealth or income.

Of course, I think people thought about this a lot during the election.

A national abortion ban is a very real threat.

Some folks may think we're safe here in Washington, but since the Dobbs decision, that's no longer the case.

We have lost our federal right to abortion care.

And so we do believe that the Trump administration could try to enact an abortion ban in a number of ways.

One first and most straightforward would be Congress passing and President-elect Trump signing a federal abortion ban.

They will probably just call it restrictions, but make no mistake, it'll be a ban.

And a second attempt would be through interpreting a very old 1800s law, the Comstock Act, to make it illegal to transmit supplies or transport materials and medications and so on across state borders to be able to offer abortion care.

Speaking of medication abortion, the last attack, as you saw in recent years, access to medication abortion will also be targeted by weaponizing the FDA.

And Project 2025 really calls for the overall revocation of the drug, but could also just try to revert back to earlier restrictions from like 2016. So I'll turn it over to Sammy.

Thank you so much for...

So that's coming from the federal level.

Thank you so much, counselors and colleagues for being here today and convening this important conversation.

I work with ProChoice Washington.

We're an independent advocacy organization powered by the voices of 26,000 members to work to protect and expand the full range of reproductive options, abortion care and gender affirming care through advocacy and organizing for Washingtonians and the people who travel to our state to receive that care.

And since President Trump has taken office, we've heard from countless patients, parents, and providers who are feeling fear, uncertainty, and powerlessness around the future of access to these essential services.

And as an example, Trump's executive orders in the first month in office have already sown chaos and caused immediate harm to community members, like when, on January 28th, President Trump issued an executive order ordering health care providers to cease providing gender-affirming care for youth age 19 and under or risk losing the federal funding and Medicare, Medicaid participation eligibility that my colleague Courtney mentioned.

In response, Seattle Children's Hospital immediately canceled all existing gender-affirming care appointments for youth and notified non-medical clinic staff of upcoming layoffs.

Attorney General Nick Brown very quickly sued for a temporary restraining order against the executive order and was granted later that week by a federal judge.

But for many community members, the immediate harm had already been done.

Members of an online Seattle Parents of Trans Kids group reported that their children's upcoming appointments had disappeared off of the patient portal with little to no information or communication from their providers.

causing panic and confusion.

As Jaylin mentioned, many trans youth already experience negative mental health outcomes because of anti-trans bigotry and gender dysphoria and rely on gender-affirming care as essential and life-saving care.

I heard from at least two families that reported being seriously worried about their suicidality in that week.

So this strategy of threatening institutions with loss of federal funding and gutting existing federal programs has already been used to target the trans community, those perceived to have benefited from DEI programs, immigrants, and many others.

And we expect that these same tactics will be used very shortly to dismantle access to abortion care and shutter reproductive health clinics.

No matter how protective our state's laws are, if providers are unable to function, access to care will vanish.

So gender-affirming care and abortion care, as I mentioned, are essential life-saving care, and when access to care is destabilized by these unlawful actions by the federal administration, our communities experience that immediate harm and consequence.

And this harm is only magnified for immigrant, refugee, asylum seekers, low-income individuals, and communities of color for the reasons that my colleagues mentioned.

We hear a lot about the looming threat of a national ban, and that certainly is a very plausible and well-founded fear and threat.

But for now, Washington remains one of the most protective states in the nation for abortion and gender-affirming care patients and providers.

But our providers are stretched very thin.

Low Medicaid reimbursement rates and lack of funding and an increase in patients traveling to our communities for care have put an impossible burden on our providers and our clinics.

So they need a robust investment of public funding to sustain operations and sustain the shocks to our system caused by the Trump administration.

So what can the city of Seattle do to help?

We need to immediately find creative funding solutions to backfill the losses of federal funding.

And a couple of ways that that could happen would be by implementing a reproductive health equity fund, similar to what the state of Oregon has, which disperses funds to culturally appropriate BIPOC-led community-based care providers.

We need to implement a robust public health information campaign that includes in-language and culturally responsive, non-stigmatizing and medically accurate information on how to access care and know your rights in Washington, and to counter disinformation targeted at immigrant communities in particular, and to help patients avoid anti-abortion fake clinics, otherwise known as crisis pregnancy centers.

Some examples of some great public health resources that already exist are the DOH's Abortion Access Hub and Pro-Choice Washington's Abortion Access Guide, which I pictured on my slide there.

Another funding option is to audit the funds that our city spends on contracts and tax breaks to ensure that no public dollars are going to health systems that have discriminatory restrictions on care like gender-affirming care and abortion because of their parent company's policies.

and to redirect those dollars to local community-based clinics that provide all the care that our community members seek.

And then in terms of legal protections for our patients and providers, we advocate for fully implementing and collaborating with our state attorney general on Washington's state shield law.

We have one of the strongest state shield laws in the nation, and our guidance is that that consistently implementing our statewide law across cities is the best protection for patients.

Many of the care providers that Seattle patients use are outside of the city of Seattle, like the Cedar River Renton Clinic.

So as much as I think a city shield law is a laudable effort, I think that state attorneys general in this Trump administration and the last one have proven to be one of our strongest bulwarks against the Trump administration.

And I want to make sure that we're consistently collaborating with our attorney general to implement that law and protect our patients.

And then also aligning with our shield law means using the best data privacy practices including curtailing surveillance of Seattle residents and using automatic license plate recognition software and selling that data out of state.

And to make sure that we're training law enforcement and city agencies to consistently implement our shield law and not profile vulnerable community members.

And lastly, we can ensure that our city's civil rights language is fully updated so that we can point to our local municipal laws to defend those laws when the whims of the federal administration cause instability for our communities.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you, panel, for saying so many amazing things.

And thank you for your patience in listening and paying attention.

And it's a lot of information because our communities are at risk at this point.

Again, I'm Taylor.

I'm the executive director of Queer Power Alliance.

I want to thank you all for letting us be here and giving us this opportunity and creating and establishing a select committee for the federal administration and policy change.

I want to reiterate what Jaylynn had said, that first and foremost, it's to be noted that when we are protecting two-spirit LGBTQIA+, communities, we are protecting all community.

So when you're listening to this, don't listen to it from just LGBTQIA plus and Two-Spirit.

Listen to it to your whole community.

We are the package.

Because we live in the intersections of our society around gender, race, class, immigration status, and disabilities.

Our lives, pardon me, our lives Struggles and resilience are deep woven into our communities and the policies that safeguard our rights ultimately strengthen the justice for everyone.

So again, I want to reiterate that we are part of the full fabric.

I am gonna focus on displacement and housing insecurities.

risk to the LGBTQIA plus increase of homelessness, economic justice, and employment equities for the LGBTQIA plus communities, and amplify the words that have already been said around our trans and people of color, and specifically trans people of color.

around mental health, housing, getting access to health care, and getting access to reproductive care.

The federal policies around displacement on housing, there's been threats, and there's a rumor that HUD is going to be an attack, and I have had more than one a community member reaching out to us and asking us if it's true, and whether or not section eight is gonna be in jeopardy, if people are gonna become unhoused, if people are gonna be unstable, The rollbacks of these protections make them fearful.

And it's not going to be just the LGBTQ.

It's going to be all of our communities that will be attacked on this.

We need to maintain and strengthen our local tenant protections, not to roll back what we've already put in protection.

We've put those protections in because they were needed at the time, and they're still needed.

And they're going to be needed for the future.

Key measures include preserving and expanding anti, sorry, I stutter.

Yep, you know the word I'm trying to say.

Housing policies including increasing funding for LGBTQ inclusive housing and initiatives to ensure that affordable housing remains accessible for the most vulnerable members of our community.

We know that the increase of homelessness has been a conversation that you have had multiple times and that it ends up being a criminalized situation.

Our LGBTQ community members and especially our trans and non-binary folks don't have anywhere to go when we don't have affirmative shelters or housing to put them in transition housing.

These are areas that could be amplified and should be within our city.

As stated, we are, as Andrew I think said, or one of the other speakers said that spoke, said that we are the most, our community is quite large in the city.

And so we do need to have shelters in place for cases where our youth, our elders become unhoused that are trans and non-binary, along with the LGBTQ individuals.

Securing shelters and affirmative housing for safety of our people.

Around economic justice and employment equity for the LGBTQ communities, the LGBTQ individuals, particularly trans and cutie-pot workers, face significant barriers to stable employment, fair wages, and financial security due discrimination and lack of inclusion within the workplace.

federal tax on workplace.

We know that there's going to be rollbacks, and some of these are going to be directly to those folks.

Setting this as a precedent for our city will be important for individuals to have access to economic opportunities to keep that.

Without economic opportunities, we don't stay housed either.

I'm going to go on the cuff now because I hate reading stuff, and it doesn't feel real.

And I can see that this is exhausting to constantly be sitting here and having these conversations on deaf ears.

And I'm not going to point it out, but I've been here before.

We've all been here before.

We've asked for things not to get past before, and we've asked for protections for our communities.

And it's gone on deaf ears before.

And we don't want to continue to have that deaf ear.

We want to work in collaboration.

We're asking you to recognize that our communities at large, when you are protecting us, you're protecting everyone.

So please take it into account that when we are having these conversations with you all, that that is why we're showing up in hopes that you're listening deeply I can sit here.

You know the answers.

And I can sit here and tell you the answers again.

But you know what the answers are.

And by creating harmful, criminalizing, homelessness, trans, non-binary folks, people that are working as sex workers, you are harming communities.

We are not here because of our lack of abilities.

We are here because we thrive.

We have lived here in the city.

I've been here, as you said, since 13. I've been here since I was nine.

Listen to your communities and listen to what we have to say, because the federal government is coming after us.

And we are scared with our lives.

We don't want to become homeless.

We don't want to become jobless.

And you don't want us on your streets either.

So work with us and listen.

Thank you.

Thank you all for your presentations today and for your powerful words and the knowledge you share and the continued work you do, truly.

And I will open it up to my colleagues for any questions they have for today's panelists.

Council Member Strauss.

Thank you.

I don't have any questions for you at this time.

I just want to thank you for bringing this presentation to us today.

A lot of what you said resonated with me, and I would be interested in speaking with you directly offline to discuss more, but just wanted to thank you for your presentation today.

Very meaningful.

Thank you, Council Member Strauss.

I'm recognizing Council Member Hollingsworth.

Thank you, Chair.

And thank you all for being here.

Okay, let me lower my hand.

I apologize.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you all for being here as well.

Really appreciate you all taking the time out of your day to come help educate us about things that are going on in our community, people that are being attacked, and also just, you know, the feelings that are going on.

One of the things, I don't know if this is a question or comment, one of the things when I was doing self-reflection is the word space.

and how incredibly important space is, and I'll be a little vulnerable here, for space for me growing up in Seattle were places like Our Place or Wild Rose.

There was an event called Chocolate Kisses that created a space for Black queer people and gay folks, and those were spaces that were safe for those communities.

And the one thing that I wanted just to hear just really quickly about, as we are creating this environment for Seattle, what do safe spaces look like for people?

What can the city do?

And you all kind of told us a little bit, but what are more things that we're probably not thinking about in terms of space that the city can do to help create safe spaces?

It might not just be physical, it could be a community, it could be different things, but just wanted your expert opinion on that.

Thank you so much, and Councilmember Hollingsworth, I appreciate you being at some of those rallies that you show up to the vigils, you know, and I think it means a lot to our community because I think you recognize the importance of space and gathering in community around times like these.

I do know, you know, in the summer of 2020, there was a lot of conversation in the City of Seattle and funding that went to a number of organizations You know, things have changed slightly, but the one positive benefit at that time was that a lot of queer and trans organizations of color received a lot more support than they usually do through the sort of racial justice lens.

And as we have adjusted and shifted and evolved in our thinking, a lot of that funding or the promise of funding has disappeared.

That has put us in a very challenging position right now, both in terms of the ability to offer services to our community.

A lot of our organizations are not well supported and funded for the influx of services that are coming and the increased disparity in mental health and et cetera.

But we also don't really have good spaces and places.

We try to, at Lavender Rights Project, create space.

There's Queer of the Land that tries to create space, Pocam, a number of organizations, but they are not as supported as they can be, and the funding that some of us have through the City of Seattle is tenuous at best.

And so we do need more funding support in order to ensure that we can create safe spaces that also have services, and especially for organizations of color under $500,000 budgets.

And that exempts us, but we just need it.

Yeah, and I would add that thinking about Seattle as a space, as a whole, and just reiterating that what we can do is look at the policies that have been passed recently and how that is harming people.

Whether or not we want to say it or not, it is.

And especially our communities in BIPOC trans communities.

we can make our community more affirming for people who are houseless, people who are having mental health crisis, people who are our neighbors and not criminalize and push out and shame because that's going to get people killed.

So thank you.

Additionally, I would add that to piggyback on what Jalen was saying, the Pocannas moved out of the Seattle area because they couldn't afford any of the spaces here.

And affordability is a real issue.

Ante Amanos has been struggling to find a space that not only they could afford, but is big enough for the work that they're doing.

And this is part of the creating space for LGBTQ and immigrant organizations that that they can afford, even if it's give a discounted price.

We're talking about selling buildings that the federal government owns.

Creating spaces that organizations can be in alone is really important.

And then also creating those spaces, as said, for communities that are unhoused to be able to go inside, to have a place to get out of the sorts, to be able to access a shower, to access a safe place that they know that they're welcomed at.

that isn't a cost burden to the organizations.

Those would be additional ways to create those safe spaces.

Thank you.

Council Member Hollingsworth, any follow-up?

No, thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you all for your answers.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Recognizing Council Member Kettle.

Thank you, Chair Rink.

I appreciate it.

Thank you, everyone who has come today.

I really appreciate you being here on the panel.

And I just wanted to note and say that the LGBTQIA plus community does have a home here in Seattle, and that's important.

I think that's important to say.

And it's also important to say that this home should not be limited to Seattle.

We cannot be an island.

We have to be showing that example so other places, other cities across the country can be that home.

And as noted, I do recognize that there are some areas of disagreement as noted, but I do believe that we as a city can be, as Council Member Hollingsworth stated, that safe space, or as I often say, create that safe base and be an example for our nation.

So I just wanted to say thank you for coming and presenting today.

Thank you.

Can I comment on that?

Thank you for recognizing that.

And QPA believes that that is the way that we set precedent to other cities.

Seattle was one of the first to bring up the minimum wage.

Now we have Tequila, SeaTac, Burien, Renton.

All have increased.

You guys have set that precedent.

You've shown through renting stabilization here and providing laws that help support that, and a ripple effect has happened.

And I'd like to see that continued ripple effect for the city, and our city does that, so that it goes across our state.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Moore?

Pardon me, Vice Chair Morton.

Council Member, thank you.

Yeah, thank you very much for your presentation.

It was certainly very helpful to hear.

I think many of these issues are longstanding and they're systemic and they're things that this council is attempting to work on and we don't always agree.

And I would certainly heartily disagree with some of the representations that have been made, but I'm not gonna take this opportunity to go into that.

But what I do wanna hear from the group is what are the particular federal funding sources that are being cut to your groups that the city can look at?

I mean, we too have our budget challenges, right?

But I understand that PrEP funding is potentially under attack.

Again, gender-affirming care is under attack.

what are their particular like concrete pieces aside from setting a welcoming culture, which is clearly important to do and we've done and we need to continue to do.

And I think the fact that this committee exists shows that there's a real commitment to that, but in a more concrete way, and maybe you don't have all those answers now, but I would love to hear, you know, at some point feel free to contact.

my office, but if you have anything at the moment to talk about, it would be helpful.

For Planned Parenthood and safety net sexual and reproductive health care providers, there has really been like a perfect storm of and it has really created an existential threat to our ability to keep going.

Looking back to the first Trump administration with the Title 10 gag rule and the effect that had on family planning access.

Then the COVID pandemic where the federal funding was not available to abortion providers.

The Dobbs decision, of course, There is no abortion access.

And so in Washington, we've had, I think, a 50% increase in patients coming to our state for care, which, of course, extends wait times and impacts the safety net overall.

Being a healthcare provider in America, we have all the same kinds of challenges that other healthcare providers face, but with less of an ability to compete with huge bonuses and the kinds of things that a for-profit healthcare entity could offer.

plus inflation.

So it probably comes as no surprise when I tell you that over 80% of Planned Parenthoods across the country are restructuring.

My organization was affected as well.

Our team's been cut in half.

And so it really does come down to how do we keep the doors open so that people have access to healthcare.

Your advocacy to the state in the budget could go a long way.

We absolutely need progressive revenue in our state.

We have an upside down tax code that is causing serious harm and will put us right back in this situation every biennium when we are not asking the richest in our city or in our state to pay their fair share.

I think all the things that I shared before about the federal threats certainly will hit home here in Washington and in Seattle, and so we're of course seeking support at the state level for some of the budget backfill, but there are life-threatening levels of cuts to the state budget that are being explored right now that have got to be pushed back on.

You simply cannot balance the budget and find savings at this kind of depth of cuts.

And if I could add to Courtney's remarks, I think that's the list that's the most directly related to reproductive health care providers.

But there are so many different forms of federal funding that are being dismantled right now for institutions that are doing anything that federal administration officials just don't And if we think about, for example, federal grants and research partnerships with hospitals, like the example of Seattle Children's Hospital that I mentioned, ended their gender-affirming care program temporarily because they were afraid that potentially pediatric cancer research grants might be terminated.

We're also looking at the ways that research hospitals like the UW that are sort of providing best in the field, assisted reproductive technology, gender affirming care clinics, other kinds of services are impacted by attacks on universities because of perceived DEI or critical race theory programs or having trans women participate in collegiate sports.

So there's really no end to the way that the federal government and the FDA's interaction with our healthcare infrastructure and federal funding for the safety net of services and education in our country that create these welcoming spaces and create healthcare best practices for our entire healthcare infrastructure or our social service infrastructure are being impacted.

And I mean, one way that I've heard the trickle down effect is that pride organizations that typically receive sponsorship to produce pride.

They receive a lot of sponsorships from clinics that serve the LGBTQ community, and because of Medicaid and Medicare being cut, federally qualified health care providers are now ending sponsorships to community organizations that they partner with, and that includes behavioral health and and recovery facilities.

So there's so many ways.

And I know that that's really overwhelming because the local governments don't have funding to backfill this and the state doesn't have funding to backfill this.

But we need to continue to find creative solutions, revenue reform, and public-private partnerships to find ways to shore up our institutions to combat fear that these institutions are going to have to shutter operations and keep them operational.

Thank you.

Councilmember Moore, I'm happy to follow up, but I do think that Pocan in particular, Seattle's LGBTQ Center, are a couple of good stops that may have a more direct impact I think for organizations of color who are queer and trans, we often never received the federal funding.

If we did, it was very limited.

We're seeing secondhand impact.

So foundations like Gilead, deeply concerned about their funding on their pharmaceutical side.

Therefore, Gilead is one of the largest funders of black LGBTQ organizations in the country.

So, you know, them making a decision about whether or not it's safe for them to continue supporting us in the same way, not to mention HIV research funding drying up.

And so we're seeing a lot of second-hand effects, and just like sponsorships, people, less so about them losing funding, but nervousness about their affiliation and association with trans organizations is what we're starting to see.

Yes, please.

Yeah, thank you for that.

That's really helpful to sort of the domino effect.

And to the extent, I'm just thinking off the top of my head here, but to the extent that the council can be participate in those discussions with the private partners or the universities or whatever to say like we need to work together as a community we need to stand together as a community and where we can provide protection we're willing to do that I think it's important that we begin to have those kind of conversations across the board so it isn't because it seems like part of It's the divide and conquer, and it's the single out.

It's the small group.

You don't have the resources to stand tall.

So we need to come together is what I'm saying.

We need to begin to have those conversations about even if we can't provide the money, maybe we can at least provide the cover or the letter or whatever it is that they need to continue to stand strong.

Chime in with my questions now.

Oh, I see a hand.

Council member Rivera, please.

Thank you.

I just really wanted to lend my gratitude to the panelists for being here.

We are grappling all of us with what is happening at the federal level.

And, you know, these are very hard times for everyone.

So I really appreciate all you being here.

giving us the information and taking the time to engage on this.

It's really important to hear from all of you, and I, for one, very much appreciate you being here.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And kind of building on what had been raised, you know, building on Vice Chair Moore's comments just about standing together and also some of the responses about what's happening at the state level, I'm curious about some of your organizations and your work with the Attorney General's Office and also right now the Now, are there that we can be lending our support on?

We know that the state budget challenges is a huge one.

So hearing that directive call about, you know, the need to be addressing the state budget challenges.

But what could some what's happening right now on the state level?

How are you all engaging with that?

And are there bills that we could lend our support on?

Thank you so much for asking.

There are a lot of proactive bills.

I would be remiss if I didn't say how fortunate we are to get to be in Seattle and be in Washington State, where we truly are leading the way and getting to push what's possible to make reproductive and sexual health and rights truly accessible for all people.

We've seen a few bills just get passed this week.

There's a lot of floor action happening right now.

One is an expansion of our state's shield law, which would better define what it means to help someone.

So are we talking about people who donate to abortion funds or people who help someone travel to Washington?

Those folks need protection from hostile states that are trying to persecute people.

It also would look at issues around when an entity is approached by another state looking for information to pursue someone, that those entities need to proactively inform the Attorney General's office that that's happened so that we can keep track of when those kinds of occurrences happen.

There's also a bill to try to codify legislation from the federal level into state law around EMTALA, the Emergency Medical Treatment Act of Labor Act.

This is for anyone experiencing a pregnancy emergency, that if they come into a hospital, they need to be able to access care on site, be stabilized, regardless of that, hospitals.

stance on abortion, there's an emergency threatening that person's health or life.

They need to offer the care.

The Supreme Court has told Texas that it's okay that they don't honor EMTALA, and so just looking at the path that we're on there, it would codify that language into our state law.

There's some more, but I'll just underscore again, the state budget is truly, if you had one thing to focus on, it's progressive revenue.

And we are concerned about whether that's going to be taken seriously.

Thanks so much.

My policy director is behind me, so if I mess up, I'm in trouble.

But I pulled up the website.

Right now we're looking at...

HB 1296, Promoting Supportive School, I think that's Rep. Stoner's bill.

It strengthens students' right to privacy, extending protection for trans youth, adding a new statement of student rights, and it particularly protects the racial histories of black and Latino students and curriculum.

There's an amending I-2081 bill that we're really paying attention to and supporting SB 5181. that's taking out some of the harmful language in what we saw as a forced outing bill.

And then there's 5179 school district compliance with the state anti-discrimination policies and an inclusive schools bill, SB 5180. The state says school policies must ensure students have the right to be addressed by preferred name and pronoun, participate in sports and activities, align with their gender, and dress accordingly.

And those are the main, there's some other ones, but I think those are top of mind and more relevant to this conversation.

Yeah, for us, all of those on top of, and I do think it's important to amplify the additional one around clarifying hate crimes.

That's HB 1052. And then with the...

We have a few on ours, but of course the rent stabilization, because that will help not only statewide, but that will amplify the laws already here in Seattle.

And then expanding SB 5101, expanding access to leave and safety accommodations that include workers who are victims of hate crimes and bias incidences.

And then HB 1213, strengthening job security for individuals utilizing paid family medical leave benefits because we also know that the majority of folks that don't access that because they don't feel that they can access that because the fear of losing their jobs.

So those are some of our additional ones.

And all of the above, I think I agree with what my colleagues have stated.

I'll add that because black and indigenous communities disproportionately experience negative maternal health and pregnancy outcomes because of healthcare discrimination and the harms of white supremacy, et cetera, that it's necessary to pass a dignity and pregnancy loss package that we're working on with allies that would affirm in our state law and repeal some antiquated language to make sure that patients are not prosecuted when they experience miscarriage, stillbirth, or other forms of negative pregnancy outcomes, similar to what we've seen happen in abortion ban states, like what happened to Purvi Patel in one well-known case.

And also reproductive health care is seen in the eyes of Medicare and Medicaid as siloed from regular health care and therefore has a lower Medicaid reimbursement rate.

And so to the extent that we will continue to have Medicaid in our country, we are hoping that we will get Medicaid reimbursement rates increased for sexual and reproductive health care providers so that they can continue to operate sustainably.

Colleagues, any final questions for our absolutely amazing panel today?

All right, then I will thank you all again, not just for being here today, but for showing up and doing the work that you do every day.

And I'll speak for myself and how I see things and what I think you all have clearly laid out, that the real need to be moving with urgency around these issues and that these are life and death matters for so many in our community.

And so we see you.

I hope that this is, I intend that this is not our last conversation.

And I know, colleagues, that this is just a subset of panelists representing organizations that do really incredible work in our community.

And there are so many other organizations that are showing up every day to take care of our community members.

And I hope we continue to build relationships with them and just truly stand together during these times.

So I thank you all again.

And we'll certainly be in touch and reach out anytime.

Thank you.

Thank you, everyone.

Colleagues, before we switch discussions, Councilmember Strauss has a letter for signatures today in support of federal workers impacted by layoffs.

Councilmember Strauss?

Thank you, Chair.

Colleagues, we did alert you, send out a revised version about 15 minutes before committee started.

I want to thank your colleagues for your grace with this.

We did receive edits back today, and we did our best to incorporate them.

And I will kindly remind colleagues that I will be more firm with deadlines in the future because I spent about an hour trying to get everyone together.

And this is the process of us working together, right?

This letter here before us is supporting our federal workers who support us.

I won't read it line for line.

I'll speak briefly on the top lines here.

We have federal workers at the Bonneville Power Administration making sure we have our lights on.

We are in an unusual situation with our city that we have Seattle City light and a large portion of our electricity comes from BPA.

BPA serves our entire region and as well as California at this point.

We have federal workers in the Housing and Urban Development Office who address homelessness in our community and across our country.

I can tell you that the federal government has already been under-investing before this year.

Regarding homelessness, and this is going to be even more.

So the federal workers who are addressing homelessness are doing important work for our city and our region.

The Department of Veterans Affairs makes sure those that have served our country are taken care of here at home.

We have one of the larger VAs here in the city of Seattle.

I've already heard in good times there have been issues where veterans have decided to go into the private practice areas because of inconsistencies at the VA.

And we need to make sure that the VA is set up to care for those who have served us on the front lines.

In the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, these are the folks that make sure our fisheries are up, make sure that our weather is predictable, And my district is the home of one of the largest producers of seafood in the United States.

It's not a tech company.

And what really hits home for me is that if our weather is not predicted well, that means a fishing vessel might not go out to sea on a good day, on a clear day.

And so they might lose money.

They might lose that opportunity to provide fish for our tables.

On the opposite, if they read the weather incorrectly and go out on a bad day, it's not just that they're risking their economics, they're risking their lives.

When we look at places like Hanford and U.S.

Department of Agriculture, Hanford is a place that led to the end of World War II, and it has the potential to impact us here in Seattle if it's not taken care of well.

Again, back to the Department of Agriculture, I couldn't find eggs at Costco the other day, and we need these workers in the Department of Agriculture to make sure that H5N1 is reduced as quickly as possible.

In our national parks, in our forests, beyond just recreating, Folks may or may not know our state capital was built without tax dollars.

That's because we logged what was then capital.

It's now Capital State Park, but it's Capital Forest.

We need to make sure that our national parks and our forests are well protected, maintained for their economic abilities, and at the same time not undercut.

Our ports are incredibly important.

We are a port city, and Beyond just the FAA at our airports, we need to make sure that our deep seaport is set up to be resilient for the next 100 years.

And so within this letter, we note that our congressional delegation is doing the good work, taking bold action.

We thank them.

as well as making sure that federal workers know that our part, the Seattle City Council, is doing what we can to support them by providing our basic city services.

What's most important at this time, we've heard panels, we heard one panel we're about to hear about, another one, Our job is to ensure that our government continues to function, function well, because the people of Seattle depend on us to make sure that their buses get there on time, even though it's through Metro, to make sure that the potholes are filled, to make sure that they have access to grocery stores, to make sure that the basic tenets of governance is functioning.

here at the municipal level so that they have something steady to rely on.

That's my North Star in this work, to make sure that our government continues functioning and serving our people to the best of our abilities.

Colleagues, that is my overview, and I see that I spoke long enough so that we could get everyone here.

I appreciate you all here, and I'll pass it back to you, Chair.

Thank you so much for bringing this forward.

Colleagues, any discussion on this letter before we move forward with signatures?

All right, seeing there is no further discussion.

Of course, thank you.

Council Member Rivera.

Thank you, Council Member Rivera.

Strauss for bringing this letter together ultimately is just really a sign of solidarity.

The letter's not, you know, there's, as you know, we don't oversee, we don't have the ability to prevent what is prior federal worker myself.

My heart goes out to workers and their families as, as this is an incredibly to say the least stressful time.

So I understand that the letters meant just to say that we're gonna continue city services and we're here to continue to support and continue our city services.

So thank you.

And really, I just wanted, you know, we need to be really clear on what we're offering folks so there's no confusion.

And I don't want to add undue stress to folks who are already stressed out.

So I wanted to really clarify that.

I felt the letter was a bit confusing that way, but it's really to stand in solidarity with.

And for those reasons, I'll be signing the letter.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Rivera.

Seeing no further discussion on the letter, will the clerk please call the roll to determine which council members would like their signatures affixed to the letter in support of federal workers?

Council Member Hollingsworth?

Aye.

Council Member Kettle?

Aye.

Vice Chair Moore?

Aye.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Rivera?

Aye.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council member Solomon?

Yes.

Chair Rink?

Yes.

Chair, there are eight signatures that will be affixed to the letter.

Wonderful.

We will now move on to our third item of business.

Will the clerk please item two into the, pardon me, item three into the record.

Item two, immigrant and labor rights issues for briefing and discussion.

At this point, I'll invite our panelists for today to come up to the table at the front.

We're joined today by a number of organizations.

I'll let them introduce themselves when they get to the table, but I'll share some of the names of organizations now while they're coming on up.

We have some of our city departments, including the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs, as well as the Office of Labor Standards, and a number of organizations working in our community, including the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network, One America, as well as Washington's LGBTQ Allied Chamber of Commerce and the MLK Labor Council and Fair Work Center.

I know we have a bigger crew.

Anyone hear from NURB?

Yeah.

Okay.

So your presentation's on this laptop.

So maybe when it's in return, yeah, there's the...

We could also click for you if you say click.

Wonderful.

Well, welcome everyone.

Please introduce yourself.

Maybe we can just go down the line starting from left to right.

Just go down the line and take a moment to introduce yourself by stating your full name organization into the microphone for the record.

Vanessa Reyes, they, she pronouns, policy manager with the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network.

Hamdi Mohamed, here in my capacity as the director of the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs.

Roxana Neruzzi, executive director with One America.

Gabriel Newman, I use he, him pronouns.

I'm the policy council and government relations manager at GSBA, Washington's LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce.

Danielle Alvarado, Fair Work Center.

Steve Marchese, Director of the Office of Labor Standards.

Rego Valdez, representing MLK Labor.

Jenny Maschick from the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project.

Wonderful.

Thank you all for being here, and I believe we're going to be starting with OIRA first.

Wonderful.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, honorable members of the council.

First, I just wanted to say thank you for putting together this important discussion on federal administration and policy changes.

Thank you to the leadership of council member ranks and chair.

I am proud to live and work in a city that is protecting all of its residents, making that a top priority, and recognizing the immense contributions of all of our community members, including our immigrant and refugee communities.

We are in unusual and challenging times, and I just want to acknowledge that and just the critical work that so many of our partners around this table are doing.

We stand together in moments like this.

Our immigrant advocacy groups, our service providers, our labor unions, and many others are coming together in these moments to make sure that we are coordinated and working in alignment with each other.

I also wanted to say that the mayor's office has been providing our office and all city departments with clear guidance on responding to the various issues that is stemming from federal administration policy changes.

Let me just say we've done extensive preparation work that took place even before any of the executive orders from the Trump administration went into effect, even before Inauguration Day.

On January 10, 2025, Mayor Harrell did introduce a mayoral directive to provide departments with clear guidance on responding to immigration enforcement.

And also the mayor's office recognizes that many of these federal issues that are impacting our vulnerable population are interconnected.

We recognize that as an office as well.

This week, he proposed legislation to strengthen local protections for individuals seeking gender-affirming and reproductive health care in Seattle.

In addition, there was an executive order introduced making information inclusive in writing and in design, was issued by the mayor's office to enhance our language access policies that are already in place.

A lot of these issues are top of mind for our office, and we also recognize how they all are interconnected.

And so many of us around this table are working together.

I don't want to provide slides today.

I've come before you all and provided a detailed presentation before, so I don't want to go into repeating that.

I want to maximize our time today.

by hearing from the panel members here today.

But I am here to answer any questions you may have, provide clarity on any of the work that we're doing as a city.

And the quick update that I would want to give you all is that we're continuing to do trainings internally for the City of Seattle departments and division heads.

One of the things that we are focusing on is making sure that City of Seattle employees know what our welcoming policies are, and that they also know the legal boundaries that are surrounded around those policies that we do have in place.

Our city policy, city employees, do not inquire about immigration status unless it's required by judicial order.

We're making sure that folks understand that and doing some train-the-trainer work.

The goal is to establish a clear departmental protocols and have a uniform standard response for all of our city departments and ensuring that they know what the protocols are in place if there's any inquiries that come from any federal agency.

And that work is going really well so far.

The other area that we are focused on is external.

We have done trainings for service providers, service providers that may have contracts with the city of Seattle.

We've had over a thousand people participate in those trainings.

It has actually shut down our teams at a time, our team's platform.

And so our next one will be at the Seattle Library and we're in the process of putting that together right now.

The other thing that we're focused on is convening our funders.

So we are considered a funder or a contractor for many of our local organizations.

And so we've pulled together the state, our county partners, and have had convenings with them to make sure that we're coordinating in our funding.

We know that funding cuts are coming from the federal administration.

And so now more than ever, it is so important that we're not duplicating what we're doing, but that we are And those meetings have been going really well.

We're also standing up our rapid response program, and that will focus heavily on trying to get accurate information out into the community and supporting our nonprofit partners who are doing Know Your Rights training.

And so there's more to come on that.

And then lastly, you all have seen the city of Seattle with the mayor's leadership has joined.

legal action with 16 other cities and counties on sanctuary city laws.

We are a welcoming city, and so the mayor will protect that and fight for it as a city.

And so those jurisdictions are working together on those legal actions, and we're following all of the legal actions coming from the federal administration.

Our department sits in the the committee of Councilmember Rivera.

So I'm often giving Councilmember Rivera updates, and I hope that information reaches the rest of you.

And I'll just close by just saying our goal is to be fair, transparent, and legally sound when it comes to immigration enforcement.

And we're always prepared to stand firm and protect the values of the city of Seattle.

Thank you for the time today.

Thank you, and moving us to, and I'll be just for a refresher, we're going to have all of our presenters present first and then we'll do a longer block with questions.

So moving to Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, council members.

As I mentioned, my name is Vanessa, and I'm with the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network, also known as WISEN.

WISEN is a statewide network formed after the results of the 2016 election, and our mission is to protect the rights and advance the power of immigrants and refugees in our state.

And we do this through our Pillars of Deportation Defense, our Deportation Defense Hotline, Rapid Response, Accompaniment, and the Fair Fight Bond Fund.

And these are the ways in which we support our immigrant and refugee communities, sharing important information such as Know Your Rights, connecting them to community resources from food banks to housing to legal aid, supporting people to be released from immigration detention through paying immigration bond, and dispatching trained volunteers to verify reports of immigration activity and monitoring and documenting violations of constitutional rights, infringements of civil liberties, or violations of state law.

This is also the way we hear from community members about the ways in which the federal policies are impacting their everyday lives.

Since January 20th, we've seen an increase in calls to our hotline with reports of immigration enforcement action and detentions across the state, including in Seattle and King County, We've additionally received many other reports in other ways in addition to the hotline and some of the overall trends that are being reported that I wanted to share with you all.

There have been many reports of people being stopped while driving by immigration officers in unmarked vehicles, wearing plain clothes, vests that often just say the word police, officers refusing to identify themselves.

One caller who had a traffic stop by immigration officers is actually Native American and believes he was racially profiled, and he was briefly detained by immigration officers.

We have gotten reports that seem to indicate collaboration with local law enforcement agencies and immigration enforcement, not in King County, but in other counties, which would violate our state's Keep Washington Working Law.

Officers have been seen knocking on doors, excuse me, in apartment complexes and trailer parks.

And ICE has been seen driving around in certain neighborhoods, kind of circling around, causing a lot of fear and panic.

There have been officers appearing at courthouses, community centers, grocery stores, community colleges.

We've received reports of ICE appearing in people's workplaces, including a restaurant in downtown Seattle.

People who've been regularly appearing for check-ins with immigration as they continue with their immigration process have been detained at those check-ins without any warning.

In several cases, there have been reports of people who've had ankle monitors or other monitoring with ICE that have been given what they believe dubious reasons to appear in person and then to be detained.

family members who have called because their loved ones were detained and they don't know where they are.

We've gotten reports of people getting deported very quickly after detention, being sent to detentions in other states, and those who have sent to the detention center in Tacoma reporting unsafe and unsanitary conditions, not sufficient staffing for the number of people being held there, food being poor quality, served hours late, people not receiving the medical care when they need We have been told about one asylum seeker who had been living in South King County where his family still resides, who was detained briefly in Tacoma and then sent to Guantanamo Bay before being deported to Venezuela.

And he's reported mistreatment and abuse while in detention.

The federal administration is claiming that they are simply going after quote unquote criminals, but that is not what we're seeing.

The reports of detention include people with and without any criminal records being detained and deported.

One case that was recently shared with us was a situation where a mother who was seeking asylum was told to appear for an ICE check-in.

When she appeared, she was detained and deported to Guatemala along with her one-year-old U.S. citizen child without an opportunity to notify her family where she was or what was happening until she was out of the country.

The rest of her family are still seeking asylum and they're living in Snohomish County and are afraid that they could be next.

And that fear is rampant in our communities.

We've been told of community members who are afraid to leave their houses, afraid of sending their children to school, afraid of going to work, people who've stopped going to the doctor, going to food banks.

Weissen and our partners, our rapid response volunteers and accompaniment volunteers have been working to share information in the community, to dispel rumors and misinformation and to inform people about what their rights are regardless of their immigration status.

And we've been working closely with many of our partners and reporting violations of civil liberties and state laws with the state attorney general's office.

The administration is not just going after our community members, they're also trying to stop us from doing our work.

Some of our partners I'm sure will speak to the funding cuts that have been threatened of pulling programs and funding and adding administrative barriers to providing services.

There have also been calls to prosecute individuals, organizations, and elected officials for offering Know Your Rights trainings and monitoring ICE abuses.

Congressman recently sent a letter to U.S.

Attorney General Pam Bondi asking for this and specifically named Wysen along with a few other organizations in this letter.

We appreciate what the City of Seattle has done to support its immigrant and refugee residents through the Welcoming City Ordinance, through the work of Director Mohammed in the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs, and in joining the recent lawsuit of municipalities challenging federal overreach.

Additional ways in which the City Council can support its immigrant and refugee residents are by continuing to challenge and publicly speaking out against the efforts of the federal administration as it's systematically stigmatizing and demonizing immigrants and refugees.

by assessing all city policies and departments for ways in which they can put city residents at greater risks, including what the possible dangers of expanded policing, weapons usage against protesters and surveillance technologies.

and by investment in community deportation defense infrastructure and the overall safety net.

The federal government is using its budget to carry out an anti-immigrant agenda.

And we believe that our local and state budgets and policies should reflect our values and that it is possible to invest in these.

Thank you.

Thank you for that, Vanessa.

And I also apologize.

I went a little bit out of order.

So we're going to hear next from the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, and then we'll hear from One America.

Thank you, council members for welcoming us today.

And, um, thank you to all my colleagues for being here too.

It's, it's a lot better when we feels like we're all together.

My name is Jenny Maschick.

As I said before, I'm one of the directing attorneys at the Northwest immigrant rights project.

Um, NERP, as many of you probably know, has been around for 40 years.

We are a statewide organization with our headquarters here in Seattle.

I've been a NERP for 17 years.

I can say that there's really no good time for immigrants in American history, but this time period is particularly fraught.

And so it was hard to even synthesize what to bring to you today because there's so many things.

If you guys would be kind enough to forward to the next slide.

I tried to just do some bullet points of sort of the most urgent things that I think are right now, and Vanessa alluded to many of these in the information she was giving.

So I'm just gonna start going through them.

I know people might have questions.

I know that writing is too small to actually read.

So the first area of concern we see is expanded criminalization.

I'm sure many of you heard about the Lake and Riley Act and its passage.

One thing that's really going to have a negative impact on our community members are the way in which people can be subject to mandatory detention without bond just for having been arrested for a crime such as shoplifting, not even convicted, but just potentially being accused and arrested.

So we're going to see expanded criminalization that way.

That ties into expanded deportation and expedited removal.

So we have seen this administration is really committed to expanding the detention capacity across the US.

The current capacity at the Northwest ICE Processing Center, which is the new name for the Northwest Detention Center, is in the 1500s.

It was at an all-time low during COVID, but now it's up to around, I think, just over 1,300 detained persons in very poor conditions, as you just heard.

We have an office in Tacoma and we have people that go to the detention center every day to represent the detained persons there.

And during the, I think it was the first or second week of this administration, we received a stop work order for our legal orientation program.

It wasn't just NERP, it was organizations across the country that are funded to serve people who are detained.

And so that was very disruptive to our work.

It was later rescinded, but the damage had been done.

The other thing we're seeing is that this administration is really trying to expand the reach of expedited removal, and so what that means is they're going to be looking for individuals who have been in the U.S. less than two years who may be seeking some kind of relief or not, but they can essentially be picked up anywhere.

So it's not just at the border, and they've really increased the...

geographic area for enforcement to a larger area.

And then if they are subject to expedited removal, they're essentially just removed without a court hearing.

So really stripping away due process from folks.

Next, I would like to move to the registration requirement.

This is certainly in the news.

Lately, it evokes strong connotations to things that happened in the 20th century that perhaps we thought we wouldn't see again.

So in February, USAIS announced a new policy that's requiring all immigrants to register with the government.

It's based on an existing area of the law, but it's never been enforced under any other administration.

It requires people who are 14 years or older who have not been fingerprinted or registered as part of a visa application process to actually go online and register themselves and apply to be fingerprinted.

So that could be individuals who entered the U.S. without inspection, admission, or parole.

They are setting up a process online.

People, that seems to be kind of the most...

should I go online?

Should I register?

Our position right now is that there have not been regulations.

It has not been announced in the Federal Register.

And so at this time, people should not be going online to do anything because the process is not actually there.

Once it is announced, it's going to be very important for people to get individualized advice about that.

And that's because not registering could have consequences and registering certainly will have consequences for people who are undocumented and then are willfully putting their information out there.

And so we really need people to get individualized advice and know about the risks of that.

Even if it becomes law, we would be advising people that they still have the right to remain silent.

They still have the right not to incriminate themselves.

And so it's just gonna be an individual case by case analysis.

But I wanted to bring that up today because I know that is like foremost in everyone's minds and they're looking to NERP to give guidance.

And for now we're saying, let's wait and see what the regs say and then we will give individual guidance.

And then finally, what's near and dear to me, I don't know if I said this at the top, but I'm the directing attorney of the VAWA unit, the Violence Against Women Act unit, which is also known as our domestic violence unit.

And what we're seeing is an expansion of what was started in the first Trump administration, and that's stripping protections from people who are survivors of crime, whether that's domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, torture, any other crimes.

We anticipate that people who have pending forms of relief, such as U visas for crime victims, T visas for trafficking survivors, will be subject to enforcement actions that they have not been under previous non-Trump administrations.

An example of the protections being stripped is that this week, the administration announced the re-implementation of the notice to appear policy.

So previously, people who applied for humanitarian forms of relief, if their application was denied for some reason, and as you might imagine, immigration is a huge bureaucracy, they make mistakes all the time, but even if people were denied for procedural reasons, they will automatically be issued notices to appear in immigration court, and so will essentially be in the process of being deported.

That is going to be hugely problematic, and it's going to expand the categories of people that we need to defend in removal defense.

We've also seen that just having one of those forms of relief pending is no longer a guarantee of getting any kind of relief in immigration court or from ICE enforcement actions.

They rescinded the previous victim-centered approach memo for how they deal with folks, and we have heard stories of survivors already being detained and deported.

um finally related to uh our work with survivors we have a large program that works with unaccompanied youth and we received a stop work order on that also which interrupted our services to to youth again that order was rescinded but it has its intended effect the disruption um and essentially trying to stop us from doing our work um which We are going to continue no matter what, but they will continue to try to make it as difficult as possible.

If you could go to the next slide.

I just tried to put together a few very general points.

It's gonna be really important for the city of Seattle to keep providing legal defense funding to us because as we've seen all these things, the expanded detention, the expanded criminalization, is gonna put more and more people into a position where they need that kind of legal defense.

And then we need continued funding to support our work representing immigrant survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking.

Again, those folks are not gonna have the protections that they've had under previous administrations, and many of them probably are gonna end up in removal deportation proceedings, and so we are gonna need help with that.

And then our executive director asked that we include a plea for the city to the state task force.

Governor Ferguson announced the executive order to create a task force through DCYF to make a rapid response team dealing with family separations.

And we think that that is gonna be critical.

So I will stop there and I can answer questions later, but I thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Now we'll transition to One America.

Well, thank you so much for the opportunity to be here.

I wanted to start out with what you all already know, which is that immigrants and refugees are a deep part of the fabric of the city of Seattle.

There are workers, parents, students, small business owners, and live and work in every single district throughout the city.

So I appreciate you all really listening today and thinking about the impacts and the role the city has.

I wanted to start with a little bit of grounding, which is what so many of us have shared, that there is a deep amount of fear and a chilling effect on our communities.

Things like the threats of mass deportations, the federal registry that our NERP colleagues just talked about, education and social services being cut has created a lot of distrust.

And there's a lot of resilience in our communities.

We've been here.

We've built systems.

Our folks, some of who are the most vulnerable, are the ones stepping up to do things like Know Your Rights trainings, to organize.

One America, we are a power building organization.

We organize immigrants directly impacted to fight against policies that impact immigrants and refugees.

So I really want to emphasize that as much fear as there is, there's also a lot of resilience and strength in our communities that we need to continue to lean on and stand for.

And really these are the folks who will be leading us and be the leaders of where the city, our local jurisdictions and the state needs to go.

I wanna shift because my colleagues have already shared so much about what's happening at the different levels of government to really what are the opportunities for the city.

I think one of the big opportunities here is for the city to really build and maintain trust with immigrant and refugee communities in a time where trust is really broken and there is deep fear.

I think some ways for the city and you all as council members to do that is to continue to be vocal about your support for immigrants.

at every single council meeting and in public venues.

You all are trusted leaders in the community and I think can really juxtapose some of what we're hearing from some of our other elected leaders in D.C.

and what you say and how you show up really matters.

Also want to emphasize that the law in this state is Keep Washington Working that prevents local law enforcement from directly handing over data to ICE and immigration enforcement.

And that is important, not only in terms of law, but also in terms of training for city staff and the importance of everyone in every department to understand how to maintain and uphold law and have practices in place to ensure that Keep Washington Working is being upheld and information is not being shared directly with immigration.

That is not the job of the city of Seattle.

And then the other thing which Hamdi has led a lot on is ensuring that language access programs and the ability for those immigrants and refugees in our city who are limited English proficient to access information in their own language, to understand what is happening, services is of utmost importance.

And I think the city's really led the way and encourage you all to continue to support that work.

In terms of funding and policy, there's a couple areas that are big opportunities.

One is continuing to invest in the legal defense network.

So that is funding for attorneys, immigration attorneys, but it's also funding for the hotline that Vanessa talked about.

Those are all things that right now philanthropy and our mutual aid functions are funding, but there is an opportunity for government to really step up.

That is a public good and it is something that is, about the public safety of the entire city and to see more investments in those legal defense networks is really important.

Also, I want to urge the city to really think about preparations for potential lawsuits.

We saw not only lawsuits against some of the urban cities, but also some of the mayors being subpoenaed just this week.

And I really urge the city council and the city to be prepared, not to act in fear, but to be prepared when those attacks do come our way and to not waver from the commitment to be a welcoming city for immigrants.

There are a lot of opportunities beyond deportation and defense for immigrants, for the city to really bolster investments in immigrant inclusion programs.

Things like citizenship, which is the only permanent protection against deportation, and really committing to funding more legal permanent residents to become citizens.

English classes, investments in workforce development, as well as protections like funding more Know Your Rights trainings.

There are huge opportunities to really think about how the city can invest in immigrants and refugees becoming an even deeper part of the city's fabric.

As many of you know and you have been faced with this, we have a large influx of asylum seekers and the work that the city has done to coordinate with county, the state, in getting supports to those asylum seekers and ensuring that there is rapid response infrastructure, housing infrastructure, case management infrastructure to support those that are coming to the state and to the city to seek freedom and safety is really solid.

And then again, really funding the rapid response defense.

And then the rub is always gonna be around the funding and with the threats of federal funding being pulled.

So wanna just end with an urge to think about what are some progressive revenue sources that the city can consider to really meet these needs, because the needs are gonna grow.

and our ability to access federal funds may become more limited.

And so really thinking about what the city has opportunities in terms of progressive revenue.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And now we're gonna turn it over to the GSBA.

Good afternoon, Seattle City Council.

Thank you so much for having us.

GSBA started in this city in 1980. And we started during a situation in which the LGBTQ community was widely misunderstood and was not very well supported in the public light.

And since then, we have grown to encapsulate a statewide membership of over 1200 members throughout the state.

We're still mostly centered in the city of Seattle.

And we are once again in a position, while we've won many rights and much recognition, unfortunately, we're in a position where especially our trans community is once again the subject of debate at the federal level.

And that has brought trickling impacts to our local business community.

So just a kind of a snapshot of Seattle's LGBTQ small businesses.

It's estimated that 8% of Washington's small businesses are LGBTQ plus owned.

That's likely very much higher in Seattle, and it's also likely higher statewide.

Unfortunately, we still don't have a lot of data as this information is not being collected at the federal level.

Most of the LGBTQ businesses center in retail and hospitality.

much more so than non-LGBT businesses, and most are young.

Often they're less than 10 years old.

They're also more likely impacted by major economic shifts.

61% of LGBTQ-owned businesses reported a financial loss in 2020 compared to 48%.

And finally, especially in Seattle, the LGBTQ and small business community largely comprises of solo entrepreneurs, artists, and consultants.

We have a lot of startup ideas and a lot of micro businesses, often comprised of one or two people that really have an idea that they wanna make shine.

So what are some of the concerns that we're experiencing?

The first is related to the anti-DEI crackdown at the federal level.

The anti-DEI executive orders impact our community in two ways.

First, by eliminating supplier diversity initiatives and federal contracts and spending.

This means that department heads will no longer be able to prioritize a business's minority status for selecting contracting bids.

The United States federal government has had a supplier diversity program since 1950, in which it has always championed inclusion, including minority voices and minority owned businesses as part of a major element of our country's economic success.

Currently, 25% of US federal contracting spending flows to small and diverse suppliers, making them a huge contributor to the national economy.

And this goes from all sorts of federal contracts, from defense contracts, all the way down to building infrastructure and federal roads.

Second, by promising to investigate larger companies, private companies, to ensure they no longer support the Trump's, to ensure they no longer support DEI, the executive order seeks to combat illegal private sector DEI preferences.

However, that executive order does not define what constitutes illegal DEI.

So as a result, we're seeing a lot of corporations taking preemptive actions to minimize or take away their DEI programming because they don't know what they will be subject to investigation over.

Right now, it looks like the order is targeting programs that involve practices that are already illegal, like incorporating race-based hiring preferences.

However, again, because of that unknown definition, we're seeing more efforts being made to curb DEI focus.

That includes corporations are no longer setting diversity targets for managerial positions which means it's much harder for LGBTQ folks to get in leadership positions.

It also includes eliminating private sector supplier diversity programming, which often helps to meet the need when state-sponsored supplier diversity programs are taken away.

And that also means reducing anti-bias and anti-racism trainings, making the workplace environment a less welcoming space for folks with minority disabilities.

members of minority communities.

We worry this will harm LGBTQ plus workers because reducing the emphasis on diversity and inclusion can lead to people feeling unsafe to report workplace issues and can make bad actors feel empowered to act on their prejudices.

In fact, we're already seeing this at the federal level where federal employees are being encouraged to report any pro-DEI or supportive actions that are being taken by those departments.

So this loss of diversity goals can also reduce the amount of queer people in leadership positions, which impact how safe and supportive the community is to consumers.

It also has impacts outside of the businesses.

When people no longer see pride flags in stores, when they no longer see companies that have historically supported the LGBTQ plus community continuing that support, that means that they feel less safe going towards those establishments, and they feel less safe being an openly queer LGBTQ person in public in general when that support at the private sector is being taken away.

Secondly, we're also experiencing an increase in hate and bias incidents.

There is fear that anti-diversity rhetoric coming from the federal government and specific attacks against the transgender community will result in increased hate and bias incidents against small businesses.

Seattle is known as an overall welcoming city with many specific enclaves like Hill that are frequented by the queer community.

This makes it unfortunately easy for bad actors to target queer owned businesses and places that cater to our community.

When hate and bias incidents increase, people are less likely to frequent these previously safe areas, especially in ways that outwardly display their queerness.

Basically, it's harder to be an out and LGBTQ person attending a historically LGBTQ space because of those fears of potential bias incidents.

This also hurts the economy as those businesses are impacted by a lack of outreach and as LGBTQ folks, again, are more reticent to spend their money locally.

and not those businesses.

And then finally, we see a loss of federal support at the department level.

Unfortunately, in the status quo, LGBTQ owned businesses are less likely to be approved for business loans than their non-LGBTQ plus counterparts.

In 2023, 80% of queer owned businesses were not approved for a loan compared to 48%.

In fact, 33% of queer owned businesses were told that lenders do not approve financing for businesses like theirs.

The Federal Small Business Administration helps small businesses get loans by setting guidelines for loans and reducing lender risks with loan guarantees.

Essentially, this makes it easier for LGBTQ and minority-owned businesses to receive loans through the Small Business Administration.

They also provide guidance in supporting financial institutions like banks to de-risk minority-owned businesses and also provide their own loans with higher interest rates.

The SBA provides an awesome loan that has helped several local businesses.

Last year, GSBA dispersed a total of $384,000 to 28 small business owners in loans secured 100% by grants at a fixed rate of 4%.

But get this, once the loan has been paid in full, the grants securing these loans would then be released back to the borrower, back to the small business, giving that small business extra capital to be used at their discretion in order to facilitate their business.

So not only do they get a loan, but then they get that amount back as a grant afterwards with additional funding.

86%, so 24 out of the 28 applicants were LGBTQ, 13 were women-owned, and 14 were BIPOC-owned.

And this is an amazing program, one of many that the SBI promotes throughout the city that unfortunately may be due to these cuts at the federal level.

In fact, we just learned today that the Small Business Administration in the city of Seattle will be shutting down.

So that means that a lot of the support that this organization provides to our businesses will no longer go away, negatively impact LGBTQ-owned businesses and minority-owned businesses that rely on those minority-focused grants, as well as the small business community in general, as they rely on the technical assistance and the loan funding and the support provided by the Small Business Administration.

So going forward, what can the city do?

The city can help provide, can help the business community writ large by providing guidance on how businesses can respond to the DEI, the threats at the DEI level.

There is a lot of confusion and there are a lot of unknowns that in terms of what businesses can or cannot do, what they can or cannot say.

That has unfortunately resulted in less investment and less support in terms of technical assistance for businesses that want to continue their DEI support.

Seattle can also help to continue providing supplier procurement opportunities to LGBTQ-owned small businesses and can encourage the state and local supplier procurement offices that you work with to do that as well.

Thank you so much.

Wonderful.

Thank you.

And next we'll hear from the Office of Labor Standards.

Thank you so much, council member, and thank you, council members, for the opportunity to talk with you today about the work of our office in the context of worker and labor rights in the city of Seattle.

If there ever was a moment which actually demonstrated the wisdom of creating a separate local office to protect workers and set labor standards, it is right now, in a time of retrenchment and retreat and hostility from the federal government towards workers.

in a time when we see changes on federal labor standards enforcement from the Department of Labor, changes to the legal authority and interpretation of federal labor law, and the intersection of these issues with the communities that we've been talking about today.

It's more important than ever that we have a local office here funded by and supported by the city to uphold worker rights and to educate the community, both businesses and workers, about their responsibilities to uphold the city's labor standards.

And so I'm pleased to lead an office that's been working on this now for a 10-year period, since the beginning when we became part of the Office for Civil Rights, and the wisdom of the prayer councils and mayors to establish both the labor standards protections that created the minimum wage and wage theft laws, which are celebrating their 10 years anniversaries this year and also demonstrating how the city of Seattle has a history of going on its own when it needs to, to protect the rights of the people who live and work in this city and our office is testimony to that.

You know, I think it's important that we do have the opportunity to put this in the context of the workers who are being impacted by the current environment and the workers who we rely on, who are the people who are making our city function and who our labor standards protect.

We are a certifying agency for UNT visas.

I signed six affidavits this morning to support the applications of people who are workers, and we've been a certifying agency for a long time.

And that is because, as a labor standards agency, these workers are coming forward to secure their rights, and our responsibility is to help them as they need to to support their status.

You know, in light of federal policy changes, we've heard from community partners about concerns that immigrant workers are increasingly afraid of reporting labor standards to government agencies and interacting with government.

And fortunately, we've had a long history that is part of the foundation of our office.

It's in our enabling ordinance that created both business outreach and community outreach programs.

funded programs.

We work very closely in partnership with organizations that are embedded in this community who have relationships directly with the workers that are most impacted by our labor laws.

And that means that we have an opportunity and a good foundation to build stronger and new ways to partner with communities in our outreach and enforcement efforts to ensure that labor protections to immigrant workers and workers of all backgrounds are safeguarded.

And in that context, I want to just talk about some specific issues or information that might be helpful for you to know.

And just a reminder that our labor standards in the city of Seattle apply regardless of immigration status.

If I could say one thing on endless loop, I would do that because it's important for people to know that our laws apply regardless of immigration status.

And we have established protocols over the history of our office to ensure and protect immigrant workers who we intersect with over the course of an investigative process, and our process aligns with both the municipal code and the mayor's January 10th directive, and we're pleased that we have had those processes.

Many of them have been in place since the prior Trump administration and earlier.

In our investigations and in our outreach and enforcement work, we never ask about or document immigration status.

We don't want to know.

Please don't tell us.

We are transparent, though, with the communities we interact with that as a government agency, we are subject to the public disclosure laws of the state of Washington and are legally required to disclose most written information that we have that is either created by us or given to us.

So, you know, we are working with our community partners to ensure that, you know, we inform them that we don't need to know about immigration status in the context of where a complainant comes forward with a concern.

Finally, I think it's important to hold up, and we talked about language access.

Our department has had one of the most robust language access programs of a city agency and among labor standards offices nationally.

It's core to what we do.

It's part of our racial equity commitment.

It's part of making our work accessible to the workers who are most directly impacted by our laws.

and we are committed to doing that and you can look among the 19 or 20 languages on our website to know that that commitment's here to stay and it's part of what we do in partnership with the Office of Immigration and Refugee Affairs and our community partners as well.

Community partnerships, I think they have expressed some concerns anecdotally, and what I'm gonna talk about really is anecdotally, because we are only six weeks into the current administration.

So they've observed some decline in participation in in-person trainings, some hesitation in interacting with government officials, and a strong avoidance to signing up for trainings, programs, or services with their names, a desire not to be identified as by name for concern about where that information will go.

You know, it's too early to see these changes necessarily on our complaint and intake data.

We know that that is out there.

We're paying attention to it and we're tracking to see what's happening in that regard.

Many complaints come to OLS through our community partners.

my colleague right next to me from the Fair Work Center is a core part of that work that we do in community.

And so they learn information, bring that information to our organization.

And so any impacts that are going on, they're gonna spill over into their intake work and they can talk about that.

And we're gonna continuously monitor how this is gonna happen as time goes on and just trust the observations of the frontline folks.

who are seeing this and then adapt accordingly.

And so we are going to be working to continue to adjust our outreach and education activities, not only to workers, but to the business community as well, because we know how critical it is to have accurate information upstream to businesses about labor standards.

And so we are also talking about supporting businesses in our communities where they are also concerned about being impacted by immigration enforcement actions.

It's not just the workers, it's the business owners as well and the workers who work for them.

And making sure that similarly, we are doing in language, culturally responsive, relevant work with those business owners as well.

So, Seattle's labor standards, I think, have been, you know, the range of them that we enforce have been enforced for a number of years, some newer than others, some older.

I think we're well positioned to operate in this environment as strategically as possible, as actively as possible, given the level of federal sovereignty.

We are going to be able to do that.

going to lean hard into our community partnerships because we know how important that is and we're going to continue our inclusive practices that make sure that workers and business exactly what is expected of them in terms of labor standards.

And I look forward to working with you all in collaboration with the mayor's office on any future endeavors you have in the labor standards area.

So thank you.

Thank you.

And next we'll hear from the MLK Labor Council and then rounding us out the Fair Work Center.

Good afternoon, council members.

My name is Rego Valdez, and I coordinate multi-union organizing at MLK Labor.

As the central labor council for King County, MLK Labor represents 150 unions and 150,000 workers in our region.

The impacts of this federal administration are already being felt deeply by workers in our movement.

We're already working with federal local unions supporting laid off workers.

Many of the workers that Council Member Strauss mentioned in the letter are union members.

And so we are supporting those unions and supporting those members here in Seattle.

We are devastated by the funding of the infrastructure, the defunding of the infrastructure and how it affects construction workers and their families.

We're concerned about how defunding Medicaid will impact union members in health care, child care, and elder care.

Our members literally make King County function across every industry, And as a labor council, we are working to mitigate the impacts of this administration on affected union members.

We need local government to work in lockstep with us to address the gaps that have been created by the federal government.

We are working with local unions to capacitate them on how they can preemptively protect all immigrant union members.

The federal government has already taken steps to abruptly end several programs that have provided temporary protection from deportation for thousands of union members.

With programs like DALE, Deferred Action for Labor Enforcement and Temporary Protective Status, TPS at risk of being terminated.

A growing number of members are at risk, serious risk, as they are coming to their union looking for information that they can trust.

MLK Labor has already held trainings with more than 40 affiliates.

to proactively safeguard Seattle and King County workers.

We've partnered with organizations like Wysen and Fair Work Center because we know that we need a strong labor community partnership to address this crisis.

As unions, we know that we have a legal obligation to protect and defend our members.

But as the King County labor movement, we believe that we have a moral duty to stand up for all workers, regardless of industry, regardless of race, regardless of legal status, and regardless of union membership.

What's happening at the federal level has already impacted workers' willingness to come forward with their labor rights when their labor rights are being grossly violated.

Workers are experiencing immigration-based intimidation, and bad actors are more emboldened than ever to use the threat of deportation as a tactic to stop worker organizing.

In a recent campaign in the agricultural sector, the company explicitly used the threat of immigration enforcement to scare workers away from forming their union.

The company was willing to decimate its own workforce to continue suppressing labor rights, knowing that they would face no repercussions from this federal government.

We are deeply concerned that other employers in Seattle will start doing the same, betraying workers who create their wealth with their labor.

It is MLK Labor's position that strengthening protections for all workers is of the utmost importance, and it should also be at the top of this council's agenda.

Seattle has been at the vanguard of workers' rights nationally.

I think I've heard it said at least three times today that testing and providing proof of concept for the countries, for the whole country, that a minimum wage for $15 was not too high, and that rideshare drivers could have a union without the economy collapsing.

And now, And now is not the time to abandon those values or to cower in the fear of authoritarianism.

Our city's labor movement is committed to working with you to ensure that Seattle remains a national labor leader in upholding strong labor standards and rights for all workers.

We ask our city's leadership not to comply in advance with illegal or unconstitutional executive orders.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you, and our last speaker will be the Fair Work Center.

I think the technical term is batting cleanup.

Hi everybody, Danielle Alvarado, Executive Director at Fair Work Center.

As a workers' rights organization, we spent the last decade doing both community outreach, Know Your Rights Work, and representing workers.

We have a free legal services program.

It's the only program of its kind in the state that only does employment law.

And so I hope that my comments today can help illustrate what's happening in terms of implementation and on the ground.

The workers that we work with are by and large the workers that many folks have already captured in their comments, the workers who are most likely to be targeted by some of the federal directives that I know that we're all concerned about.

And we're really seeing some of the alarming impacts of what's happening at the national level already here in Seattle.

So some of the ways we can think about the connection between the federal and the local is, of course, in terms of what the policies are, but also how they are enforced.

And folks probably can understand that for many people in the community, there's a lot of talk about what people's rights are, particularly as immigrants, and it's not necessarily clear to people is a change that they've heard about, something a federal agency is doing or a state agency or a local agency.

They might not even know that there's three different agencies.

And so what we're seeing is a lot of confusion and a lot of hesitation to come forward or to continue with cases that people are already involved in.

So there's certainly the work directing people to OLS or to other government agencies.

We also provide free legal services, so we are often representing people too.

And in those cases that are already ongoing, we've seen our clients be much less willing to sign their name to declarations, to come to mediations, to come to court.

And whether or not their formal rights have changed, there's a level of apprehension that is really palpable.

We have a case right now Unfortunately, we're seeing that in some cases, defendants are specifically targeting people because they know in this environment immigrant clients are going to have other concerns in addition to wanting to enforce their rights.

So we have a case right now that involves a Seattle business.

And in the course of that litigation, we have had reports that the Spanish-speaking workers specifically and only have been asked to sign English waivers of their rights, giving up their claims.

So that's happening in the context Rigo said is the kind of thing that we are concerned about becoming normalized, not because every business in Seattle takes that orientation, but because we're operating in a national climate where that type of anti-immigrant sentiment is becoming normalized.

And the issue with confusion is not just about the impact for an individual person, because I think we should understand that when people are not clear about what their rights are, that creates a much bigger opportunity for people to not raise concerns, whether it's through enforcement or proactively addressing concerns in the workplace.

So we have the possibility that there are issues that could be addressed or violations that are happening that we don't even know about.

because people are not sure if the rights that they had in Seattle before continue to be rights that are available to them.

And again, it's the national messaging that creates additional confusion.

And we know there's an onslaught of updates and changes and executive orders, and it's withdrawn.

And so that amount of confusion is certainly something that we're getting a lot of questions about.

And I think, as other folks have said, that lack of clarity frankly, hostile messaging to the kind of people that we work with and so many of us are connected to really will erode trust with the city, whether or not the city supports it or has done anything with it, unless we're proactive in bridging that gap.

And we know in the context of labor enforcement, I just want to uplift that From my perspective, the labor work that we do is not only thinking about workers.

It's thinking about businesses that are trying to do right by their workers, be a part of our local economy, and to be subjected to unfair competition by having other people who are getting away with violating the law really has a huge impact on businesses that we want to have in our city and to be able to support.

And I think something that's important to know is that, unfortunately, we have not yet seen all of the action that we will see at the federal level on a range of issues.

But even specifically talking about labor agencies, I think we can expect additional weakening of the work that happens at the Department of Labor, the National Labor Relations Board, some of our federal labor standards.

So we don't know yet, both on the substantive and in terms of public perception, what the implications of that are going to be.

And so there's a lot of work that we have been doing that others, again, the privilege and burden of being last is that other folks here are some of the people that we're working really closely with.

For us as a workers' rights organization, we've always spent a lot of our organizational time and focus on immigrant workers, that is a deepened priority for us now.

So naturally, the work has to shift to talk to people, to clarify, here are the rights that you still do have.

But we're having a lot of conversations and doing a lot of the joint training because we know if we don't address the other concerns that people have about their safety and their children and what happens before they get to the training, we won't be able to have the conversation about what their rights are in the workplace.

And we are really committed to making sure that we do our part to make sure that our city continues to be the city that we all deserve and that we're all so committed to.

There's a few things that I think I wanna make sure I uplift because there's some things that we're doing right that we need to continue.

I really, really strongly want to underscore what we heard already about how good it is that we have an Office of Labor Standards.

It is very possible, and I think probably all of us have been in situations where we think, this sounds kind of hyperbolic, or we couldn't be in this situation.

But it's really possible that in the coming months, OLS might be the only agency that a person can access.

And so I think that we should just be aware that having that infrastructure is something that we will need to rely on and rely on in different ways potentially, and it's really, really important.

And something else that I think is a practice that we collectively bring to this moment is the prior experience we have with government community partnerships.

all over the city on a range of issues.

There are community-based organizations that have the relationships, that have the cultural competence, that have the expertise, that are going to be really important to help bridge the gap with the good infrastructure and commitment and services that we might have at the city and the fear that is going to, unfortunately, be intentionally generated by other parts of the government.

And so I just think that we bring expertise Certainly on the community side we do.

I know with OIRA and OLS and other departments that we have practice in how to do that in a way that really gets people where they need to go.

And so I just wanna make sure that we keep tapping into that.

And then the third thing that I think is a resource for all of us is just how committed we are to the kind of city that we know we want to have, the city that we're committed to.

I echo what other folks said about the asks around being vocal with the platform that you all have, and also creating opportunities for people to see the confidence that you have in organizations like ours.

And I'm not just talking about my organization when I say that.

There are so many organizations around the city that can help connect people who are really isolated right now, and so I urge you To continue doing that, I get many of your newsletters.

I see the way you uplift people working in your district.

And just know that that is really important and sends a really important message to people at a time when they're being discouraged from connecting to resources that are there for them.

And I'll close it just by saying that that leadership is sending strong messages.

The work that Seattle has done on so many issues is already uplifted nationally.

In this moment, I think you all and the rest of the city have an opportunity to continue that and also to think about how to lead not on one specific issue and not just thinking nationally, but even in other parts of our state.

I think right now people are really looking to Seattle and so we're very encouraged by that and are here to partner with you all as we chart our way forward.

Thanks.

Amazing.

Thank you.

Thank you all.

Colleagues, we just heard a lot here, and I know there's a lot of questions, and I do want to quickly state for the record and thank Council President Nelson for being a part of today's meeting.

She did let our team know ahead of time that she'd have to leave at 4, so thankful that she hung on until 4.30.

Just wanted to state that for the record.

And now I'd love to open it up for questions to our amazing panel.

Councilman Chair, thank you.

I wanna thank the panelists for being here.

I wanna say that, unfortunately, I'm gonna have to run, because I have to meet a constituent back in the district, and I have to get there, but I really wanna, give a strong shout out to our director, Hamdi Mohamed, who's really been holding down the front at the city.

She and I are in close contact, and I always, on our Monday briefings, share back what she shares with me about the work that OIRA is doing, which is a lot.

and I will say that I'm so appreciative because we've been funding things like the Legal Defense Network for a long time, as well as, you know, the workforce development work out of OIRA, and then the language access work, and all of that will continue, and I know this is something that Director Muhammad and her staff team at OIRA are prioritizing.

I also know that the city via director Mohammed is engaged at the state level with the governor and sitting on those as part of this collaboration and coalition, because local cities and municipalities can't do this alone.

We have to look at our county and our state partners to do this work together.

I really also want to give a shout out to Governor Ferguson, who you know recently created a state rapid response team.

I know that, like I said, Director Muhammad's been very plugged into the state level.

And then also I want to say that our city attorney, Ann Davison, also joined that coalition of municipalities in the legal lawsuit related to the sanctuary city policies.

So I know there's a lot of work at this space.

I'm really happy that I live in Seattle and I live in a city that is so supportive of our immigrant population.

We're all working together with our external partners, with our county partners, and with our state partners to address the work.

And I look forward to our continued collaboration.

on this work.

So thank you all for being here, and I'm so sorry I have to run off, but I did want to say those things, and like I said, I really want to uplift the work of the organization in our, the department in our city, who really is doing the heavy lifting on this particular issue and at this particular time.

So thank you, Director Muhammad and your team, and thank you all for being here.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Councilmember Rivera.

Colleagues, there are questions for our panelists.

Councilmember Kettle.

Thank you, Chair Ring.

Thank you, everyone, for being here.

Director, everybody representing your organization.

It's very important to have this representation.

I just wanted to note, as the son of immigrants, I know the importance of our immigrant communities and its labor to our nation, something that is cemented by my experience with immigrants here in Seattle.

And I know the actions of some immigrant individuals are seized upon to denigrate the entire immigrant set as a whole.

This is wrong.

It should not be done.

Yes, individual cases need to be addressed, but the narrative that America is made better by immigration And the contributions made by the immigrants, and again, it's labor, help form a more perfect union needs to be reaffirmed.

I think of my father who came to America on October 4, 1964, and my mother who came three months later on January 24, 1965. Their dreams and the dreams of the immigrants here in Seattle are something to be embraced for they helped build our American dream.

And I think that's important.

Thank you.

Thank you for those words, Councilmember Kettle.

Council member Solomon.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I really appreciate you all being here today.

I appreciate hearing the work that you're doing.

And I'm, in my brain, trying to problem solve how we insulate ourselves from the madness coming at us from the other side of the country.

How do we protect our people?

How do I protect my staff, my family, who are LGBTQ?

How do I support the small businesses in our community that are just trying to make it?

And they're under threat because of their last name or their national origin.

Or even those of us who are citizens, who have legal status, but are still being targeted because they don't look like, you know, The norm, right?

I have to tell you, I recently had a conversation of our employers, some of whom were walking back their DEI initiatives.

And I'm not going to name who they were, but I did say, why are you bending the knee?

You're the big dogs in this.

It's like, what are they going to do to you, right?

So when I see efforts that are where you have companies who are saying, no, we're going to keep doing DEI because it's good for business.

I wish that more employers would have that moxie and say, no, you know what?

No, we're going to keep doing this because it's good for business.

It makes us stronger.

When I had the opportunity to participate with the commemoration of the Chinese expulsion, a couple of weeks ago and relaying to the crowd there that never again is now, okay?

I really mean that.

And this body, this room is what DEI looks like.

And to have somebody attack DEI without really understanding what it means, You know, DEI means women in the workplace, equal pay for equal work, access for people who are sight impaired, mobility impaired.

That's DEI.

It's not affirmative action hires.

So get that out of your damn vocabulary.

All right, I'm sorry, I'm getting heated.

Anyway, I wanted to figure out how we can work with you to make sure that your efforts are supported, that we push back on the hatred that's coming at us, that's pushing back on the targets that are on the backs of our neighbors, and realizing that our funding is in jeopardy.

Let's be real.

So how do we insulate ourselves from that?

How do we pursue our own funding to ensure that our brothers and sisters can thrive?

How do we ensure that our workers can contribute regardless of their legal status?

I'm a partner with you.

And I don't normally do a whole lot of virtual signaling or speechifying from this platform, but this is really important to me.

And it's also very personal to me.

So I just wanted to get that out.

Oh, also mentioned that at one point I was a member of the GSBA when I had my security consulting business.

So Louise Churnin, shout out to her.

Anyway, that's all I have.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Salomon.

Any other colleagues' questions?

Councilmember Strauss.

Thank you, Chair.

Just want to thank you all for your great work.

It's been an honor to be partnered with some of you for many years now on a host of different things.

Just want to thank you for the work that you're doing.

It takes all of us doing this work together to create the society that we want to see.

And no one can take that from us.

Thank you.

Vice Chair Moore.

Thank you.

So I just wanted to say thank you so much for all your presentations here and for all the work that you're doing.

I know that I feel exhausted after listening to the presentation today.

I can't imagine how you feel day in and day out.

So I do hope that you're able to take some time to deal with what I'm sure is secondary trauma that comes from this incredible work that you're doing.

And I want to recognize that that's the case.

And just to say thank you so much.

We are here.

We are not going to back down.

We're not going to take a knee.

We may not always agree on everything, but what we do agree on is that everybody belongs in this city, and we will fight for that in any way that we can.

Thank you.

Any other questions before I take this?

Okay, I have a couple of questions.

I know it's been quite a meeting, but I wanted to ask because I really appreciated hearing from our Office of Labor Standards about language access.

And I'd love to know from a language access perspective, what are some of our highest priority departments that immigrant and refugee partners are utilizing and interfacing with?

Just thinking about across the board, if there's areas of improvement from a city information access angle.

I'm happy to tackle that.

Well, we like to say that all of our cities, our departments are a priority, but some of the departments we work very closely with that are already doing great work is obviously OLS.

is a strong partner.

SDOT works very closely with us when it comes to citywide dispersing information, working with the mayor's office to make sure things like press releases are translated has been a focus.

And you all are aware that Seattle Center does big events, large events, and sometimes those events are health care events, and we ensure that we partner with them as well, translating materials.

We do use the SmartCat system today.

Across the city of Seattle, each department has access to SmartCat, which is a tool where departments can submit a document that they want translated.

It comes directly to our office.

We then connect it with our translators, have the material translated for that department, and manage the invoicing system.

And so we've streamlined how translation happens so that it's not one department doing it one way and another department doing it another way.

Our goal is to streamline translation, make sure that we're providing the city with tools that they can use to have their documents translated Right now in the moment that we are in with immigration enforcement, obviously SPD is a priority department for us in making sure that our police officers have their materials also translated and ensuring that our community knows that if they are a victim of a crime or they see a crime happen, that they are not fearing reporting that or looking for protections for themselves.

Thank you for that.

And just a question to our two offices that are here.

You all are taking on a lot of work in this time.

Just for the record again, how big are your teams?

Office of Labor Standards, we're about 33, 34.

We're half of that.

So we're about 15 team members.

So we're a very small but mighty team.

And again, our biggest focus as a small team is to figure out how to streamline the work that we're doing and that we're not focused on individual department and individual services, but that we work to create tools that that the entire city can use.

And even some of the trainings that we're doing right now, the train the trainer, it's very hard for us to train every single person in the city of Seattle.

So we're looking at tools like Cornerstone that allows city employees to be able to access that tool and receive the training.

We haven't disseminated that just yet, but those are the types of tools that we look at.

SmartCat, Cornerstone, what are the tools that we have available to us to be able to reach the city very quickly?

But very small team, and our budget is about $6 million.

I'm just thinking about the ways in which we are constantly, I know, directing folks to you all and just trying to get a sense of like, again, the increased amount of work that's coming in from all of these changes and the support for your team in that same vein.

So in that same vein, wondering about for NERP, I'd love to know a little bit more just around numbers in terms of, you know, how many cases you all are supporting on and just how that has changed.

I'm trying to get a sense of scale and kind of what we're coping with and what you all are coping with as an organization.

Great question.

Off the top of my head, I don't know the actual case number.

I can speak for my unit, the VAO unit, which is the largest within NERP.

We have about 17 full-time staff members, and each of our advocates carries a caseload of between 100 and 150 cases.

So we are working on...

thousands of cases per year.

I can also say that we are turning away folks that we can't even do intakes for at a rate of about, and I'm just talking about the ones I see, which would theoretically be VAWA eligible at maybe 12 to 15 people per week from the Seattle front desk, like people we can't even get to their intake because we are so swamped with work, so.

Overall, NERP handles several thousand cases per year.

The nature of immigration cases mean that they are very long lasting.

So when I take on a U visa case, I know that I'm gonna have that case for 10 years, essentially.

So sometimes it's a little hard to say the numbers.

That would be different for our folks in Tacoma that are doing the detention work.

Those turn over much faster.

So I could get you more detailed information, but just off the top of my head, that's what I know.

Just trying to get a sense of like the scope of the challenges that we're facing just to make an informed judgment calls on how we respond.

And I know we didn't touch too much today.

I know there's so much to talk about in this realm.

There's so much to talk about.

But I'm thinking also about our domestic workers in the city and the many ways in which domestic workers follow the radar and often operate that way.

And so if any of the panelists able to speak to what we're seeing on the domestic worker front, we'd love to hear more.

Yeah, I can take that.

So domestic workers are a largely immigrant worker in a women workforce.

And so a lot of the issues around immigration status and treatment at work have really been core to the work that has been done by our organization and others over the last several years to improve that industry and to make it one that's high-quality jobs and also where that workforce can meet all the needs that we know are really present for families.

So we are working now on a bill at the state level that actually just passed the state senate yesterday that will build on the work that we did with the domestic worker ordinance.

And so a couple of things about that that are important is, one, making sure that among other things, retention of personal documents is included as part of the rights because so many people were having their passports and other identification withheld by their employers because of the demographics of that workforce.

So we've really made sure that, in addition to thinking about things like sick time and breaks and pay, that we accounted for some of the particular things that can play out in that industry.

The other thing, and I think this speaks to something that Roxanna mentioned, the domestic workers are certainly not only in Seattle.

They're working all over the state.

And that workforce has really been organized, galvanized around the domestic worker ordinance, but has continued to work together over the last several years.

And something that has been really inspiring is seeing the confidence and sense that the industry can be better and that being public about what you need, even if you are an immigrant woman, even if you are an undocumented person, is a place to reconnect with the power and agency that workers have.

It's something that we have seen over the last several years since we've been able to implement the Domestic Worker Ordinance.

It has really transformed how people see themselves, in part because of how we've changed how the city recognizes the value of that work.

And so seeing that expand at the state level has been really encouraging.

And the fact that, obviously, the timelines are such that we were actually on January 20 Olympia for our first hearing on this bill and to have those women really leading in that space and saying that we are in control of articulating what we need and what makes sense in our communities and we're not just gonna give up and go home despite the substantial challenges that we face really speaks to, I think, the opportunity and mandate we have to really make sure our state is reflecting our values and also to not forget that there's, um, a lot of clarity, uh, that's grounded in the personal experience of workers.

And I think we have a real opportunity to listen to people and continue, you know, following their lead.

And I was just going to add, you know, having, having responsibility to implement the domestic worker ordinance and support the domestic worker standards board, which is the worker board and the worker and hiring entity board that the ordinance created, And this ordinance, which has now been in existence for over five years, and the opportunity for workers to be at the table talking about and developing policy solutions and making recommendations that are directly based on their own experience, that is part of the empowerment that is coming from the work that we have already in place.

It's exciting to see that go statewide, and I think that also points out to a kind of historical experience in this work, which is that we pioneer in Seattle many of these concepts first, and we work through the implementation issues, and then we are able to help support the larger statewide community to take this forward, You know, and it's happened, you know, with minimum wage, it's happened with wage theft, it's happened with PSSD, it's happened with, you know, the rideshare workers' laws.

I mean, there's many, many instances, and this is a key part of that.

And so I think it's important to continue to think about how our city is a leader and a laboratory for really test driving some of these ideas.

Our department implements 19 different ordinances, so there's been a lot of creative thinking over the years, and they're all important protections for workers.

And so we are always, in our work, kind of helping work in combination with other labor agencies outside of Seattle, around the country, as well as with partners throughout the state to help them out.

And we know many of our immigrant neighbors.

I mean, Seattle has become a really expensive city to live in.

We've had many workers and folks just displaced from the city.

So how would you like to see our council partner with King County broadly in this work?

Okay, we're thinking of ideas.

We can follow up on that.

It seems like a space of creativity.

Roxanna?

I mean, I think so many folks have already raised how innovative Seattle has been.

And so I think I have a couple thoughts.

One is how can you all continue to push the boundaries on what's possible?

Because I think you...

you're a little more nimble and you can look at what we can do in the city that then can be scaled.

I was at the organization in 2016. You all were the first ones to establish the legal defense fund and then the county put more money into it.

So I think really thinking about ways that you can innovate and push the boundaries of what's possible.

I think clear communication and being in the same room and figuring out how the city partners with the county, what are the sources of funding that the county can really bring to the table versus the city versus the state.

I think advocates need a clear picture of that, but city officials need a clear picture of that too.

I mean, there's no denying that that budgets are gonna be tight.

And so being strategic about what jurisdiction can fund what, and then the conversations I think are really important, the relationships.

And hopefully one of our hopes as advocates is that we can start to convene a regular space, a monthly space where the county, the port, and the city has a conversation about possibilities and how to coordinate in more strategic ways.

So those are some of my thoughts.

And if I could just quickly add, I would say, and I mentioned this in my time, but working with the county and ensuring that the city continues to support supplier diversity opportunities for minority-owned small businesses, both at the city level and at the county level, and working in tandem with city-county projects, et cetera, to make sure that we're still championing those programs, and as well as supporting and highlighting the businesses that continue to do that important DEI work, and encouraging businesses to continue to do that as well and highlighting the importance of that.

Amazing.

And I have one more question.

I promise we're going to get out at five.

I promise everybody.

I know it's been a long meeting, but it's certainly an important one.

And my question is, each of us as council members have our own email list.

We send out biweekly messages to our constituents.

What do you think are some of the most important messages or pieces of information to get out to our respective listservs?

I definitely think it can't be said enough reiterating to people what services are available to all residents.

I think that's something that we can take for granted as being obvious or especially when we've had some laws that have been on the books for a long time or when we're really familiar with a particular issue.

But I just want to underscore, especially in an environment where distrust of government and assumption that government does not work and is not there to serve a public good is such a strong narrative that seeing uplifting both what is available and how to access it is something that I really think you all can play a helpful role in and I think the newsletters are one tool to do that but would be happy to explore other ways to connect those dots because, again, there's people who are maybe not paying attention because that newsletter, you know, that whatever the issue is, like, hasn't happened to them yet, right?

And then they're going back and saying, like, wait, what do I do about this now?

And so I just think some of that is really, really important.

And we have people all the time who are coming to us asking questions.

questions about accessing services that are provided by the city.

And it is actually so wonderful to be able to say, actually, you live in a place where that is a resource that's provided.

You know, in a lot of places, we would have to say, sorry, the city doesn't handle that, or that's not a priority.

And so connecting those dots, I think, is one option.

I think a lot of what you all just said in front of us is really important.

We're in an environment where people are looking for hope.

They're looking for leadership on this issue.

And so saying things like, we're not going to back down.

We've joined these lawsuits.

We're standing strong.

being very explicit about the steps the city's taking.

And then I think to the extent that you can, debunking myths.

I mean, so much of this administration's strategy is to invoke fear and to send people into chaos.

So even things that were shared today, like we are, please do.

registry and put your information in.

We're waiting for rulemaking.

Any ways you can use your access to your constituents and your list to debunk.

There's so much misinformation.

And I think there's a lot of trust in you all and in getting that information out.

And I would just say on the business level, I think having guidance on how businesses can continue their DEI work, continue to support their employees, and their workers and reiterating both to workers and employers what their rights are and what the current law is.

The executive orders do not create laws and they don't make laws go away.

And so, yeah, really just kind of demystifying a lot of what's happening from the executive.

Well, with that, I want to thank you all for the work you do.

Vice Chair Moore put it well, thinking about every day you all are doing work that is remarkably challenging, especially with a community that is experiencing a lot of violence towards it.

And so I'm just really grateful for you all taking time out of your day to engage with us on this matter.

I hope you hear that.

there are partners up here that want to be working alongside you all to problem solve and what's ahead.

And so thank you for the work you do and just looking forward to our continued work together to stand by our communities and make sure Seattle remains a leader in this space.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you all for your consideration.

Colleagues, we have reached the end of today's agenda.

Is there anything for the good of the order?

Hearing no further business to come before the committee, we are adjourned.

It is 5.03.