PHILADELPHIA — City Council will hold three hearings in July on different issues, including voting by mail and voter education, the disparate impact of COVID-19 on people with disabilities and minority residents, and the fiscal position of the city.
The first hearing will take place today, July 21st, as Council’s Legislative Oversight Committee examines issues arising from the voting by mail process during the June primary, and hears recommendations for procedures to improve voter education and processes for the November general election. The hearing will also examine potential funding and staffing needs of the City Commissioners Office. The hearing, chaired by Councilmember Curtis Jones, Jr. (4th District), will begin following the Mayor’s biweekly COVID19 briefing, scheduled for 1:00 pm.
The next hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, July 28, 2020 at 10:00 am, as the Joint Committees on People with Disabilities and Special Needs & Public Health and Human Services examine the racial and ableist disparities of COVID-19 infections in Philadelphia. Councilmember Derek Green (At Large) chairs the committee on persons with disabilities. Councilmember Cindy bass (8th District) chairs the public health committee.
The third hearing also takes place on July 28, as Council’s Committee on Fiscal Stability and Intergovernmental Cooperation convenes at 2:00 pm to discuss the city’s fiscal position and overarching social impact goals. This committee is chaired by Councilmember Allan Domb (At Large).
Each of the three hearings will take place remotely, due to the city’s ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that has claimed over 1,660 Philadelphians’ lives and infected more than 28,500 city residents.
The hearings can be viewed on Xfinity Channel 64, Fios Channel 40 or at https://www.phlcouncil.com/watch
Speakers interested in providing testimony for next week’s hearings can call 215-459-4980 for the COVID19 impact hearing or email [email protected] by 3 pm on Monday, July 27. Speakers wanting to give testimony on the fiscal position hearing should call 724-552-7379 or email [email protected], by 3:00 pm on July 27.
Potential speakers should submit their full name, a callback telephone number, and identify the resolution on which they seek to testify. The COVID impact resolution is 200310. The fiscal position resolution is 200406. Speakers will be contacted on July 28th and invited into the remote hearing to testify.
When Council concluded its final Meeting on June 25th following passage of the fiscal 2021 city budget, Council President Darrell L. Clarke (5th District) said he looked forward to Council reconvening over the summer on an array of issues facing the city. “Phase 2 of 2020 is coming, colleagues,” Clarke said that day. “We will be back.”
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