Board of Supervisors — 2022-01-11

Good morning. I'll call the order of the January 11th, 2022 meeting in the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors. Will the clerk please call the roll?

Supervisor Hart? I'll move to nominate Supervisor Hartman as chair.

And let's go ahead and take in one motion. I'll also take it for Vice Chair.

Okay, and as Vice Chair Supervisor Williams. Thank

you. Can I get a second? I'll second that. That's a second from Supervisor Labanino. Thank you. Madam Clerk will you please call the roll?

Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you. Before we go ahead and change seats, I just have a few remarks as outgoing chairman. You know what a difference a year makes when I was sworn into office and took was elected by my colleagues to service chair. We're in the height of the pandemic record cases shutdowns lockdowns panic And sure enough, a year later we're not far from that. Again all time highs colleges are online Zoom meetings are restarting but this is a very different time in a different place than we were a year ago while case rates are high hospitalization and deaths are moderate to low.

We now have a vaccine as available to everyone with a shred of risk and Omicron is not Delta or Alpha We know so much more about the virus, from prevention to therapeutics and treatments. A lot has changed. I look forward to this time a year from now when we have settled in and learned to live with COVID. First of all, I'd like to thank my colleagues for putting your trust in me this year as your chair.

No small role for a first-year supervisor. I'd be lying to say that I didn't enjoy the opportunity. It's been a great opportunity to learn and interact with the public, staff and you. It was an opportunity to get to know my colleagues in a different way. The chair is not the charismatic leader of the board but a facilitator, a manager, a captain. While the five of us may have radically different views on or approaches to a wide variety of issues that come before us together we are a team We embody and represent the 450,000 residents of our county.

We are their voice. In the height of the pandemic we as a team have done a lot. We've had some wins this year. We hired two capable and impressive women to lead two of our most important departments Miss Rachel Van Molen for County Council and Tony Navarro in behavioral illness Possibly our most important decision of this last year was extending the contract for another four years of our true leader, Mono Miyasato.

We also negotiated approved contracts with 99% of our non-public safety employees, Local 620, Local 721, engineer technicians, civil attorneys and district attorneys. These were modest contracts that gives us budget certainty and labor peace for the foreseeable future. We passed a balanced budget of over $1 billion. We maintained the county's important role as a social safety net, but grew our investment in infrastructure, recreational opportunities and deferred maintenance.

We opened our county's two largest capital projects in county history, the Tahecus Resource Recovery Project, as well as the Northern Branch Jail. As well as many other projects that we kicked off from fire dispatch to probation and public safety radios. And because of the investment of this board, as well as the foresight for others from others. For the first time in more than a decade, the county's PCI pavement condition index went up not only have we bent the curve, we've angled it upward.

Other things to celebrate. SB CSRS under the leadership of Greg Levin and our representatives, Supervisor Lavinino saw our percentage, our funded percentage go up significantly from 74.3 to 69.5 cutting our unfunded liabilities in half for $1.1 billion down to just a mere 470 million still quite a bit but we're on our way We've also tackled homelessness in a serious way The only special topic meeting that I called this chair was to address this issue.

And we got a chance for the first time to have a comprehensive approach to dealing with homelessness in our county. We've taken an opportunity to lean on state and federal funding, as well as renewed our focus on those that are unsheltered. But I'm not looking at this last year and these accomplishments with rose colored glasses But with an eye to the future, the challenges this county face.

Are rarely accidental? It's a job of the five of us to look to the future to anticipate plan and act to perfect the investment responsibility we have as leaders of this great County. As I move over a seat or two. To become just a regular supervisor, I will miss the role as your chair by look forward to the chance to work. Work on while never losing focus of serving the entire county. I look forward to serving and advocating for my hometown of Orchid, and the other unincorporated areas of Northern Santa Barbara County as well as serving this growing city of Santa Maria.

In closing one of my proudest accomplishments was never having to use this gavel. The other is that this board has not been a partisan board And as the world around us seems to get more and more divided, we've done for the most part a good job of staying united and focused on the goals of delivering local government to our constituents. I look forward to continuing that work.

It is not an accident that we do the things that we do. Thank you. So at this time, I'm going to go ahead and pass on the gavel Chairman-elect, or Chairman Hartman.

Congratulations.

Thank you so much Supervisor Nelson. You've had a wonderful year as chairman and it's been a very demanding year, and thank you to all my board colleagues. It's really a great honor to serve with you. A number of people have remarked on How well our board seems to get along, the collegiality. At so many levels of government we don't see this. We can't assume mutual regard and I think ours stems from many things. It's really a highly engaged community that demands the best of us.

It is a county organization, employees, unions, department heads and a fabulous CEO that always strive for better I believe it also relates to something called organizational culture, the shared values, expectations and practices that guide us. Every day we show up, engage and work with each other to make those values real. But how is it that we work with each other?

On the board, we owe a lot to Supervisor Lavinino's wit. To Supervisor Hart's optimism. To Supervisor Nelson's seek something for everyone solutions and Supervisor Williams' fearlessness. It also comes down just to the little courtesies that weave us all together. Take the gavel that Supervisor Nelson just gave to me Yes, it's a peaceful transition of power but that rests on an informal rule. The chair rotates in a certain specified order and that isn't written down anywhere.

And the gentleman here could well have voted differently today. And indeed in some local governments even in our county that happens. A majority can muscle it and that can create resentment and ill will Whether it be committee assignments, budget compromises or how we speak about each other in public. It's these little courtesies the sum of informal rules the things that anthropologists study that are really significant in creating a sense of camaraderie.

It doesn't mean that when our views differ we don't fight hard But we do fight fairly and honestly. And that has been especially important in these trying times of the trifecta, we have impacts first of the pandemic second of climate change with intensified fire flood and drought. And finally, the recognition of deep seated inequities that are aggravated by the first two.

These have tested our nation in ways we did not have the imagination for, and it has driven a wedge between people and eroded trust in government. Many of us feel like life as we knew it has slipped away and may never return, and that is really unmooring. It has shaken our assumptions about how we live in relation to one another, and people are questioning their place in the world and in their communities.

One bright spot is that Americans are increasingly turning to their local landscapes and local community for connection and activities. Pew Research shows that living in a place with a strong sense of community has gone up considerably in their polls, especially for urban and rural residents. That finding contributed to my desire to propose as the chair's initiative this year a cultural celebration calendar.

The richness of Santa Barbara County stems in large part from the different racial, ethnic and cultural groups that have settled here and contributed in myriad ways to the vibrant fabric of our community And to highlight some of these contributions, I'm asking my fellow board members to select a cultural group that they would like to honor as part of our 2022 Cultural Celebration.

I provided a calendar that the clerk's office kindly helped me put together that may suggest which month is most appropriate to reserve for recognizing and honoring a particular group. I hope each board member will select at least one, and you can do two or even more if you feel passionately. My staff will be following up to learn of your selections. Participation in this project can give us all a deeper appreciation of the cultural groups that have shaped our community.

Finally, I would like to close with verses from a poem that CEO Miyasato shared with me. A poem by Amanda Gorman for this new year. For me it captures the challenges of this moment. Morning we come to mend Withered we come to weather Torn we come to tend Battered we come to do better Tethered by this year of yearning, we are learning that though we weren't ready for this, we have been readied by it.

We steadily vow that no matter how we are weighed down, we must always pave a way forward. This hope is our door, our portal Even if we never get back to normal, someday we can venture beyond it. To leave the known and take the first steps so let us not return to what was normal but reach toward what is next. Thank you. And what is next for us today?

Madam Chair could I just

oh yes, yes. You don't have a light let me just explain to people that because of the rise in the Omicron variant we are social distancing here yet again Supervisor

Hart please thank you chair Hartman. I just want to thank both chair Hartmann and past chair Nelson for their remarks this morning because I think they're very very important there is something really unique That's going on with our board and the county government at this moment in history. And it's really valuable and important, and you both spoke really eloquently to it. And it is about the respect and the civility and the culture of active listening that as board members we are supporting every day. And I just wanted to say thank you for both of you doing your part all of you doing your part to maintain this The sense of collegiality, because our country is definitely struggling with this issue. This is the most important thing in our country at this moment in history and in our small way we can all contribute to making things better by just trying harder to be what we have been which is a family and we have our strong disagreements and our deeply held values, and our different perspectives in life and experiences.

But every time we come to the people's business and are here in this room, we really take care of each other and the community as a result. And I think that is something extraordinary and something worth highlighting. Thank you.

Supervisor Lavinino?

Thank you Madam Chair. Yeah, and I think this is a stark contrast to what you see. It's so...I think what highlights it so much is just so different than what everybody has seen when they turn on the news on the national level. You know, it hasn't always been this way on this board. And I for one am just happy to come here every Tuesday and you know look at these issues of not trying to figure out where You know, someone's going to try to sneak one past you or where someone's going to try to angle this or try to politically move this. But more looking at it as a whole of what's the best way to navigate through some difficult circumstances to do the best thing for majority of the people in our community? And so I do appreciate where we're going and I just want to let folks know too that on both sides of the aisle are down the middle of the isle or wherever you are It doesn't mean that someone's not fighting for you or someone's not holding fast to their values.

It's just the manner in which you do it. This is, you know, you go back and you watch—it was really interesting to me to watch. I just watched a special on Netflix about—it was The Hostages in Iran and it was the way You know, it showed some of the leaders at the time especially when the move was going from President Carter to President Reagan. And you saw Tip O'Neill there and just the camaraderie that they had just between like Tip O'Neill and President Reagan. Complete polar opposites with different views, different agendas but they worked together for the betterment of the country.

And I think maybe we can show a little bit of how that's done here. And who knows, maybe it'll spread outside of here. And what I definitely want to stop is any of that negativity coming from our federal level, the national level and even sometimes state level into this forum here. So really appreciate everybody's input today. And I have to say Bob you did a great job.

It was it wasn't easy and yeah There was a lot of things you could have done that would have really kind of, you could've screwed things up really well. And I just appreciate the fact that you didn't and you really moved, I think you really moved the needle even more of saying, you know what? We're gonna be inclusive and we're gonna talk about these things. And I might not agree with all of them but I think what you said is culture of active listening. I'd really like that. That hey, I wanna hear what the other side has to say. There's gotta be a good point somewhere I always tell folks this, and I'm sorry I'm rambling a little bit but this is something that's near and dear to me is that I wrote a speech one time for somebody. And it said at the time I put Republicans do not have a monopoly on good ideas.

And the person said, I can't say that. And they said what do you mean? What do you mean you can't say that? You can't believe that. They said no, I don't believe it but I can really say it because that's going to have my party come down on me. So you got to have the idea that we're all Americans. We're all working for the same thing You know, it's nice to come to work.

Thank you.

And it's nice to have your historic perspective Supervisor Williams.

I think and I'm glad that your comments have started at the personal and gone to the gone to the existential right because it's not just that working together in collegiality makes It's a whole lot more fun to come to work and a lot more productive from a county perspective, and makes our employees a lot happier. But it also is what binds us together as a society.

We are mortal creatures that live with such short window spans kid ourselves, we could deceive ourselves to think that our system of government has proved itself as enduring for this little blip on human history that we have existed. That is—we have not proven ourselves as enduring yet. It is the actions that we will take in this next generation that will prove whether that system is enduring or can fray apart.

And to see Santa Barbara County, which for most of my political life has been heavily partisan and I've been a warrior in those partisan fights To see us bind together when the society as a whole is fraying apart is so inspirational and so needed. And we need to figure out a way to spread that.

And keep it up. Okay, getting to work here.

So moved. Second.

And is there any further discussion? Could I have, let's see yes your light was on okay thank you and I think we can all those in favor say aye. Aye. No opposed clerk announcements Madam Clerk

Chair Hartman and members of the board, good morning. Thank you I just have a couple announcements this morning. I would like to note for the record we did post an addendum on Friday January 7th amending a few items on our agenda today beginning with administrative item number five. We received a request from the department to continue administrative item number five toward January 25 2022 meeting Administrative item number five is from the Community Services Department. It is to consider recommendations regarding conditional reservation of funding to the Housing Authority of the County of Santa Barbara, Housing Authority for 2021 Home Key Program application in Santa Maria and this is in the 5th District.

Additionally, we amended administrative item number 27 on the administrative agenda. This is from Public Works Department Board of Directors Laguna County Sanitation District and language was added before recommendation A to read acting as the board of directors Laguna County Sanitation District and the item is to consider recommendations regarding the abolition of improvement zone number one for vintage ranch track 14,556 And this is in the fourth district. Again, we added language immediately following the subject and before recommendation A to read acting as the board of directors for the Laguna County Sanitation District. And lastly on our addendum, we added administrative item number 33 to the agenda. This is from the Board of Supervisors sponsored by Supervisor Hart.

This is to consider recommendations regarding an approval of the Child Care Planning Council membership for 2021 through 2022. All three of those amendments to our agenda could be added to the balance of the administrative agenda Additionally, we have received a memo and change to administrative item number 21 Excuse me administrative item number 21 is from the Public Works Department. It is to consider recommendations regarding Hill Road low water crossing replacement Uh, bridge number 51C-0381 over the Quiama River Federal Project BRLO NBIL 512 County project number 862339. And this is in the first district and excuse me.

The change to this item is removing Recommendation E that did reauthorize the CEO to transfer up to $6 million from the general fund to the project fund for temporary cash flow through fiscal year 24-25 for project construction. So again, the recommendation was to remove or the change to the recommendations was to remove Recommendation E and that can also be added to the balance of the administrative agenda Additionally, I would like to remind the public of the Board of Supervisors meetings. They are being interpreted and broadcast live in Spanish. We are broadcasting our meetings in Spanish both for Cox Cable subscribers in South County as well as Comcast cable subscribers in North County. Members of the public can now view our meetings in Spanish by turning on the secondary audio programming also known as SAP or SAP under their language settings Lastly, I would like to remind the public who are participating in our meeting today of the board's updated methods of public participation.

For the Board of Supervisors' methods of public participation and to provide public comment on general public comment or an item on the board's agenda please see page 2 of our agenda. Members of the public can attend meetings in person and both the Santa Barbara Board hearing room chambers as well as the Santa Maria board hearing room chambers. Please note on December 3rd 2021, an additional county health officer order went into effect requiring indoor mask usage for everyone over the 2 years of age regardless of vaccination status if you attend the board meetings in person, you will be required to wear a face covering mask or face shield with drape at all times regardless of vaccination status Information regarding how to properly wear a mask has been posted throughout both locations.

If you do not have a mask that fits properly, we will provide you with one. Additionally for those unable to wear a mask for any reason, we can provide you with a face shield with drape. Lastly public health is encouraging social distancing due to the highly infectious Omicron variant and this pertains in both hearing room chambers Individuals that would like to provide verbal public comment virtually may do so via Zoom by registering in advance via the link available on page two.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing important information about joining the virtual meeting. Once the chair has announced the item you want to comment on please join the meeting with the information provided in the registration confirmation email. You will be placed on mute until it is your turn to speak. The clerk will call you by name When removed from mute, you will hear a notification that your line has been unmuted.

For those of you using a touchtone phone, you may need to press star six to unmute yourself again if you're using a touchtone phone, you may need to press star six to unmute yourself each person may address the board for up to three minutes and this is at the discretion of the chair. If you have any questions please contact the clerk of the board's office at area code 805-568-2240 And that concludes my announcements for today. Thank you.

Thank you, we'll go back to A5 in just a minute. Do any board members have an item that they would like to pull?

Madam Chair? Yes Supervisor. A4 I forgot to say that earlier too. A 4? Supervisor

Nielsen? Chairman,

A12? A 12?

A 13? A13?

Any others?

And Madam

Clerk, are there any items that the public would like to pull? Chair Hartman and members of the board. We have one request to speak on administrative item number 22.

OK, would you first then read A5 for the continuance into the record, Madam Clerk?

Yes, Chair Hartman and members of the board. Administrative item number five is brought to us from the Community Services Department. It is to consider recommendations regarding conditional reservation of funding to the housing authority of the County of Santa Barbara Housing Authority for 2021 Home Key Program application in Santa Maria and this is in the 5th District and we did receive a request from the department to continue this item toward January 25 2022 meeting.

And may I have a motion to continue to the 25th?

I'll make the motion. I just want to comment briefly is that this, the reason for the postponement was just so that I have the opportunity with staff which we're going to do tomorrow to sit down with the City of Santa Maria and hear some concerns that they have hopefully address those and have this back on the agenda on the 25th. So I'll make a motion to move it today.

And I'll go ahead and second the motion

and is there any public comment on this Madam Clerk?

Chair Hartman and members of the board we have no request to speak from the public on this item.

Okay, so all in favor of the continuance to January 25th please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Passes. Then turning to Item A4 Madam Clerk would you read that

into the record? Chair Hartman and members of the board. Administrative item number four is from the Community Services Department. It is to consider recommendations regarding conditional reservation of funding to the Housing Authority of the County of Santa Barbara for 2021 Home Key Program application in Goleta, and this is in the 2nd District. Please

Supervisor Hart?

Madam Chair, I just want to highlight this project. This is a really significant achievement. It's something that the Community Services Department has been working on for some time and it's really a tremendous success story. This is an opportunity to purchase the Super 8 Hotel in Goleta and use that facility to serve people who are experiencing homelessness and this is a very large hotel has 65 rooms and when it's remodeled and reconfigured into permanent supportive housing, We're going to be providing permanent supportive housing for 60 individuals in our community who are experiencing homelessness. And this is probably the single most significant investment we've made in this endeavor. It is going to be, we're reserving $3 million of our own money with the hope and aspiration to receive $16 million from the State of California through the Governor's Home Key Program which has been a challenge to implement.

properties in the county that meet the state criteria and this really does fit that grant program extraordinarily well. So I think our odds of success are very high, and it will be a really great demonstration project because we have already in previous board actions provided the funding necessary to provide the services to the folks that are going to be in this facility so this is the bricks-and-mortar side of the equation And there's a lot of good news to report in regards to the efforts that we're making to improve the lives of people who are experiencing homelessness and to prevent homelessness. This is a really significant milestone in that effort, and it's something to be celebrated, and I really want to appreciate the City of Goleta's very active partnership in this endeavor.

Right with us at every step of the way through a difficult acquisition process that took, you know more than a year to the point now where they're actually going to commit their own local funds to help support this effort too. Almost $600,000 that is dear and important additional funding to support this project so thank the City of Goleta, thank the Community Services Department, thank the CEO's office And general services and everybody that's been involved in a very complicated transaction that is getting closer and closer to the finish line.

Thank you, Supervisor Hart. This still is in your district but I gather I have the parking lot so I have a vested interest as well and the City of Goleta really has stepped up they're also foregoing TOT so we really appreciate their partnership in this. So we'll put this with the balance of the agenda A12 Madam Clerk would you read that

into the record? Chair Hartman and members of the board administrative item number 12 is from the county executive office. It is to consider recommendations regarding the circumstances of the existing state of emergency.

And Supervisor Nelson,

yeah thank you chair Hartman. You know the problem with calling your shot in advance last meeting I said I would not be voting for future actions such as this and so it was a little hard because we were in different spot than we were last month You know, my desire as much as I love Zoom. I've probably taken advantage of it more than anybody over the last year and I really hope that are the state amends the Brown Act in a way to allow zoom meetings more often but you know the comment that I made last month is that I think we need to start to begin figuring out how to live with COVID and that you Some of these recommendations coming from public health officers, but you know returning those power back to the representatives of the people to us.

And so I didn't know if I could still make the findings of the emergency, the state of emergency. And so I've really struggled with this one. I am going to go ahead and do a slow vote against it at this time. I do think Omicron is a much different virus and a different threat than what we faced in the past. I think it's time for us to start talking, maybe not with this item but maybe with the item at the end of the day on how we're going to move into the future with COVID. So I just request a roll call vote on this

one. Okay, Supervisor Williams?

Well, I just want to say that I think at this point the reason why we should pass it is more has to do with the dynamicness of the situation And our lack of knowledge about what will be true a month or two or three from now. I have mixed feelings about having remote meetings, you know, I think our public comment should be primarily for local issues and local people and the remote format makes it seem harder for local people and easier for people who aren't local to make public comment. So I have some heartburn about that format, but I don't think that the county is being overly cautious. We have remained in person the entire pandemic.

government agencies, not even the legislature that can say that. And we've done so because we wanted to be accessible for the public and so you know I could see discontinuing this if events go a certain way but I think today I'm prepared to support it because I just don't think at this point we know what's going to be happening a month or two from now

Any other comments? May I have a motion?

I'll move approval of A12.

Second?

Second.

Motion passes 4-1 And

A13 would you read that into the record madam clerk

Chair Hartman and members of the board. Administrative item number 13 is from the County Executive Office. It is to consider recommendations regarding South Coast Youth Safety Partnership sponsors and host agency memorandum of understanding MOU and contract for fiscal years 2020 through 2021 and 2021 through 2022. Supervisor Nelson?

This wasn't my item.

This was me.

Your

life was

on Supervisor Lovenino.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So this is just kind of tangentially attached to this so This is for the South County. We did try this in the North County and unfortunately, our efforts weren't what I was looking for. We've now seen another spike in youth gang violence including numerous shootings involving teenagers in Santa Maria Valley. In fact, I believe there was another one last night.

I'm working with some very dedicated community members to search for solutions and answers And there is an organization that's kind of a ground up response. I want to support their efforts and so I'm just looking for, I just want to alert staff that I'll be asking for you know a match of this sort for also the North County. I think our funds previously went back to the general fund but we can research that but there is a need and we've just got to figure out the proper vehicle to be able to do the best job to address that.

And I think CEO Miyasato wants to say something, but I would like to echo. Thank you so much for saying that. I think my new city of Lompoc is facing the same issue and I feel the same. CEO Miyasato.

Chair Hartman and Supervisor Labanino thank you for bringing that up. We did quickly look at this. And again, so just history for some of the board members. In fiscal year 16-17 that Supervisor Lavinino is urging the board appropriated $75,000 to assist in some sort of North County effort. I know that Supervisor Nelson as Chief of Staff for the 4th District served on that task force and most of our criminal justice partner agencies including your department had sat on that task force.

We did spend $20,000 on the California City's Violence Prevention Network and I think that was an organization who is helping organize that. So there is $55,000 left that we have continued to set aside. And so if Supervisor Labanino comes forward with an organization or a method to spend that, we can reappropriate that for this year. So the money is available at least for you

So I will, I'll join with you Supervisor Hartman and Supervisor Nelson. I think together we need to tackle this. This is all throughout all of our districts so um yeah I think maybe uh three heads are better than one and uh we can come up with something that works for all of us.

Uh respecting the Brown Act yes okay so that doesn't need a separate vote uh so we can go on to A22 Madam Clerk

Chair Hartman and members of the board. Administrative item number 22 is a set hearing brought to you from the County Executive Office and the Public Works Department. This is to set a hearing to consider recommendations regarding the development of a countywide community workforce agreement, CWA ordinance and project template again this is a set hearing for February 1st 2022 Which is when the board will hear this item and we have one request to speak on this item from the public And that is Joshua Medrano.

Okay, and I'm looking at County Council at this point This is coming for discussion its agendized for discussion the substantive issue February 1st So today any remarks have to be about the set hearing? Is that correct?

Madam Chair, yes you have discretion to limit it to the action taken today which is just limited to the set hearing of the item.

Okay. All righty and we will now go to Joshua Medrano on Zoom. And Joshua, if you can unmute your microphone on your end and provide your comments. We've unmuted you on our end, Joshua. Joshua, if you can hear me, if you can unmute yourself on your end, you are muted. Chair Hartman and members of the board perhaps we can trail that item?

Yeah or take it in public

comment. Correct thank you

so I think that concludes all the pulled items on our administrative agenda so I'll now take a motion to approve the balance of the agenda and that includes the changes to A27, the addition of A33 and the changes to A21 is that correct? So may I have a motion?

So moved. Second.

And all in favor, please say aye. Aye. Okay motion passes. Madam Clerk administrative item number 31 please would you read that into the record?

Chair Hartman and members of the board, Administrative Item number 31 is sponsored by Supervisor Hart. It is to adopt a resolution proclaiming January 2022 as Human Trafficking Awareness Month in Santa Barbara County. And joining us this morning in person is Landon Rank. And if you can join us at the podium I'll go ahead and read the resolution into the record.

Whereas human trafficking is a form of modern slavery that occurs in every state including California, wherein victims are forced to work in various forms of labor exploitation including but not limited to commercial sex acts and other services that are induced through force fraud or coercion. And whereas due to its isolated and discreet nature, many individuals across the globe are unaware that trafficking exists in their communities. And it is estimated that more than 40.3 million people around the world are victims of human trafficking. And whereas human trafficking victims face a cruelty that has no place in a civilized world It is a crime that can take many forms and one that tears at our social fabric, debases our common humanity and violates what we stand for as a country.

And whereas increased education about how to identify human trafficking along with increased knowledge of in-state resources and services for those affected by criminal exploitation can help decrease the number of future victims. And whereas the Santa Barbara County Human Trafficking Task Force is committed to using all applicable laws and resources for investigating human trafficking and prosecuting those engaged in it.