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From YouTube: Floor Debate on Bill No. 220051A 3-3-2022
Description
Councilmembers debate Bill No. 220051A before a final vote.
From the Stated Meeting of Philadelphia City Council held Thursday, March 3, 2022:
Amending Section 9-4116 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "2021 Public Health Emergency Leave," to establish additional leave time under certain circumstance, modify existing provisions concerning the paid sick leave, and make technical changes, all under certain terms and conditions.
Read the legislation: https://phila.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5396412&GUID=88F0EF12-0938-4AF0-8DFA-C6CB92173D38&Options=ID|Text|&Search=220051-A
C
Greene,
thank
you.
Council
president.
First
I'd
like
to
thank
the
sponsor
councilmember
brooks
who
joined
me
and
councilmember
dom
on
on
tuesday.
I
believe
where
we're
with
the
sba
administrator,
isabella
guzman
as
well
as
mark
morial
and
andre
custer,
spoke
from
the
urban
league,
and
we
learned
some
interesting
data
and
reference
to
small
businesses.
The
fact
that
40
percent
of
small
businesses,
especially.
B
C
All
right,
thank
you,
councilman,
and
so
we
learned
that
a
number
of
businesses
that
I
was
saying
40
across
the
nation
and
41
here
in
the
city
of
philadelphia,
afro-american
businesses
lost,
were
lost
during
the
pandemic
and
it's
based
in
that
context
wanted
to
follow
up
on
my
point.
From
last
week,
where
councilmember
brooke
stated
in
this
body,
she
would
meet
with
small
business
owners
and
also
provide
data
in
reference
to
how
she
came
up
with
25
employee
threshold.
C
D
D
According
to
our
own
commerce
department
data,
which
was
pulled
from
the
u.s
bureau
census,
2019
county
business
pattern
report,
approximately
85
of
philadelphia's
businesses
have
25
fewer
25
employees,
fewer
than
25
employees
and
are
exempt
from
the
copit19
leave
legislation
and
additionally,
the
average
business
size.
City-Wide
is
22
employees
and
would
be
excluded
under
this
amended
definition,
and
if
we
were
to
increase
the
thresholds
to
businesses
with
50
or
more
employees.
A
mere
six
percent
of
philadelphia
businesses
would
be
covered
by
this
legislation
and
then
back
on
the
data
around
black
and
owned
businesses.
D
I
evaluated
the
data
that
was
available
and,
on
average,
black
and
bound
businesses
owned.
Businesses
in
the
city
would
be
excluded
from
this
legislation.
Based
on
the
current
25
or
more
employee
threshold
in
philadelphia,
black-owned
businesses
employed
10.3
employees
on
average
asian-owned
businesses
employ
5.1
employees,
hispanic-owned
businesses
employ
7.6
employees,
and
this
information
came
from
the
2017
bureau
of
labor
statistics.
Data
presented
to
the
committee
on
commerce
and
economic
development
on
october
6
of
2020
by
center
city
district
and
based
on
that
data.
D
The
average
black
and
brown
owned
businesses
would
be
excluded
under
the
original
bill.
But
I
am
willing
to
amend
the
bill
further
out
of
the
abundance
of
caution
to
encompass
more
smaller
black
and
owned
businesses,
and
for
weeks
now,
I've
been
hearing
from
businesses
about
their
concerns
and
my
team
and
I
have
consulted
with
business
owners,
the
diverse
chambers
and
available
data,
and
I'm
confident
that
this
bill,
as
amended,
will
not
inverse
adversely
impact
philadelphia
businesses.
D
C
642
are
in
hospitality
and
food
services.
520
are
in
health
care
and
social
areas,
as
well
as
418
in
retail
trade.
I
guess
my
question
is:
did
this
information
go
to
all
council
members,
especially
district
council
members,
who
have
a
lot
of
small
businesses
on
their
commercial
partners,
because
that
was
one
of
the
things
that
was
stated
last
week
you
were
provided
data,
regardless
information.
D
D
Yes,
I
did.
Thank
you,
council
president.
You
know
I
want
to
thank
my
colleagues
and
the
many
workers
and
labor
leaders
and
business
owners,
the
diverse
chamber
of
commerce
for
their
feedback
and
collaboration
on
this
bill.
I'm
confident
that
this
bill,
in
its
current
form,
represents
the
best
interest
of
workers
and
business
owners
alike
and
will
allow
our
city
to
move
forward
into
the
next
phase
of
living
safely
in
this
pandemic
together,
and
I
want
to
acknowledge
that
the
pandemic
is
unpredictable.
D
Two
previous
iterations
of
this
bill
provided
critical
protections
for
workers.
However,
each
of
them
lasts,
leaving
workers
vulnerable
to
the
spikes
of
the
highly
contagious
delta
and
omicron
variants,
with
the
city
dropping
the
vaccine
and
mass
mandates.
The
onus
on
us
is
on
us
now
to
protect
our
workers.
D
Their
families
and
the
public
from
the
spread
of
cope
at
19.
reestablishing
adequate
paid
sick
leave
is
a
key
strategy
to
giving
workers
the
confidence
they
need
to
continue
to
come
to
work
every
day
and
is
critical
in
giving
the
public
a
peace
of
mind
that
sick
workers
aren't
coming
in
because
they
can't
afford
to
stay
home.
And
again,
I
want
to
thank
the
many
people
who
provided
their
input
on
this
bill,
and
I
want
to
thank
my
counsel,
colleagues
for
co-sponsoring
this
legislation:
council
members,
parker,
squilla
bass,
gaurtier,
gilmore,
richardson,
kim
and
thomas.
E
Thank
you,
council
president,
and
I
want
to
explain
my
vote
on
this
bill,
and
you
know
yesterday
the
city
of
philadelphia,
linked
its
mass
mandate
lifted
its
mass
mandate,
which
really
signals
the
pandemic
has
subsided
and
conditions
have
improved
dramatically.
So,
with
regards
to
bill
number
2205,
a
the
public
health
emergency
bill,
I
want
to
express
my
sincere
gratitude
to
you,
council,
member
kendrick,
brooks
for
the
spirit
of
this
legislation
and
its
positive
impact
during
the
hardest
moments
of
this
pandemic.
E
We
apply
this
legislation
to
employers
with
greater
than
50
employees
and
allow
it
to
sunset
the
end
of
this
year.
Should
we
see
spikes
in
our
coveted
cases
or
new
variants
come
this
fall.
I'm
sure
this
legislative
body
is
willing
to
reassess
the
situation
then,
and
speaking
with
our
local
small
businesses
and
non-profits,
who
employ
so
many
of
our
local
residents
and
speaking
with
the
diverse
chambers
coalition
made
up
of
all
our
minority
chambers
of
commerce.
They
all
have
concerns
and
oppose
this
bill.
E
Philadelphia
is
on
the
brink
of
recovery,
the
brink
and
this
legislation
will
be
yet
another
reason
why
employers
will
choose
to
either
leave
the
city
or
locate
elsewhere.
I've
said
it
many
times
in
this
body.
Philadelphia
does
not
exist
on
an
island
and
the
more
we
head
in
that
direction.
The
more
our
local
economy
will
suffer,
and
our
residents
in
the
long
run,
will
suffer
from
a
lack
of
opportunity.
For
all
these
reasons,
council
president
I'll
be
voting
no
on
this
bill.
Thank
you.
F
Thank
you
very
much.
Council
president.
I
have
heard
from
the
four
diverse
chamber
of
commerce.
Today
one
spoke
on
their
behalf.
I
have
received
the
letters
I
suppose
other
council
members
have,
but
the
other
chambers
of
commerce
are
very
clear
that
they
oppose
this
bill
any
less
than
50
and
anything
in
terms
of
timing
that
is
not
corresponding
to
the
state's
determination
and
certainly
not
more
than
a
year.
F
This
city
lost
two
thousand
eight
hundred
jobs,
and
it
appears
that
between
eleven
thousand
and
nineteen
thousand
jobs
will
not
come
back,
because
these
are
remote
workers
they're
not
coming
back
to
this
city.
This
is
from
the
pew
report
that
has
been
referenced
by
this
by
this
body
on
a
number
of
occasions.
F
That
has
been
on
decline
in
this
city
since
the
1960s
there
are
less
and
less
independently
owned,
particularly
african-american
businesses
in
this
city
and-
and
I
I
I
believe
that
the
voice
of
those
representatives
of
the
small
business
community
is
very
important
when
I'm
in
doubt
about
things
I
consider
who
testified
for
the
bill
and
who
testified
against
the
bill,
and
sometimes
no
one
testifies
against
the
bill
that
I
actually,
quite
frankly,
I'm
not
clear
that
I
would
support,
but
no
one
testified
against
it.
This
is
a
different
matter.
F
C
Thank
you.
I
guess
my
last
point
of
information
for
councilmember
brooks
is
that
in
your
meeting,
which
I
think
about
7
47
small
businesses
that
met
with
you
this
week
and
based
on
the
data
that
you
provided
to
to
myself
and
some
council
members
about
20
800
establishments
will
be
impacted
by
this
legislation,
and
I
just
want
to
get
understanding.
Is
that
your
thoughts
is
that
by
meeting
with
that
group
this
week,
that's
an
adequate
outreach
to
businesses
that
will
be
impacted
by
this
legislation.
D
D
My
staff
took
detailed
notes
and
information
around
the
data
that
we
received,
both
in
the
chat
and
in
the
conversation,
and
we
also
followed
up
individually
with
each
business
owner.
That
was
on
that
call
based
on
the
data
that
I
received
and
the
questions
that
I
asked
in
relation
to
this
bill,
I
still
felt
it
was
important
for
me
to
move
forward,
as
is
as
amended
today
on
this
bill.
G
Thank
you.
Mr
president,
I
just
had
a
quick
question.
My
question
was
to
the
sponsor
thank
you
for
for
all
your
work
on
this,
and
I
know
you've
really
been
out
here
working
hard
on
it,
but
but
I
do
have
a
concern
that
just
came
up
does:
does
every
member
of
council
have
the
same
information,
the
same,
updated
information
about
this
bill.
G
H
H
H
We
this
week,
mr
president,
instituted
a
two
thousand
dollar
assessment
on
businesses
so
that
they
could
continue
outdoor
eateries,
two
thousand
dollars
on
top
of,
and
one
of
my
businesses
said
to
me.
Well,
you
know
it's
like
we
went
through
the
plague.
We
went
through
flooding
up
with
the
hurricanes,
and
here
you
go
again
and
I
look
them
in
the
face
and
it's
hard
sometimes
to
say
that
we
we
don't
come
off
as
anti-small
business.
I
I
wanted
to
thank
the
bill
sponsor
for
her
hard
work,
not
only
on
this
version
of
the
bill,
but
on
staying
on
this
issue
throughout
the
pandemic,
which
you
know
is
now
going
into
the
third
year
and
making
sure
that
workers
are
protected,
and
you
know
I
want
to
echo
council
member
jones's
point.
He
was
the
first
person
in
this
conversation
that
I
heard
make
the
point
that
there
are
two
sides
to
this
right.
I
I
I
understand
this
pla
their
place
in
this
conversation,
but
the
people,
many
of
them
who
are
also
black
and
brown
matter-
and
I
would
challenge
you
know,
can
council
member,
brooks
says
she's
been
challenged
a
lot
during
this
discussion
on
the
importance
of
her
meeting
with
the
chamber
and
the
businesses,
and
I
would
just
ask
anyone
who's
voting
no
to
consider.
Is
it
also
important
to
meet
with
workers?
Is
it
also
important
to
have
conversations
with
people
who
are
directly
impacted?
C
C
I
have
voted
for
every
paid
sick
leave
bill
that
has
come
up
in
this
body,
even
though
that
was
concerned
to
some
in
the
business
community.
My
concern
is
this
bill
at
this
level,
when
the
the
african-american
chamber,
hispanic
chamber
and
the
asian
chamber
step
up
and
say
their
members
just
saying
it's
impacting
them,
and
I
know
that
they
are
business
owners,
but
also
they
have
relationships
with
their
employees
they're
concerned
not
only
about
the
future,
their
business
they're
also
concerned
about
their
employees
and
having
a
business
to
employ
them.
C
F
F
F
F
F
F
I
do
think
that
this
is
a
bad
time
to
do
it,
for
the
reasons
that
I
stated
in
terms
of
the
numbers
and-
and
I
think
that
is
a
balancing
act,
and
and
so
that
that
issue
of
the
workers
is
very
important,
and
I
want
to
ensure
that
they
have
jobs
and
they
may
one
day
themselves
start
their
own
business.
After
having
that
experience,
thank
you.
G
Our
dialogue
is
certainly
willing
to
do
that.
So
I
just
really
wanted
to
thank
her
for
being
open
and
you
know
willing
to
to
compromise.
You
know
I
really
do
like
to
always
give
all
of
my
colleagues
the
benefit
of
the
doubt
that
we
can
always
try
to
work
something
out.
One
of
the
problems
I
think
with
government
is
when
we
see
something
is
not
working
or
it's
not
working
as
intended,
and
we
don't
address
it.
We
don't
step
in.
B
J
J
You
know,
and
I
appreciate
that
she
highlighted
that
the
the
bill
sponsor
is
willing
to
entertain
that
you
know
I
strongly
advocated
to
the
bill
sponsor
to
go
to
25
understanding
the
reality
of
you
know:
immigrant
businesses
and
some
of
the
commercial
partners,
and
also
understanding
that
you're
not
going
to
cover
everyone,
and
you
know,
would
the
bill
be
better
at
50,
probably
for
some
for
many
folks,
especially
the
2800
businesses.
Would
it
be
better
at
2022?
J
J
You
know
whether
it's
the
streetery
debate
that
we'll
have
and
and
some
others
that
that
we
weigh
both
both
of
those
options
and
try
to
make
the
best
decision
with
the
information
we
have
when
we
make
those
decisions.
So
thank
you.
Everyone
again,
as
someone
who
you
know,
has
been
in
constant
communication
with
the
bill
sponsor
and
some
of
my
colleagues
I'll
be
voting
yes
for
this
bill
and,
and
hopefully
we'll
continue
to
do
the
advocacy,
particularly
with
the
ethnic
chambers
of
commerce
who
we
work
with
every
day.
Thank
you.
E
E
They
got
crushed
restaurants,
hotels,
and
I
can
tell
you
that
I'm
aware
of
three
restaurants
in
the
city
right
now,
one
has
one
location:
one
has
four
locations:
another
one
has
three
all
seeking
loans
from
200
000
to
a
million
dollars
to
keep
their
businesses
going.
I'm
just
going
to
say
that
this
is
just
a
tough
time
for
hospitality.
It's
a
shame.
We
can't
separate
it
on
the
hospitality
side,
they've
been
crushed
by
this
pandemic.
F
F
The
law
that
is
passed
today
is
what
causes
people
to
make
decisions
about
tomorrow,
and-
and
that
is
the
issue
that
we're
facing
right
now,
but
you
know
I
appreciate
the
discussion.
I
think
everybody
has
their
reasons
and
you
know
we're
going
to
take
a
vote
as
is
set
off
and
that's
democracy
in
action.
Thank
you.