Last week the proposed 2016 work plan for Council member Gonzalez’s Gender Equity, Safe Communities and New Americans Committee was presented for review.
You can see the full presentation, with details, here. As the presentation notes, public safety spending makes up $600 million, more than half of the city’s annual $1.1 billion budget, so the committee has a significant oversight role. And particularly right now, with so much scrutiny of the Seattle Police Department, the committee’s responsibilities are of paramount importance.
Of course, the committee’s other areas of purview, gender equity issues and new Americans, are also critical. The issue of extending parental leave to 12 weeks (and expanding it to “family leave”) is due to come up again this year (probably in July when the first comprehensive report on the current 4-week leave program is published). And since 1 in 5 person living in Seattle are foreign-born, their issues in our community are due attention.