Seattle City Council 4262021

Good afternoon, everyone.

The April 26, 2021 meeting of the Seattle City Council will come to order.

It's 2 o'clock p.m.

I'm Lorena Gonzalez, President of the Council.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Flores?

Here.

Lewis?

Present.

Morales?

Here.

Peterson?

Here.

Sawant?

Present.

Strauss?

Present.

Herbal?

We have a presentation that's being brought to us by Councilmember Herbold.

There were two Councilmembers who are present now in full Council that were not present or unavailable during Council in open public session, whether or not they would like to have their signature added to the proclamation recognizing April 2021 as Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

So I'll just call on each of you by name and you can indicate whether you'd like your signature added to the proclamation or not.

I'll start with Council Member Sawant.

Would you like your signature added to that proclamation?

Yes, please add my signature.

Thank you.

And then Council Member Juarez, would you like your name added?

Yes.

Thank you so much.

Great.

So it's two additional signatures added there.

Appreciate the opportunity to ask the question.

Okay, Council Member Herbold again has a proclamation recognizing April 2021 as Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

She is going to present that and then we will allow for comments from other Council Members should there be any additional comments.

After Council Member comments conclude, we'll suspend the rules to allow our guests to accept the proclamation and provide comments.

Council Member Herbold, I'm going to hand it over to you to present the proclamation.

Thank you so much.

Let's see here.

So it is April and April is the month of the year that we annually recognize Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

As Chair of the Committee with Responsibility for Human Services and Public Safety, I'm proud to have the opportunity to bring forward this proclamation declaring April to be Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

Councilmembers had the opportunity this morning their signatures.

The mayor has concurred and the clerks have prepared a final signed proclamation.

The pandemic has turned everything about our lives upside down.

Statewide organizations that assist sexual assault survivors report that demand for their services surged to 50 to 75 percent above normal levels last year.

In a statewide survey, they reported finding among survivors that finding more acute mental health problems, financial losses, housing instability, and lack of access to other supportive services.

Communities of color, refugee, and immigrant communities are more significantly affected.

Survivors are also experiencing new obstacles to finding health, ranging from lack of privacy for telehealth, or calling a hotline, lack of adequate technology to access services or obtain a protection order online, and fear of contacting coronavirus if they seek in-person care.

Young people are cut off from trusted adults and teachers.

They otherwise might ask for help.

The federal ARPA relief package includes $450 million for domestic violence and sexual assault services, including funding community-based organizations to provide culturally specific services, a really important recognition of the pandemic's impact on survivors of sexual assault.

I appreciate that council supported adding funding for gender-based violence services to our own resolution about ARPA funding priorities just a couple weeks ago now.

It's more important than ever to reach survivors of sexual assault with the message that your experience matters and help is available to you.

As the proclamation says, King County is home to many organizations that provide culturally and linguistically specific services for survivors from various racial, ethnic, faith, and cultural communities.

Survivors who are immigrants and refugees, survivors who are LGBTQ, and survivors with disabilities.

These culturally specific services are critical to effectively respond to the specific needs and barriers many survivors face.

The best place to start is the 24-hour resource line at 888-99-VOICE, run by King County Sexual Assault Resource Center.

Trained advocate will answer your call, will provide crisis intervention, information, and referrals.

Ongoing support is 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with in-language service available.

I want to thank Tana Yasu of the Seattle Women's Commission, and Laurel Redden of the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center, and the Coalition for Ending Gender-Based Violence for their work on today's proclamation.

We have some special guests joining us today to accept the proclamation and to share their thoughts.

We have Sophia Lee of the Seattle Women's Commission, and we have Lesbi Aradhana of Consejo Counseling.

And I just wanna, again, thank you both for being here virtually with council to mark this really important moment with the proclamation, the Seattle Council and the Mayor declare April to be Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

Thank you so much for your leadership and for accepting this proclamation.

Thank you, Council Member Herbold.

Colleagues, are there any other comments on the proclamation before we invite Sofia and Lesvia to share some comments with us?

I'm not seeing any hands raised, so I'm going to go ahead and suspend the rules to hear from our guests.

If there is no objection, the council rules will be suspended to allow Lesbia Oriana of Consejo Counseling and Sophia Lee of Seattle Women's Commission to accept the proclamation and provide remarks.

Hearing no objection, the council rules are suspended, and I want to warmly welcome to the city council meeting our guests.

I'm going to go ahead and hand it over to you both to provide remarks to the City Council and the viewing public.

Welcome.

And then Les, do you want to go first or does Sofia want to go first?

I can go first.

Okay, go ahead.

Welcome.

Hello, good afternoon.

My name is Lesley Orellana.

I am the sexual assault response coordinator and represent Consejo Counseling and Referral Services, a nonprofit organization that serves the city of Seattle with sexual assault survivor services to support and provide the opportunity to heal and recovery from sexual trauma.

Consejo also provides behavioral health, mental health, addiction treatment, transitional housing, and domestic violence services.

Consejo has been serving the Seattle community for 43 years.

I am here to accept the Sexual Assault Awareness Month proclamation.

And on behalf of our organization, I want to thank you for being a part of the solution to sexual violence.

April is a time to come together to build awareness about sexual assault and recognize the courage of our survivors.

We are grateful.

We and other community-based non-profits organizations reaffirm our commitment to supporting survivors of sexual assault and can be there for every victim who finds the strength and courage to disclose their abuse.

Healing and recovery are possible.

Ending sexual violence is possible.

and everyone has a role to play.

Thank you for your leadership and willingness to help the community understand more about sexual assault and resources that are available for help and information.

We can change what we can talk about.

By talking about sexual violence, we send an important message to the survivors.

You are not alone.

and your story matters.

Consejo stands with the courageous survivors and is committed to equity services for monolingual immigrants impacted by sexual abuse and sexual violence.

Thank you.

Thank you, Blas.

Appreciate you having you here and appreciate all the work that Consejo does within community really.

Really appreciate your strong words.

Sophia, would you like to share anything with us?

Yeah, sure.

Thank you.

Every 73 seconds, someone is sexually assaulted in the United States.

Every 73 seconds.

By the end of this piece, that will be around three more people.

Sexual assault is more than just rape.

It is also human trafficking, harassment, Revenge porn, coercion, and unsolicited nudes.

Sexual assault is not only physical abuse, but mental and emotional abuse as well.

It affects every race, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background.

The people who commit these heinous acts attempt to steal power from others.

And while survivors of sexual assault are not powerless, they do face undue stigma.

stigma that they should not have to bear.

They face victim blaming, shaming, shunning, and cyberbullying.

The stigma and the cruelty survivors face are some of the factors that contribute to making sexual crimes among the most underreported crimes.

It is the survivors that have to carry the burden of the hate.

We need to believe in survivors and support them.

We need to step up and say that sexual assault and harassment are not okay.

When your friends talk to women who have already said no, that is the time to speak up.

When your friends make people noticeably uncomfortable, that is the time to speak up.

It is our actions and culture that allow sexual assault to be so persuasive pervasive.

We can all do better to stop sexual assault and it starts with changing what we deem socially acceptable.

We must stop condoning harassment.

We must begin respecting each other.

Seattle as a whole must come together and commit to preventing sexual assault and sexual harassment, support survivors and making sure that those who commit these acts are held accountable.

As Council Member Herbold mentioned, the pandemic has made it more challenging for survivors to get resources and the support they need.

Victims are reluctant to go to the hospital to get forensics done to expose your risk of COVID.

Crisis centers and social services program providers have struggled to provide the necessary in-person resources during this time of social distancing and virtual meetings.

Survivors find themselves more isolated than ever during this time without being able to connect with friends and family directly.

We must strengthen our efforts to support survivors whose troubles are aggravated by the ongoing pandemic.

In conjunction with the city the Seattle Women's Commission has been working on this proclamation.

And we hope to raise awareness, support survivors and send a clear message to everyone that sexual assault in all forms is not acceptable.

And as that a city, we will come together and meet all the survivors with understanding and support.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Sofia, for your remarks.

And to Les, gracias to both of you.

Thank you so much for being with us.

But more importantly, thank you for doing the work that you all do in lifting up the voices that we oftentimes don't hear, who are impacted by the insidious reality of violence, gender-based violence within our communities.

Really appreciate you spending some time out of your busy day with us today to accept this important proclamation and to acknowledge the work that is still yet to be done to meaningfully address gender-based violence within our communities.

So thank you so much for being with us, and thank you for all your work.

You are, of course, welcome to leave the meeting now, and we will go ahead and do other items of business on our agenda.

But thank you so much for being with us.

Really appreciate it.

Okay, folks, we're going to go ahead and go to our next item of business, which is approval of the minutes.

The minutes of the city council meetings of April 12th and 19th, 2021 have been reviewed.

If there's no objection, the minutes will be signed.

Hearing no objection, the minutes are being signed.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the minutes?

If there is no objection, the introduction and referral calendar will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the introduction and referral calendar is adopted.

Colleagues, we're going to go ahead and move to approve the agenda.

As mentioned during council briefing this morning, Council Member Sawant does have an amendment to the agenda for today.

So I'm going to go ahead and move it.

Then we'll have a second, and then Council Member Sawant can make her motion to amend the agenda for today.

I move to adopt the agenda.

Is there a second?

Second.

It's been moved and seconded to adopt the agenda.

I'm going to hand it over to Council Member Sawant so that she can make her motion.

Thank you.

I move to amend today's agenda by adding Resolution 3204 titled, quote, a resolution prioritizing people over the profits of pharmaceutical companies supporting the production of COVID-19 vaccine around the world urging President Biden to end U.S. opposition to the waiver from certain provisions of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights TRIPS Agreement for the Prevention, Containment, and Treatment of COVID-19 at the World Trade Organization," end quote, and by placing it in the Adoption of Other Resolutions section on the agenda.

Thank you so much.

Is there a second?

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded to amend the agenda by adding resolution 32004. Are there any additional comments on the amendment?

If I can just add a few things.

Sure.

Thank you.

As I explained at the council briefing this morning, this resolution is time sensitive and with a new round of WTO meetings approaching, including a formal TRIPS council gathering plan for April 30th, which is in four days, and then a general council meeting due in early May.

We want this resolution to join the Seattle City Council as part of a global effort by activists and organizations in support of the waiver to make sure that vaccines are available throughout the world, and I will reserve the rest of my comments for when we discuss the agenda item, but I urge council members to support it.

Thank you so much.

Any additional comments on the amendment to the agenda?

Hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the amendment to today's agenda?

Lewis?

Aye.

Lewis?

Yes.

Morales?

Yes.

Peterson?

Yes.

Sawant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

Herbold?

Yes.

And Council President Gonzalez?

Aye.

Ayten, favored, none opposed?

Motion carries.

The agenda is amended with resolution 32004 added under the adoption of other resolution section on the agenda.

Are there any further comments on the agenda?

Hearing no further comments on the agenda, the motion carries and the agenda is adopted as amended.

All right, colleagues, we're going to go ahead and start public comment at this time.

We will open the remote public comment period for items on the City Council agenda, introduction and referral calendar, and the Council's work program.

I want to continue to thank everyone for their ongoing patience and cooperation as we continue to operate this remote public comment system.

It remains a strong intent of the City Council to have remote public comment regularly included on meeting agendas.

However, as a reminder, the City Council reserves the right to end or eliminate these public comment periods at any point if we deem that the system is being abused or is no longer suitable for allowing our meetings to be conducted efficiently and effectively.

I'll moderate today's public comment period in the following manner.

The public comment period for this meeting was noticed at 20 minutes.

under normal circumstances, each speaker would be allowed up to two minutes to address the city council.

However, we have over 35 people who signed up for public comment today.

So as a result, I'm going to extend the public comment period, but shorten each speaker's allotted time from two minutes to one minute each.

So colleagues, if there is no objection, the public comment period will be extended from 20 to 30 minutes total.

Hearing no objection, the public comment period is extended to a total of 30 minutes.

Again, each speaker will have one minute to address the City Council.

Speakers are called upon in the order in which they registered to provide public comment on the Council's website.

Each speaker must call in from the phone number used for this registration and using the meeting phone number, ID, and PASCO that was emailed to them upon confirmation.

This is different than the general meeting listen line call information.

Again, I will call on each speaker by name and in the order in which they registered on the council's website.

If you haven't yet registered to speak but would like to, you can sign up before the end of public comment by going to council's website at Seattle.gov forward slash council.

The public comment link is also listed on today's agenda.

Once I call your name, staff will unmute your microphone and you will hear the automatic prompt of you have been unmuted.

This means that it is your turn to speak, but before you begin speaking, you must press star six in order to unmute yourself.

Please begin speaking by stating your name, the item that you are addressing, and as a reminder, public comment should relate to an item on today's agenda, the introduction and referral calendar, or the council's work program.

Speakers are going to hear a chime when 10 seconds are left of your allotted time.

Once you hear the chime, I'd ask that you please begin to wrap up your public comment.

If you don't wrap up your public comment within the allotted time provided, your microphone will be muted to allow us to call on the next speaker.

Once you've completed your public comment, we ask that you please disconnect from the line.

And if you plan to continue following this meeting, you can do so via Seattle channel or any 1 of the listening options listed on the agenda.

Colleagues, the public comment period is now open.

It is 2.22, so we will go until 2.52 p.m.

approximately.

And the first two names on my list are Howard Gale and Grayson Van Arsdale.

Howard, welcome.

Hi.

Good morning or afternoon.

Howard Gale, commenting on continuing police abuse and failed accountability.

I am often asked what explains the council members' repeated strong emotional responses to the police murder of George Floyd, but the near total silence and total inaction on the recent SBD murders of Ayoce Ofalotogo, Danny Rodriguez, Ryan Smith, Sean Ford, Terry Kaver, and Derek Hayden.

I just launched a Twitter poll to try to answer this question with the possible explanations being they were bad people, the SBD is always right, I didn't notice who died, and lastly, The SPD is reformed and we have adequate accountability, so there can't be a problem.

I would invite the council members to comment on Twitter if they think there are other reasons for their complacence and silence.

Personally, I believe the last option to be the explanation that the discomfort and cognitive dissonance created by questioning our accountability system is so great that you just assume these SPD murders must be justified, thereby avoiding questioning them.

We need full civilian control of the police now.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up is Grayson Van Arsdale, followed by Sujatha Romney.

Grayson, welcome.

Hi, I'm Grayson.

I'm a renter in the Central District, and I want to urge City Council to pass Council Member Salwan's resolution stating that the Biden administration should waive patent restrictions for vaccines.

Vaccine equity should concern all of us.

Seattle isn't a closed, isolated system, and vaccine access in the Global South is an urgent issue for the entire world.

India charted 350,000 cases in a single day this past week, forcing the Biden administration to plan to share 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is still woefully inadequate and does nothing structurally to help the global South respond to outbreaks.

Four countries shouldn't have to depend on the whims of the United States government for vaccine access, and they should be able to manufacture the doses they need.

There isn't a credible reason to not pass this resolution, in my view, and there's also no credible way to minimize the impact that this resolution from the city council could have.

Seattle has in the past set national and international precedents.

And if the members of the city council do believe in people over profit, you should pass this resolution immediately because that is the core of this question.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up is Sujatha Romney, followed by Daniel Kavanaugh.

Good afternoon.

My name is Sujatha Romney.

I am a member of the Coalition of Seattle Indian Americans.

I urge the Council to pass Council Member Sarvan's resolution urging President Biden to suspend IP claims to the COVID vaccine without any delay.

While civil society is focused on a temporary suspension of the TRIPS provision, let me highlight the fact that pharma companies are racketeering with vaccines.

The mRNA technique itself was a product of taxpayer-funded research.

Oxford University was strong-armed into selling its IP to AstraZeneca by our very own beloved vaccine racketeer, Bill Gates.

Grabbing public goods and selling it back to the public at inflated prices is nothing short of looting.

The U.S. government must stop being an agent of these looters and racketeers and must permanently waive all IP claims to the vaccine and openly share technical know-how with the world.

Thank you.

Next up is Daniel Kavanaugh, followed by Marina Skumanich.

Hey, my name's Dan.

I'm a member of Socialist Alternative and a renter in the CD, and council members need to urgently pass Council Member Sawant's resolution on vaccine patents.

And the council can have an impact on global issues.

Last year, our movement won a council resolution against racist citizenship laws in India.

Five U.S. cities followed suit, and it played a role in international pressure, forcing Modi to walk back the attack.

And lifting these patents is urgent.

The longer the virus exists anywhere, the more of a threat it is to ending the pandemic everywhere, with the possibility of vaccine-resistant strains.

And Trump blocked the vaccine patent waiver in December.

But now we've had a new administration for three months.

There's no excuse.

We need to pass this without delay.

And to everyone listening in, I just want to say capitalism has completely failed to deal with the pandemic.

Vaccine companies are putting profits over World Health.

They pour money into both political parties.

And we need to fight for every victory we can win today.

But the huge problems we face can't be solved on the basis of capitalism.

We need to get organized to fight for a socialist world.

Next up is Marina followed by Madeline Olson.

Okay.

Here I am.

Marina Skoumanis.

Thanks for listening to me speak.

I urge you to vote yes on the TRIPS waiver resolution for COVID vaccines.

This is a matter of the utmost urgency given the raging pandemic and rarely is it the case in policy that the most altruistic impulse is directly in sync with the most crass self-interested calculation.

But that is the case here.

For no one is safe from COVID unless all of us are made safe.

So we must act act to facilitate vaccine manufacture.

And this is not a time to let other secondary mercenary concerns distract us.

I know many will claim that it is not the Seattle City Council's business to pass resolutions related to international law.

I say it is always appropriate for elected officials to express the strong ethical principles of their constituents.

And in this case from the city level on up Our community health programs are directly and strongly affected by the decisions made at the international level on this issue.

We cannot afford to ignore it.

I urge you to do the right thing for your constituents and vote yes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Marina.

Next up is Madeline followed by Zoe Amer.

Hi there.

Can you hear me?

We can go ahead.

Great.

I'm Madeline.

I'm a renter in Green Lake and I just want to urge city councils to support the resolution.

urging Biden to waive IP claims.

Obviously, we're facing an unprecedented global pandemic, and these conditions call for a serious and a rapid response.

Delaying vaccine access for nations by not waiving IP only hurts our chances as an international community to see an end to the pandemic.

And by denying vaccines to other nations, we will just see more waves, and we will see more strains emerge, and potentially seeing the vaccines become less effective with these new strains emerging.

Some folks might be thinking this isn't a Seattle issue, but we can't afford to sit idly by when enforcement of patent restrictions puts us all at risk for continued exposure for years.

In fact, there is a precedent for Seattle to take a stand.

In February of last year, Seattle passed a resolution opposing Islamophobic laws passed by the Modi government, and this resolution in this city set the tone for several other cities to take the same stance, and it led to the government to back away from passing that law.

It's clear what happens here in Seattle does have international implications, so it's vital we act now.

City Council, you have the opportunity to not only do the easy thing, but do the right thing and take a stand.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Next up is Zoe, followed by Margo Stewart.

Hello, my name is Zoe Amer in District 4. I'm here to urge City Council to pass Council Member Solon's resolution.

All year the City Council has given lip service to acknowledging the origins of racism in this country and their commitment to combat racism within our institutions.

We know that the origin of racism in the U.S. especially is private property.

The same logic that enabled slavery now prevents countries, disproportionately countries formerly colonized and exploited by the U.S. and Europe, from producing COVID vaccines that can save millions of lives.

The hoard the vaccine patents for the profit of mega pharma companies and investors is openly to put white supremacist profit above all else.

Bill Gates here in Washington State just publicly defended the hoarding of vaccine patents, citing concerns about safety of production in countries like India, which has simply veiled racism when India already produces over half the generic brand medicine consumed in the U.S.

This makes it crucial for working people in Seattle to take a stand against vaccine racism and in solidarity with workers globally.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up is, hold on, just a minute here.

Next up is Margo.

Go ahead, Margo.

And then after Margo is going to be Bia Lacombe.

Sorry, I didn't mean to jump the gun there, but my name is Margo.

I'm a renter in the Central District, and I'm calling also in support of Council Member Sawant's resolution calling on the Biden administration to waive patent protections on the COVID-19 vaccine.

A year ago, we know the city was at the epicenter of the COVID outbreak in the United States, and that's liable to be the case again in the future if there are unvaccinated people anywhere in the world.

None of us are safe from new strains, and that includes here in Seattle.

And I think that's also to say nothing of prolonging the cycle we've already seen of endless lockdowns and then premature reopenings that working people have had to bear the brunt of the consequences for.

This is a global crisis, and we need a coordinated global response to it.

I think the City Council has the power to take a stand against preventable loss of life that's taking place right now, simply to defend the profits of these big pharmaceutical companies who were in reality totally negligent in preparing for this crisis.

And as others have already noted, these vaccines were developed with public funds.

There's a clear precedent with the Council's stand against the citizenship law in India last year.

And so I urge the Council to follow that precedent again and pass this resolution.

Thank you.

Thank you, Margo.

Next up is Bia, followed by Hillary Hayden.

Hi, my name is Bia.

I'm a renter.

Hi, can you hear me?

Yep, we can.

Sorry about interrupting you.

That's okay.

My name is Bia and I'm a renter in District 3. The Seattle City Council should absolutely be calling on President Biden to immediately waive patent and IP restrictions on COVID vaccines.

Big pharmaceutical companies are making enormous profits by hoarding vaccines for rich countries.

Why should they be allowed to profit when it was the billions of dollars of public resources that made the COVID vaccines possible?

I think the public, working people everywhere, should have free and immediate access to the vaccines that our tax dollars paid for.

With millions of lives at stake and the potential development of vaccine-resistant strains, we need amendments like this passed in every city, starting here in Seattle.

Big pharma billionaires have been lobbying hard against these waivers.

The Democrats are extremely cozy with Big Pharma, so the only thing that's going to pressure them to act is a grassroots movement that takes up these demands and escalates the pressure on the Democrats to respond.

We need a local protest action on April 30th to build pressure on the World Trade Organization and expose the despicable role of billionaires like Bill Gates.

Thank you.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Hilary Hayden, followed by Prashant Nima.

Awesome.

Thank you.

I'm Hillary Hayden.

I'm the executive director at the Washington Fair Trade Coalition, and I'm here to urge you to vote also in favor of Council Member Sawant's resolution today.

Former President Trump was at the center of the U.S.' 's decision not to support a TRIPS waiver at the WTO.

President Biden himself said that he supported this during his campaign, and his own U.S. trade rep, Catherine Tai, signaled U.S. openness to the waiver in her remarks at the WTO only two weeks ago.

For the International Chamber of Commerce, without the waiver, there will be a $9.2 trillion hit to the global economy, and $4.5 trillion of that will be borne by the global north.

For Seattle, that means fewer jobs and a slow and prolonged economic recovery.

It also means fewer contracts for companies operating internationally in the Puget Sound, like Boeing.

Seattle City Council's voice in this is critical.

I urge you to pass this resolution and send the message to President Biden that Seattle City Council has his back when it comes to backing the TRIPS waiver.

Thank you.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Prashant followed by Blythe Serrano.

And Prashant, if you're with us, make sure you press star six so that we can hear you.

Can you hear me now?

We can, go ahead.

My name is Prashanth, and I'm a member of the Coalition of Seattle Indian Americans.

I urge the Council to pass Council Member Sawant's resolution urging the U.S. government to issue IP waivers on COVID-19 vaccines, share the R&D know-how on vaccines, ban all kinds of compulsory surge pricing, lift export bans on vaccine supplies, and release the inventory of AstraZeneca immediately.

I'm reporting on the situation in India.

While the Brahmin supremacist Indian government is plenty to blame for its shoddy handling of the crisis, vaccine inequity is the biggest obstacle in the current situation.

Cases have gone up in India 10 times in the past month.

Daily deaths are at a level we witnessed in the US in December.

Unfortunately, the worst is yet to come.

This is not an issue of a far-off world, as some respectable people claim.

The COVID virus is notorious for boarding business class and arriving in any part of the world in hours.

Leaving too many people unvaccinated in any part of the world is dangerous.

Vice President Kamala Harris, performative display of Indian roots eating masala dosas are not enough.

Your chittis and chittapas are dying in the house in thousands.

It takes moral will to stand up against the neoliberal corporate lobbies forever and to do the right thing to save women lives.

Do it now.

Thank you.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Blythe, followed by Harry Katz.

Hi, my name is Blythe Serrano.

I'm a renter in Mount Baker, and I'm calling to support council members who want vaccine resolution.

Over 400 international organizations, such as Doctors Without Borders, and over 100 countries support waiving intellectual property restrictions for the COVID vaccine.

But the U.S. and a handful of other World Trade Organization members are blocking this waiver.

This blockade started under Trump, and Biden has the power to reverse it.

But big pharmaceutical companies and billionaires like Bill Gates are, as always, doing everything in their power to protect their profits, even at the cost of human life.

They have already sent over 100 lobbyists to pressure the Biden administration to continue to oppose the vaccine waiver.

Public health experts say that if the status quo is maintained, it will literally be years before people in the global South get the vaccine.

During the AIDS epidemic 20 years ago people in high-income countries got access to life-saving medication while millions in developing countries were left to die.

It's critical that the Seattle City Council passes this resolution now urging the Biden administration to do their part to prevent this tragic narrative from playing out again with COVID.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up is Harry Katz followed by Khan Hassan.

Hi, council members.

My name is Harry Kasten, Seattle.

Thanks for the opportunity to speak in support of the resolution on the WTO patent waiver.

I was relieved to get vaccinated, but I also feel heartbroken that I can have more vaccines in my body than all the doctors, seniors, and sick people in 130 countries put together.

I highly recommend the article, if you haven't seen it yet, in today's Washington Post by Joe Stiglitz on why the WTO waiver would be both necessary and effective in increasing vaccine access.

Letting the pandemic keep raging in developing countries threatens millions of lives, and it's also harming developing countries' economies and their ability to invest in climate action.

Please support this resolution.

Thank you.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Khan Hassan, followed by Martha Baskin.

Good afternoon.

This is Khan Hasan, member of Coalition of Seattle Indian-Americans.

I urge the city council to pass council member Sawant's COVID IP waiver resolution that covers the following five points.

The first one is put people over profits, suspend trips around COVID, endorse the CTAP process put forth by the WHO, reject the COVAX sham proposed by disaster capitalists like Bill Gates, and the pharma companies.

Ship stockpiles of AstraZeneca that they are hoarding to countries like India where the pandemic is out of control.

Share information and resources freely and proactively to bring the pandemic under control and save lives.

Thank you.

Have a nice day.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next, we will hear from Martha Baskin, followed by Ellen Anderson.

And Martha, if you are on the line with us, remember to press star six.

Can IT confirm that Martha is still with us?

Affirmative.

The caller is on the line.

Great.

Martha, we still can't hear you, so you'll need to press star six one more time.

You just got to make sure that it's the star button, not the pound button.

So star six.

Oh, there we go.

Finally, my apologies, my apologies.

Yes, so as you're hearing strongly, the cry for a vaccine for all, one that is free, just and accessible is being heard around the world.

The head of the WHO has decried what he calls the grotesque global inequality of vaccine distribution, especially when the world has the means to avert the resulting catastrophe.

but he fell short in demanding that IP rights be waived through the WTO.

This is where Samar Sawant's resolution comes in very strongly.

A leading NIH scientist who helped develop a key technology used in Pfizer and Moderna's coronavirus vaccine said last week that the U.S. government's ownership of the patent for the invention gives the Biden administration significant leverage to compel pharmaceutical companies to help boost global production.

Dr. Barney Graham, Deputy Director of the NIH's Vaccine Research Center, told the Financial Times, quote, virtually everything that comes out of the government's research lab is a non-exclusive licensing agreement so that it doesn't get blocked by any particular company.

In fact, prior to the WTO and the proliferation of trade treaties, Countries around the world regularly used compulsory licensing to make the pharmaceutical industry allow local manufacturers to produce drugs after paying a license fee.

It's estimated that nine out of 10 people in countries without the means to purchase patented vaccines won't have access this year.

An analysis from Agency France-Presse puts the inequality in stark terms.

Thank you, Martha.

Thank you so much, Martha.

I wish we could hear everybody's testimony.

I'm sorry, but we only have one minute for each speaker before the microphone will be automatically muted.

But I appreciate you calling in.

You're welcome to send in the rest of your comments to the full council at council at Seattle dot gov. Next up, we are going to hear from Ellen Anderson, followed by Erica Myers Ellen.

Welcome.

Hi, my name is Ellen.

I'm calling from Beacon Hill, and I'm calling to encourage folks to support Sharma Sawant's legislation.

So we've seen that Biden has lifted the ban on exporting materials for vaccines to India, and this is definitely one step towards fixing the pre-existing vaccine nationalism that has really focused on profit over accessibility.

And intellectual property rights around the COVID vaccine are absolutely limiting access right now.

And the city's council currently has an opportunity to push back against the WTO's rules that require countries to guarantee pharmaceutical corporations' monopoly control.

Rapid production and distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine is essential.

This virus does not care about borders.

And right now, India is getting hit with over 300,000 cases reported in a single day.

They need these vaccines yesterday because these vaccines cannot be seen as anything other than a global public good.

And everyone on this planet needs to be able to be vaccinated.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Ellen Anderson.

I'm sorry, Erica Myers, followed by Reverend Robert Jeffrey.

Erica, welcome.

Good afternoon.

Can you hear me?

We can.

Go ahead.

Wonderful.

My name is Erica.

I am a renter from District 1, and I would like to urge the Council to please support Council Member Sawant's resolution to join the 400 global organizations urging President Biden to waive the patent restrictions on the vaccine.

This is not just a Seattle problem or the United States problem.

This is a global issue that will take a collective to solve.

It is wrong, I feel, to prevent anyone from having access to the vaccine.

A few billionaires and big pharma can make record profits.

It is the humane and just thing to do so many lives can be saved.

I urge the council to support the resolution.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Erica.

Next up is Reverend Robert Jeffrey.

And then I have Sreon A, who is appearing as not present on my side.

So Sreon, if you're listening, make sure that you are calling into the proper number and also with the number that you registered with.

All right, Reverend Robert Jeffrey, please.

My name is Robert Jeffrey, Pastor of New Hope Baptist Church, called to support Councilwoman Sawant's petition.

a recommendation for patent waiver.

There should be no price tag on human survival.

At some point, we must understand that the welfare of the collective peoples of the world are more important than the individual concerns of the few who benefit financially from the collective.

We can only end this worldwide pandemic by moving beyond our preoccupation with privilege and legal constraints.

that continue to make individual corporate concerns more important or equal to the welfare of the common good of all humanity.

People before profits are essential, especially in this time of a worldwide pandemic.

All of our voices must unite in the call for medical justice.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for calling in today.

Again, one last time, Sreon is still showing up as not present on my sheet.

So Sreon, if you do call in to the correct number with the number that you registered with, I will make sure to come back and call you.

Next up is Ty Saxon followed by Jordan Quinn.

Go ahead, you have to hit star 6 so that we can hear you.

Cool, sorry, my, yeah, my name is Ty Saxon.

I'm a economics teacher and I rent an apartment in district 3. I'm also calling to urge the city council to support council members.

Someone's resolution on vaccines and intellectual property rights.

so we can end this artificial vaccine scarcity, which is creating a large and very dangerous gap in vaccination rates between high income and low income countries.

This enormous gap is important, not just because of the unfairness of the world's poor being left behind, but because of the risk the situation poses to the whole world.

The pandemic is allowed to spread unchecked through developing world.

It's a certainty that we'll see more mutations and we really don't want to mess around and find out just how bad this thing can get.

So, we should do everything possible to get the whole world vaccinated as quickly as possible, which we clearly are not doing right now, because the U.S. and other wealthy countries insist on maintaining these patents and intellectual property rights, which we know are not necessary for innovation, because most of this research was funded by taxpayers.

So, we have to put people's lives over corporate profits during this unprecedented human crisis.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Next up is Jordan Quinn, followed by Varshika.

Go ahead, Jordan.

Hi, can you hear me?

We can go ahead.

Great.

My name's Jordan.

I'm a member of socialist alternative and a renter in district 2 calling in to urge the council to pass council members.

I want resolution calling on the Biden administration to grant vaccine IP waivers.

The Trump admin led opposition to the WTO COVID-19 waiver when South Africa and India first proposed it in October 2020. And because WTO decisions are taken by consensus, the U.S. and very few other WTO members were able to block the waiver, even though the proposal has support from over 100 other countries.

And after three months of being in office, U.S. officials from the Biden administration have maintained that Trump position in the WTO.

We can't have faith that capitalism will solve this crisis when its central motor, the drive for profit, stands in the way of global vaccination.

It's going to take mass pressure from below to force Biden's hand and the WTO's.

So in addition to a protest on April 30th, the city council can act on this urgent issue by standing with the billions of workers in formerly colonized countries against profit driven vaccine nationalism by passing this resolution.

Thank you for calling in.

Next up is Varshika, followed by Mary Ann Mercer.

Can you guys hear me?

Yes, we can hear you.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

My name is Vashika, and I'm a member of the Coalition of Seattle Indian Americans.

I urge the council to pass Council Member Sawant's resolution urging President Biden's administration to support the waiver on the IP rights around COVID vaccines, share the relevant technology and the know-how publicly, lift the ban on export of vaccine supplies, and to do so with no delays.

The WHO director stated that almost 90 percent of the vaccines have gone to the rich countries, while the global south has received just 0.2 percent.

On an average, one in four people in the rich countries have received a COVID vaccine, compared with just one in more than 500 in the low-income countries.

This is a humanitarian crisis at large, and we should remember that the virus does not differentiate the rich from poor.

The council must show leadership, declaring to the U.S. government to put people before profits, and pass the resolution today.

Thank you for the opportunity.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Mary Ann, followed by Matthew Wilder.

Yes, this is Mary Ann Mercer.

I'm emeritus faculty at the University of Washington, and I also want to speak on the patent waivers for the COVID-19 vaccines.

But I just want to addition to all these important comments that you've already heard.

The question is, why should the city council weigh in on this?

And to me frankly it's because you folks are national leaders in addressing important social and economic challenges.

Minimum wage.

Homelessness.

Police violence.

Taking a stand on this issue as something that's fundamental for Seattle as well as for the rest of the world.

It'll send an important message for other city governments all around the country.

You represent us all on this important issue and we will again greatly appreciate a principled stand on, in this case, how we can equitably counter the pandemic everywhere.

Thank you.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Matthew, followed by Raghav Kaushik.

Hi, my name is Matt.

I'm a renter in Capitol Hill and a tech worker.

I just want to urge the council members to vote yes on Council Member Sawant's resolution urging Biden to waive international sorry, intellectual property laws.

The private ownership of intellectual property is a barrier to overcoming this global pandemic.

The world population is one population, so inequality in production and distribution is a structural issue that undermines recovery internationally.

The billionaire class wants it both ways.

They want to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but also want to reap as many profits as possible from this profit-based distribution setup.

And so, this kind of setup is like vaccinating only the richest parts of the cities while ignoring the working class neighborhoods, but on a much larger international scale.

And ultimately, we need to, we need international production of vaccines run democratically by healthcare workers in the interest of public health, not in billionaire profiteers who are putting us at risk right now.

Thank you.

Thank you for calling in today.

And next up, we're going to hear from Raghav Kaushik.

Can you hear me?

We can.

Go ahead.

My name is Raghav.

I'm also here to urge everyone to support the resolution sponsored by Kshama Sarwant, urging the Biden administration to suspend IP rights on COVID vaccines.

I just want to point out that, by now, this is a demand that is demanded by a majority of the world, actually.

It's only blocked by a majority of countries in the WTO, which represent a majority of the population in the world.

And it's only blocked by a minority of big pharma interests and, unfortunately, also the Biden administration, which is siding with big pharma so far.

And I also want to point out that in addition to all of these widespread support, you should be noticing from the public comments itself that there's a wide array of even citizens in this area who are supporting this demand, ranging from South Asians, like organizations like API Chaya, the Indian Association of

Thank you so much for calling in today.

Colleague, that does bring us to about 34 minutes of, I'm sorry, 32 minutes of public comment.

So I had allotted 30 minutes for public comment.

So I am going to go ahead and conclude the public comment period.

I am sorry that we didn't get to everybody on the list today.

Here are you, though, and understand your position on the resolution that the City Council will be taking action on.

You are, of course, always welcome to email the full council at councilatseattle.gov if you were one of the individuals that we were unfortunately unable to hear from directly today.

But I do appreciate everybody calling in, and we're going to go ahead and begin on other items of business on our agenda.

Payment of the bills.

Will the clerk please read the title?

Council Bill 120049, an ordinance appropriating money to pay certain audited claims for the week of April 12th, 2021 through April 16th, 2021, and ordering the payment thereof.

Thank you so much.

I move to pass Council Bill 120049. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you so much.

It's been moved and seconded that the bill pass.

Are there any additional comments?

Hearing no additional comments, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Juarez?

Aye.

Lewis?

Aye.

Morales?

Yes.

Peterson?

Yes.

Sawant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

Herbold?

Yes.

And Council President Gonzalez?

Aye.

Ayes in favor, none opposed.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.

Committee reports, will the clerk please read item one into the record?

The report of the Finance and Housing Committee, agenda item one, council bill 120041, an ordinance relating to the 2021 budget, amending ordinance 126237, which adopted the 2021 budget, changing appropriations to various departments, creating positions exempt from civil service, and ratifying and confirming certain prior acts, all by a three-quarter vote of the city council, The committee recommends the bill pass.

Thank you so much.

I will provide this committee report on behalf of Council Member Mosqueda.

Council Bill 120041, colleagues, would appropriate nearly $18 million of federally granted coronavirus relief funds, otherwise known as CRF.

by increasing appropriations in several departments for programs that need additional funding to continue services through the end of 2021. These CRF funds were part of the Federal CARES Act that was adopted on March 27, 2020, and included about $131.5 million in direct funding to the City of Seattle.

The $18 million appropriated in this council bill are the last remaining funds from the CARES Act grants to the City of Seattle, and these funds must be expended by the City before the end of 2021. These expenditures authorized in this legislation include child care provider stabilization grants, funding for emergency food access and grocery vouchers, renewed funding to maintain the Clean City Initiative, and vaccine outreach efforts to reach underserved communities and ensure equitable access to the COVID-19 vaccine.

The Finance and Housing Committee did debate this bill, and we voted on the passage of the bill, and the Finance and Housing Committee recommends that the full City Council pass this bill as considered in our committee.

Are there any additional comments?

Hearing no additional comments on the bill, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Juarez?

Aye.

Lewis?

Aye.

Morales?

Yes.

Peterson?

Yes.

Sawant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

Herbold?

Yes.

And Council President Gonzalez?

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Great, thank you so much.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf?

Will the clerk please read item two into the record?

The report of the Transportation and Utilities Commission, agenda item two, council bill 120043, an ordinance relating to cable television, authorizing the mayor or the mayor's designee to approve the transfer of control subject to conditions of wave division one LLC, authorizing the mayor or mayor's designee to execute a cable franchise transfer of controlling interest consent agreement for the purpose of implementing and administering the transfer and ratifying and confirming certain prior acts the committee recommends the bill pass.

Thank you so much.

Council Member Peterson, as chair of the committee, you are recognized in order to provide the committee's report.

Thank you, Council President.

Colleagues, as I mentioned during our Council briefing this morning, this is Council Bill 120043, which pertains to one of our city's cable franchise agreements, specifically the Wave Company.

This legislation simply has the city consent to the transfer of controlling interest in the parent company of Wave.

The city has the cable franchise agreement with Wave Division 1 LLC, and Wave will remain the franchise grantee with the wave brand and operations continuing as is in Seattle for customers.

Seattle municipal code section 21.60.110 requires us to consider even partial transfers of parent company ownership for cable franchises.

And the federal law has a timeline for this consent with that deadline approaching soon.

Our Seattle Information Technology Department completed a thorough review of the proposed transfer and engaged both financial and legal experts to assist with the analysis.

They all recommend approval.

And as part of the approval, are having the city receive from the company a strong corporate guarantee and consent agreement.

which requires continued performance and service to customers.

Seattle IT presented all of this to our Transportation and Utilities Committee, and our committee unanimously recommends approval today.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Council Member Peterson, are there any additional comments?

Hearing no additional comments, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Gladys?

Aye.

Lewis?

Aye.

Morales?

Yes.

Peterson?

Yes.

Sawant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

Herbold?

Yes.

And Council President Gonzalez?

Aye.

Eight in favor, nine opposed?

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.

Item three, will the clerk please read item three into the record?

Adoption of other, excuse me, adoption of other resolutions, agenda item three, resolution 32004, a resolution prioritizing people over the profits of pharmaceutical companies supporting the production of COVID-19 vaccine around the world, urging President Biden to end U.S. opposition to the waiver from certain provisions of the trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights agreement for the prevention, containment, and treatment of COVID-19 at the World Trade Organization, WTO.

Thank you so much.

Colleagues, I will move to adopt Resolution 32004. Is there a second?

Second.

It's been moved and seconded to adopt the resolution.

Council Member Sawant, I'm going to hand it over to you as sponsor of the resolution so that you can address it.

Thank you.

This resolution urges President Biden to end the U.S. opposition to the international campaign for an intellectual property rights waiver from the WTO for COVID-19 vaccines.

It also adds the Seattle City Council as a signatory of a community letter to President Biden on that topic that has been signed by over 400 unions, community organizations, and faith groups from Doctors Without Borders internationally to the Washington State Labor Council and the King County Labor Council.

The rapid and widespread global dissemination of vaccinations is at the center of every strategy by public health professionals to stop the spread of the virus.

However, there are breathtaking inequities in the distribution of vaccinations around the world.

According to the World Health Organization, nearly 90% of the vaccines have gone to well-off countries, while low-income countries have received just 0.2%.

This has meant that on average, one in four people in high-income countries have received a coronavirus vaccine, compared with just one in more than 500 people in low-income countries.

The lack of accessible vaccines in the majority of countries around the world is creating an unimaginable human catastrophe on a scale not seen before.

In India, where I grew up, Thousands are dying daily and the right wing Modi regime is suppressing the number so the reality is even more serious than the reported statistics.

Crematorium workers report being instructed to list the cause of death as quote unquote sickness rather than COVID.

Reuters is reporting, quote, gas and firewood furnaces at a crematorium in the Western Indian state of Gujarat have been running so long without a break during the pandemic that metal parts have begun to melt, end quote.

Hospitals are completely overrun, and there's a shortage of medical supplies like oxygen.

It is dire.

This human suffering is being caused by profit driven billionaires and big pharmaceutical companies with the blessing of the by the administration, the European Union and other major controllers of the WTO policies.

They are fiercely blocking many countries like Brazil, India, and South Africa from producing the generic versions of the COVID-19 vaccine, all in the name of so-called intellectual property rights.

If we don't fight to change this, starting with the necessary first step of removing the WTO patent restrictions, public health experts say it will literally be years before people in the global South get the vaccine.

Over 100 countries have appealed to the WTO, which enforces these so-called intellectual property rights internationally, to issue a waiver to allow COVID-19 vaccines to be produced around the world.

But WTO representatives from richer countries, including the US and the UK, have opposed issuing the waiver.

This opposition was initially a policy of the Trump administration who steadfastly defended the profits of big pharma over the lives of millions of people in the global south.

Unfortunately, even through 100 days of their administration, The Biden regime has continued that policy.

The U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said a COVID-19 vaccine must be seen as a global public good, a people's vaccine.

On February 26th, a letter to President Biden signed by over 400 organizations urged the administration to lift the U.S. blockade of the waiver And the letter said, quote, you can also help restore America's moral and public health leadership in the world by siding with the majority to prioritize saving lives over protecting pharmaceutical corporation monopolies and profits.

This new position would be widely noted given US officials shameful attack on the waiver at the January WTO meeting, end quote.

An important op-ed appears in this morning's issue of the Washington Post in strong support of removing the patent restrictions on the COVID vaccine.

It's authored by Joseph Stiglitz, co-recipient of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics, and Lori Wallach, the director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch.

They say, quote, unfortunately, the drug companies have consistently done what they can to preserve their monopoly control.

Even today, as they battle the waiver and argue that existing compulsory licensing rights are sufficient, they lobby the US government to sanction countries to use that tool.

These corporations have also undermined this option by building, quote-unquote, tickets of intellectual property barriers.

They fortify their monopolies by registering exclusive rights to industrial designs and undisclosed data, such as trade secrets and test data, in addition to numerous patents and copyrights for each medicine.

each element would require a license and the WTO's flexibilities might not even encompass all of them." This op-ed from Joseph Stiglitz and Lori Wallach captures exactly the kind of network of licenses that the WTO imposes to make it impossible for countries to do what is needed to save lives. All council members have received important letters from the Washington Fair Trade Coalition and from the Association of Flight Attendants, and also from Hindus for Human Rights, supporting this resolution from my office and urging the council to vote yes today. The TRIPS waiver, which this resolution is calling for, is supported by, as I said, the Fair Trade Coalition, but also by partners in health, the American Medical Student Association, Doctors for America, National Nurses United, Health Gap, Public Citizen, Amnesty International, Oxfam, labor unions and faith organizations, and API Chaya, Indivisible, Community Alliance for Global Justice, Global Exchange, Code Pink, Right to Health Action, Washington Federation of State Employees will see American Federation of Teachers, Washington, and the Church Council of Greater Seattle, and the Filipino community of Seattle, among many, many others. This resolution is timely. because a new round of WTO meetings are beginning, including a TRIPS Council gathering planned for April 30th, which is four days from now, and a General Council meeting due in early May. Activists and organizers around the world are fighting for the waiver and are building momentum to prepare for those upcoming WTO meetings. And this resolution will join the Seattle City Council as one part of that effort if it passes today. My hope is that this resolution will inspire other cities to do the same, to make it clear to the Biden administration that we will not accept a continued policy of vaccine nationalism. And we can see how building movements can win victories. Just in the past couple of days, the Biden administration was finally forced to concede and send some vaccine materials and doses to India, which they previously refused to do. And we should recognize that this is a victory, but it is only a first step. And it's not a substitute or an excuse for refusing to carry out the TRIPS waiver and allowing every country around the world to make the vaccines they need. On the one side, we have the health and safety of all of humanity. And on the other, we have the endless greed for profits by big pharma and the billionaire class. I hope all council members decide to stand with human life and not billionaire profit. And I know Council Member Herbold has some amendments, which I've already said I support them. So I invite her to describe them. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Council Member Sawant.

I am going to call now on Council Member Herbold, who I understand has an amendment that she circulated earlier today.

So, Council Member Herbold, I'm going to recognize you to make your motion.

Thank you.

I move to amend Resolution 32004 as presented on Amendment 1, which was recently distributed.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you so much.

Council Member Herbold, please feel free to address the amendment.

Thank you.

I was hoping that the language could just be incorporated in the resolution, but I ran out of time.

It's just simply the changes are simply intended to elevate the fact that during a global pandemic, the destinies of the people in our city are especially connected to the destinies of folks in other cities, particularly those cities who have less access to vaccine.

And so the amendment adds recitals to emphasize the importance of disseminating vaccination everywhere to develop herd immunity.

Again, that, is something that must be done in a way that can help all of us.

The amendment also recognizes that new COVID variants continue to develop throughout the world and the importance of getting vaccines distributed worldwide.

can increase the likelihood of success in the battle against COVID-19 and emphasizes the importance of vaccinations to reopening both in developed and in the developed countries and in the global south.

And then finally recognizing that so many of our residents here in Seattle have family members in other countries and including those countries without adequate access to vaccine.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Herbold.

Are there any comments or questions on Council Member Herbold's amendment?

Hearing no questions or additional comments, will the clerk please call the roll on the amendment to Resolution 32004 as described by and previously circulated by Council Member Herbold?

Suarez?

Aye.

Lewis?

Yes.

Morales?

Yes.

Peterson?

Yes.

Sawant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

Herbold?

Yes.

And Council President Gonzalez?

Aye.

Ayton, in favor?

Nenna, opposed?

The motion passes and the amendment is adopted to Resolution 32004. Are there any additional comments on Resolution 32004 as amended?

Council Member Peterson, please.

Thank you, Council President.

I appreciate the good intentions of this Resolution 32004 and the amendments that I just voted for.

I believe we all share the goals to have the COVID vaccines widely available here and throughout the globe.

I believe we agree on that goal, and I also believe our experienced congressional delegation, including Pramila Jayapal, Adam Smith, Patty Murray, and Maria Cantwell, are more than capable of providing advocacy and oversight on the issues impacting the nation and international relations.

And that includes how best to curtail the pandemic as quickly as possible across the nation and abroad.

Once again, I think we're reminded of the limitations of our own council rules, which do not currently allow council members to abstain, even on non-binding resolutions.

I believe an abstention would be appropriate when we might agree on the overarching message of a resolution like this one, but might not have either the bandwidth to research the details as we deal with the multiple crises in our own city, or we might not have the expertise in important underlying details.

For example, I believe it's important to research these details, but Because of the speed at which this came about, I'm not able to delve into the matters of pharmaceutical intellectual property or World Trade Organization agreement on trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights and other issues.

I also do not believe this particular issue is within the scope of our influence as a legislative body of a city, nor is it directly tied to our duties under the charter of the city.

So with no ability to abstain on this resolution, I'll have to be voting no.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Peterson.

Are there any additional comments on the resolution as amended?

Council Member Sawant, as the sponsor, you get the last word to close out debate, and then we are going to call the roll.

Thank you, President Gonzalez.

I just wanted to respond to Councilmember Peterson quickly and then make a few other comments.

In closing, Councilmember Peterson said, I believe we all share the goal that vaccines should be available for everyone globally, but If a council member is planning to vote no on this resolution or even one thing expressing the desire to abstain on this issue, then no, then we don't share that goal.

Because if you share the goal that vaccine should be available, then as an elected representative at any level, one should be not only willing to, but eager to fight for the rights of all working people.

But in this situation, this is a question of human catastrophe that is happening at an unprecedented and indeed at an industrial scale.

And so I think that it is simply impossible and it is unconscionable to view this issue solely to the narrow lens of what the Seattle City Charter says, it has to be viewed through the lens of moral and political obligations of this moment.

And I just wanted to add the point that You know, this is very much related to Seattle City Council's responsibilities because we know that because it's a pandemic, which means it's a global epidemic, public health experts are warning us that the virus has the capability of spreading, multiplying, and mutating in different parts of the world.

And the only way, as Council Member Herbold said, for us to help keep everyone safe is to reach the degree of herd immunity that epidemiological statisticians are recommending that we urgently reach, which is going to be impossible without billions of people having access to the vaccine, which in turn will be impossible without this necessary first step of the WTO TRIPS waiver.

So I don't see how you can stand for Seattle's working people and the Seattle community without also standing up for the access to vaccines globally because such a thing is, you know, they're just mutually exclusive in the case of a pandemic.

And so, in other words, not ensuring that the whole world has access to the vaccine means playing Russian roulette with the lives of people in America.

and in Seattle.

And this city council's resolution is going to be but one step, important step, but it's just one step forward.

We will need other elected officials to also weigh in, and I'm hoping that this resolution passes so that we put that example forward.

I also just wanted to add that Bikarma and the elected officials in Congress, including many cabinet appointees in the Biden administration, claim that intellectual property rights and the massive profits for big pharma are necessary to create an incentive to develop future vaccines and treatments.

But we should be recognizing that this is a complete lie.

The reality is that no clinical innovation would be possible without overwhelming amounts of public funding.

and without overwhelming amounts of work by armies of dedicated researchers and scientists.

And these are salaried employees.

These are not billionaires.

And yet, once clinical innovations are available, the profits all go to the billionaires, not to the ordinary people, billions around the world who have contributed to make this research possible.

For instance, The New York Times reported that Catalin Carrico, one of the heroes in the development of the groundbreaking mRNA technology that has made COVID vaccines possible and has been the backbone of this life-saving vaccine, spent her career going from publicly funded lab to publicly funded lab supported by government grants, never herself making more than $60,000 a year.

This is not new.

We know this has happened with AIDS medications and also in 2007 when the intellectual property rights to the EpiPen were purchased by a pharmaceutical company.

It increased the wholesale price sixfold from $100 in 2009 to $609 in 2016. All of this logic was clearly demonstrated in an investing article on CNBC last Wednesday titled, quote, Goldman Sachs asks in biotech research report, is curing patients a sustainable business model, end quote.

In other words, Goldman Sachs, which is an absolutely notorious Wall Street corporation, they are having to acknowledge publicly that while having one-shot cures through research, which is completely possible given our technical know-how today in humanity, While one-shot cures are extremely beneficial to humanity as a whole, not only saving lives, but preventing any amount of misery that people face because of diseases, it is not good for the profits, and more importantly, the repeated and chronic profit-making of big pharma.

It shows the logic of capitalism itself is completely in conflict with the needs of humanity.

We should remember in 1999, the people of Seattle filled our streets to protest the WTO meetings, inspiring an international movement against corporate globalization.

This is what the movement was protesting against.

International trade agreements like WTO are written by the capitalist elite from around the globe to defend their profits against working people across the globe.

And that is why we need international solidarity and I wanted to thank all the organizations who have helped with this resolution and strongly built support for it, but I especially – I mean, I thank everybody, of course, who has lent their support for this, but I especially wanted to recognize the Coalition of Seattle Indian Americans, the Washington Fair Trade Coalition, and Socialist Alternative Free Organizations who really built strong support for this resolution.

And as I said, it will be a small but very crucial step in building momentum towards the April 30th Trips Council meeting.

I'll end with a message to our movement.

I agree with the activists calling for a Seattle protest on April 30th.

Let's end the status quo of billionaire-driven, billionaire-profit-driven vaccine apartheid and vaccine nationalism and save millions of lives by winning vaccine internationalism and a people's vaccine.

And let's make sure that we build on that in the United States by winning Medicare for all.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

That does conclude debate on this particular item.

So at this point, I'm going to ask that the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of the resolution as amended.

Juarez?

Yes.

Thank you.

Lewis?

Yes.

Morales?

Yes.

Peterson?

No.

Sawant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

Herbold?

Yes.

And Council President Gonzalez?

Aye.

Seven in favor, one opposed.

Motion carries.

The resolution is adopted and the chair will sign it.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.

Other business.

Colleagues, is there any further business to come before the council?

Councilor Lewis, please.

Thank you, Madam President.

I would ask the indulgence of the council to be excused from both briefing and full council for the May 3rd meeting.

Okay, thank you so much.

Colleagues, if there's no objection, Council Member Lewis will be excused from council related meetings on May 3rd.

Hearing no objection, Council Member Lewis will be excused from our full Council meeting on May 3rd, as well as our Council briefing.

Any other further business to come before the Council?

Okay, hearing none.

Colleagues, this does conclude the items of business on today's agenda.

Our next regularly scheduled City Council meeting is on Monday, May 3rd, 2021 at 2 o'clock p.m.

I hope that you all have a wonderful afternoon.

We're adjourned.