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Committee continues proposed family relief fund for undocumented and extremely low‑income families after amendments
Summary
Supervisors debated and approved technical amendments to three ordinances that would establish a COVID‑19 family relief fund and appropriate $10 million; the committee accepted BLA recommendations and continued the items for further coordination with the mayor’s office and OEWD while acknowledging a mayoral $6 million commitment.
The Budget and Finance Committee on April 8 considered three ordinances to establish a COVID‑19 family relief fund and to appropriate $10,000,000 from the general reserve to support undocumented and extremely low‑income families with children.
Supervisor Walton introduced the measures, said the mayor had committed $6,000,000 toward the proposed $10,000,000 fund and asked the committee to continue the items while staff finalized details and non‑substantive amendments. Sevin Campbell from the Budget Legislative Analyst recommended two technical changes: clarify the appropriation account so the controller may move monies into the new fund once established and require quarterly written reports from the Human Rights Commission on disbursements, because the proposed fund would be a category 8 fund disbursed without separate board appropriation.
Supervisor Ronan said she had been working on a parallel proposal with immigrant‑rights groups and had expected OEWD to return with a distribution proposal; she asked OEWD Director Joaquin Torres to consult directly with her office. President (identified in the transcript as President) Yi and other supervisors expressed support for providing relief to families who are excluded from federal and state benefits.
Supervisor Walton placed several amendments on the record changing the word “emergency” to “disaster” throughout the ordinances, adding a citation to the federal stimulus law (P.L. 116‑136) where appropriate, and clarifying operative dates. The committee approved the BLA recommended amendments and Walton’s technical amendments on roll calls, then voted to continue all three items to the next Budget and Finance Committee meeting to allow further coordination between supervisors and the mayor’s office.
The chair noted concerns about drawing $10,000,000 from the general reserve given projected budget shortfalls and said staff are working to identify alternative funding sources. The committee’s action preserves the measures for further refinement while establishing reporting and oversight recommended by the BLA.
