Governance, Accountability and Economic Development Committee 3/13/2025

Well, good afternoon, everybody.

It is Thursday, March 13th, and the Governance, Accountability, and Economic Development Committee will come to order.

It is 2.01 p.m.

I'm Sarah Nelson, chair of the committee.

Council Member Hollingsworth is excused from today's committee meeting.

All right, with that, will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Rivera.

Present.

Council Member Solomon.

Here.

Council Member Kettle.

Here.

Chair Nelson.

Present.

Four present.

Thank you.

If there's no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Hearing none, the agenda is adopted.

Clerk, how many people do we have signed up for public comment, please?

We have one in-person public commenter and two remote public commenters, Chair.

All right, let's start with the in-person commenter.

All right, Alex Zimmerman, come on up.

And please read the instructions.

I'm gonna call on the speakers in the order they have signed up to speak, starting with you, Alex.

Speakers will have two minutes.

When you hear the chime, you'll have 10 seconds left.

If you exceed that time, your microphone may be cut off so that we can move on to the next speaker.

If you're offering remote comment, please make sure to press star six to unmute yourself.

Give me a second, Alex.

Two minutes.

Yes, two minutes.

See hi.

See hi, my lovely degenerative idiot.

My name is Alex Zimmerman.

I support Rami, MAGA member.

I want to speak about agenda number two.

I love this agenda number two.

You know why?

And I explain to you.

Because all my life I want to be a woman, but I cannot.

So right now I can because I am 80-year-old in my penis right now, size like a clitor.

So I can qualify like a woman.

So when I feel very stupid, don't worry about this.

It's typical for people like me and exactly for women what I am now.

And I'm very happy for another point.

So every woman right now can come to doctor and talk, doctor, look, I have a clitor only like two inches.

You know what this means?

I want a penis 20 inches.

And doctor can do this, you know what this means?

Without problem because we have law right now.

who approves this.

So women who will have a penis 20 inches will be probably happy when she have, for example, an anal sex with somebody.

Why?

Because probably before in her life, she'd have an anal sex with men, what is called a very shorter penis right now.

So I totally support this.

I think in every woman, supposed to be a man with big penis, and every man can have a vagina, a small clitor, so he can be a woman.

It's very good.

America is a, Seattle city is a democratic city.

Everybody can have a penis of 20 inches or clitor of three centimeter, no, no, millimeter, yeah.

So I totally support this, and I want what is everybody in Seattle, the 700,000 degenerative idiotov doing this.

Viva Trump, viva New American Revolution, viva MAGA, stand up America.

Thank you very much.

All right, that concludes the in-person public comment.

We will now move to the remote public comment, and the same rules apply.

And I want to note that Council Member Moore has joined us today.

All right, first we'll have Kirk Robbins.

Please press star six to unmute yourself.

Go ahead, Kurt.

Yes, I'm calling about the waterfront rezone.

I live in District 6, about a block from a rezone area in the Brewery District, and a block in another direction from a different rezone area.

When this was revealed to us over this means, actually, we were told that this was because of a large deal that was reached that because the deal served the larger interest of the city, it would be money everywhere, and we should basically just take it because that's what powerful people did in secret under city auspices.

And it turns out that was a misrepresentation.

It turns out that there was no deal.

Apparently, the deals in the Seattle zoning process are like the deals that are reached in the Middle East or in the Doge context, that people just sort of say these things and get – manufacturer consent as best they can, and then when they want to override it, when the developers and those funded by developers want to override what the deal was, we step back and give to the rich and powerful what they want.

The waterfront industry is part of the ballast of Seattle.

It's part of the reason that your budget problems aren't worse is because there's a stable industrial regional facility network here, And the idea that that's going to be sold out for yet another up zone, somewhere where it actually is going to do serious harm to the region's economy, as well as to our own budgetary system, this is really disappointing.

And you do have time to reconsider it.

There certainly is no rush on a rezone, unless it's a spot rezone or unless some developer has overextended in his borrowings.

So please reconsider any decisions you're going to make.

to give the developers what they want.

Please save the waterfront.

Thank you.

All right.

Our next remote commenter will be David Haynes.

Please press star six to unmute yourself.

Hi, David Haynes.

I thought this was government accountability for all the money being squandered on bad policy.

Where's the investigation on King County Regional Homeless Authority and their continued refusals to solve the homeless crisis?

Or what about public safety and the leadership that still exempts repeat offending criminals from jail that are connected to the underworld while allowing nonprofits to racially discriminate against innocent homeless, making everything in our society more difficult to deal with.

And yet we have more effort and laws to protect killing off other people's unborn kids and calling it lyingly, reproductive health care for population control.

And what seems to be sex changes for kids, it's not clarifying what gender-affirming care is, but we know that there is a twisted, illogical misinterpretation of science and biology when it comes to progressives encouraging a child to be something that he or she is not.

for somebody else's deviant adult amusement that seems to be part of a pedophile grooming class of privileged donors and bullies and activists and organizers who have control over the Democrat progressive party and what types of policies and priorities and wicked perverted ideas they got for other people's children when moms and dads are at work and they need to tune into the audio and video inside the classroom to listen to and see exactly what the so-called teachers are teaching their kids in school versus not knowing what untrustworthy, miseducated adults are encouraging their kids and misleading about.

And we still need an investigation and a trespassing of all the people who are participating in viewing child porno in the library that are freezing up the computer systems Because those kids could be rescued if the FBI would investigate those sites and the people who keep using it.

But the LBGQT employees at the library who kick people out who complain about it.

Thank you, David.

Chair, that concludes public comment.

Thank you very much, and I neglected to read the sentence before public comment that says that the public, you can speak to items on the agenda or within the work program.

So please, when folks come to make public comment at this committee, remember that it is restricted to that.

It seemed like one of those comments was about the comm plan, and there will be many more meetings on that topic.

All right, the public comment period is now closed.

Will the clerk please read item one into the agenda.

Agenda item number one, appointment 03080, appointment of Joy R. Shigaki as a member of Washington State Convention Center Public Facilities District Board for a term to July 30th, 2028. Briefing, discussion, and possible vote.

All right, well, people are getting settled at the table.

I remind folks that, or in case you don't know, the WSCC PFD was officially formed by King County Ordinance 16883 on July 19th, 2010, and is directed by a nine-member board of community members appointed by the state of Washington, King County, and the city of Seattle.

And so we have a commissioner here to hear from, and I'm sure that we'll have some questions once you're finished introducing yourselves.

Sure.

My name is Jennifer LeMaster.

I'm the president and CEO of the Seattle Convention Center.

I'm Joy Shigaki, president and CEO of Friends of Waterfront Park.

And I am delighted to be here on behalf of Joy and the board of directors to support her nomination to our board.

Thank you.

Would you like to speak a bit about yourself and your background or some of the things that you hope to accomplish?

Go ahead.

I'm sorry, me or Joy?

I would, either one.

One of the things that's actually really exciting in our city, obviously, is the final opening of Waterfront Park after 15 years.

And we recognize how much it's going to transform our downtown and our regional economy in really bringing locals and visitors to have this extraordinary world-class experience at Waterfront Park.

And part of that work is how we see ourselves being folded into the economic health of our city.

This partnership and sitting on the board of the Seattle Convention Center is an incredible opportunity to see the asset, which is an incredible one, which is the entire city, but how Waterfront Park is going to be folded into the experience that we're going to be offering for visitors and range of conferences and other events that are part of the larger work of the Convention Center.

I've had 25 years of background, both in government and nonprofit, and these larger questions, I think, as the nonprofit that's managing this park, not just now, but for generations to come, of how we really see ourselves folding into the larger ecosystem of our downtown and our regional economy.

So I'd be honored to be part of this body, to really be partners in this work.

We are partners already, but really have an intentional way to help guide and lead the work forward to ensure the health of our convention center and our two, the Arch and the new summit building, which are both major assets for the city and also for our region.

And I would just add to that that the convention corridor deeply desires a stronger connection to the waterfront as part of the defining characteristic of our downtown destination and the appeal of convention goers worldwide.

So having Joy's insight and thoughts on our board is going to be critical as we shape that connection.

Thank you for that.

I have read your materials, but I know you, Joy, for years.

And I think I very much appreciate your interest because you'll bring so much to the, well, you already bring so much to the city and especially to the convention center.

You're right.

When you said that the connection between the convention center and the waterfront is important because when you're upstairs at the top of that grand staircase made of and you're looking west, that is the waterfront that you have spent so long and with such hard work raising funding for and making sure that the work is well coordinated and actually boosting the waterfront to the rest of the state, city and I imagine the world too because people all know when it's opening.

I think this is a perfect contribution and an asset you'll be to the convention center.

So with that, I will open up for other questions or comments from folks.

I have a question.

Are there defined positions on the commission that you have got to fill and are there other vacancies coming up?

Yes, there is one other vacancy governor's office appointment for, so we, with Joy's appointment, we will have eight of our nine seats filled and we will have one to go.

All right.

And I understand that the reason that this is, that there is a little bit of urgency behind this is because there is a big meeting coming up and we want to have your participation.

That's correct, we'll be orienting two new board members this month at our March meeting.

So we are excited to bring Joy and Stu Rolf, who was approved by King County just two months ago onto the board.

Excellent, okay.

Are there any other questions?

Because of that time sensitivity, my preference is to go ahead and vote this out of committee today.

Councilmember Kettle.

Yes, thank you, Chair Nelson.

Welcome, Joy Shishaki, to the council, to this committee.

And I, well, I know you less in terms of time than our chair, but I have a similar views in terms of the work that you've been doing and the importance of what you've done for the waterfront and what you've done for the city.

And so it seems to make sense because it is such an important piece to our city that was highlighted today as I met with the City of Galway delegation.

and I was able to speak to the waterfront and all the work.

And don't take this the wrong way, but I said that we'd finished the Overlook Walk for them.

So we got it ready, we got it done ahead of their arrival for Irish Week.

But it goes to the point of how important the Overlook Walk and the waterfront project overall is to our city and it is to the visitors that come.

And this goes to the convention center.

And how do you see that playing out in terms of building up and bringing more visitors, bringing more attention to our city and really highlighting what our city has to offer?

Well, you know, we anticipate 15 million people coming to the waterfront, which I actually think is a fairly conservative number if you've been down there on a really sunny weekend.

The Overlook Walk in the waterfront is actually bustling, which is a great sign of locals coming back as well as national tourists.

And we do have a steady stream of visitors who obviously come to Seattle year-round since we're not, the temperature is fairly moderate.

We want to be a resource.

I mean, the park is a major part of the renewal of the city.

And when I came on board, it was a tough thing to actually say.

But we recognize that the long-term investment of this downtown urban park was really about a new sort of front porch and really putting Seattle, I think, on the world stage in a very different way.

And we'll see that even more so kind of stepping into 26 with FIFA.

We're excited to be able to think about this partnership with the Seattle Convention Center and other conventions that are coming to town to see it as an asset and to really elevate the investment that our city, our civic leaders, and our residents have made to this project and to our donors.

It's a statement about our and how we are world class, and providing an extraordinary experience that leads all the way through downtown, into our neighborhoods, and obviously connects directly to our two convention spaces that I think is really important for an extraordinary experience when people come to Seattle.

And we want to be part of just kind of ensuring that our city is healthy and that we're just thinking creatively about all of the assets that are in Seattle.

So I'm really pleased, first of all, to be asked to be part of this and to support Jen's leadership, I think, in really leading this next chapter, honestly, of the Convention Center.

It's been tough after the pandemic, but I also think we do things really well and with a lot of innovation and vision.

So I really want to support her work and her leadership bringing us into the next chapter of this organization.

Can I ask a follow-on question?

One thing I've noticed in this job, because I'm more mindful, I have a saying, be present, be mindful, and be prepared.

And being present is just being here and without the distraction.

Mindful is like taking it to the next step, putting yourself in the other person's shoes.

And one of the things I've really noticed is that I really have a north-south orientation to the city.

I think I-5, all the numbered streets, everything, a lot of things are north-south.

And I really appreciate the work that's been done as part of the waterfront in terms of connecting the waterfront east-west, in this case east because, you know, otherwise you're swimming, and into the city.

With Director Brady, we had the the Bell Street project kickoff with the shovel.

And can you speak to that piece?

Because that really kind of goes in terms of the convention.

It's like, how do we further that east-west kind of movement in the city?

Because I think that's important.

I mean, I give a lot of the credit to the city for the design.

As we know, the viaduct really cut off the connection to downtown.

It wasn't just a physical disconnection, but it was people actually understanding how to go into Pioneer Square, the CID, Belltown, and the core of downtown.

I think it's now really about how do we find ways to encourage people to make the trek from the convention center, from other assets downtown to make their way to the waterfront and back safely, and continue to bring more people in to make our streets full that change the perception of downtown feeling like a safe, dynamic place.

We will continue to obviously care for the park along with the Seattle Center, who is a really critical partner, the DSA, who's also caring for the Pike Pine Extension, because this is all about how we're looking at as a fuller ecosystem.

The more activities I think we have on the waterfront that bring people into the park and go back into the rest of downtown and neighborhoods, including Belltown, the better our small businesses will be, the better sort of the feel of the street will be.

And I think what we know is safe, clean, and accessible is the way that we're committing that into Waterfront Park.

Those issues are being solved, obviously, throughout downtown.

Some streets a little bit more challenging.

I think that that's, though, what builds confidence for people to come and have a really extraordinary experience.

Pandemic has been hard.

I actually think the east-west tendrils have been that great reminder of how do you make sure there's a seamless experience, though.

coming from Waterfront Park, this amazing urban landscape, to other neighborhoods like Belltown, like Pioneer Square.

And a lot of our businesses really need that investment.

Our music venues, our arts and culture organizations need that support of people coming and believing they can have an extraordinary experience doing many things.

Come to the park for a couple hours, come to see programs, enjoy the quiet on the beach.

but come in to see Sam, come to a restaurant, right?

Come and see a show.

We need to change the sort of context of the experience of downtown.

And I think we're beginning to see that and we'll see it even more, right?

As we lead up to the summer months and a season of welcome.

Excellent.

Maybe we can set up a walkabout where we start on the waterfront.

We kind of go one way.

We hit the convention centers, and then we kind of come back a separate way to further that.

We'll enlist Deputy Mayor Wong, and we'll hook him in and others just to highlight that east-west piece.

And I will continue to work the safety piece, by the way.

No, I appreciate that.

So thank you.

Yeah, thanks so much.

but why stop at the convention center?

We can just keep on going pine up and over to the other body of water.

It's giving to other neighborhoods.

And I think it's about reconnection at the end of all of this.

So I appreciate the question.

Council member Rivera.

Thank you, chair.

And especially reconnection after the viaduct came down and all the really great work that's going on down there.

And I want to say full disclosure, I, met Joy a couple years ago because my husband does volunteer work with the Friends of the Waterfront.

This is something that's near and dear to our family.

And I also want to say that we received letters from Maggie Walker, who's chair of the Friends of the Waterfront Park.

Maggie's a gem to this city.

She's been working on these issues for a long time.

And then we also received a letter on your behalf from As you know, John Scholes with the DSA, and I personally am very grateful for all the work that you've done down at the waterfront and to get that ready for opening.

There's a lot that went into that for many years.

And I am so excited that that is open and that hopefully this will be the first summer where it really is open for business and raring to go.

I am so excited about its connection both to the Seattle Center and to the convention centers.

And I think I'm very supportive of your participation on the convention center board and looking forward to making those connections.

because this is all interrelated and your experience with the waterfront, there's a lot of benefit that you will be adding to this new position.

So volunteer position, but nevertheless, really excited to see you working with the convention center.

So thank you for wanting to do this.

Thank you, chair.

All right, I'm not seeing any other Hands up here, and I want to add, Jen, great recruiting.

Since you've come on board, I see you everywhere downtown or at events all over the city, and you have an eye for excellence, and you are mission driven.

So thank you very much for this addition to the commission as well.

Thank you.

All right, let's see, let's go ahead.

If there are no other comments or questions, we can go ahead and take a vote.

Hearing none, I move that the committee recommends confirmation of appointment 03080. Is there a second?

All right, it's been moved and seconded to recommend confirmation of appointment 0380. And let's go ahead and call for the vote.

Council member Rivera.

Aye.

Council member Solomon.

Aye.

Council member Kettle.

Aye.

Chair Nelson.

Aye.

Four in favor, none opposed.

Thank you very much and congratulations.

Thank you.

This will come to full council, I believe on the 25th or 18th.

When is it?

This will be for full council for March 25th.

Okay.

Thank you very much.

Yes.

Would you please read item two into the record?

Agenda item number two, council bill 120950, an ordinance relating to reaffirming the city of Seattle as a welcoming city, supporting access to reproductive healthcare services and gender affirming treatment in Seattle, extending the responsibility of employees to protect the provision of reproductive healthcare services and gender affirming treatment and adding a new chapter 14.115 to the Seattle municipal code briefing discussion and possible vote.

Hello, thank you for coming to the table.

I'll give a brief introduction.

The mayor's office sent us this bill to conform to Seattle Law to the Washington State Shield Law, supporting access to reproductive health care services and gender affirming treatment.

And the mayor's office also drafted this bill with guidance from the LGBTQ commission.

And as I noted on Monday, I believe it was, Councilmember Hollingsworth and Councilmember Solomon were both quoted in the mayor's press release last week, along with representatives from GSBA, Seattle Pride, and the city's LGBTQ Commission.

So I really do appreciate your early support, and if Councilmember Hollingsworth were here, I'd be nodding at her as well.

I thank everyone for agreeing to have this in committee today.

As I mentioned earlier this week, this bill incorporates several relevant portions of state statute into city law and extends its provisions to city employees.

State law provides protections against out-of-state investigations and prosecutions, professional discipline, and civil liability.

It also provides extensive protections for consumer data related to reproductive and gender affirming care.

Given the urgency of the issue in light of the actions taken by the Trump administration, I wanted to fast track this and not wait to show that we support our LGBTQ community and to reaffirm our city's commitment to be a safe and welcoming place for all people.

So today we'll have a briefing and discussion of this bill.

And because we wanna make sure that these protections are enshrined in city law without delay, I am hoping that we can vote today unless there are any objections.

I do realize, however, that there are some questions from council members that have been raised by central staff.

And we have been in conversation with, I personally have been in conversation with central staff and our internal legal counsel.

My strong preference, however, is to move this forward with a vote today because I did check with committee members and that seems to be agreed to as the course of action that would work best for other people.

However, we do have until March 25th to have those questions answered and then we'll play it by ear if there is still anything remaining.

For example, I do have an amendment that we'll talk about later today.

So with that, could you please introduce yourselves and then you can begin your presentation.

Thank you, council president.

Thank you, council members for having us here today.

I'm deputy mayor Greg Wong here on behalf of mayor Bruce Harrell's office to talk to the ordinance that we've transmitted for your consideration.

Before we begin the presentation, I'd like to quickly introduce two people with me at council table.

Next to me on my right is Jessica McKaig, one of our very own city employees in SDCI who personally reached out to the mayor about the importance of legislating in this space and also someone who we worked with to identify priorities to include in this ordinance.

Next to Jessica is Ashley Ford, who is one of our LGBTQ commission co-chairs, and really a prime example of the type of community voices that help guide us in this work.

You will hear from both of them shortly.

But before I turn it over to them, I just want to set a little bit of context for why we're here today.

And I think, Council President, you spoke very well to the urgency of our times.

I think there's no secret that our current federal administration and others in our community and across this country are openly hostile to many of the values and communities that make Seattle a welcoming, inclusive, and vibrant city.

These are values that Mayor Harrell stands strongly for, and we thought it was appropriate to take action in the face of multiple threats.

As you also know, this is not the only piece of our federal response.

We are activating on multiple fronts to ensure we as a city have strategies and actions to stand up for our people, our policies and our laws.

We, as you know, we were here earlier about the mayor's directive on immigration enforcement.

We've certainly taken many actions in that space, and you'll see some echoes of the work there in the ordinance that we transmitted for your consideration today.

And we've also taken legal action, as you know, working with you at our city attorney's office to ensure we are strongly fighting for our people, for our funding, and again, for our values.

So with that context, first I'd like to turn it over to Jessica, who will share just a couple minutes of remarks with us.

Thank you, council members.

Hello.

My name is Jessica McCaig.

I'm a building plans examiner for the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections.

I would like to thank Mayor Harrell and Deputy Mayor Wong for inviting me to speak at the presentation of this legislation.

I'm here because as a city employee, I follow announcements from the mayor's office.

During his city address, the mayor made this statement, I quote, we should have grave concerns for what the Trump administration has in store for our city and its people.

The actions and rhetoric from the White House take aim at parts of our community that we value is central to who we are.

our LGBTQ plus community, particularly trans individuals, our immigrant and refugee neighbors, women, working families." My unremarkable life has been upended since the election. I would like to go about my day drawing little to no attention. This is no longer possible because instead I am singled out by my own government and my very existence is threatened. I'm fearful of losing my medical care and access to my prescription medications, worried about where my family and I can travel safely and ridiculously if I travel, where am I led to pee without being harassed or even arrested? I reached out to the mayor to commend him for identifying this cruel attack in his speech and then challenged him and his staff to go further by formally declaring Seattle as a safe and welcoming place for these communities. His response is in part this legislation adopting shield laws for providing life-saving healthcare, which I wholly support. My life has been vastly improved by the quality healthcare I've been able to access in Seattle. Healthcare is a basic human right and should be available to everyone. Denying healthcare is an act of aggression and violence. Standing up to these threats and shielding these care providers is the appropriate response. Legal protections such as this are proving to be some of the only effective means for fighting against the tide of lies, hate, oppression, and discrimination emanating from our very own federal government officials and agencies. I stand with Mayor Harrell and Deputy Mayor Wong in hopes that you, the City Council, will approve this legislation. It will serve as a beacon in what is essentially a dark vacuum of silence and hand-wringing on the part of many other government officials and corporate media outlets. I hope this is one of many ways that the city will stand up boldly to the oppressive attacks facing us all, but especially individuals and groups disproportionately targeted and under direct threat. Thank you.

Thank you, Jessica.

There will be no interruptions from people in the audience, please.

Thank you, Jessica.

I'd like now to turn it over to Ashley Ford, again, one of our co-chairs of the LGBTQ Commission.

Good afternoon, city council members, city staff, members of the public.

Thank you for adding this to your agenda today.

My name is Ashley Ford.

I use she and they pronouns.

I'm one of the three volunteer co-chairs for the LGBT commission.

I've lived in the Lake City neighborhood, district five, since moving here from North Carolina in 2019. I only have a short time to talk to you today, but I really want my core message to ring clear.

The basic rights and dignities of the LGBTQ community are under attack.

And we truly need your help, city council and city leaders, to help enshrine Seattle as a place where queer people, especially our trans and non-binary neighbors, are welcome, protected, and cherished.

We all have our different reasons for loving this city that we call home.

And for many of us in the LGBTQ community, there's a level of safety here that doesn't exist in many other cities.

Even having a commission like ours, the LGBTQ commission to advise on behalf of LGBTQ people is rare and becoming increasingly so.

Yet still we're experiencing our local hospitals, making choices and fear that prevent access to gender affirming care.

Corporations are abandoning their commitments to their LGBTQ employees and violent hate crimes are still being committed in our beloved Capitol Hill neighborhood.

If you weren't able to attend the special committee meeting last week, I would really encourage you to listen to the recording to hear directly from some of our LGBTQ committee members and organizations on some of the things that they've been experiencing recently.

On the federal level, it's frankly hard to keep up at this point.

Every time I open my phone, there's something else in the news, another queer friend scared for what's happening next.

If it's not clear at this point, we really are at a crisis point.

Many of us are making crisis plans.

We don't know what is coming next.

On that note, we know that our communities are resilient and we know that we won't back down.

We won't stand idly by why people on the national stage threaten to strip away our rights and dignities.

We've been very grateful to the mayor's office for their partnership in putting this ordinance together.

As mentioned, the work we do on the LGBTQ commissions fully volunteer.

I have a full-time job in addition to this.

So we truly do rely on you all and our city leaders to take action in order to keep our community safe.

We're deeply committed to our advisory role and really look forward to this continued partnership and as we continue to experience these attacks under this federal administration.

Thank you again for taking time to add this to your agenda today and for hopefully passing this ordinance.

It's imperative that we take action to maintain Seattle's longstanding legacy of being a leader and protecting the basic rights of LGBTQ people in the city.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ashley, very much.

Before you begin, excuse me.

I just want to note that we do have Central Staff Analyst Tommaso here today who will be providing some analysis after the presentation, just so everybody knows.

Go ahead, please.

Thank you.

And I just want to thank Jessica and Ashley again for just being courageous leaders in this space and not only speaking up and about the importance of these issues, but also helping to actually inform the policy that you all will be considering.

And that is just invaluable to us as city leaders.

I'm going to see if I can do this PowerPoint.

Are you controlling it?

Okay, great.

Then I will not.

Next slide, please.

And actually, next slide.

There we go.

So before we get into the exact pieces of this ordinance, I just want to make sure that we have a little bit of context, because this certainly isn't the first time that this city The mayor and the council have taken action to make sure that we are protecting and upholding our queer community.

This is just a list of some of the, oh, can you go back one slide?

Thank you.

Of some of the actions that have been taken just in the last 10 years here.

And starting even back to 2015 when Mayor Harrell was on council, he led the ordinance to make sure that our restroom facilities are open for everyone, including transgender and gender diverse individuals.

And there's been a series of actions, policies, and laws in place that we're building off of leading up to even a couple years ago after Roe v. Wade was overturned and reproductive health care was at risk where this council took action with the mayor on ensuring that we are protecting health care rights.

Next slide.

Also for context is not only in policy and law do we act to support this community and protect their rights, but also in our city resources and investments.

Actually, this list of departments where we have investments is not complete.

These are just examples.

I would wager that in almost every single one of our departments, there's some program, some policy, some work that is done with the queer community that uplifts them, that protects them, that supports them.

I did want to call out just a couple of examples.

Again, we could have spent an hour or two going through all of the examples, but I think these ones are kind of unique, and so I think they're worth celebrating.

One is Pride Place.

This is a housing that our Office of Housing made significant investments in.

It was completed just a couple of years ago on Capitol Hill, owned and operated by Community Roots Housing.

But this is essentially senior housing for the queer community.

This is a need in the community that I think is fairly unique in Washington State, that we were able to provide that housing.

And on the ground floor there, we have space for Community and Health Services Center, run by Jen Pride.

And also, I wanted to point out that within our Seattle Police Department, we have a full-time LGBTQIA plus liaison.

Again, something we think is unique in the state of Washington, but showing the importance that we have on making sure all of our agencies and departments, including our police department, are acting with care, compassion, and understanding in working with the queer community.

Next slide.

So all of that is to give background to the ordinance that we transmitted to you for consideration.

Our values, despite what happened in our country on January 21st of this year, they have not changed.

And there's no doubt in the mayor's mind, and I think in most people's minds, that Seattle is here to support our communities, our marginalized communities, including and perhaps especially the queer community.

So in this ordinance, I break it down into four basic parts.

The first part is really reaffirming our values.

As Jessica and Ashley both said, our policies matter, but also just speaking up and highlighting the issues and who we are and what we stand for is equally as important in these times in the face of a lot of hateful rhetoric.

And so we wanted to make sure we reaffirmed our values in our recitals, recognizing supporting the equal rights of all people, including our queer community, and providing a safe and welcoming environment for those who reside in, work in, or visit the city.

We also wanted to make sure we were clear that we unequivocally support the right of individuals to seek, obtain, provide, and facilitate reproductive healthcare services and gender-affirming treatment.

all of which are legal in the state of Washington.

And we affirm our role in upholding Washington State's shield law and the state's law against discrimination and resisting efforts to impose discriminatory policies that would violate constitutional rights or our anti-discrimination laws.

So we start the ordinance with, I think, what is not just empty words but are true statements of values.

Next slide.

The second part of the ordinance is a declaration of public policy.

And a declaration of public policy is important because it actually sets forth in our law what the policy of the city of Seattle is here.

And we really declare, straightforward, that the public policy of this city is to protect the provision of protected health care services.

And protected health care services in the ordinance as defined, ten compass both gender affirming treatment and reproductive health care services.

As opposed to the recitals, which are, I'd say, value statements, a declaration of public policy actually can become relevant and have legal ramifications.

For example, in the ordinance, because it's our public policy to support protected healthcare services, the policy of the city is that in our judicial proceedings, our city, our lawyers, at any time, we will not assert any law or arguments contrary to that stated public purpose.

It also becomes relevant when courts are considering things like quashing subpoenas because considering what the public policy at play is can be a factor.

So we like that declaring the public policy sets forth a strong statement with actual legal ramifications.

Next slide.

The third component of the ordinance puts limits on cooperation.

And you may recall from our immigration welcoming city laws that quite a bit of it relates to how our city employees and departments work with the federal government or other governments in enforcing out of state actions in the city of Seattle.

And so we're essentially mirroring that, but for the queer community.

That means that we're gonna limit our employees from cooperating for actions or investigations related to protected healthcare services.

We won't be making arrests, issuing or effectuating warrants, issuing subpoenas, or providing information.

for those investigations.

So while we can't control what other jurisdictions do, we can limit how much we help or cooperate in those investigations.

Next slide.

Finally, the fourth component of the ordinance focuses on legal remedies, and this gives some teeth to the ordinance here as well.

And there's three main components of this, and one of which I know may be subject to an amendment that Council President Nelson referenced, and we're happy to discuss that as well.

The first one, the legal remedy, is a cause of action for interference with protected healthcare services.

So essentially how I think about this is if somebody, let's say a healthcare provider, maybe somebody comes in from out of state to receive protected healthcare services here in Seattle, and under the laws of that other state, there's either civil or criminal action against them, that healthcare provider can bring a cause of action for interference with them providing that healthcare service.

They can recover damages and attorney fees in Seattle.

that cause of action.

The other legal remedy that we provide is the city attorney is empowered and given the authority to seek injunctive relief if anybody is violating this ordinance.

And finally, we allow individuals who receive subpoenas from outside of Washington State to move to quash them on grounds that are inconsistent with the city's public policy.

So those are the main components of the ordinance.

Again, and you can go to the last slide.

To us, this is important.

It's timely.

It's substantive.

It protects our community and stands up for a community that is under significant attack right now.

And so we thank you for considering it, and we hope to be able to answer any questions you may have in order to get your support of its passage.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'm not seeing any hands up right now, so maybe it would be good to hear from our central staff analyst, and then we can take questions afterwards.

Go ahead.

Yes.

Thank you, Council President, members of the committee.

For the record, Tommaso Johnson, Council's central staff.

I just have a few supplementary comments to make to the mayor's office presentation.

In particular, the current state law, state shield law, does already prohibit certain kinds of participation in the enforcement of out-of-state laws that are contrary to Washington public policy in this regard.

In particular, the current state law already prohibits state and local law enforcement agencies or officers from effectuating warrants for the arrest or effectuating subpoenas related to these types of out-of-state laws contrary to our public policy.

So maybe the most key effect that this ordinance would have to clarify the behavior of City of Seattle employees in that regard would be related to non, to court employees, City of Seattle Municipal Court employees related to the effectuation of warrants, subpoenas, or other civil actions.

In addition, the state law already does prohibit the cooperation or information sharing related to cooperating with out-of-state legal actions contrary to our public policy for state or local commissions, boards, departments, or any employee thereof.

So in that regard, this ordinance would further state our city public policy, but the primary legal effect, we believe, would be related to municipal court employees' participation.

The other thing that I would add is that it's notable that we believe this is the first time that the 2S designation for two-spirit individuals is incorporated into municipal code, including that community and those communities within LGBTQIA plus communities, where in addition to that, and that is a notable statement of public policy, and that would appear for the first time in municipal code, as far as we're aware.

Also, just for a point of information for this council, there is currently a piece of state legislation moving through the state legislature, Senate Bill 5632 that's passed the state senate and is now in the state house, and the legislature will have until the end of April to act on this legislation.

This legislation is notable in this context simply because it provides some relatively minor technical clarifications to the State Shield Law.

In relevant part, it would offer a definition of the term assistance, which is used both in the State Shield Law and in this ordinance, but is not defined, so it would spell that out a little bit more plainly, what assistance with a provision or receipt of protected health services means.

And it would also add agents to the category of state and local employees of boards or commissions or departments that are prohibited from participation, further clarifying the scope of those provisions.

So that is something that I would just like to bring to your awareness, and I will hold remarks on the amendment until we get there.

Thank you all for that presentation and the additional analysis.

I will take a page from your book, Vice Chair, and ask if you have any questions or comments first before opening it up to anybody else.

Thank you, Chair.

That's the first time she's done that.

In my committee, I always go to my Vice Chair first.

You know, I think I'll I think I will say, I won't have any comment, I mean, I won't have any question right now, but I will say that, you know, as a candidate, I said at different times that reproductive health care is women's health care, and women's health care is health care, and that health care should be based on science.

This was part of it as a candidate.

I should add now, the same is true for the LGBTQ plus community or the 2SLGBQ1A plus community.

And I think that's important to make that point, too, now that I'm a council member.

And I also want to say that, sadly, around the country, science is not often the basis of health care public policy decisions, whether at the federal, state, or local level.

And I do think it's important for us as a city for Seattle to lead by example by having the science be our guide and not other considerations that can really take decisions in a way that's not proper, not looking out for the whole.

I used my quote earlier today in a different context about being present, like being here, not being distracted.

But the next one is being mindful, be mindful.

And being mindful really says, put yourself in their shoes, whatever it may be.

And there's different examples of that.

I'm remembering a story out of Minnesota where a mother was on the school board, and she was supporting the mask policy.

And so they went after her.

And then they found out, and her husband, by the way, was a retired Navy, which may be one reason why I remember it so well.

And as part of going after her, they found out that their son was a LGBTQ community member.

And they made their life terrible, very difficult, and to the point where I believe they had to move.

You know, and that story that happens around the country is truly sad because that child, I don't know the exact age, I think it's a little bit older, but this is something that, you know, these decisions should be based on science as opposed to, in that case, the rule of the mob because of initial anger regarding a mask mandate.

And so I think this is where we need to think of people like that.

Be mindful of their situation.

Be mindful of the presenters and their situation.

Thank you for being here.

And so then we can be prepared, be prepared to take the action that we need to take.

And again, so that's kind of the approach that I take, Chair, and members of the panel to this.

And I think it's important, again, for Seattle to set the example and show that it's not the mob rule or a vocal minority, but very strong vocal minority, but rather that the science really drives our decisions.

So thank you, Chair.

I just wanted to say that.

Thank you for those comments.

I agree.

Very well spoken.

Are there any other questions or comments from anybody?

Councilmember Moore.

Thank you very much, Chair, for allowing me to be present here today.

And I wanted to join because this is an incredibly important issue to me and also to all of our residents in this city.

And I very much support making sure that we are doing everything that we can to support access to reproductive care, which does also include gender-affirming care.

I just want to make sure, though, that this is such a complicated area of law, so many different jurisdictions coming into play, and also we have the constitutional provision of full faith and credit, which means that we are obligated constitutionally to provide full faith and credit to the judicial orders and proceedings of our neighboring jurisdictions.

I want to make sure that what we're codifying here we truly can enforce.

I don't want to create any false sense of protection.

That's the last thing that we want to do for our communities.

So I have a lot of questions that are legal on how do we best effectuate true protections.

So I'll probably reserve most of those for conversations.

And I mean, it does look like...

Well, I'll actually reserve all my questions because there are quite a few.

But the other question I have that's not a technical question is I appreciate the effort that the city and our commissions and the commissions presented to my committee, and we had a really robust and, I thought, productive conversation.

And one of the things that came out of that was what more can we do?

And...

I know when at our federal committee, Pro-Choice Washington and Planned Parenthood had some suggestions about how to make the state law more robust that they were pursuing in Olympia, the shield law.

There were sort of some gaps that are there.

So my question is really, where are the gaps?

Have they all been identified?

Are there additional things that we could be doing?

And they don't necessarily need to be just about codifying state law, but like the point that you were making, that we have housing for LGBTQ plus seniors.

Like, how do we make sure that that housing remains protected, access to that housing remains protected?

I mean, is there federal funding that's coming in that we need to think about and perhaps replace?

Are there particular legal provisions?

Again, we get into equal protection, I think we need to think as broadly as possible about all the areas in which we can seek added protection.

So I'm just asking, what else can we do?

What thought has been given to that in all these various areas that we provide?

Thank you, Councilmember.

I think first on your legal questions, certainly happy to work through.

I know you'll work with city attorney's office to work through some of those because we do want to be appropriate.

And in some ways, you know, we are mirroring the immigration space where there is state law that speaks on this, but we also have city law to really make sure that we're covering all areas to cover any legal gaps that may exist.

On your kind of broader question about systems gaps, I think that there's always more we can do for our communities.

There's always more.

And it's important that we take steps that are meaningful.

I think that this ordinance is one meaningful step, but then there's going to be more of those discussions, whether it's within your committee, the federal response committee, just with the community.

And I'm not sure, Ashley may have some ideas.

I know our LGBTQ commission talks about these things all the time.

about what more we can do but we are open to those conversations and how we can address those gaps

Yeah, to continue off of that, we on the commission are continuously open to having more conversations or really encouraging more collaboration this year, especially as well.

We invite you all to come to our meetings as well.

If you wanna hear firsthand what we've got community members saying to us, as well as some of the discussions that we're having as well.

I know council member Rank is planning to come to a upcoming meeting and we invite you all to attend those.

We are continuing to have these conversations.

It feels like it was a really long time ago that we had the meeting with the Housing and Human Services Committee, but it was really not even that long ago.

We were planning to have a special meeting where we were going to be discussing this type of proposal exactly, and were contacted by the mayor's office in the middle of that and actually ended up canceling our special meeting.

Still continuing those conversations, and we'll be following up with you all with continued ways that you can help support us as we continue to face different federal administration attacks, especially.

I appreciate the openness to continuing this conversation, especially.

Thank you.

And, Council President, I would like to request to add my name as a co-sponsor to this legislation, please.

You're welcome to.

Thank you.

Councilmember Rivera.

Thank you, Council President, and thank you all for being here today.

I echo a lot of the sentiments of my colleague Council member Moore, and thank you for joining our committee today.

I too wanna make sure that if we are taking action, it's gonna be meaningful action that we actually can do something about.

I don't want it to be an empty promise or an empty show because we do care and we want to be supportive.

And these are very difficult times.

And the reason probably it feels like it was so long ago is because so much chaos has happened between now and then it just feels like Surely that was weeks ago.

But no, unfortunately, we're having to contend with all the quick and fast chaos coming our way.

So I really just wanted to echo my support and also thank Councilmember Moore for raising.

I have similar questions on the legal end.

For the same reason, I want to make sure that what we're doing is actually supportive and actually going to lead something to something positive.

So I look forward to having the conversation with the city attorney's office around this.

And again, just thank you for being here.

And again, want to echo my support.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council President, for bringing this through quickly as well, for your leadership on that.

Thank you, council member Rivera.

And I also should clarify too, we did work with the city attorney's office in developing this.

So hopefully, most of those legal questions will be answered.

I think that we feel we sent down a ordinance that does have strong legal protections that are substantive as well.

And very much so open to thinking how we can tweak that to improve it to make it even stronger throughout the course of your deliberations.

Go ahead.

And one more thing.

I'm happy to also lend my name as a co-sponsorship if that's allowable and welcome.

It is.

Thank you.

So I want to, it's always dangerous to follow two lawyers who have made comments because I might.

reveal my ignorance, but my understanding is that when I was reading this, some people came to me and said, why do we have to do this?

Because the state law applies to everybody in Seattle or to the city employees.

But my understanding is why we have to conform to state law is because there is action that our municipal courts have to take to implement it.

And so I'm seeing nods for the viewing public.

They're nodding that my explanation to myself is correct.

And so I would like to know, has the executive also worked with, you mentioned that you had input from the city attorney's office.

Have you spoken with the muni court judges?

We have not yet on that, but again, welcome that conversation.

I also think it's worth pointing out that there are additional protections like the cause of action that would be a city cause of action and the city attorney's ability to get injunctive relief that we believe are additive to state law here.

Got it.

And I did hear the comment that there is, from central staff, that there is a bill in Olympia right now that is on a parallel track in a way and it could, I don't know, correct me if I'm wrong, could changes and could that bill then require amendments to this law and is that the case?

Yeah, thank you, Council President.

If the bill that's currently in Olympia were to pass, changes would be made to state law.

Depending on the timing of our adoption of this ordinance, that could put us in a situation where there is some, you know, relatively minor, but there could be some discrepancy between what the shield law that Seattle would adopt and what would be state law in Washington state within the next several months.

As I mentioned, I'm happy to provide either now or offline more detailed information about what those changes would be, but those changes, if they were to occur, in the state legislature would not be automatically adopted into our municipal code.

We would need to either make amendments to this legislation, this ordinance as it's moving, or adopt it as written and then make the decision to come back and re-amend city code if those changes occur to state law.

Thank you for that answer.

I agreed to fast track this legislation with alacrity because number one, the cutoff date was yesterday I believe for bills and then it will not be heard on the floor if it is until mid to late April and then it might or might not pass, et cetera.

So we had to proceed according to what we wanna do here in the city.

So that is why I did that.

And so if there aren't any other questions or comments, go ahead.

Council Member Moore.

May I just ask a question?

Sure.

So I understand that there are additional provisions here that are outside the state code and those are great.

What I'm wondering is whether potentially you could simply Reference that you're codifying the RCW and say adopted as amended, which would give you the ability.

It would automatically...

amend itself.

You wouldn't have to come back because you've already used the language.

We've talked about this in dealing with other legislation that my office is looking at, where you just outright reference and directly adopt the RCW and then say, as amended herein, which provides for it to continually be in sync with the state law.

That's a good question, Council Member Moore.

I don't know that that approach would be prudent here since, you know, we are adopting current state shield law under this proposed ordinance, but not mirroring it 100%.

There are sections that are changed to make relevant reference to, you know, city employees, for example, and merely adopting RCW wouldn't accomplish that same end.

If I may, I would just suggest that you look into that further because it is possible to adopt the state law and then provide provisions that are Seattle specific.

Yeah, that's certainly something that we will take a look at.

So you're additive to the state law.

Thank you.

Okay.

So I would like to, if I haven't already, move this bill and then discuss the amendment, if that's okay.

Okay, just a moment here.

Seeing no other questions.

Did you have a question down there?

Nope, okay.

All right, I move that the committee recommend passage of Council Bill 120950. Second.

Thank you.

All right, so this is now on the table and could, Tommaso, would you like to present the amendment?

I will just give an introduction after we got some advice from our internal council about whether or not the city has the ability or that we have the ability to quash subpoenas from other states.

And so that produced a conversation and it was, It was a question that was asked by another council member.

So that is the reason that, um, that, uh, this mem- this amendment is before us with the mayor's office, uh, concurrence, or basically you're considering it a friendly amendment.

So please go ahead and explain what it does.

Tommaso.

Uh, yes, council president amendment one to council bill one two zero nine five zero would have the effect of striking the subpoena quashing section of this ordinance.

In brief, this is another section of our ordinance that would mirror state law regarding the ability to file a motion to quash a subpoena.

Subpoena is a writ from a court compelling someone's participation and attendance in a court proceeding.

The issue that this amendment is designed to address is the question about what courts are properly considered to have the subject matter jurisdiction to address out-of-state subpoenas in order to effectuate a motion to quash a subpoena from another state, that court would need to, that Washington state court would need to have a jurisdiction that's determined under the Washington rules of procedure, civil rules of procedure.

So those rules are what guide practitioners in courts about the appropriate venue for motions to quash and other motions.

The ability to file a motion to quash is contained in the current RCW and the amendment would remove the motion to quash section from our city code, proposed city code, but retain the, of course, the Washington state law on that and insert recitals speaking to that utilization of the RCW in combination with the rules of procedure to determine the appropriate venue to file a motion to quash.

Thank you.

The way I understand it to myself is that the amendment incorporates city code language mirrored from state law to affirm the public policy of the city and create a civil claim for interference with protected health care services.

It would also incorporate state law on quashing certain subpoenas from courts outside the state, but it does not identify which court is competent to entertain a motion or quash or modify a subpoena.

Only a court of competent jurisdiction may hear a motion to quash or modify a subpoena, and the court that issued the subpoena will be a factor to consider when selecting which court in Washington should hear a motion to quash the subpoena.

And so the Washington Rules of Civil Procedure provide guidance on which court of competent jurisdiction may hear certain cases.

For that reason, the state law language about quashing or modifying subpoenas doesn't say which specific court to select and instead points back to those rules to figure that out.

and the same complexity exists for the city law.

If we adopt the state provision in city code, we create the risk that someone might think that the municipal court is the right court to move or quash or modify a subpoena, but it might not be.

And again, it depends on which court first issued the subpoena.

And so I'm bringing this forward to reduce the chance of unintended consequences, that is that someone might seek relief from the wrong court and could ultimately be harmed as a result of doing that by removing section 14.115.030 and instead creating recitals that direct someone who seeks to quash or modify a subpoena to refer to the rules of civil procedure to make sure that they seek relief from the correct court.

So that is the reasoning here.

And if anyone needs any other explanation or wants to ask any questions about why I'm bringing this forward or comments from the executive, you're welcome to make them now.

Okay, hearing no amendments on, I mean, no further comments on amendment one, will the clerk, I would now like to move amendment one and could I please get a second before we vote?

Second.

Okay, thank you very much.

Will the clerk please call the roll on amendment one?

Council member Rivera.

Aye.

Council member Solomon.

Aye.

Council member Kettle.

Aye.

Chair Nelson.

Aye.

Four in favor.

Thank you very much.

Okay, so the legislation now stands amended.

Are there any further questions or comments on the base legislation?

All right, checking screen.

Okay.

Seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the, oh, the motion carries an amendment when it's adopted.

Okay.

Going forward, if there are no further comments for the clerk, please call the roll on approval of Council Bill 120950. As amended.

Council Member Solomon.

Aye.

Council Member Kettle.

Aye.

Chair Nelson.

Aye.

Four in favor.

Thank you.

The motion carries in the committee recommendation that council adopt Council Bill 120950 as amended will be sent to the March 25th, 2025 city council meeting.

granted that other council members are able to have their questions or any further concerns addressed.

And I have to say that I am anticipating that we may have to work on the fly here because things are so chaotic and we have to always be prepared and flexible and ready to respond to policies that could change that could harm our vulnerable communities here.

So I really appreciate council members, your willingness to go forward with this and have a vote on an ordinance, which is very unusual in one committee.

However, we don't wanna leave any gaps of protection for the people of Seattle and for our city employees.

So thank you very much.

All right.

This concludes the agenda of the March 13th meeting of the Governance Accountability and Economic Development Committee.

And our next one is scheduled for Thursday, March 27th at 2.30 p.m.

Two o'clock, I believe, usually.

Two o'clock.

Any further business to anyone?

All right, seeing none.

It is 3.14 and this meeting is adjourned.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.