Seattle City Council 7/6/2020

Good afternoon, colleagues.

The July 6, 2020 meeting of the Seattle City Council will come to order.

It is 2 o'clock p.m.

I'm Lorena Gonzalez, president of the City Council.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember Herbold?

Here.

Councilmember Juarez?

Here.

Councilmember Lewis?

Councilmember Morales?

Here.

Councilmember Mesqueda?

Here.

Council Member Peterson.

Here.

Council Member Sawant.

Here.

Council Member Strauss.

Present.

Council President Gonzalez.

Here.

Gabe present.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

And for the viewing public as our remaining colleague shows up, I'll make sure to make that announcement.

Council members, the City Council rules are silent on allowing remote meetings and electronic participation at City Council and community meetings.

The City Council anticipates continuing this practice through July 10th, 2020. to allow the council to conduct business remotely, the council rules will need to be suspended.

So I will be moving to suspend the council rules to allow the council to conduct the meetings remotely through July 10th.

If there is no objection, the council rules will be suspended to allow council members hold remote meetings and to participate electronically at city council and committee meetings through July 10th, 2020. Hearing no objection, the council rules are suspended and the council will hold remote meetings and participate electronically through July 10th.

Moving along to presentations, and just for the record, Council Member Lewis has now joined us on the line.

Thank you, Council Member Lewis, for joining us.

Presentations, I'm not aware of any presentations.

Approval of the minutes, there are no minutes for approval today.

Adoption of the referral calendar, if there is no objection, the proposed introduction and referral calendar will be adopted.

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

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

Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

This time we will open up the remote public comment period for items on the City Council agenda, introduction and referral calendar, and the Council's 2020 work program.

I want to thank everybody for continuing to be patient with us as we continue to learn how to operate this system in real time and navigate through all of the implementation process and improvements and whatnot.

We are always looking for ways to fine-tune this remote public comment process and looking for new features that allow for additional means of public participation in our council meetings.

It does remain the council's strong intent to have public comment regularly included on our meeting agendas.

Of course, we continue to reserve the right to end or eliminate these public comment periods at any point if we deem that this system is being abused.

or is unsuitable for allowing our meetings to be conducted efficiently and in a manner in which we are able to conduct our necessary business.

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

The public comment period for this meeting is set to be 20 minutes, and each speaker will be given one minute to speak.

We do have quite a bit of speakers signed up.

I think at last count we had about 72 to 75 speakers signed up, so I do expect that we will extend the public comment period.

However, for now, we will go ahead and leave it at 20 minutes.

With each speaker having one minute at that time at the conclusion of the 20 minutes, I will look to.

extend the public comment period.

And the public comment period, I'm assuming, would be extended for another 40 minutes to allow for 60 total minutes of public comment today.

We will, on the second phase, go down to 45 seconds instead of one minute.

So for those of you who find yourselves registered with a number beyond number 20, start whittling down your remarks now, narrowing your remarks down now to 45 seconds.

in length.

I apologize but we have close to 80 speakers calling on the same subject.

And in order to maximize the opportunity to hear from as many people as possible, we've got to make these modifications to our public comment period.

So again, 20 minutes at one minute, each speaker will then shift over to 40 minutes at 45 seconds, each speaker for a total of 60 minutes.

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

If you have not yet registered to speak but would like to, you can sign up before the end of public comment by going to the council's website at Seattle.gov forward slash council, that's C-O-U-N-C-I-L.

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

Once I call a speaker's name, staff will unmute the appropriate microphone and an automatic prompt of you have been unmuted will be the speaker's cue that it is their turn to speak.

please begin speaking by stating your name and the item that you are addressing.

As a reminder, public comment should relate to an item on today's agenda, the introduction referral calendar, or the council's 2020 work program.

Speakers are going to hear a chime when they have 10 seconds left of their allotted time.

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

If speakers do not end their comments at the end of the allotted time provided, the speaker's 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, please do so via Seattle Channel on Channel 21 or any one of the listening options listed on the agenda.

So we're going to go ahead and begin with the first speaker on the list.

It is 2.06 p.m., so we will go until 2.26 p.m.

at one minute apiece.

and the first speaker is Daniel Kavanaugh, followed by Sean Butterfield.

Hey, my name is Dan.

I'm a nursing student and a renter in the CD, and I'm speaking in support of the Amazon tax with no sunset clause.

I want to thank the 30,000 people who signed the ballot petition for making this victory possible.

And I want to thank council members Siwan and Socialist Alternative for taking the lead on this.

as well as everyone else in the tax Amazon coalition.

And, you know, today shows that when we make bold demands, get organized and fight, we can win big.

But another funny thing that happens is after we win, the establishment likes to pretend that it was their idea all along.

They say, oh, this tax isn't an Amazon tax.

They call it by some other name.

But make no mistake, this would not be being discussed if it weren't for all the people who volunteered and signed to tax Amazon.

And everyone should come to the Tax Amazon Action Conference on Wednesday to participate in democratic discussion on our victory and what's next.

Thank you.

Next up is Sean Butterfield, followed by Gabe Pelley.

When this council passed a much weaker tax in 2018 before repealing it in a cowardly abdication to corporate power, this movement promised you we would be back for more.

Well, here we are, bigger and stronger than before than we were two years ago, despite the organizing limitations of this pandemic, despite big businesses withering attack on activists and community members fighting for this, and despite Amazon's unprecedented financial interference in last year's elections.

With the exception of Councilmember Pearson, whom Amazon supported over his black socialist challenger, Amazon and big business stood against every member of this council and against the clear will of the electorate.

So what I'm asking all of you today, with the exception of Councilmember Samant, is why you're out here doing their bidding still, considering a reintroduction of a Suntec clause.

What were you doing on Wednesday when you voted down Chama's amendments to build an additional 1,000 homes in the CD to help prevent gentrification and to fund green New Deal programs, which are ideas that you all like to support, except when it actually comes to putting our money where your mouths are.

Pass the Amazon Tax Now Without a Sunset Clause and stand with your communities to build the housing we need.

Thank you.

Next up is Gabe Pelley, followed by Jazlyn Huerta.

My name is Gabe Pelley.

I'm a volunteer on the Amazon, the Tech to Amazon campaign.

I look forward to the council finally passing the Amazon tax today, but like Sean and Dan, I want to give credit where credit's due.

The incredible strength of our movement of over 30,000 signatories, hundreds of volunteers, and dozens of organizations.

On the streets, many people ask me, how can we challenge the power of big business habits over our society?

I think the Amazon tax is a resounding answer that will echo across the country, just like the $15 minimum wage.

For other activists and cities looking to follow Seattle, One important lesson is our ongoing grassroots action conferences which bring together activists, organizations, and community members around the shared goal of taxing big business to fund community needs.

At these conferences, we discuss and vote on the demands and how to fight for them, independent of corporate-backed democratic establishment politicians.

Our next action conference is taking place on Zoom this Wednesday, the 8th at 6 p.m.

We will decide whether or not to file our ballot initiative based on what the council passes today and discuss how we can carry this movement forward.

RSVP on the Facebook event titled Tax Amazon Action Conference 4.

Thank you.

Next up is Jazlyn Huerta followed by Ava Metz.

Hello, I'm Jazlyn Huerta.

I live on Capitol Hill and I'm calling to request that you decrease the SPD's budget by at least 50% since Mayor Durkin's executive order on the East Precinct's reoccupation of the Seattle Police Department They've been emboldened to be more cruel than ever.

They're asking Capitol Hill residents for proof of address, trying to intimidate us when we go to the memorials to mourn.

Some of them have been mocking the protesters that have died on social media, and I'm afraid this will encourage more violence against the protesters.

It's cruel, it's unusual, and it's clear they have too much time and too much money.

Many of the SPD are wearing masks.

They're still using chemical weapons against protesters.

So who do they listen to?

Why are they allowed to break those laws that they're supposed to enforce?

I'm asking you to hold them accountable immediately and decrease their budget by at least 50%.

Thank you for this opportunity to speak on this matter.

Thank you so much for calling in.

Next up is Eva Metz, followed by Logan Swan.

Hi, my name is Eva Metz.

I'm a member of Socialist Alternative, and I'm one of the thousands of people who've been active in the tax Amazon movement.

including collecting 30,000 signatures on Initiative 131. We need to be clear that today's historic vote is happening entirely because of this movement.

It's no coincidence that many of the same forces behind Seattle's landmark victory for the $15 minimum wage again played a leading role in the fight to tax Amazon, including Socialist Alternative and Council Member Shama Sawant.

In both cases, we've shown that what we've won or what we can win in City Hall is based on the strength of our movement In both cases, many argued that we shouldn't antagonize big business and should instead try to broker a deal.

And in both cases, we completely rejected this approach.

We know that under capitalism, big business and working people's interests are diametrically opposed.

Throughout this struggle, we base our power on the organization of the working class, not on trying to negotiate backroom deals.

Pass the Amazon tax today, no delays, no corporate loopholes.

When we fight, we can win.

Thank you.

Next up is Logan Swan followed by Daniel Swanson.

Hi my name is Logan Swan.

I'm a rank and file union iron worker out of local 86 Seattle.

Yeah I just want to say congratulations and solidarity to our movement of thousands of workers and youth who made this happen by building our movement to tax Amazon.

And many thanks to the council office of Seamus Swanson for helping take a leading role in this struggle.

Like our successful fight for a $15 minimum wage, our victory today will send a message to workers and youth across the country that we don't have to accept unemployment, unaffordable cities, and poverty, because when we fight, we win.

Let's take this big win forward in rejecting austerity through a people's budget, calling to defund SPD, not social programs that working families need, and awarding to the democratic establishment.

We collected 30,000 signatures in a month despite a global pandemic and a scandalous rejection by the state to accept digital signatures.

from neighbors excited to make big business pay for their affordable housing crisis.

We will not hesitate to take our initiative to the November ballot if you try to water down our Amazon tax or limit it with a sunset clause.

No delays, no watering down, no sunset clause.

Okay, next up is Daniel Swanson followed by Emily MacArthur.

Hi, my name is Daniel and I'm a renter and worker in District 4. I'm here to urge the Council to pass the strongest version of the Amazon tax with no watering down, no sunset clause, and no delay.

The fact that the Council is even considering a tax on big business is completely a product of the hundreds of community volunteers that have built pressure on the Council through the Amazon tax ballot initiative.

Over 30,000 people have signed our ballot initiative in only a month, expressing their support for a permanent tax on big business to fund affordable housing and Green New Deal jobs programs.

Passing the Amazon tax today will absolutely be a victory for our working class movement, led by Council Member Shama Sawant and Socialist Alternatives.

Community members and partner organizations will be meeting at our Action Conference Wednesday, which everyone listening should attend.

We will democratically decide what to do with the signatures and what to do next in this movement.

Also, defund the SPD by at least 50 percent.

Thanks.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Emily MacArthur, followed by Matthew Hinea.

Hi, my name is Emily.

I'm a District 2 renter and I've talked to thousands of Seattleites and even thousands of people who've been pushed out of this city due to the high cost of living who support a strong Amazon tax.

These people are demanding that Amazon and other big businesses profited off of this pandemic, who insult their workers and deny them hazard pay, pay a tax to actually ensure that our communities are safe and invest in black and brown communities as well as working class families.

We demand no loopholes, no sunset clauses.

This victory needs to spread state and nationwide, not on some mythical promise of a regional solution that will come probably fucking never, but because of the inspiring victory that we win here today.

Working people in this state have been fighting for progressive taxation since the 1930s.

A sunset clause would be an insult to that movement, and it would be an attack on the thousands of people who have fought in the midst of a pandemic for racial justice and for a big business tax.

Justice for Summer Taylor.

We demand a defunding of the Seattle Police and we are coming for Bezos.

Thank you so much for calling in today.

Next up is Matthew Hinea followed by Paige Spicer.

Hi, my name is Matt Hinea.

I'm a software engineer in Seattle.

Thank you to the council for bringing a big business vote bill to the vote today.

I urge every council person to vote yes That public support for an Amazon taxes through the roof has been obvious to everyone in the city for years.

Why is it that a small group of over-dedicated volunteers gathering signatures have to do the work of joining the City Council to the actual needs of the people they claim to represent?

I would also like to commend the City Council for removing the Sunset Clause.

A Sunset Clause is nothing short of anti-democratic on a legislation like this.

If in 10 years this law is no longer relevant, let the opposition do the work in repealing it.

to force the public to prove again and again through massive effort their desire for a fair and equitable tax structure in this city, as if even a level playing field of the concession is cruel.

The housing crisis didn't start 10 years ago, and this legislation alone won't fix it, so why assume that it will be over 10 years from now?

The January 2020 Michigan report on homelessness in Seattle states that King County government needs to spend, and I quote, $450 million to $1.1 billion per year for the next 10 years on new public housing to

Thank you.

Next up is Paige Spicer followed by Alicia Lewis.

My name is Paige Spicer and I'm in District 6. I'm requesting that Dan Strauss and the entire City Council do the right thing and pass the payroll tax today.

Do not wait.

We are facing an unprecedented economic crisis from which we will not recover without big business being taxed, especially in Seattle with the nation's most regressive tax system.

Amazon is a blight on our city.

I was contracted there in the past and witnessed the atrocious management and abuse of their employees, the suicide attempt of an Amazon employee, the underlying employee data that contradicts all of their seemingly positive statistics around equality, and I've also been a lifelong resident of King County and watched Amazon destroy small businesses, destroy the housing market, and push lifelong residents out of the city.

They must support the city that supports them.

Pass the payroll tax today with no sunset clouds.

Also, Jenny Durkan has failed us, and we demand she immediately resign as a city council hold officer, Molly Clark, the Seattle Police Department.

I'm calling on the Seattle Police Department to issue a badge number 5677 accountable for attempted vehicular assault on protesters and that she immediately be fired from the Seattle Police Department.

Also I demand that.

That we defend SPD by at least 50% I yield my time.

Thank you.

Next up is

Hi, my name's Alicia Lewis.

I'm a member of Socialist Alternative, and I've been active in the tax Amazon movement.

I just want to say it's not surprising, though it's still shameful, that the Democratic establishment is trying to take credit for the Amazon tax, even though they've been fighting it every step of the way.

When our grassroots movement, Socialist Alternative, and council members first launched our fight for an Amazon tax in Seattle earlier this year, corporate Democrats in Olympia immediately hatched a scheme to ban local cities from passing big business taxes.

If our movement hadn't mobilized to defeat that ban, we wouldn't be discussing this legislation today.

Similarly, the Democratic establishment was looking for every excuse to delay a vote on the Amazon tax, until it became clear that our movement, which had collected 30,000 ballot petition signatures in one month, was too powerful to be ignored.

This Amazon tax is absolutely due to the our movement's victory and working people and socialists and activists which pressured the establishment into taking action and we're ready to fight against any underhanded attempts at a sunset clause or delay.

Thank you for calling in.

Next up is Josh Castle followed by Joseph Sugru.

Hi my name is Josh Castle with Lehigh.

Thank you council members for your vote last Wednesday on progressive revenue.

Please vote yes on this and without a sunset clause.

Among the over 3,000 units of housing this will create, please include the 1,000 new homes in the central area for residents displaced due to gentrification and racist policies that is called for in the central area housing plan in the letter you received from African-American faith leaders.

Please support Council Member Herbold's amendment to add food to the villages, which is greatly needed for the residents to help them stay home and stay safe.

Please use some of the Federal CARES Act funding and the State Department of Shelter Grant funding to add 20 new tiny house villages to get 1,500 to 2,000 more people inside, including 10 villages in this year's supplemental budget and 10 more villages in the city's 2021-2022 budget.

Please reallocate the massive $400 million SBD budget and reinvest at least half of these funds into Black and Brown communities and community-based investments, such as housing, employment, and educational programs.

Thank you.

Thank you for calling in.

Next up is Joseph Sugar, followed by Hannah Swoboda.

Hi, my name is Joe.

I live in D6.

I'm a member of Socialist Alternative, UAW, and I'm a music teacher.

And I want to echo what folks have said about the strength of the tax Amazon movement, the thousands of us that were involved, that is forcing and putting pressure on the city council to vote on and pass this Amazon tax.

And this is a historic victory for working people.

This would not be happening today were it not for our grassroots movement.

Also, the taxed Amazon movement was met with overwhelming support at the Justice for George Floyd protest because people know that Amazon and big business are responsible for racist gentrification in our city.

And it is a common-sense, anti-racist decision to tax the rich to fund affordable housing now.

Passing the Amazon tax today without watering it down is a concrete way of saying Black Lives Matter.

And shamefully introducing any sort of sunset clause would be saying something like, in four or 10 years, Black lives and Black folks having homes in our city no longer matters to the city council.

So we say Black Lives Matter, tax Amazon, build affordable housing now, no sunset clause, and our movement is watching.

Working people have the power.

Thank you.

Next up is Hannah, followed by Ellen Anderson.

Hi, I'd like to reiterate what many other people have already said here.

The fact that we are at all discussing an Amazon tax is entirely due to our grassroots working class movement, which has been led by socialists like Council Member Sawant's office and Socialist Alternatives.

It's because of our movement collecting over 30,000 signatures for our independent ballot initiative that the political establishment has been pressured to concede on this question of passing the wealthiest corporation.

To collect those signatures, our movement has also raised nearly $180,000 through thousands of small donations from working people with a median donation of only $27.

Up against the unlimited resources of big business and their collaboration with the politicians that represent them, it's only through working class solidarity that we're able to win.

So thank you to every single person who got active and helped build this tax Amazon movement.

Let's keep the extra $40 million per year, no sunset clause, no delay on this vote.

We're prepared to take this to the ballot if council backs down from voting yes or waters the Amazon tax down.

Thank you.

Sorry, thank you for calling in.

Next up is Ellen Anderson followed by Lucas Vargas.

Hi, I'm Ellen Anderson in District 2. I'm calling today to echo the call of Seattleites across the city demanding that the City Council pass the strongest possible Amazon tax.

Also, congratulations to the tax Amazon movement on forcing the Democratic establishment to put forward a tax.

During this crisis, we need to ensure that this tax has absolutely no loopholes, no sunset clause, and prioritizes the needs of working people, not corporations, who have been pulling in profits hand over fist at the cost of working people.

So now it is time to put some money where your mouth is.

We are sick of constantly hearing you verbally supporting things, the tax Amazon would give to the city, while voting for a watered-down sunset clause, tax that, and then thanking each other for all the hard work that the movement has won.

Your thank yous mean nothing to working people.

We demand housing now.

Hey, next up is Lucas, followed by Maya Garfinkel.

I'm Lucas, a union member with UAW Local 4121 and a campaigner at 350 Seattle.

I'm here to speak in favor of the jumpstart legislation.

The revenue generated by this measure will be invaluable to those who are struggling most.

I urge that any amendment that adds revenue generation to this initiative be accepted and passed by the council today.

In particular, the amendments that put aside funding for Green New Deal initiatives will be vital for revitalizing our city in the midst of this economic crisis.

The need for relief has been articulated by thousands of people in the past six months, and the council must act now to demonstrate that those most vulnerable will be first served by our city.

Thank you very much.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Karen Taylor, who, I'm sorry, we're going to go to Maya Garfinkel first.

There we go.

We're going to go to Maya Garfinkel first, and then we will hear from Karen Taylor.

Hi, Maya Garfinkel, an organizer with Be Seattle.

We need to tax Amazon without a sunset clause and to defund SPD by at least 50 percent.

Fifty thousand may face eviction when the moratorium lifts.

What do we want our city to look like?

A ghost town which the wealthiest few can afford who cycle in and out every few years?

Or do we want communities to fight for their city and take care of each other?

Many of these folks have already been forced to leave because of politicians cowardice.

If you do not support the broadest tax Amazon legislation and defunding FBD to fund permanently affordable housing while saying you support the uprisings across the country or simply paying lip service without actually fighting to make sure that low-income black and other people of color renters are able to stay in Seattle, tax Amazon, defund FBD, thank you.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Karen Taylor followed by Rosie Daniels.

Hi there, this is Karen Taylor.

I am calling because it's finally the time when y'all can do the thing that we spent all this time.

I mean, I should get paid.

I'm doing this constantly.

And finally, there's some result from that as more and more and more people get desperate, and more and more powerful.

So please pass the strongest possible tax.

And thank you for finally, finally, finally doing what we've asked of you.

Thank you, Karen, for calling in today.

Next up is Rosie Daniels, followed by Jessica Scalzo.

Hi, my name is Rosie Daniels.

I'm a District 3 renter and part of the Tax Amazon movement.

It's been a huge honor to organize with so many different people in this movement, union members, frontline Amazon workers, faith leaders, and many who are getting active for the first time.

Why are we all joining together?

It's because from years of budget cuts, the coronavirus crisis, the incredible courage that people have shown during the Black Lives Matter protests, We know that the city isn't going to run the way it used to.

Working people can't afford that anymore.

We have to fight for something better.

You see it too, Council.

In no universe would you be considering an Amazon tax where it's not for the strength of our movement and the fact that we're fully prepared to take the Amazon tax all the way to November's ballot if you don't pass something strong enough.

As a city, we must also defund SPD by at least 50%.

Black Lives Matter.

Thank you.

I yield my time.

Thank you so much.

The next person is Jessica Scalzo followed by Kira Miko.

Hi, thank you.

My name is Jessica Scalzo.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak.

I am a renter in District 3 and have been volunteering with the tax Amazon movement.

I am urging you to make sure there is no sunset clause in this big business tax and also that It be the strongest tax we can possibly have.

I prefer it to resemble the one that Councilmember Swann and Councilmember Morales originally came up with.

I also think it's important to have the first 1,000 homes built in the Central District to offset the racist gentrification that continues to happen.

We need to do much more than that.

That's a good start.

Please keep out any corporate loopholes and We need green New Deal modifications as well.

It sounds like that's not going to be happening here, but I would encourage you to think twice about that.

And also, please defund SBD by at least 50%.

Thank you for the time today.

Thank you so much.

Okay, colleagues, it is 2.28 p.m.

We have gone for about 22 minutes, so I am going to seek to extend the public comment period.

If there's no objection, the public comment period will be extended for an additional 40 minutes or approximately until 3.10 p.m.

Is there any objection to this extension?

Okay, there's no objection.

So hearing no objection, the public comment period is extended until about 3.10 p.m.

We are going to change the clock now from one minute to 45 seconds.

Again, with the purpose of hearing from as many people as we possibly can this afternoon.

So thank you to IT for making that quick switch.

Really appreciate it.

And we're gonna go ahead and continue on through the list here.

I'm going to pop back up to the top list.

It appears that our legislative IT department has matched some numbers of folks who were showing up on my list as not present, who are now present.

So we're going to go back up to speaker number three, who is Isabel Kerner, and then we will hear from Kira Mikko, and then we will hear from Uma Raghavan.

Hello, my name is Isabel Kerner, and I would just like to point out that we are already spending 100 to $150,000 for every individual on our street.

It hasn't worked.

Our budget is $6.5 billion, but you keep saying that you need more money.

More than a year ago, I proposed the cargo container solution.

Unlike this jumpstart idea, the cargo container solution was actually a plan.

The Cargo Container Solution aimed to help thousands of individuals on Seattle's streets the majority of whom are people of color by providing services tailored to each individual's unique needs along with job training employment and a message to earn and save money to afford affordable housing via a public-private partnership not a tax.

SPD will not need such a high budget if you are able to solve the camping crisis.

Therefore I do not support taxing Amazon.

I suggest working with Amazon.

And next up is Kira Mikko, followed by Uma Raghavan.

My name is Kira Mikko.

I'm a D3 renter and a member of Socialist Alternative.

In the past month, I helped our movement gather over 30,000 signatures for our tax Amazon ballot initiative.

20,000 of those signatures were gathered at the Justice for George Floyd protests, and this is not a coincidence.

Even if the eight city council members who voted no on building 1,000 homes in the Central District last Wednesday fail to see the connection between saying Black Lives Matter and making sure that working class Black people can actually continue to live in this city, people out at the protests do understand that racism in our city doesn't start and end with the Seattle Police Department, although we should absolutely defund them by 50% at least.

In February, a UW study found that Black adults in King County are seven times more likely to be evicted than white adults.

Thousands of people in Seattle understand that racial justice must include housing justice.

And as every city council member at this meeting has publicly stated that Black Lives Matter, I hope you see that, too.

Next up is Uma Raghavan, followed by Sandy Nelson.

Hello, my name is Uma Raghavan.

I'm a tech entrepreneur at Seattle and not representing the boards of the companies I advise.

I want every city council member to pass the Budget Committee's Amazon Tax today without watering it down, with no sunset costs, no corporate loopholes, and without any further delays.

It would tax big big business permanently beginning immediately to fund COVID relief affordable housing and the Green New Deal.

By passing the strong tax the City Council would begin to end the racist gentrification and make Black Lives Matter.

You showed spine to the world by passing dollar 15 minimum wage in 2014 and I urge you Seattle City Council members to pass Amazon today and make history by listening to the 30,000 citizen signatories and others in the grassroots.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for calling in today.

Next up is Sandy Nelson, followed by David Lichter.

Good afternoon.

My name is Sandra Nelson, and I'm director of PREM ABC Child Care Center in Southeast Seattle, and a member of the Kids First Washington.

I'm here to support Jump Start Seattle because we need grants.

Since March 20, We have been open only to children of essential and first line workers.

We have just reopened our center to our other families this month, in which 80% are on child care subsidy.

And we're seeing a vacancy rate of 30% because many of our families haven't gone back to work.

We ask that you Please give us grants so that we can keep the centers open.

Thank you so much for calling in.

Next up is David Lichter followed by Alice Lockhart.

Hi, I'm David Lichter of Lifelong Seattleite and I'm addressing Council Bill 119810. Spending has only increased year after year with little or no results when it comes to issues such as homelessness and housing.

We have yet to see a realistic approach that starts with fiscal accountability.

Groups like Speak Out Seattle brought multi-district points of view in support for accountability as to how our tax dollars are spent.

I am alarmed that Council Bill 119810 was not given to the people of Seattle by means of a vote on the ballot.

This is vocally against the will of the people to have their voices heard and I do appreciate the work of Council Members Juarez and Patterson for wanting to uphold our right to vote on this tax.

I urge the council to amend this tax and allow the people of Seattle to use their voice via the ballot box.

This way we'll know for certain what the collective constituent thinks of the tax on the ideas of collaboration, accountability, fiscal responsibility, and evidence.

Thank you so much.

Next up is Alice Lockhart, followed by S.

Charushila.

I'm sorry, Charushila.

Hi, this is Alice Lockhart.

I'm an organizer with 350 Seattle.

After centuries of inequality and structural racism and decades of regressive taxes, we are now in a moment of unprecedented crisis and unprecedented need, but also unprecedented awakening to that need.

Council, you truly can go much bolder right now.

We strongly support amendments 20 and 20C, which would realize more badly needed revenue by taxing our biggest businesses and our most overpaid executives.

just a little bit more.

We also support exempting non-profit health care and ending the sun set and so-called level playing field clauses that could hobble this legislation when it's so very much needed.

We need this relief right now, so please no on the whole ballot measure idea.

Thank you.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is S followed by Brendan McGovern.

Hi, my name is S Charusheela.

And I am a homeowner in District 5, and I'm a founding member of the Northeast Seattle Equity and Social Justice Council, whose membership stands in Districts 4 and 5, though I speak here entirely in a personal capacity.

Since I became part of a multiracial, cross-class coalition aimed to remind our council members in Districts 4 and 5 that beyond Windermere, there is Sandpoint housing when Charlene Alliance is built.

As an economist, I feel gaslighted and insulted when representatives who told us they couldn't help us because of revenues now do not vote for the very taxes we need for the revenues.

Vote for the tax, get the revenues, follow up on your promises to us.

Thank you so much for calling in today.

Next up is Brendan McGovern followed by Beatrice Lacombe.

Hi my name's Brendan.

I'm a renter in District 4 a substitute music teacher with Seattle Public Schools a member of Socialist Alternative and I've been active in the tax Amazon movement for the past few months.

It's been incredibly inspiring to hear so many see to talk to thousands of voters to hear how widespread support is for big business tax for housing in Seattle.

If Black Lives Matter then invest in Black communities by building affordable homes and don't end it with a sunset clause.

Did we put a sunset clause on black suffrage or on ending racist redlining when we made it illegal in the 60s?

Racial justice is housing justice.

Shame on all the council members who voted against Shama's amendment last week to build 1,000 affordable homes in the city.

Vote yes on the Amazon tax and no to any sunset clause.

Defund FPP by 50%.

Black lives matter.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for calling in today.

Next up is Beatrice Lacombe followed by Sujata Ramani.

Hi I'm a District 6 renter.

I'm extremely disappointed that the council did not support an amendment to build a thousand homes in the Central District which would disproportionately benefit Black working class people.

Shame on every council member who's tweeted in support of Black Lives Matter but refuses to do what is necessary to save Black lives.

You owe it to the working class of Seattle to fight racist gentrification caused by corporations like Amazon.

How dare you pretend to support Black lives otherwise.

I'm also here to urge you to not pass a sunset clause on this bill, and I want to emphasize that this is the tax Amazon movement's victory, not the victory of corporate Democrats.

This is an incredible victory for working people and socialists.

For-profit housing is a blight upon humanity, and we demand permanent, well-funded social housing.

Thank you.

Next up is Sujatha Ramani, followed by Anjali Ari.

Hi, good afternoon.

My name is Sujata.

I'm a volunteer with the Coalition of Seattle Indian Americans.

Our group follows the lead of the King County Equity Now Coalition.

I'm here to insist that the council pass the Amazon tax with no delays and no watering down and make sure that you keep the sunset clause out.

We need a permanent tax on big business in the city.

Make Black Lives Matter by passing this tax and meet further demands of the King County Exit Now Coalition to begin to end racist gentrification.

And last but not the least, as next step, you must impeach Mayor Durkan for the police department's terrorism actions on the protesters in Seattle.

Thank you.

Thank you for calling in.

Next up is Anjali, followed by Timothy DeLitt.

Good afternoon.

My name is Angela Arey.

I'm the program supervisor of Little People's World Seattle and a member of Kids First Washington.

I'm here in support of Jump Start Seattle because we need direct grants.

Our center has remained open since COVID-19 arrived and operating during this pandemic pandemic means a lot of extra costs.

The largest cost we face is due to staffing.

Due to the pandemic we insist that staff stay home if they have any cold symptoms however minor out of caution to others.

In this case we need to bring in substitutes or pay overtime to cover those shifts.

So we're paying double.

We're paying sick time to staff who must quarantine and the salaries of replacement staff.

This is by far our highest cost.

We will remain a pillar of support to our communities, but we need financial help.

Please vote yes to jumpstart Washington.

Thank you for calling in.

Next up is Timothy and Timothy will be followed by Howard Gale.

Good afternoon.

I'm Dr. Tim Dellett, president of UW Physicians.

UW Physicians is a nonprofit organization and part of UW Medicine, made up of physicians providing care at Harborview Medical Center, UW Medical Center, Valley Medical Center, as well as Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and Seattle Children's Hospital, providing critical safety net care for vulnerable populations as well as significant uncompensated care.

Council Member Musqueda's amendment would provide a partial exemption to the tax that would benefit the continued practice of UW physicians at a critical time serving our community.

I respectfully request the council's support of this amendment.

Thank you.

Thank you for calling in.

Next up is Howard Gale followed by Teresa Homan.

Hi, this is Howard Gale.

This is Howard Gale from Lower Queen Anne.

The abuse and terror unleashed on protesters over the last few days by the SPD is part of an unrelenting and worsening pattern.

The SPD is demonstrating profound contempt for both free speech and for any attempt by the council to hold them accountable.

I warned about this when council attempted to ban SPD's weapons rather than banning their actual practices a few weeks ago.

The council must now do two things that the Community Police Commission has assiduously avoided in the last five years.

call for broad public community meetings to address police violence, the very opposite of what the Community Police Commission actually voted on last week, and two, confront a distinction between what crowd control means and enabling free speech activities.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Teresa Homan, followed by Robert Gale.

Hi, my name is Teresa Homan, and I'm with Lehigh.

I first want to thank Councilmembers Sawant, Morales, Mosqueda, Gonzalez, Lewis, Herbold, and Strauss for your vote last Wednesday on progressive revenue.

Please vote yes today without a sunset clause.

Also, please support Councilmember Herbold's Amendment 2 to CB 119816 to add food to the villages where the need is great, especially during COVID-19.

Thanks.

Going forward, please consider including the 1,000 new homes in the central area for residents, as outlined in the letter you received from the African-American faith leaders.

And finally, please add 20 new house villages, tiny house villages.

Thank you so much.

Bye-bye.

Thank you, Teresa, for calling in.

Next up is Robert Gale, followed by Daniel Wang.

Hello, I've been a homeowner in District 4 for more than 20 years.

I want to urge the council, particularly my D4 representative, Alex Peterson, to approve this payroll tax with no sunset clause or ballot initiative.

I am a well-paid high-tech worker.

This tax precisely targets businesses like the one I work for who are doing fine in this economy.

We're not laying off people.

We are continuing to hire and thrive, so we can easily afford to contribute more to support the communities that attract the employees that make our business possible.

and ensure they can afford to live here without having bought a house 20 years ago.

This is not going to force companies to relocate outside of Seattle.

Thank you so much for calling in today.

Next up is Daniel Wang, followed by Daniel Sims.

I'm a student in District 4 and a member of Socialist Alternatives.

Last Wednesday was an incredible victory for the tax Amazon movement.

Make no mistake, today is not big enough.

It should have been amended on Wednesday to fill our city budget holes, fund Green New Deal initiatives, and build housing into CD in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.

But it is over three times the size of the original head tax that got watered down and then repealed in 2018. And the reason for this disparity in outcomes is not that the taxes were written or structured differently or that our elected politicians finessed an agreement with big business.

It is the strength of a movement that collected 30,000 signatures in a month and showed beyond a shadow of doubt that the people of Seattle were tired of the progressive tax system.

If the Amazon tax is not passed today with no sunset clause, remember that this ballot initiative exists and that we made it happen.

Oh, and defund the SPD already.

Jesus Christ.

Okay, next up is Donyell Sims, followed by Kevin Vitz Wong.

Hello, my name is Donyell Sims.

I'm a renter in District 8. I stand by the movement of Councilwoman Sawant, the 2200 Safe Leaders.

I'm very proud of them for getting the 30,000 signatures for the ballot to be on.

And if Black Lives truly matter, we need to tax Amazon.

We need to take the wealth from their pockets and put it back into the community.

We need to fund childcare, houses, social services, education, domestic violence, mental health.

Take it away from the wealthy and give it.

Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Kevin Vitz Wong, followed by Eric Ackerman.

Hello.

Hi, thanks.

I am a renter from District 6. I work in Seattle Public Schools and I have also formerly worked for Amazon, and I can tell you that these companies, these big companies, will not come to the table willingly.

You have to drag them kicking and screaming.

So I would like to congratulate the TaxAmazon campaign for collecting their 30,000 signatures in a month.

And I would also urge the Council to pass the strongest possible version of the legislation without delays.

Similarly, I would request that all council members publicly commit to defunding SPD by 50%.

The public will back you on this.

Thank you.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Eric Ackerman followed by Lisa Smith.

Good afternoon.

My name is Eric Ackerman.

I'm in District 3. I'd like to urge the City Council to pass the Amazon tax with no loopholes, no sunsets, no more concessions to big business.

and no going back on this decision like in 2018. Also, SPD officer Molly J.T. Clark, badge 5677, needs to be removed from the force for trying to run down protesters the same night Summer Taylor and Diaz Love were run down for failure to lead and to control the police department, which is grossly overpaid.

I thank you for listening.

I yield the rest of my time.

Thank you.

For those of you who are listening, it's about 2.46 p.m.

We have until about 3.10 p.m., and we are well over halfway through the list.

I'm about to call on speaker 53, so getting close to the end here, or closer to the end.

Next up is Lisa Smith followed by Josie M.

My name is Lisa Smith, District 2. Firstly, this council should support the measure to tax Amazon without a sunset clause to address racist gentrification and fund housing for black and brown people and jobs, and to vote in support of defunding the police by at least 50 percent.

The 5% recommended by Mayor Durkin is insulting.

I'd love to listen to their kitchen table conversations about black people.

Secondly, I have called in to call out the hypocrisy of Mayor Durkin, Governor Inslee, and Attorney General Ferguson.

While number 45 is a disgrace and a racist who spews hateful rhetoric and a horrible leader of this country, they are extremely hypocritical.

They are the epitome of the pot calling the kettle.

The black citizens, voters of this state, are being murdered by the police.

There are no hashtags for hate crime survivors.

Governor Inslee, it is time for you to investigate.

Thank you for calling in.

Next up is Josie M.

followed by Indu Nair.

This is Josie M. District.

This is Josie M., District 1. I am calling to say tax Amazon, no sunset clause, and we need to defund and de-radicalize our police.

We saw over the weekend citizens being demanded to show their ID to police to get into their own houses, being threatened to be arrested for living in their community, while at the same time, the police provided a white supremacist group with protection walking through the area of the former CHOP.

arresting protesters who are angry that Nazis were walking on their streets.

We have seen the police become a right-wing gang and defunding is important, but we have to consider where is that hate going to go when they're defunded.

We need to have an active program to make sure that our police are not going into the community with extremist mindsets.

Thank you so much for calling in.

Next up is Indu Nair followed by Matthew Smith.

Hi, my name is Indra Nair.

I insist that the City Council pass the Budget Committee's Amazon tax.

No delays and no watering down.

Please keep the Sunset Clause out.

We need a permanent tax on big business.

Please show that you mean it when you say that Black Lives Matter by passing this tax and end racist gentrification.

I also want Mayor Jenny Durkan to resign for her moral failure in ordering a military-style violent attack by Seattle Police Department on the citizens of Seattle during peaceful protests in solidarity of Black Lives Matter and defund SPD.

That's the least you can do to terrorists and murderers.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Matthew Smith followed by Gabriel Mahan.

Hi, my name is Hi, my name is Matt Smith.

I'm a renter in District 2. I'm a member of Socialist Alternative, and I also work for Amazon as a cargo handler full-time.

Unlike hundreds of other Amazon workers in Seattle, I am a strong supporter of the Amazon tax movement.

I'm one of the 30,000 voters who have signed a petition to get an Amazon tax on the ballot.

And we are prepared to fight all the way to November if the council fails to pass a strong Amazon tax today.

And it is absolutely because of the strength of this movement that we're even having this discussion today.

Since March 1st, Jeff Bezos has increased his wealth by $60 billion.

Amazon's stock price has skyrocketed.

But Amazon workers like me have not seen that wealth, and neither has our community.

So I urge the council to stand with working people, stand with renters, stand with people of color, and not Jeff Bezos and corporate landlords.

Pass a strong Amazon tax without a sunset clause.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up is Gabriel, and then we will hear from Walker Thomas.

Hi, my name is Gabriel.

I'm a resident of District 3 and a renter in Capitol Hill.

I want to say that this is my first time giving public comment and getting involved.

I think the tax Amazon movement has shown its strength in getting citizens like me engaged in areas where they otherwise wouldn't.

As a senior software engineer and tech professional, I can say that it is a myth that tech workers do not support this tax.

The overwhelming support of the people and tech workers is for this tax, and I urge the councils to vote for it without delay, without loopholes, and with no sunset clause.

I yield my time.

Thank you.

Next up is Walker Thomas, followed by Dick Schwartz.

Hi, my name is Walker Thomas.

I live in Capitol Hill District 3. I'm calling here to quickly say you absolutely need to tax Amazon.

No more games, no more sunset closets.

I work in homeless services.

This money is desperately, desperately needed.

It is ridiculous that you would even consider not taxing to the fullest extent.

Also, I live right by the East Precinct in Capitol Hill.

The police are treating this like a war zone.

They are harassing people on the way to work.

They're asking people for their papers.

They're throwing blast bombs at people.

They're macing people.

They're begging you to defund them.

Please, I beg you, defund them, 50 percent at least.

We do not need this.

I yield the rest of my time.

Thank you.

Next up is Dick Schwartz.

And then after Dick, we will hear from Daniel Heppner.

This piece of legislation is a very important piece of legislation.

It will have significant implications for the city's economy and citizens in the years to come.

To a worrying degree, the nuances and details have been lost, and the noise hoopla and emotion that have characterized the campaign to enact it.

30,000 signatures represents 4% of the city's population.

This savant has pledged to pursue the issue as a ballot initiative if the council doesn't pass it.

That is exactly what should happen, an issue that generates so much controversy and has so many unknown implications for the city, should not be enacted without the stamp of approval of the majority of the city's residents.

It deserves a broad public hearing in which the details get fleshed out.

The issue of this significance should be decided by the city's 708,000 residents, not nine individuals who are subject to pressure from any number of special interest groups.

Thank you.

Next up is Daniel Heppner followed by Brent Bartlett.

My name is Daniel.

I'm an electrical engineer living in District 6. I support the proposed payroll tax.

However, I would love to see transportation funding included in the proposed expenditures.

The proposed transportation benefit district going on the ballot only provides one-fourth of the bus service as the old one.

Between 2008 and 2016, lowering vehicle miles traveled was the single biggest source of emissions reductions in Seattle, while other cities saw a drop in ridership.

Cutting public transit will very quickly append that decade of progress the city has made on decreasing vehicle miles traveled and increasing equity.

Transit shouldn't be ignored, especially as its cost is a drop in the bucket compared to the other very important needs that the city has.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Brent Bartlett, followed by Thomas Meeks.

Hi, I'm a renter in District 4. I support taxing big business with no delays, no watering down, and no sunset clauses.

Since moving to Seattle five years ago, I've been living paycheck to paycheck, and I've come close to being homeless myself twice.

I was fortunate that I have not become homeless, but homelessness is obviously rampant in Seattle, and I view it as an intolerable situation that has been somehow not been resolved yet, and I view that this is one step in that direction, but we need many more steps.

And I'm afraid that the current crisis has exasperated.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Thomas Meeks, followed by Christina Nylander.

Hello my name is Thomas Meeks.

I'm a resident in West Seattle.

I'm calling in support of the Jump Start program.

It's a big step in the right direction and I think you all should be very proud if that passes today.

I'm also calling because listening to the council briefing this morning it was very obvious that most of the council is disgusted and dismayed at the actions of Mayor Ginni and the SPD.

And it really leaves me with the question as to why the council isn't moving forward with removing Mayor Ginni.

It's obvious that she's just she's told us who she is.

We need to believe her.

And it's obvious that nothing's going to change until some extreme political pressure is placed on her to make the situation change.

People have died.

It's time to get really serious.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for calling in today.

Next up is Christina followed by Ana Bonilla.

Hello my name's Christine.

Hello, my name is Christina Nylander and I'm on the steering committee of the Working Families Party and I'm a renter in District 3. I'm asking that you pass the jumpstart legislation with no sunset and with specific provisions for housing in the CD.

So you all have a responsibility to do something about gentrification because not only does Amazon drive gentrification, but the council also has had a huge role.

This weekend I learned about a program from the early 90s called the weed and seed program which Black folks were fighting because they knew that it was going to basically decimate the community back then which it ultimately did.

And I think that you all have an opportunity now to really think about reversing that in some meaningful ways.

So yes please defund the police.

Follow the leadership of Black-led organizations to reinvest the money thoughtfully.

It's a great time.

Thank you so much for calling in today.

Next up is Anna Bonilla followed by Liz Agee.

Hi, good afternoon.

My name is Anna Bonilla and I'm with Enterprise Community Partners and I'm here today to ask you to vote yes on Jumpstart Seattle.

We've been in an ongoing housing crisis and we are currently in a COVID-19 health crisis and before us is an unfolding economic, social and moral crisis.

As we start to look at how we can recover I urge you to remain steadfast and take bold steps toward an equitable and inclusive recovery.

We know that austerity will only result in years enduring the consequences of cuts to critical programs that will disproportionately affect well-off communities and people of color.

Passing progressive revenue is one part of a large recovery strategy which must include the funding police and commercial system and the equitable distribution of our current resources.

Thank you.

Thank you to the Budget Committee for voting this.

out, and I urge you to vote yes today.

Thank you.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Liz, followed by Khan Hassan.

Thank you.

My name is Liz Adjaye, and I'm here from International Community Health Services, a federally qualified health center with 11 sites around Seattle and King County.

I'm here to address the JumpStart Seattle payroll tax and amendments related to the nonprofit health care providers.

And we ask that you fully consider the work that these most vulnerable residents and ensure that community health centers have a clear and full exemption from these ordinances.

Nonprofit health centers like ICHS are crucial access points for people seeking high quality and affordable health care that they cannot get anywhere else.

Prior to COVID-19, over 60% of our patients were on Medicaid and 11% had no insurance at all.

But we now operate our clinics at a severe loss.

Federal funding for general losses has yet to be secured, and the extra tens of thousands of dollars paid over each of the next few years will break ICHS with unaffordable expenses on top of these financial losses.

Thank you, Liz, for calling in today.

Please do feel free to send us the rest of your remarks.

I know that 45 seconds is not enough for everybody to get everything out.

I appreciate your all's flexibility on the line.

It is 2.59 p.m., and it looks like we will be able to hear from everybody who signed up for public comment today, and I think that that is really important for us to be able to hear from as many folks as possible.

Next up is Khan Hassan, followed by Henry Dietz.

Hello, my name is Khan Hassan.

I'm part of Seattle Indian American Council, and I'm calling to ask the city council to pass the Budget Committee Amazon tax without any delays and no watering down, please.

Please keep the sunset clause out.

We need permanent tax on big businesses.

Make the word Black Lives Matter by passing the strong tax to end the racist gentrification.

defund SPD by at least 50 percent, and no more SPD training in the state of Israel.

No more SPD training in the state of Israel.

And finally, Mayor Durkan must resign now.

Thank you.

Have a nice day.

Thank you for calling in.

Next up is Henry Dietz, followed by Jacob Vale.

My name is Henry Dietz.

I'm a renter in District 3, and I'm here to ask the council to pass the payroll expense staff.

The city is facing a three-pronged emergency due to COVID-19, being public health, housing, jobs, and income.

There's no way the city can recover and create revenue without taxing big business, especially with us having one of the most regressive tax systems.

The tax rate for this bill is modest and only applies to the top 2% of businesses, but it would be life-saving for Seattle residents who are out of jobs or frontline workers risking their lives every day.

The revenue from these taxes would help fund the Green New Deal, create affordable housing, and would provide assistance for so many people.

It's time for the city to start to care more about its people and its residents rather than big businesses and how they would view them.

I ask that you pass this bill as is.

No delay, no poison pills, and no sunset clause.

The people of Seattle affected by COVID-19, gentrification, displacement, need affordable housing, income assistance, and union jobs.

Thank you for calling in.

Next up is Jacob Vail followed by Jordan Quinn.

Hi, my name is Jacob Dale.

I'm a resident of Washington State.

I'm calling in support of the Amazon House for a couple of reasons.

One, for most of what everybody has said here today.

And the second is we have to come up with an actual plan to make things work.

And in order to do that, we have to fund things from businesses like Amazon in order to give back to the community in a way that it deserves.

Defunding the police means rewriting the police.

giving that a voice to the people and to set up different options so the police department aren't responding to non-verbal issues.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Jordan Quinn and then we will hear from Tim Eyman.

Hi, my name is Jordan Quinn.

I'm a voter and renter in District 2. First, I'd like to say a huge thank you and congratulations to Council Member Shama Salwan and all the activists who have fought for this vote on the Amazon tax.

And just the only reason that we're here today is because of the countless hours of signature gathering and protesting against racist police and democratic discussions and debate in our movement and all of the action conferences of our movement that I went to, I saw Shama every time.

I saw Tammy once, but not a single other council member who touts the collaborative approach, bringing together stakeholders, or whatever you say for this watered-down version of what our movement fought for this whole time.

It shows that stakeholders, a jumpstart Seattle brought together, doesn't actually include us, and I urge you to pass the Amazon tax without any loopholes, no sunset clause, and if Black Lives really matter, then actually...

Okay, next up is Tim Eyman, and then after Tim, we will hear from Alexandra Gobiel.

Hello?

Do we have the next speaker queued up, IT?

I have Tim Iman listed as ready to speak, ending at 5295.

All right, let's go.

Is there a Tim Iman on the phone?

Move along.

Going once.

Going twice.

Going three times.

All right, we don't have a winner here, so we're gonna go ahead and move along.

Next up is Alexander followed by Melinda Gonzalez.

Hello, my name is Alexander.

I'm a District 1 renter, a mental health counselor, and small business owner.

This should be a no-brainer.

David is about to be the world's first trillionaire, and this is his fair share.

This is reparations that have been needed to the Black community.

Recentrate.

Be part of the healing of our nation.

Do what is right.

Feel your heart.

Feel your body.

You know what to do.

You know the truth.

we can reallocate funds to communities of color and their health and education and their safety and defund the violent racist police department.

Do is right.

When our most vulnerable thrive, we all thrive.

Thank you very much.

We are watching you and counting on you.

Thank you so much.

Okay.

Next up is Melinda Gonzalez followed by Aiden Carroll.

Hi my name is Melinda Gonzalez.

I'd like to remind you that we the people elected you.

Therefore you work for us and the past hour makes it clear that the people demand more social responsibility from you.

First failing to support the 1,000 new homes in the Central District is shameful.

Secondly defunding the police fails to address the real issue that the police officers we have are completely subpar.

At only 672 hours of training to be a cop hairdressers get 260 percent more training on average.

Police departments are legally allowed to deny applicants with higher than average IQ.

This ruling was upheld several times in court.

This is disgusting knowing that there are strong ties between low IQ and violence.

Abolish the police and fund social programs to successfully do these jobs every day.

Reopen all cases involving police violence and charge all officers as citizens.

No immunity.

Thank you.

Thank you, Melinda, for calling in today.

Next up is, okay, I'm sorry, just looking through my list here.

Looks like next up is Aiden Carroll, followed by Barbara Finney.

Hi, thank you for the Amazon tax proposal that we have fought for and you have listened to.

Please do this now without a sunset.

Make sure there's funding for, you know, the Green New Deal, promise of following through on housing in the central district, et cetera.

It honestly should be at least half again larger for $300 million, since that's what, I mean, you need as much money as possible for all the needs in this city, but the highest possible is good, please.

Defund SPD 50%, make sure that officer Molly Clark is fired before she kills someone, free all protesters with no charges, and the rest is in the street.

Thanks.

Hey, thank you so much for calling in.

Next up is Barbara Finney followed by Jack Francis.

Hello, my name is Barbara Finney.

I live in D5 and I'm a volunteer in the tax Amazon movement.

Council passed the tax, Amazon tax today.

No delays, no watering down, no sunset clause.

We need a permanent tax on big business.

Begin to end the racist gentrification in Seattle and fund the building of a thousand new affordable homes in the CD.

This tax is not enough, it's a start, but it's a big, big victory for the tax Amazon movement.

I thank Council Member Shama Sawant, her office, Socialist Alternative, and all who've worked so hard on the tax Amazon movement.

Tax Amazon, Lives Matter, defund SPD by at least 50%, and Mayor Durkan, resign.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Jack Francis, and then we will hear from Charles Paul.

Hi, my name is Jack Francis, and I'm here to support my voice, or to voice my support for the tax-Amazon movement.

In my opinion, $240 million per year is not enough.

Jeff Bezos is one of the richest men in the world.

Amazon is one of the reasons why he makes that much money.

He's gained billions and hundreds of billions of dollars.

because of this pandemic.

There is no reason that they cannot afford a tax of $1 billion per year.

Fund a Green New Deal.

Do not water down this tax.

If you do not approve at least half a billion in tax on Amazon, we will take it to the ballot, and we will succeed in our mission.

Defund the SPD.

Charge them for war crimes.

I do not know if some of you are aware, but Nazis would gas their prisoners.

Do not let people recreate Nazi acts of hate in this city.

Defund the SPD.

Kick Mayor Danny Durkan out.

Kick Chief Best out as well.

We must

Thank you for calling in.

Next up is Charles Paul, and then we will hear from Marlo May.

Hello, my name is Charles Paul.

I'm a renter in D7 and a software engineer.

I'm also a PCO for the District 36 Democrats.

I am speaking in support of the tax Amazon movement today.

I believe that this and the money we reclaim by defunding SPD by at least 50% should be given towards rebuilding and de-gentrifying the housing communities in Seattle, specifically focusing on how badly these crises of coronavirus and police brutality have devastated the Black population in our city.

And I ask that Mayor Jenny Madrid can be impeached or forced to resign.

Thank you very much.

Have a good day.

Thank you so much.

Next up is Marlo.

to and I support.

This is Marlo Makes in District 2 and I support the strongest proposal of the Amazon tax as a mixed race Black and disabled person on a severely minimal fixed income.

I face impossible choices around accessing affordable housing programs while also living near the specialized health and support systems in Seattle I need while navigating public spaces safely to get there.

I also support firing Mayor Durkin for her reckless and assaulting leadership in reaction to protests and to fund the police and center the voices of Black, Brown, disabled, homeless, and low-income people in every step of your decision-making for restorative and restitutional investing those funds back into the community.

Also free all detained protesters and do so without charges.

All Black lives matter.

I relinquish my time.

Thank you so much.

I'm going to do a quick review of my public comment sheet here to see if there's anyone else who has showed up as present since we started our meeting.

And it sounds like...

Okay, let's see.

Looking at notes here about the next speaker.

Okay, so it sounds like there was some kind of technical challenges or challenges in general with one of the speakers that I called on earlier, so I'm gonna go ahead and call on him again.

The next speaker and the last speaker signed up for today before the close of public comment is Tim Eyman.

Yeah, my name is Tim Eyman, and I am a lifelong resident of Washington State, and I adamantly oppose the socialists who want job-killing jobs tax.

It is only going to extend the economic calamity that Inslee's lockdown has already inflicted on struggling working families, and it's only going to hurt the very people that Sawant claims that she wants to help.

I mean, because you should be in jail.

You shouldn't be behind that microphone.

I mean, you are a limousine socialist, Your ideas have not worked in state history and world history.

It is an absolutely horrible idea that you think that somehow you're not going to drive out all these employers out of the city.

This is absolutely destructive ideas.

You're a governor's savant, mayor's savant.

You're actually not a city council member.

You're running the whole show.

All right, that was our last speaker who signed up for public comment today.

I'm gonna look one more time on my public comment sign-in sheet.

Just let it be known that we welcome anyone to provide us with public comment here at the Seattle City Council, where we truly believe in democracy and having an opportunity to hear voices and really appreciate everybody who called in and the overwhelming amount of folks who called in speak in favor of the Jump Start Seattle proposal.

Looking forward to having that discussion in a few moments.

Looks like nobody else is here.

I'd like to ask IT to please confirm that we don't have any other folks signed up for public comment today.

I'm not hearing that we have any others signed up, so we are ready to go ahead and go through our business agenda today, folks.

Payment of the bills, I would ask that the clerk please read the title into the record.

Council Bill 119817, appropriate money to pay for an audit claim for the week of June 22nd, 2020 through June 26th, 2020 and ordering the payment zero.

Thank you so much.

I will move to pass Council Bill 119817. Is there a second?

Second, it's been.

It's thank you.

It has been moved and seconded that the bill pass.

Are there any comments?

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

Herbold I. Juarez.

I. Lewis I Morales I Mosqueda.

Aye.

Peterson.

Peterson.

Sawant.

Aye.

Strauss.

Aye.

President Gonzalez.

Can you please call on Council Member Peterson one more time?

Yes, Council Member Peterson.

Give him just a moment.

I cannot hear you.

Try again.

Can you hear me now?

Yes, thank you.

Yes, hi.

And Council President Gonzalez.

Hi.

That's nine in favor, none opposed.

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.

Thank you so much.

Okay folks, we're going to go ahead and dig into committed reports of the City Council.

We'll start with agenda item one.

I'd ask that the clerk please read the short title of agenda item one into the record.

Agenda item one, Council Bill 119814 relating to the funding for housing and community development programs adopting a substantial amendment to the City of Seattle 2019 Annual Action Plan Amendment to the 2018-2022 Consolidate Plan for Housing and Community Development, authorizing its submission to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Thank you so much.

Okay, I will move to pass Council Bill 119814. Is there a second?

Second.

It has been moved and seconded to pass the bill.

Council Member Mosqueda, you are the sponsor of this bill, so you are recognized in order to address this item.

Please.

Thank you, Council President.

This legislation adopts amendments to the city's 2019 annual action plan to detail how the city will spend approximately $8.9 million in federal funds allocated to the city through housing and urban development for COVID response, including CBDG funds, ESG, and housing opportunities for people with AIDS or the HOPLA grant.

These funds were appropriated by the council through ordinances 126074 and 126084 passed in May.

Funds have been allocated to the Human Services Department, Office of Housing, and the Office of Economic Development to prevent, prepare, and respond to the coronavirus.

These funds will support emergency rental assistance, grant payments to small businesses, and meal programs for people experiencing homelessness.

In order to enter into grant agreements with HUD and to receive the funds, we have been directed to amend our most current annual action plans to reflect these appropriations.

You will note that we approved the 2020 annual action plan in May.

However, since the grant agreements for the 2020 annual action plan have not yet been executed by Housing and Urban Development, the 2019 annual action plan is still our current plan, and therefore, we must amend that plan to receive these HUD COVID emergency funds.

Last week, we held a public hearing on the legislation on Monday.

Thank you to the folks who testified on that.

This legislation is considered part of the budget rebalancing package.

However, it is scheduled for a vote today because adoption of amendments to the annual action plans are required before these funds can be distributed.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you so much, Council Member Mosqueda.

Are there any additional comments or questions on the bill?

councilmember Herbold.

that the council previously moved away from rental assistance towards shelter will be spent on rental assistance.

This plan will help ensure that desperately needed resources for homelessness prevention and rental assistance are restored.

I think as we originally intended a couple weeks ago now.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Council Member Herbold.

Any other questions or comments on the bill?

Hearing none, I would ask that the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill.

Herbold?

Aye.

Juarez?

Aye.

Lewis?

Aye.

Morales?

Aye.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

Peterson?

Aye.

DeWant?

Aye.

Strauss?

Aye.

President Gonzales.

Aye.

Nine in favor, none opposed.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

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

Okay, folks, we're going to move on to item two.

Will the clerk please read agenda item two into the record?

The report of the Select Committee on Budget Agenda Item 2, Council Bill 119116, relating to the city's response to the 2020 COVID-19 crisis.

Amending Ordinance 12600, which adopts the 2020 budget, accepting funding from non-city sources, changing appropriations to various departments and budget control levels, offering various funds in the budget, declaring an emergency, and establishing an immediate effective date, all by a three-quarters vote of the city council.

The committee recommends that the bill pass as amended, with an abstention from Council Member Sawant.

Thank you so much for that reading into the record, Madam Clerk.

So Council Member Mosqueda, as Chair of the Committee, you are recognized in order to address this item.

But before I do that, Madam Clerk, do I need to move for the passage of this bill?

The Committee recommendation is the recommendation that the City Council will take up, which is the recommendation that the bill pass as amended.

Do I need to make a formal motion?

No.

Thank you so much.

Council Member Rosqueda, as chair of the committee, you are recognized in order to address this item.

Wonderful.

Thank you, Council President.

I also want to thank Council Member Herbold, who is a co-sponsor of this ordinance.

This ordinance would accept and appropriate $13 million in emergency housing and homelessness funds for COVID funding from the state of Washington.

This legislation accepts and appropriates that fund that came from the Department of Commerce on March 27th.

And as I expressed last week, disappointment that we had been sitting on these funds from the state for so long.

We have been eagerly awaiting this ordinance, which proposes spending for the grants to accept funds and send them to respond to the emergency that COVID is presenting to frontline providers and vulnerable housing, sorry, frontline providers for vulnerable housing, insecure or homeless populations.

The ordinance finally came through at the end of June, and we moved as quickly as we possibly could to get these long-awaited funds out the door.

I want to highlight a few really important components of this legislation.

It includes funding for permanent supportive housing operations, dollars that would now be available, that would have come through revenues from the short-term rental tax, which is now being dramatically affected by the impacts of the economic downturn.

It's critical that we get funding to permanent supportive housing operators.

It includes funding for food delivery for those permanent supportive housing sites and the individuals living in those homes.

It includes funding for substantial unexpected additional COVID-related costs incurred by our shelter and hygiene center and permanent supportive housing providers.

And we need to get these dollars out the door as soon as possible.

And it includes funding for shelter, de-densification and hygiene services and funding for senior food and meal delivery programs.

I'm happy to see the dollars being allocated now.

CDO and central staff provided a presentation on this legislation at the budget committee on Wednesday.

I'm enthusiastic about this.

I wish we would have been able to get it out the door in March.

Here we are getting it out as fast as we possibly can.

Thank you, Councilmember Mosqueda, for that introduction of the bill.

Councilmember Herbold, is there anything that you'd like to add as co-sponsor?

Just to echo Councilmember Mosqueda's comments about the urgency of getting these funds out, we know that providers have been dipping into their own reserves.

to cover the significant expenses associated with serving populations of people during COVID-19 and providing services in a way that they could not have planned to while making extraordinary efforts to provide frontline care and services to people.

that we are going to be hit hardest by the public health emergency and economic downturn.

So again, really appreciate budget chair Mosqueda's commitment to moving this quickly rather than having this be part of the budget discussions that will probably take us through I believe early August in finalizing.

Okay, seeing none, I just wanna thank Council Member Herbold and Mosqueda for their joint work on this particular bill.

Really important effort here and just wanna thank you both for bringing it forward as soon as we possibly could.

With that being said, we'll go ahead and close that debate and I would ask that the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill.

Herbold?

Aye.

Juarez?

Aye.

Lewis?

Aye.

Morales.

Aye.

Metzgeda.

Aye.

Peterson.

Aye.

Sawant.

Aye.

Strauss.

Aye.

President Gonzalez.

Aye.

Nine in favor, none opposed.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

I'd ask that the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation.

Next up is item 3. Will the clerk please read the short title of item 3 into the record?

The committee recommends the City Council pass the bill as amended with a divided report with Council Members Mosqueda, Herbold, Gonzalez, Lewis, Morales, Solange, and Stroup in favor, and Council Members Quattus and Peterson opposed.

Thank you so much, Madam Clerk, for those of you watching and listening in on our conversation.

I'm gonna try to sort of put this into regular folk parlance since there's a lot of just Robert's Rules of Order and procedure in place.

Item three and item four are both the, I believe item four, hold on a minute here.

items related to the jumpstart Seattle proposal that would impose a payroll tax on certain businesses in the city of Seattle.

This is a really important conversation.

We have been working really hard under the leadership of councilmember Mosqueda and others on looking at the jumpstart Seattle proposal.

I'm excited to be able to kick off the conversation.

So again, for those of you watching, item 3 and 4 are related to jumpstart Seattle proposals, which are the payroll tax considerations.

So without further ado, I'm going to go ahead and hand it over to Councilmember Mosqueda, who, as chair of the committee, is going to address this item.

We will be able to close out debate on agenda I'm going to turn it back over to you, both you colleagues and those watching on the TV just to orient us all in this zoom world that we find ourselves in as to what the order of business is going to be.

then we will open up the, after taking votes on each of those amendments, we'll open up the discussion and debate on the bill as amended.

And then we will do a final roll call.

So with that being said, Council Member Mosqueda, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Madam President.

And if it pleases the president, I have a few opening comments and then I'll make the motion to bring forward the amendment.

Absolutely.

Thank you, Madam President.

Council colleagues, We're in the midst of a public health pandemic and an economic crisis, and Jumpstart is part of the remedy.

This is the antidote or part of the antidote needed to respond to the public health crisis of COVID and the economic instability that COVID has exposed in our local economy.

Jumpstart is part of the solution needed to deeply invest in affordable housing, equitable development, and a more resilient economy.

Jumpstart injects resources into the social safety net harm by decades of underfunding in housing, health services, support for our most vulnerable community members.

Jumpstart reinvests in our families, it invests in our neighbors, it invests in local shops and our local economy, and it will help Seattle survive the crisis of COVID and emerge stronger and more equitable.

Every day, each of our offices is responding to calls and emails.

We see people in community Every day, concerns that they cannot pay for groceries for their young children, they cannot put food on the table because they don't have a job.

We've heard concerns from business owners that they didn't get a penny from the federal government, especially among Black-owned business owners who were disproportionately excluded from getting federal assistance.

We've heard concerns from shops about their inability to pay vendors because there were no revenues in April and May.

And they need to be able to have assurances that they can have money in hand so that they can pay staff and start hiring people again, so that they can pay rent and open their shops again.

We've heard concerns repeatedly from members of this council who've been leaders on fighting for immigrants and refugees, that immigrants and refugees were intentionally left out of the federal support, when these are our essential workers and they help our economy run.

We've heard concerns about the fiscal cliff that we will be presenting itself next year in our budget if we do not have revenue revenue in hand to backfill emergency funds.

We're talking about the cliff that can make it quite likely that libraries would close that parks would close that there will be problems with accessing child care core government services that without additional revenue we will not have enough funds to backfill emergency funds.

And we've heard the ongoing concern about the lack of affordable housing, the lack of supportive housing that helps get folks on their feet and get them stably housed on the road to recovery and resiliency for our entire community.

This is the promise of Jump Start, to invest in our community, invest in housing, childcare, invest in small businesses, support immigrants and refugees, support working families.

This is not only the remedy for the emergency that is COVID, but it helps us correct an upside down tax code.

Without Jumpstart, we're facing a crisis of an unprecedented scale, and it's not going to end anytime soon.

And we know in Washington state we are not alone, but 1.2 million workers have already filed for unemployment insurance, and the numbers continue to grow, especially with uncertainty as we see the numbers of COVID cases continue to grow.

In the midst of this crisis, large companies are continuing to do well.

They're still paying three figure salaries in some cases, and in some cases, even as high of a half a million dollars a year.

So we're asking them through this Jump Start proposal to contribute, contribute a small percentage of those profits to saving our local economy, investing in neighbors and families so that they can in turn invest in our local economy and we can come out stronger.

We know one thing for sure, based on the last 10 years and actually data across the country, we cannot starve our way out of this recession.

Data from the Great Recession showed us that in the cities and in the states that tried an austerity budget it did not work.

It actually made economies weaker.

So we know one thing.

We can't starve our way out but we can grow our way out of a recession.

We know an all cuts budget is not a solution.

And cuts just spice in even more of the critical programs that consumers and families and small businesses depend on in order to weather these storms.

Increasing investment is needed in services and infrastructure.

That's what keeps people working.

That's what creates jobs and injects more money back into our community.

That's what jumpstarts our economy.

When we avoid an all-cuts-austerity budget, our economy can rebound faster, which is good for businesses and workers, but also when we do it through the lens that Jumpstart has proposed, it doesn't mean going back to business as usual.

It means investing in a more resilient and a more equitable economy.

I'm excited about the bill in front of us today.

Jump Start Seattle will promote health state jobs and save our local economy.

And it's not just the right thing to do.

It's the economically sound thing to do.

In the midst of a pandemic housing insecurity isn't just a moral crisis.

It's a public health crisis.

Expanding nutrition services and vouchers will help struggling people put food on the table and make sure that they can access groceries.

It's not just good for families.

That's good for the local economy.

That's also good for the health of our local population.

This is about making sure that people can put money in their pockets, which will then, in turn, spend in local businesses that will allow people to stay healthy, stay housed, and stay stable.

We are trying to right-side up our upside-down tax code.

And when we do it, everyone benefits from the public investment, not just some people.

These twin health and economic crises have had and will continue to have an outsized impact on communities of color.

especially among Black, Indigenous, and the Latino community.

Direct assistance to local businesses, especially for the 9 out of 10 Black-owned businesses that applied for less than $20,000 in PPP funds, didn't get a penny because they were distributed through traditional lending institutions that have a long history, a long racist history, of racist lending practices.

And we can change that.

We can change that by providing direct assistance to thousands thousands of undocumented families, thousands of the small businesses, right?

Owners and workers right here in our city.

And we can help make sure that people who were left out of these federal funds get access to what Seattle is doing right now.

This is our way to jumpstart economy.

I want to thank folks who have been testifying, not just in the last three months, but for years, people who have been calling for us to invest, invest in our whole community, working families, small businesses, our neighbors, We want to make sure that our ice cream shops and our local coffee shops can survive.

Yes, but we also want to make sure that people stop getting pushed out of the city, especially black and brown communities.

We want to make sure that we're investing in affordable housing.

We want to make sure we're doing this through equitable development initiatives, and we want to make sure that when people get a job back, it's a good job that they are able to have sustainability and they're able to go back to work and have access to child care.

That's what this bill contemplates.

This bill provides certainty.

predictability, and stability for families, for children, for immigrants, for small businesses, because it's baked into the fabric of this legislation.

This has been an ongoing conversation for many times, for much of the time that I've been on council, going back two years.

It's also been the ongoing conversation for the last four or five months.

Again, thank you, Council Members Morales and Squawant for introducing your legislation at the beginning of the year.

I want to thank Council for all of your feedback and input on the legislation.

As I mentioned this morning during Council briefing, each one of you have your fingerprints on this legislation.

Thank you to Representative Macri for the work that she did in the halls of Olympia.

We built on those proposals, both the original proposal from Sawant and Morales and from the proposal from Representative Macri.

And we did this by pulling people together.

We didn't just, you know, We didn't start from scratch.

We did this by pulling people together and helping to make sure that more people had the chance to weigh in on legislation that was being considered in Olympia and make it work for Seattle.

So thank you, council colleagues.

Thank you to the sponsors of Jump Start.

Thank you again, as I mentioned, to council members Morales and Sawant for your ongoing work on this and for our dialogue that we've had over the last three months, because that dialogue, I think, has improved the legislation in front of us.

And without all of the community that has been calling on us to right-side up our upside-down tax system, I don't think that we would be here today.

And I want to make sure that folks know that this is just the beginning.

We have the most regressive tax system in the entire country.

And as we try to find remedies to the COVID crisis, both the economic crisis and the public health crisis, this is one remedy in a much larger scale conversation about right-sizing our tax system.

Council President, I would like to go ahead and move Council Bill 119810 as presented to include Version 3 of Amendment 1 that I distributed recently.

Thank you so much, Council Member Mosqueda.

So is there a second on that motion?

Second.

It's been moved and seconded to adopt Amendment 1. Council Member Mosqueda, you're recognized in order to address the amendment.

Thank you very much, Council President.

Colleagues, this amendment is distributed with our colleague, Council Member Lewis, as well.

I want to thank Council Member Lewis for his feedback on this legislation, along with a handful of other council members who've been asking about how do we address creating certain conditions that would be appropriate for non-profit health care entities.

I mentioned this morning, Council Member Peterson, thank you for your feedback as we thought about non-profit entities in the health care sector.

I appreciate the ongoing conversations we've had there.

You know, at the onset, I want to say I'm concerned about any exemptions.

The amendment in front of us, however, is carefully crafted to respond to some of the issues that we've heard, for example, from ICHS, International Community Health Services.

The person who called in was expressing the unanticipated consequences or costs specifically due to COVID that are affecting certain sectors of the nonprofit healthcare sector.

And we wanted to carefully respond to those concerns that were brought up.

The legislation in front of us was carefully crafted based on some feedback.

I want to thank folks at SEIU Healthcare 1199 Northwest folks from Kaiser, from Fred Hutch, and from Seattle Children's for their feedback as we tried to think about a carefully crafted amendment.

And also again note that while non-profit hospitals generally are considered charities by the Internal Revenue Service, many non-profit hospital systems have annual revenues in the billions, with chief operators earning seven or eight bigger salaries, and in many ways their peers are large corporations.

So the Proposal in front of you attempts to find an equitable solution to rebuilding our economy in a way that does not further subsidize profit-driven health care providers and deprioritize community needs.

Instead, what the amendment in front of you suggests is that as Seattle's economic recovery plan is built around Jump Start, we should address nonprofit health care providers accordingly and make sure that certain organizations continue to provide resources and make sure that there are contributions coming in.

This amendment in front of us contemplates payments still being made on salaries over $400,000.

And I'm hoping that this carefully crafted scope amendment helps meet some of the needs of this burdened community.

Again, thank you, Council Member Lewis, for your co-sponsorship.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Councilmember Mosqueda, are there any other comments on amendment one?

I see a couple of hands.

I lost track of which one went up first.

I'm going to call on Councilmember Lewis first and then on Councilmember Herbold.

Thank you, Madam President.

My remarks will be fairly brief.

I do just want to express my gratitude of being able to I want to thank Councilmember Esqueda for her leadership and guiding through this important legislation and also making sure that we could develop a very specific and timely exemption for a lot of our nonprofit health care partners who are really on the front lines of helping the region and even the nation in the case of some of our research-focused nonprofit providers in responding to the ongoing COVID public health emergency.

does a good job of recognizing that work, recognizing the added burden and the added cost that those organizations are assuming to really combat the expansion of COVID.

And as we've seen recently, too, it does look like, as we discussed this morning, we are in for a very long fight still on COVID-19.

It does not seem to be abating as quickly as we thought it would.

And we know that we're going to need to make sure that those nonprofit partners stay strong, that they can stay in the fight, and that we continue to be good partners with them in helping them confront this.

And I think this amendment goes a long way towards doing that.

I look forward to voting in favor of it.

And similarly, I want to thank our partners at SEIU 1199 and our partners at the nonprofits themselves, at Kaiser Permanente, at Children's.

I would like to thank all of the staff at Fred Hutchison for their work in helping make sure we can shape something that is responsive to the moment.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um, I have a comment first and then, um, a question about the amendment.

Um, so as I understand this amendment, it would exempt, uh, salary, uh, expense, uh, taxation at nonprofit healthcare providers and resource orgs, but not at nonprofit service providers, including nonprofit service providers who are not healthcare providers who have been on the front lines of responding to coronavirus over the past We've had a number of proposals in the last couple of months, such as a non-profit affordable housing operator, shelters, food delivery, child care providers, and more.

Last week, there was such an amendment proposed to more broadly impact non-profit providers.

And, you know, despite the heroic efforts of the folks who I have not heard from this group of providers asking to be exempted despite the extraordinary expense that they have been incurring and despite the expectation that they will continue to meet a heightened need for the rest of this year and into next.

So I'm just really concerned that we are basically saying one kind of work.

One kind of nonprofit work should be exempt.

And the broader nonprofit provider community has not made the argument that they should be exempt.

And I think there's an equity impact of this amendment.

We know that larger nonprofits, health care nonprofits in particular, including hospitals and research institutions, are more likely to be led by white people and men, while smaller organizations, including many service providers, are more likely to be led by women and people of color.

I'm concerned that the effect of this amendment would disproportionately impact the organizations that are led by women and people of color, while organizations more likely to be white and male-led, their organizations would receive an exemption.

and my question about the amendment itself relates specifically to clause C in the definition of a non-profit health care entity and central staff has declined to to answer questions about this particular section and has encouraged us to direct questions back to the sponsor.

And specifically, the question is, what is a predominantly capitated provider group, capitated provider group.

I'm just trying to get a sense of what type of organization is meant to be targeted or by this language, because as I understand, C would broaden the exemption to a type of provider that I'm not quite understanding the description of that type of provider.

Okay, which one of the sponsors would like to take that one?

Yeah, so Council Member Herbold, that's a good question.

And in particular to Section C of the exemption, that is a rather odd phrase.

And, you know, I'm saying that as a lawyer who had not encountered that particular phrase until kind of working with stakeholders on this.

My understanding is the only provider in King County that that particular phrase would apply to is Kaiser Permanente based on their kind of group, their cooperative HMO status that is like more unique and more, it's a more unique and surgical term for the unique area that Kaiser Permanente falls into as a cooperative provider.

And that language was worked on in consultation with SEIU 1199 and other stakeholders who verified that that indeed is the provider that would be included based on that language.

Council Member Morales, please.

You are on mute.

There you go.

I see.

So, Council Member Hurdle, thank you for the points that you're raising.

I had a question about that phrasing as well, but I think for me the bigger issue is that Part of the appeal of this entire package for me is that because it sets the taxation rate, you know, specifically for higher income earners, for higher earners, in my mind, it sort of eliminates the need for a series of exemptions, particularly nonprofits, since, you know, I think when most of us think about a nonprofit, it is folks who are, as Council Member Herbold said, lower wage workers, you know, folks who don't have a lot of access to benefits and sort of the things that come with a standard corporation.

But we also know that healthcare in particular, most healthcare providers, even if they're a non-profit, still, you know, can generate significant revenue.

Nonprofit is a tax status.

It's not a business plan.

The CEO of Providence I think makes something like $10 million.

So I will be voting no on this amendment.

And I think that the language that is already in the bill is structured in such a way that it protects organizations who do have lower wage workers in their midst, including health care providers, so that those folks aren't put in jeopardy when bargaining comes time for bargaining, for example.

but the folks who are making higher wages can be included in, and so that we don't lose revenue for three years with this amendment.

So thank you for bringing it.

I just want to signal that I will not be supporting this amendment.

Thank you, Council Member Morales.

Any other questions or comments on amendment one?

Okay, I will close out debate before we call the vote on this.

I will also not be supporting this particular amendment.

I find it, unfortunately, inconsistent with my positions on things like Medicare for All, for example, which really center us on Butting up with the realities that the healthcare industry is a for-profit industry.

That's part of the problem with how healthcare is delivered across the country.

And so for me, I feel like it's really important for us to acknowledge that the tears have been set in Jump Start Seattle in such a way to inherently distribute equity amongst organizations that may not be paying out in these golden parachutes to their CEOs and others, you know, massive amounts of money.

And so, you know, Councilman Morales brought up the point that the CEO of Providence is making just millions and millions of dollars in salary.

I think that's true for a lot of other health care organizations in the city of Seattle that have IRS tax-exempt status but are nonetheless, you know, making quite a bit of money.

On top of that, we know that the federal government has done a significant bailout and continues to express interest in continuing to do more significant bailout of the healthcare industry, where many of these organizations that are currently within the city of Seattle, like Providence and others, who technically have non-profit status, stand to likely get millions and millions of more dollars that we don't have control over how they will allocate those dollars between health care delivery service models and executive payrolls.

And so I feel really uncomfortable voting in favor of this amendment at this point, not knowing more about those particular details.

And in light of, you know, my my my deep and profound belief that that as a system, our healthcare system is designed to be for profit and not for the full and maximum benefit of the people who desperately need healthcare services in our city.

So I will be unfortunately not able to support this particular amendment.

Anything else before we close out the debate from the sponsors?

Oh, Council Member Peterson.

Yes.

Thank you, Council President.

I just wanted to provide some additional context for this amendment.

As I understand it, there was a discussion about exempting nonprofits last week, and then there was a discussion about healthcare providers during COVID.

So just for, I believe this amendment, correct me if I'm wrong, Council Member Mosqueda, but I believe this amendment is just for the initial three years, and the sunset clause has been removed from the from the overall ordinance.

So this will be really focused on those providing health care during COVID.

I think it includes Seattle Children's.

It includes the Hutch.

It includes Cancer Care Alliance is I think would be exempt from this or this exemption would help those organizations.

So I'm just I think that this compromise was put together carefully by Councilor Mosqueda, and I'll be supporting it.

Great, thank you so much.

Okay, looks like we can go ahead and close out debate on Amendment 1. So I am going to ask that the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of Amendment 1. Herbold?

Nay.

Juarez?

Yes.

Lewis?

Yes.

Morales?

No.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

Peterson?

Aye.

Sawant?

Nay.

Strauss?

Aye.

President Gonzalez?

Nay.

5 in favor, 4 opposed.

Thank you so much.

The motion carries in a 5-4 vote and Amendment 1 is adopted.

I understand that Council Member Lewis has another amendment, Amendment 2, so we're going to go ahead and move to that potential amendment.

So, Council Member Lewis, you will first need to request suspension of the rules for Amendment 2, so I'm going to hand it over to you to walk us to make that motion.

Thank you, Madam President.

I do so move to suspend the Council rules to consider Amendment 2 that was not distributed by 12 noon and would ask if there's a second.

Second.

Okay, folks, it's a bit.

Okay, thank you so much.

So this is a suspension of council rules to consider amendment two that was not distributed by noon.

There has been a second.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the suspension of the council rule?

Herbold.

Aye.

Juarez.

Aye.

Lewis.

Aye.

Morales.

Aye.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

Peterson.

Aye.

LeWant.

No.

Strauss.

Aye.

President Gonzales.

Aye.

Eight in favor, one opposed.

Thank you so much, Ben.

That suspension of the rules has been granted, so the rule is suspended.

Council Member Lewis, you may now proceed with first making the motion for us to debate and consider your proposed Amendment 2.

Yes, I move to amend Council Bill 119810 as presented on Amendment 2, recently distributed.

Is there a second?

Second.

It has been moved and seconded to adopt Amendment 2. Council Member Lewis, you are the prime sponsor of this amendment, so you are recognized in order to address Amendment 2.

Yes, thank you, Madam President.

So I do think that it is still important to at least have a discussion today about the reinstitution of some kind of sunset clause to reaffirm the commitment of this council to eventually transitioning to regional revenue I think it is important that we look at options as an alternative to maintaining our own payroll tax in perpetuity.

I did not particularly care for a 10-year sunset clause.

I thought that was too soon.

under this legislation that will probably entail and require accumulation over a longer period of time and possibly entering into certain bonding or capital commitments.

So this proposal would create a 20-year sunset clause.

The hope would be that in that time, we would be able to transition as a state and a region to some regional alternative tax I have full faith and confidence in the future Seattle City Council 20 years from now to re-extend, renew, or expand on this tax in the event that such regional sources of revenue do not exist at that time.

I think that that timeline acknowledges and you know I mean we had we had Tim Iman call in and comment earlier to comment on this legislation you know making it clear that there are a lot of folks in the state that are still opposed to a conversation around progressive revenue so I understand it is a heavy lift to get that out of Olympia but my hope is that on a 20-year timeline that's more realistic than the 10-year one it won't put at jeopardy the investments that we are making now I would move that we institute this compromise sunset as enumerated out in the amendment.

Thank you.

I oppose this amendment because this amendment attempts to bring back a sunset clause, even though the City Council's Budget Committee on Wednesday voted for my amendment to eliminate the sunset clause.

20 years may sound like a long time to Politicians who are not doing the hard work of building grassroots movements, giving their blood, sweat and tears to build for social justice.

20 years may sound like a long time for people who are not struggling to get by.

I don't mean just our generation, but for any of us who have been on the grassroots fighting, and I don't just mean our generations, I'm talking about people in Seattle who have fought for decades for bringing about an end to regressive taxation.

I think they will know that these are hollow words that for Councilmember Lewis to say that 20 years from now, I hope something will be done regionally.

Why?

something was done in the last 20 years, and in the 20 years before that, is that what your hope is based on?

The fact that nothing was done by regional and state political officials at the same time that they gave handout after handout to big corporations and executives like Boeing executives?

This is extremely problematic.

And furthermore, completely tone deaf to bring this amendment at the last second when the public can't speak out against this, particular amendment but you know but the public has spoken the movement has spoken very clearly against any kind of sunset clause and it's particularly egregious that this amendment will if this amendment goes through it would make sure that the tax is automatically repealed not that there would be any conditions placed on it even, which would somewhat mitigate.

I would never support a sunset tax period on progressive revenues, but there is no mitigating aspect about this amendment at all.

And as far as what needs to be sunsetted, why not the sales taxes that are so burdensome to working class people, and particularly heat?

a hit black and brown communities and immigrant communities of color.

Why not the property taxes that make it difficult for working class and middle class homeowners to keep their homes?

Why not a sunset clause on taxes on struggling small businesses?

I just am really stunned that despite all the rhetoric that we have heard that the Sunset Clause is back again and that the Sunset Clause is only being proposed to one of the only taxes that working people do not have to pay, that small businesses do not have to pay.

The fact that politicians will go to such lengths to undemocratically sneak through a Sunset Clause shows which side they are really on.

Clearly, the council is going to vote yes on the Amazon tax today because our movement has gathered 30,000 signatures to put this on the ballot.

And that represents a real, a real threat, not an imaginary or abstract, but a real threat to big business.

And that is why this is going through and that the establishment knows that they have no other choice.

But the fact that this amendment is being brought forward for a sunset clause, it shows the lengths to which the establishment politicians will go through.

I absolutely pledge that if this amendment passes, then we will, in our movement, do everything in our power to make sure that we fight against the establishment.

But I will also say that putting this kind of sunset clause in such progressive laws, the rare progressive laws that we are able to win, That basically is saying that, you know, you hardworking people, you thousands who spent all your weekends and all your waking hours, aside from your work and your family, to build this movement, you're going to have to do it in another 20 years.

Another generation will have to come and fight the same battles over and over again.

And I think this also illustrates why this system ultimately cannot be reformed, and we need substantive, fundamental change to our society.

Thank you, Council Member Sawant.

Any other comments?

I see Council Member Herbold and colleagues, if anyone else has any comments, please feel free to indicate.

Council Member Strauss, have you in the queue.

Council Member Herbold, please.

Thank you.

So I just want to say that although I recognized in past meetings that there was an importance for a sunset clause and its potential to bring useful pressure to bear on other jurisdictions as a way to encourage legislators and business stakeholders to work towards progressive revenue, specifically a regional progressive revenue source.

I really feel like last week in committee, we settled this issue because we amended the tax legislation with language that is much clearer about council's intent to repeal this tax if a new progressive that would provide a similar level of funding to Seattle as we do under this bill.

So, you know, again, I felt like we sort of resolved this issue in our committee meeting.

The amendment we passed in committee, I think, better addresses and settles some of the issues.

the circumstances under which the council would support ending this specific tax.

And I don't believe that a 20-year sunset clause provides any additional pressure that is not already better addressed through the amendment passed last week in committee.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Herbold for those comments.

Councilmember Strauss, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you Council Member Lewis for bringing this amendment forward.

Last week I did vote for a sunset clause due to my hesitance regarding the level playing field language.

I did think that 10 years was too short.

too short because in particular, there are aspects of this bill that are tied to 20-year funding segments, especially regarding permanent supportive housing.

I do believe that a future council will benefit from evaluating this tax in 20 years to understand if it needs to be raised, lowered, or otherwise adjusted to fit the times.

I'm supporting a 20-year sunset rather than the 10-year sunset because the 20-year sunset is associated with the spending plan that we've already discussed and will be voting on.

while jump start Seattle is different than property tax and sales tax levies, which are put to the ballot, they also have renewals, which are sunset clauses under a different name.

So there are sunset clauses in these.

sales tax and property tax, levies that are put forward to voters.

And while the Jumpstart proposal is different than the levy, we have mirrored the process for Jumpstart Seattle in creating rates and services rendered to our city and our community.

And that has been in a 20-year segment.

So I think if nothing else, in 20 years, we will need to reassess the rates and create a new spending plan to be associated with the proposal.

amendment.

I appreciate the work being put forward on this.

Thank you.

Councilmember Strauss.

Any other comments or questions on the bill?

I don't really want to get into a tit for tat about whose side I'm on.

I'm trying to approach this with common sense.

And I agree with Councilmember Lewis.

And my understanding is if we have a 20-year sunset, the further out of sunset is, the less volatile it is, which gives us a 20-year window, if you will, to plan.

And hopefully, within 20 years, when I'm 80, state will have progressive taxes in place, not only on income, but certainly, hopefully, on the tax that the city will probably pass today.

So with that, I'll be supporting this.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Juarez.

Perhaps the only for tap that I'll get into is to say that I will only be 63 years old in 20 years.

Oh, thanks.

You're welcome.

Anytime.

Council Member Mosqueda, please.

Thank you, Madam President.

Colleagues, I had a lot of concerns with the initial 10-year proposal that I did include it in our draft bill because of some of the feedback that we received from people who were working on legislation as well.

I think the points that have been made with concerns are very well taken.

I have been clear that my main concern with the 10-year sunset, as it was proposed, was that it could potentially unintentionally limit our ability to do permanent supportive housing, which requires, in many cases, a 20-year funding commitment.

Because this is at least 20 years and it will, I hope, be considered a renewal, but more importantly, that there will be more state-level action that is taken.

and get us to a more equitable tax proposal.

I'll support a 20-year, but that is, I think, the minimum, given that this is needed funding for permanent supportive housing.

I appreciate that it is that length of time, so thank you.

Thank you so much, Council Member Mosqueda.

Any other questions or comments on this proposed amendment?

Council Member Sawant, please.

Thank you.

I just wanted to clarify something, clarify on something that Councilmember Strauss just said and just paraphrasing what he said.

He said that he supports this sunset clause because he wants a future council to reconsider this tax to see if it should be raised, lowered, or kept the same.

That sounds very reasonable.

But let's be clear.

The amendment does not say raised or lowered or kept the same.

It just says, quote, no business shall owe a payroll expense tax for payroll expenses after December 31, 2040, unquote.

So this is a straight up removing of the tax in 20 years.

And all the faith is going to be put on that future council as if there is so much evidence that councils will do the right thing.

So I just want to make clear that what was said was not something that's in the amendment, actually.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Sawant.

I see Councilmember Strauss' hand has gone up, so Councilmember Strauss, you are recognized.

Are there any, and colleagues again, anyone else who wants to speak, please let me know.

Thank you, Council President, and thank you, Council Member Sawant.

I appreciate your comments there.

I would say that that is the same language that is used in the Seattle Transportation Benefit District tax, which is levied here at the City of Seattle.

And while it does not necessarily state that it needs to be renewed, it also, we are bringing it up this week to be renewed.

So I appreciate your thoughts, and I appreciate your work on this bill.

Thank you, Council Members.

Thank you so much.

Any other comments on Amendment 2?

And of course, Council Member Lewis will have the last word on this bill.

Excuse me, on this amendment.

Okay.

Thank you so much to everyone for the conversation.

I just want to sort of signal that unfortunately I will not be able to support this amendment either.

In large part because of the reasons that Council Member Herbold articulated in her I just wanted to, again, appreciate the sentiment with which this is brought forward.

can introduce legislation to either repeal, amend, or modify any ordinances that we've passed in the past.

And so while I appreciate the significance of this sunset, I still think that whether this amendment passes or not, future councils I'm going to hand it back over to councilmember Lewis who can close out debate if he wishes and then I will call the roll, have the

I definitely appreciate the critical feedback from folks in regards to the overall concept of having a sunset clause.

I do still think it's important that we have another opportunity to weigh in on it at this hearing and look forward to voting on it.

The only thing that I would say is that I actually am, and maybe it's because I'm only going to be 50 years old in 20 years, that I actually am more optimistic that we are going to be in a position to get progressive revenue from Olympia on a regional basis.

I think that we saw sort of an initial glimpse of that with Senator Wynne's successful attempt at getting us a progressive real estate excise tax.

I've been engaged in a lot of conversations with stakeholders about getting a state and local capital gains tax, which remains a passion of mine and something I will be introducing legislation here at the council to consider.

But I do think that it's important that we continue to think of ourselves as a regional partner.

And I think that this amendment signals and centers that idea, that we are committed to working together with the county and the state to come up with comprehensive revenue proposals that do make sure that we are also scaling our benefit across borders, make sure that we are being responsive and spreading the burden, quite frankly, too, across the rest of the county and the rest of the state.

Do I think it's going to happen fast?

I would not support a 10-year sunset and now I'm proposing a 20-year sunset.

I think that that unfortunately probably more closely matches the timeline of what we're dealing with here.

I look forward to giving us an opportunity to weigh on this one more time and I would just ask that we call the question.

Herbold.

Nay.

Juarez.

Yes.

Lewis.

Yes.

Morales.

No.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

Peterson.

Aye.

Sawant.

Nay.

Strauss.

Aye.

President Gonzalez.

No.

Five in favor, four opposed.

Okay, that motion carries and amendment two is adopted.

Are there any further comments on the bill as amended.

And again, this is the next vote will be on the passage of the bill as amended.

So are there any additional comments on the bill as amended?

I see Council Member Lewis, and I know that Council Member Juarez also wanted to make a comment, and she will let me know at what point she would like to do that.

So Council Member Lewis,

Thank you so much, Madam President.

You know, I really appreciate the opportunity to have co-sponsored this legislation along with council members Mosqueda, Gonzales, Herbold and Strauss.

I really do think that we can't wait any longer, echoing my comments from earlier, to have true progressive revenue to confront head on the situation that we are facing here today on so many different fronts.

You know, I think it's, first, I just want to take a moment to acknowledge the process that Councilmember Mesquita undertook this spring under really difficult circumstances in the middle of a pandemic, in the middle of a lot of budget uncertainty, and was able to cobble together a coalition of labor, of small business owners, of nonprofits, of service providers, really to unite all of us in our common cause that The massive inequitable struggles that we are facing will not yield until we have some kind of significant progressive revenue package in front of us that will rise to the ambitions of the scope of our problems.

And this package really does get there.

You know, I'm committed to a regional approach, as I talked earlier during our discussion of the sunset clause, but we can't wait for Olympia to act to provide this relief.

We can't wait for Olympia to act to provide this relief.

When we saw last week, and you know, this would have been bigger news, I think, in other times, but we saw last week that there was an increase in King County of people entering homelessness, and that increase was exceeding the rate of exit.

We saw thousands of our neighbors who are unemployed due to the COVID crisis in a situation where while they were rent burdened before, they are now increasingly rent insecure beyond where they were prior to this new and completely unprecedented emergency in my life experience and the experience of many of my friends.

And we really are in a position where the cavalry is not going to come over the hill.

I mean, it doesn't look like there's going to be a special session of legislature this year.

It doesn't look like there's going to be bold action from the legislature to fill this void.

We have a complete abdication of any kind of duty or responsibility from our federal executive.

While we have lots of allies in Congress who have been fighting very valiantly to get us the resources that we need, federal leadership from the president has been completely absent.

We need to step in, and we need to raise this revenue.

I appreciate that this follows on the model of House Bill 2907 that Councilmember, or sorry, Councilmember, that State Representative Nicole Macri submitted in the last legislative session of only targeting positions, only taxing positions at large, very large and successful corporations that make over a certain amount of money I really appreciate that we made a couple of surgical exemptions to make sure that this tax does not fall on folks that are on the front line of the current public health issue that we're facing with COVID-19.

And I'm also just very appreciative that there's going to be a massive multiplier effect to this.

I mean, we are passing this revenue package to build.

We are passing this revenue package to build housing, to support people to stay in their housing, to make these investments at a truly unprecedented scale and rise to the level of challenge that we're facing.

I can say unequivocally that are on righting the wrong of our long-time shortfall in permanent supportive housing and making sure we are in a position to meet that obligation.

So with that, I want to turn it over.

I'm proud to vote for this today.

And I mean, again, I want to thank all the co-sponsors and particularly Council Member Esqueda for her leadership in guiding us through this.

Thank you, Councilmember Lewis.

Next up in the queue is Councilmember Juarez.

And for those of you on video, Zoom, please do raise your hand and let me know if you'd like to make some remarks.

Councilmember Juarez.

Thank you, Council President.

I want to again thank Council or Budget Chair, Councilmember Esqueda, for our long conversations and discussions.

and even today's discussions that you and I had offline, and all the experience and enthusiasm you have brought to City Council.

I appreciate the effort that went into this, the phone calls, the emails, the meetings to create a proposal for us to move forward.

I know how much work was dedicated to this effort now and back in the fall of 2017, along with Councilmember Gonzalez, Councilmember Sawant, and Councilmember Herbold.

As I stated at the Budget Committee last week, I do support a progressive revenue tax I do support a tax on corporations.

I have supported a countywide regional approach and also a statewide approach to a progressive tax solution.

However, today I can't support this proposal.

I support the merits, but not the procedure or process.

As was stated earlier and that we all know, our city is facing a pandemic and economic recession that this country has never seen the likes of in civil unrest due to racism.

Again, as I shared last week, it's just a trifecta that is unprecedented.

Because we're in the midst of this pandemic-fueled economic recession with no end in sight, I have concerns about not putting this proposal in front of the voters.

Council Member Luce, a short note to you.

To some of us, the Calvary is not a welcome sign.

I just want to point out that no economist, no politician, no public policy academic or expert can forecast when these challenges will end.

We don't know the depth, the length, or the duration of this pandemic-fueled recession.

There's currently no jobs bill or stimulus package for growth while we face historic unemployment levels.

And that concerns me.

We don't know what the economic landscape looks like as we impose this tax, again, from city council.

I like what Portland did.

In May of 2020, Portland voters approved an income and a business tax for homelessness services.

It passed with nearly 60 percent of the vote with a sunset clause for 2030. Oregon's unemployment rate is about 14 percent and Seattle's is 16 percent.

As I have participated and observed and shared Seattle has a well-established democratic tradition of giving voters the final say.

Again as I shared in the last 15 years Seattle voters have approved over 11 city city levies from library to housing to education to transportation to park.

Seattle voters have also supported over six countywide levies for vets human services homelessness seniors children in parks and Seattle voters have supported two multi-billion dollar regional levies for transportation.

As you all know in 2006 Seattle voters approved a small local payroll tax on businesses as part of bridging the gap transportation ballot measure.

And again that tax was repealed by council in 2009 due to the 2008 recession.

I share this not as a compare and contrast lecture between levies and taxes but to the testament that Seattle voters are smart caring and generous.

I trust their civic judgment and voice.

Again, nobody is against taxing corporations or progressive tax.

It's how we get there.

At the end of the day, I trust the voters of Seattle to tax corporations so we can truly reimagine a new economy and not be faced with another difficult choice to repeal this tax as we did in 2018. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Juarez.

Are there any other comments from my colleagues?

Council Member Morales, please.

Okay.

Thank you, colleagues.

I will admit very frustrated about the two amendments that just got added to this bill.

But I don't want that to take away from the historic nature of what we are about to pass here.

We know that today, the city takes a crucial step to embrace equity and reject corporate influence over our tax policies.

Today, the Seattle City Council is boldly leading to create a more equitable way to finance public services.

And we challenge elected officials at the state level to join us in choosing investment over austerity.

By passing this proposal, we will shift some of the burden from individual households to the wealthiest corporations in the city.

Next week, we'll finalize the plan for how we invest.

We'll provide significant relief for renters, small businesses, for immigrants, and others impacted by the COVID crisis.

And this structural change will also allow us to rethink our social spending so we can improve our population health, improve community conditions, and begin to reverse intergenerational poverty in the city.

Exactly six months ago today, I was sworn in to begin serving the people of District 2. I will say my first six months have been a little extra, to say the least.

And I wanna thank my staff for their unwavering commitment to keep our office accountable to our black and brown neighbors.

If this council is going to act on anti-racist principles, we can't just talk to black-led organizations when we're talking about police.

We have to partner with BIPOC communities in everything we do, taxation, zoning, utilities, parks, education, green economies, and community development.

That's how we demonstrate that Black Lives Matter.

For Alexis Turla, Lakeisha Farmer, Darzel Touch, Devin Silvernail, my staff, exactly six months into our first term in office, We're voting on major legislation that will improve the lives of our neighbors, and your work has helped get us here.

So I want to thank you for that.

I'm excited to vote yes today on behalf of the people of District 2, and I want to thank our colleagues for supporting this legislation.

Thank you, Council Member Morales.

Council Member Sawant.

Thank you.

Today's vote to pass an Amazon tax in Seattle is a historic victory for working people.

This victory was hard fought and it was hard won.

by a movement that wouldn't give up and that faced down a seemingly endless series of obstacles from the shameful attempts of corporate Democrats in the state legislature to pass a ban on municipal big business taxes, to unfounded delays in the city council, to a pandemic and lockdown which prevented signature gathering, to relentless attacks in the corporate media in Seattle and nationally.

We are winning because of the determination of workers and socialists to smash all obstacles and to find a path to victory.

Congratulations to the grassroots tax Amazon campaign led by the coalition that included my organization, Socialist Alternative, and many progressive organizations and unions.

Today's vote comes eight months after working people roundly defeated Amazon in the elections and two years after Amazon and the Chamber of Commerce bullied City Council.

with the majority of the then-council shamefully repealing the 2018 Amazon tax.

Now Jeff Bezos and his billionaire friends are wishing they could call a do-over and have the modest 2018 tax back because this new tax on Seattle's wealthiest businesses is four times larger And every penny is needed, and far more in fact, to stop the racist gentrification, sky-high rents, and homelessness in this city with a massive expansion of publicly owned affordable housing and jobs.

This Amazon tax is a housing and jobs bill.

It's no accident this comes in the midst of the historic Black Lives Matter rebellion.

The legitimacy of the status quo has been utterly smashed by the protest movement, the pandemic, and the deepening crisis of capitalism.

In Seattle, TaxAmazon was widely taken up at the Justice for George Floyd protests, where we gathered 20,000 signatures in 20 days.

Now the total is over 30,000 signatures.

The Amazon tax is perhaps the biggest progressive win in Seattle since socialists and labor unions led the way on the $15 minimum wage, which passed first here and then was won in cities and states around the country.

We hope that once again we can inspire working people and youth nationally and globally in this crucial fight against the billionaire class which is attempting to force working people to pay for the current crisis of capitalism with massive budget cuts.

Our rallying cry nationally must be no to austerity.

Tax big business, not working people.

The Amazon tax shows working people do not need to play defense.

We can and should go on the offensive and win big.

We must reject all the pathetic attempts of corporate media who, after years of attacking the idea of taxing big business and those fighting for it, now desperately want to spin a narrative to discourage working-class struggle and empowerment.

Let's be real.

The Amazon tax had nothing to do with the quote-unquote savvy of establishment politicians.

It had everything to do with the self-organization of working people.

Specifically, it has been the threat of the movement's ballot initiative that has pressured the city establishment to act.

TaxAmazon filed the ballot measure after a series of grassroots democratic action conferences where hundreds of people, indeed by now thousands, discussed and voted.

We did not win everything we wanted, and I strongly oppose the insertion of a sunset clause.

But while I disagree with other council members on watering down the legislation, I want to acknowledge their support and votes for the passage of this Amazon tax.

I want to thank Council Member Musqueda for her work.

I want to thank Council Member Morales for her support for the strong Amazon tax proposal we put forward together in solidarity with the movement.

We must build on our momentum.

The movement to tax Amazon and big business to fund housing and essential services is needed everywhere, and we must actively spread it.

Here in Seattle, we will need to immediately take this energy toward winning the release of all arrested protesters without charges, to defund Seattle police by at least 50%, to stop the sweeps of our homeless neighbors, and to fund tiny house villages, and to win at least a thousand quality affordable homes in the central district for Black working families.

The struggle for Black liberation will also mean campaigning for elected community oversight votes with full powers over the police, including hiring and firing policies and procedures.

Our movement was clear-eyed about naming the real force pulling the strings, Amazon.

Many argue that we should not quote-unquote antagonize big business and instead try to broker a deal, but we know that our power comes from working people getting organized, not from any negotiations with the elite.

For those watching from outside Seattle, don't let anyone tell you in your fight to tax big business in your city that you're being divisive because class struggle is what gets the goods.

The private for-profit housing market has utterly failed working people, not just here and now, but everywhere and always, because capitalism is completely incapable of meeting the most basic needs of working people.

Internationally, the working class needs to take the top 500 corporations into democratic public ownership run by workers in the interest of human need and the environment, not billionaire greed.

I have a message for Jeff Bezos and his class.

If you attempt again to overturn the Amazon tax, working people will go all out in the thousands to defeat you.

And we will not stop there.

Because you see, we are fighting for far more than this tax.

We are preparing the ground for a different kind of society.

And if you, Jeff Bezos, want to drive that process forward by lashing out against us, in our modest demands, then so be it.

Because we are coming for you and your rotten system.

We are coming to dismantle this deeply oppressive, racist, sexist, violent, utterly bankrupt system of capitalism, this police state.

We cannot and will not stop until we overthrow it and replace it with a world based instead on solidarity, genuine democracy and equality, a socialist world.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Sawant.

Any other comments?

I see Council Member Herbold, please.

Thank you so much.

I want to, I think there's lots of thanks to go around and I want to thank Council Member Sawant for leading the grassroots effort and I want to also thank Council Member Mosqueda for proposing a structure that was different from the 2018 employee hours tax or the 2020 Amazon tax, which would have been a flat tax to employers for each employee, regardless of their pay.

Because this new proposal was narrow and taxes only the largest businesses paying the highest salaries, which I believe is most driving our city's affordability crisis.

It's made it possible for me to vote to enact this version of the measure rather than voting to put it on the ballot.

As I had said, I was considering voting to do when we were looking at a model that looked more like the employee hours tax or council member so on.

Amazon tax.

So I really, I only say this to say that I think there's lots of banks to go around and lots of credit to be shared.

And again, this model represents the same tax structure that The business community was poised to support when it was proposed at the state legislature, and I hope that their position on our tax is consistent with the position that they had taken on state legislation that would have allowed for a regional tax.

We've talked a lot about our city's and state's upside-down tax code, where Seattle residents are struggling on the smallest incomes, and they pay six times more in taxes as a percent of their income than our wealthiest residents.

This helps us raise more funds for crucial investments without further burdening Seattle residents struggling on the smallest incomes.

With this revenue, we can invest in COVID relief, rental assistance, affordable housing, we can help Seattle workers who have lost jobs or hours due to the public health emergency, and we can help immigrant and refugee households that may be ineligible for federal relief programs, people who are living unsheltered, and the black and brown communities that have been most impacted by COVID-19.

We can and must make investments in Seattle's residents that are in line with our values and that will help speed our community's recovery.

And again, we'll finally take a step towards addressing our upside-down tax code.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Herbold.

Are there any other comments from my colleagues?

Councilmember Strauss, please.

And then Councilmember Peterson.

Thank you, Council President.

Just want to thank everyone for all of their work on this bill.

It is a well-tailored proposal.

Even Danny Wesny wrote this weekend, even critics are straining to come up with political arguments against it.

The important aspects of this bill are that it addresses gaps that other levels of government have not provided.

I've heard from residents and small businesses alike that the need for childcare, food access, funding for immigrants and refugees who have not received support from other levels of government And importantly, the small business stimulus are really critical aspects of this bill.

There are the proper sideboards that allow this solution to scale to countywide, regionwide, and if the state is able to do so, a statewide solution.

This bill and many definitions were derived from the state legislature, and I know there will be important rulemaking during the implementation phase of Jump Start.

I really want to thank everyone who's led in this effort, and especially to Council Member Mosqueda for spending hours upon hours on the phone with me and my team.

I can't thank you enough for all of your work, and that's to all of the sponsors and everyone who has worked on many different iterations of a similar proposal over the years.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you, Council Member Strauss.

Council Member Peterson?

Thank you, Council President.

So today it appears that a majority of our City Council will vote to approve this new tax on large Seattle employers, Council Bill 119810. This new tax will be in addition to the business and occupation taxes, property taxes, and business license fees paid by Seattle employers.

I want to thank and commend our Budget Chair, Council Member Mosqueda, as a masterful legislator.

She put together a more targeted proposal and worked in an open and collaborative way with many of us here on the City Council and those in the community to incorporate various ideas to improve her already thoughtful tax and spend package.

And I appreciate why many of my colleagues are going to vote yes today.

I'd like to thank the thousands of District 4 constituents who took the time to provide input on this.

And after much consideration and consultation with my constituents, my strong concerns remain.

I represent a city council district that has a variety of views on issues and that makes many votes difficult.

I hear passionate pleas from all sides of complex issues.

So later today, I'll post a longer statement on my blog explaining my vote.

For now, I'll just present a quick summary because I'm not planning to change my vote from our budget committee just a few days ago.

Please note that later this month, I will likely vote in favor of the short-term COVID relief bill from Councilmember Mosqueda.

That's the upcoming Council Bill 119812, which will tap our city government's emergency fund and revenue stabilization fund at amounts higher than proposed by our mayor.

I've consistently voted in favor of relief packages and regulatory changes to help those impacted most by the COVID crisis.

The tax and spend packages before us today, however, are long-term, policies that require additional considerations.

As I've mentioned before, I'm concerned that this is, it penalizes only Seattle employers.

It's not a regional solution.

I'm concerned that companies providing tens of thousands of jobs to our residents may leave the city and the small businesses that support the large employers could also be negatively impacted.

I'm concerned that it does not exempt all nonprofits, though I appreciate the amendment today for the health care providers.

I'm concerned the spending plan, we're in a position now to enact the new tax without knowing the full details of how we would spend the money, because the version of the spending plan in front of us today, Council Bill 119811, has removed many of the key details.

The previous, more detailed version of the spending plan was better and more targeted and more specific.

I'm concerned this is a situation where taxing first, asking questions later.

As Council Member Juarez noted, this does not give voters a choice.

The tax before us today is four times larger than the head tax the previous city council reversed just two years ago.

Sending a large tax and spend proposal to the November ballot for voters to decide would have been consistent with other large tax measures and would provide more time to see whether the economy is recovering, whether our state government can pass a better statewide or regional measure for revenue.

Unfortunately, that idea was rejected at our budget committee last week.

I feel that we could also do a better job looking for savings in our existing budget I see common ground and points of unity emerging in how we look at our police budget.

The large salaries there are also in other city departments.

As noted in the recent investigation by Forbes magazine published on June 23rd, the lessons learned as we dive into the police budget, salaries could be applied to other city departments so that we expand social services, not government salaries.

To me, that's not austerity, it's sustainability.

I will look forward to joining my colleagues in pushing our governor and state legislature to pass progressive tax tools that our region can use.

I support progressive taxes.

We need progressive taxes.

I supported HB2907.

We need our state government to act.

For the sake of our city, I hope my concerns are just concerns and will not actually occur.

I look forward to working with my colleagues and the mayor to create a sustainable tax and spend path as part of our fall budget discussions for our 2021 budget.

I hope the public today sees not division or dispute among the council members, but rather debate and discussion.

I believe this whole process has really made our city council stronger.

Again, I thank Council Member Mosqueda for her hard work on this and congratulate her on what appears to be a successful effort today.

Thank you.

I think that concludes comments from everyone.

As usual, we will end comment with hearing from the prime sponsor.

I wanted to chime in quickly and say how much I appreciated the I really do appreciate process here and your staff's willingness to want to give a big shout out to Sejal Parikh in your office, who I know has been spending countless number of hours on the phone and in Zoom calls, I'm sure, with many shareholders throughout the city, and really want to appreciate the hard work that you and your staff have put in on this important proposal.

I think this is a smart approach.

I think that it is an important approach and I think that there is probably no other time like the present where we have a triple crisis on our hands for us to not only consider this but to take swift action.

We are, at the end of the day, a nine-member body that was elected by, in some cases, districts and for Councilmember Mosqueda and I citywide.

And we were elected to make tough decisions, to dig into the policy work, to identify significant policy issues, and to identify potential solutions to those issues.

That's part of the reason why I think now at this point, given this triple crisis, I do think that the political winds have significantly changed across the city.

I think that our constituents across the city want us to take action now as opposed to punting to a ballot issue.

And so I feel more than comfortable showing up today in in this council meeting to vote yes on Jump Start for Seattle and to be proud of the fact that I am one of the co-sponsors of this proposal.

And I just wanna commend everybody for the hard work that they've been doing, all of the folks on the outside who've been emailing us and tagging us on social media about why they think this is important and all the calls that we have received in support of this bill.

is really important.

And again, part of the record that shows to me that our constituents expect us to take action as their elected representatives on the city council.

And I'm going to be very proud to be able to cast a yes vote in favor of Jump Start Seattle and of the next that piece of legislation we will be considering.

So with that being said, I'm going to go ahead and close out debate by asking Council Member Mosqueda to give closing remarks before we call the roll.

Thank you, Council President.

Council colleagues, City of Seattle, this is a huge win.

Thank you so very much for your ongoing feedback as we have together crafted a proposal to respond to the crisis that is COVID to invest in our local community to invest in historic amounts of funding for our community who's been affected by displacement and to make sure that those who are the most vulnerable in this public health crisis have the care that they need.

This is about caring for Seattleites now and into the future.

We together are making history.

I want to thank all of you for your comments your feedback and again your amendments over the last few weeks especially last week as we crafted the base of this proposal.

We put together a piece of legislation that I am incredibly proud of and I'm incredibly proud that the City of Seattle is leading yet again.

Here today we've balanced labor protections with affordable housing priorities.

We've figured out how to meet urgent needs due to COVID-19.

Invest in housing and homelessness.

And we haven't shied away for some really from some really tough decisions.

With your vote today we will be dealing with the problems presented and exposed by COVID.

We are rolling up our sleeves.

We are doing the work and we are leading by passing Jump Start Seattle.

None of us none of the council members none of the voters in Seattle no one expected to come into 2020 with the issues that we are dealing with right now.

COVID presenting a massive public health deadly pandemic across the country.

The type of depression that we will soon be facing is no longer going to be considered a recession in the near future.

And we know we must shift our priorities shift to make sure that we're investing in those who are the most vulnerable and those who've been historically left out so that we do not have an austerity budget in front of us.

Jumpstart Seattle provides that alternative to make sure that we have the funding needed to respond immediately to the COVID crisis and to make sure that there is not an austerity budget that lands in our lap this fall.

More importantly, it invests in the long-term funding that we need for affordable housing, to invest in homes, to shelter those who are living unsheltered and homeless in Seattle, and to make sure that we have a resilient community.

Again, thank you to Council Member Morales for her work on the Equitable Development Initiative work.

We will be having conversations in the long run about EDI and the spend plan, but that is a core component that needs to be reflected there.

Thanks again to Council Member Sawant for all the work that she has been bringing to Council over the last few years on pushing for progressive revenue.

And we will continue the conversations in the next week about Green New Deal investments and making sure that we have affordable housing that's geographically located across Seattle to specifically address historic disinvestment and displacement from communities of color and the need of housing.

Today, with your support, though, we are passing progressive revenue in the city of Seattle.

We are coming together and supporting our city and supporting our most vulnerable.

We have taken the lead from communities of color, from neighborhood small businesses, from those who are fighting for food access, those who are rallying together to support small businesses, those who are supporting health care workers and immigrants and refugees together today We are leading like we have in the past.

We are taking direction from community, just like you have in past councils, past $15 minimum wage and secure scheduling and sick and safely.

Those issues rippled throughout our country, and I am hoping the same will happen today.

We are leading like we did on the Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights and the Hotel Worker Protection, which city after city has continued to call us to say, how did you do it?

How was it done?

I want to echo the comments that were made before to other cities that are looking to pass progressive revenue and recognize that the city of Seattle and Washington State has ground to make up for, given we are in the most regressive city and state in the country in terms of our tax code.

But we're hoping today that we continue to show that leadership across the country and legislating solutions for our communities, providing immediate relief and support to those who've been left out.

responding to this moment of crisis and investing in areas that have had historic disinvestment and division.

We are acting at the local level as a good partner, a good partner with the state and the county as we find and push for additional progressive revenue solutions and implementing this effort today to right-size our upside-down tax system.

This is a small component of that larger solution.

Jumpstart Seattle reinvests in our families, our neighborhoods, and our local community, and this is how we emerge stronger and more equitable after this crisis.

I have a few thank yous that I want to provide, and then I will stop, I promise.

I want to thank Council Central staff, Dan Eder, Tom Michael, Ali Panucci, Tracy Ratcliffe.

Early mornings, late nights, weekends, you have been sending messages and emails and making sure that all of the Council members ideas were vetted and drafted.

The piece of legislation in front of us reflects those amendments from council colleagues to make sure that our values and our priorities are included.

And we would not be able to have a piece of legislation that reflected these priorities without all of your work in the legislative branch.

So thank you for all of your work.

And we do hope that you hear our appreciation and also are able to get some rest soon.

I want to thank Patty Wagon, I want to thank Patty and Kirsten for their patience as we worked together to provide the agendas for our meetings that were ongoing and for all of the support that you provided to us from the legislative department.

Thanks to the city clerk's office, Monica, Amelia, and Jodi.

Without you, we would be out of order all the time.

So thank you for helping us with the various amendments and the legislative process.

And thanks to Dana, Stephanie, and Joseph from the communication team for putting in the extra work to make sure that the jumpstart plan, including the detailed spend plan that we will be voting on next, was easily digestible and was clearly understood by the public so that we didn't hear the same type of criticism that we heard in the past.

There is a detailed spend plan that not only has the ordinance that we're voting on today, but will be followed up with a resolution much like we have in previous efforts related to levies to be even more specific about where dollars go.

So thank you for that.

Thanks to our IT department, Anne, Eric, and Sun for all you are doing to help us keep working remotely and for making sure that all the public can continue to call and testify.

And thank you to everybody who's continued to testify, which I'll get to in a second.

Thank you, council colleagues, especially all of those who've spoken today.

talking about the historic moment that we're in, I just want to underscore how incredibly important it is for us to take away the historic win that is today by voting on Jump Start Seattle.

And thanks again to, I think I mentioned this earlier, but Council Member Sawant and Morales for the earlier iterations of the bill that you introduced and Representative Macri for her bill as well.

I think we have carefully pulled from each of these pieces to make sure that we are advancing strong legislation today.

And as the council president said, a huge thank you to my team.

I know that your work has been recognized by every council member and the staff, but thank you.

Thank you to Sejal Freak, chief of staff, for your leadership on this effort.

And thank you to my incredible team, Aaron House, Farideh Cuevas, Aretha Basu, each who reached out to specific constituencies and got feedback from folks and worked on various amendments.

Council President, I know I am going long, but I would be remiss if I didn't say thank you to a handful of organizations, if you might be so kind to allow me a few more minutes.

To the faith organizations, thank you, folks like Faith Action Network, Mennonite Church, Interfaith Task Force on Homelessness, Just Peace Council, and the Church Council of Greater Seattle.

To food access organizations, Food and Water Action, North Helpline, and to Operation Stack Lunch, to local businesses and transit and mobility organizations, Cafe Red, and the Station, and Cascade Bicycle Club.

Thank you to the community resilience organizations, such as Bird Bar Place, Child Care Resources, MSC, Neighborhood House, Lifelong Aids, and Queen Anne Helpline, along with Somali Youth Organization.

Progressive organizations like Civic Ventures, Budget and Policy Center, FUSE, Puget Sound Stage, Poverty Action, Tech for Recovery, and Puget Sound Action for Retirement, PASARA.

Labor organizations, FEIU 6, 775, 1199, 925, UW, UWH, and Protech 17, MLK Labor, The Laborers, Painters, Ironworkers, UFCW 21, and the Washington Nightlife Music Association.

Also want to thank immigrant refugee organizations like Casa Latina, Entre Armanos, One America, and Housing and Homelessness Organizations, Compass Housing, Low Income Housing Institute, DESC, Solid Ground, REACH, Housing Alliance, Youth Care, Nightwatch, Housing Development Consortium, Lake City Partners, Plymouth Housing, The Coalition on Homelessness and Real Change.

Just to name a few.

And thank you finally to Seattleites who are struggling whether unemployed or underemployed whether you've experienced an increase in workload or balancing childcare and working and teaching.

Whether your business is closed or just reopening.

Whether you're missing hugs or have lost loved ones.

I know you're wrapping your head around this policy right now and it's a lot.

It is a huge win.

And I know you must.

need to focus on making sure that your family is making ends meet.

We are here in the meantime working on this policy Jump Start Seattle to make sure that communities across Seattle can continue to have access to core services core protections like housing and food and that we're investing in the long term so that we are creating a more united a more resilient and more equitable Seattle as we recover from this COVID crisis.

Thank you council colleagues.

Looking forward to voting on Jump Start Seattle with all of you.

And thank you once again for making this all possible.

Great.

Thank you so much.

That closes out our debate.

So I am now going to ask that the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill as amended.

Herbold.

Herbold aye.

Juarez.

No.

Lewis.

Aye.

Morales.

Aye.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

Peterson.

No.

Sawant.

Aye.

Strauss.

Aye.

President Gonzalez.

Aye.

Seven in favor, two opposed.

The bill passes as amended and the chair will sign it.

And I'd ask that the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.

Okay, item four.

I think this is our last agenda item on today's agenda.

So I'd ask that the clerk please read item four into the record.

item 4, Council Bill 119111, establishing a spending plan for proposed use of the proceeds generated from the payroll expense tackle authorized by the ordinance introduced as Council Bill 119810, establishing an oversight committee and adding a new section 3.35.100 of the code.

The committee recommends the bill pass as amended with Council Members Mosqueda, Herbold, Gonzalez, Suarez, Lewis, Morales, DeWant, and Straus in favor and Council Member

I would like to move the motion to approve the item.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

You are recognized in order to address this item.

Thank you very much.

critical for us to be able to pass today so that we can couple this revenue proposal with the tax package that we just passed.

We will also have the opportunity to talk more about investments in the upcoming Wednesday meeting, not this Wednesday, but the following Wednesday, to talk more about the specifics in terms of what additional allocations you'd like to see.

It was not possible for us to know exactly which amendments to advance without knowing the universe of dollars from this conversation, and we wanted to make sure we got that completely right.

So now we have feedback from all of you.

Your amendments are included.

This allows for us to pass this category spend plan to couple with the tax proposal and to then work in greater detail, much like we've done with other levies in the past, for example, the Families and Education Levy, we followed it up with very detailed spending plans to complement the categories of spending.

Again, I want to thank Alec Panucci for her work to amend this bill so that we could have these categories here.

And I will also take a quick minute to add to the thank yous that I just said a moment ago.

We would not be in a position to have money to spend without the ongoing feedback that we got from the robust individuals that I listed before who were part of a very broad coalition.

And that includes folks at Expedia and Ethan Stoll.

So I want to thank the business leaders who have been helping to provide feedback on the tax proposal so that we do have not only the vote that just happened to ensure that there is progressive revenue, but also make sure that we have the ability to invest in critical programs like supporting small businesses, which will reinvest into larger business.

Taking a minute to thank those businesses, that includes Ensole, Expedia, Civic Ventures, Matthew Lang, Budget and Policy Center, and DESC.

Those folks have provided a lot of feedback, and thanks again to Richard and Steven for the ongoing feedback as we talked about various ways to raise sufficient funds to get money into the hands of those who are including housing and food assistance and small business assistance and investments in the long run.

So I was remiss in not mentioning them before and wanted to say that, and that is my closing comments.

Thank you, Council Member Mosqueda.

Are there any other comments on the bill?

Okay.

It looks like there are no other comments on the bill.

I'm excited about this approach.

Council Member Mosqueda, thank you so much for putting it forward.

I know that you and I and our teams had conversations about structuring this ordinance in this way to allow for more thoughtful conversation.

around specific potential spending, so really appreciate this structure and this direction.

Thank you so much for that.

With that being said, colleagues, I'm going to ask that the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill.

Herbold?

Aye.

Juarez?

Aye.

Lewis?

Aye.

Morales?

Aye.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

Aye.

Peterson?

No.

Sawant?

Aye.

Strauss?

Aye.

President Gonzalez?

Aye.

Eight in favor, one opposed.

Thank you so much, Madam Clerk.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

I'd ask that the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.

Colleagues, other business.

Is there any other further business to come before the council?

see no other business.

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

Our next City Council meeting is Monday, July 13th, 2020 at 2 p.m.

I want to congratulate once again Councilmember Mosqueda, her team, and of course, most importantly, every single Seattleite who has been emailing us, calling us, and engaging with us about the important of passing Jump Start Seattle.

I look forward to the coming weeks of conversation around how we are going to allocate and appropriate this funding, also through an equitable lens.

I really appreciate everybody's hard work today and over the last few weeks to dig into the hard work that lays in front of us over the next several weeks.

Thank you again, Budget Chair Mosqueda, for your work.

Our next city council meeting is Monday, July 13th, 2020 at 2 p.m.

I hope that you all have a very wonderful afternoon and evening.

We are adjourned.

Thank you.

Thank you.