Committee on Commerce , Economic Development, October 15, 2025

COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wednesday, October 15, 2025 2:28 p.m. PRESENT: COUNCILMAN MARK SQUILLA, CHAIR COUNCILMAN MICHAEL DRISCOLL COUNCILWOMAN JAMIE GAUTHIER COUNCILWOMAN KATHERINE GILMORE RICHARDSON COUNCILMAN JEFFREY YOUNG, JR. ALSO PRESENT: COUNCILWOMAN NINA AHMAD

250646, 250654 - - -

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to our hearing, the Committee of Commerce and Economic Development today, Wednesday, October 15th. I note that the hour has come and the Committee is present. To my left Councilmember Driscoll, Councilmember Gauthier, Councilmember Jones. To my right, Councilmember Gilmore Richardson and I am also present -- oh, I'm sorry. Councilmember Young. Councilmember Jones is not present. It's a public hearing of the Committee on Commerce and Economic Development regarding Bill 19 Nos. 250646 and 250654. Mr. McMonagle, would you please read the titles of the bills.

Bill No. 24 250646, an ordinance amending Title of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Regulation of Businesses, Trades and Professions" by adding a new chapter, entitled "Minimum Training for Security Officers." And Bill No. 250654, an ordinance amending Chapter 17-1600 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Economic Opportunity Plans" to add two additional business community members to the Economic Opportunity Review Committee, all under certain terms and conditions.

Thank you for the record. I also want to note that Councilmember Ahmad is present. And we'll call the first panel for Bill No. 19 250654. Please call the names. And before we have testimony, I'd like to recognize Councilmember Ahmad on this bill.

Thank you, Chair Squilla and members of the Committee. The Economic Opportunity Review Committee was created in 2012 under Chapter 17-1600 to review the implementation and enforcement of economic opportunity plans and to recommend remedies, including potential debarment when contractors fail to comply. This bill strengthens the committee's ability to do its job by ensuring a broader mix of community labor and small business voices at the table, and by aligning the committee's composition with today's labor and business landscape. Practically, the ordinance expands the membership from five to seven members. Clarified that six of the seven seats are representatives of labor and business communities, with no more than four from the business community, and increases the business community representation from two to four seats. These changes sharpen oversight by bringing more relevant expertise without changing the underlying safeguards that protect equity. The companion resolution 9 names the partners who ensures that diversity is real, not rhetorical: the Office of Economic Opportunity, the African American Chamber of Commerce, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, AFSCME District Council 33 and 47, the Asian American Chamber of Commerce and the Independence Business Alliance representing the LGBTQ business community. Their participation broadens the lens through which we assess compliance and opportunity, reflecting small businesses, labor, Black and Hispanic entrepreneurs, Asian American business owners and LGBTQ-owned firms. Expanding representation expands fairness. It improves problem-solving, strengthens accountability and helps the EORC identify and close persistent gaps and access to contracts and public financial assistance without loosening a single standard. Public dollars should be used to expand opportunity, not concentrated. This modernization ensures the committee has the depth, perspective and lived experience to carry out its mandate credibly and transparently so equity in contracting is a measurable outcome for all Philadelphians. I respectfully ask for your favorable consideration. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Mr. McMonagle, can you please call the panel for this bill.

Yes. Can we please have Lynn Newsome, Khine Zaw Arthur and Maggie Morrin. (Witnesses approached witness table.)

In the order called, please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.

Lynn Newsome. Good afternoon, Chairperson Squilla and members of the Committee. My name is Lynn Newsome and I am the Deputy Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity and Chair of the Economic Opportunity Review Committee, better known as the EORC. I appreciate the opportunity to provide testimony in strong support of Bill No. 250654, which seeks to expand the EORC and create designated seats for the Asian American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Philadelphia and the Independence Business Alliance. This bill will expand the Economic Opportunity Review Committee from five to seven members and increase business community seats from two to four, further diversifying our committee's composition. I welcome this initiative wholeheartedly. It represents a timely and necessary step towards ensuring our committee reflects the full breadth of Philadelphia's business community and labor sectors. Our charge to review equal opportunity plans and promote inclusive practices across city contracting is strengthened when our membership mirrors the diversity of the city we serve. The inclusion of Asian and LGBTQ+ representatives to serve along with the African American Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Philadelphia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and District 33 and 47 will be essential to ensuring our deliberations are equitable, informed and responsive to the realities of Philadelphia's economic landscape. Expanding the committee's composition will enhance transparency, foster collaboration and ensure that our recommendations are grounded in the lived experiences of business owners and workers across the city. In addition, this bill sends a clear message that economic opportunity must be shaped by all who contribute to it. Therefore, I urge Council to adopt this bill and to help us build a committee that is truly reflective of the city we represent. Together we can advance a more inclusive, accountable and forward-looking approach to economic development. That concludes my testimony. I'm happy to answer any questions the Committee may have.

Thank you. Please proceed. State your name.

Good afternoon, honorable members of the City Council. My name is Khine Arthur, President, CEO of the Asian American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Philadelphia. I want to begin by sincerely thanking Councilmember Dr. Nina Ahmad for her visionary leadership in proposing this ordinance to expand the Economic Opportunity Review Committee by including the Asian American Chamber of Commerce in the EORC. This legislation takes a meaningful step toward ensuring Philadelphia's diverse business community is equitably represented in shaping economic opportunity at the Asian American Chamber. We are deeply committed to supporting small business owners across Philadelphia's vibrant and diverse communities. Our members, many of whom are Asian American entrepreneurs, operate in neighborhoods from Chinatown to South Philadelphia to Northeast Philly, contributing to the city's economic and cultural fabric. We provide critical resources, mentorship, access to capital and advocacy to help these businesses thrive in a competitive landscape. By fostering growth for small businesses, we create jobs, strengthen local economies and build pathways to prosperity for families across our city. The inclusion of the Asian American Chamber in the EORC is a pivotal moment. It ensures that the voices of Asian American business owners, alongside other diverse communities, are heard in shaping economic opportunity plans. This representation is vital to addressing the unique challenges faced by minority-owned businesses, from navigating city contracts to accessing financial assistance. A more diverse EORC will strengthen oversight, promote fairness and ensure that economic opportunities reach all corners of Philadelphia's business community. Councilmember Ahmad's proposal to expand the committee from five to seven members, with increased representation from business community, reflects a commitment to equity and inclusion by appointing the Asian American Chamber alongside other vital organizations in the city. This ordinance ensures that EORC mirrors the diversity of our city, fostering policies that uplift every entrepreneur regardless of the background. Thank you, Councilmember Ahmad, for championing this inclusive vision. We are honored to contribute to the EORC's mission and look forward to working together to build a stronger, more equitable Philadelphia for all small business owners. On behalf of thousands of Asian American business owners that we represent in Philadelphia, I urge the City Council to support this ordinance and resolution. Thank you.

Good mor -- good afternoon, Philadelphia City Council Committee on Commerce and Economic Development, including Committee Chair Squilla and Committee members and Councilmember Ahmad for about whose bill we are testifying today. My name is Maggie Morrin. I use she/her pronouns and I'm the Operations Coordinator for the IBA. Thank you for having me here today to testify on behalf of the Independence Business Alliance Greater Philadelphia's LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce. I'm here on behalf of our Board and staff, including our CEO Zach Wilcha, who could not be here today but sends his regrets and gratitude. The IBA serves LGBTQ+ and allied business professionals across 350 member businesses and our community members who we believe represent a relatively high population compared to similarly- situated cities. I'm here today speaking on behalf of Philadelphia's LGBTQ+ business community, which is comprised of all races and ethnic backgrounds, sexual orientations, gender expressions and varied in industry as well as parts of the efforts of the Diverse Chambers Coalition of Philadelphia. The IBA provides connections, opportunities and resources to LGBTQ+ business professionals and allies in the Greater Philadelphia tri-state area. In collaboration with our members and partners, we expand economic opportunities, advocate for diverse spaces and promote inclusive leadership. We aspire to foster an environment of equitable access to economic empowerment for local vibrant LGBTQ+ communities and those who support equality. Our work has led to innovative local collaboration and national attention as a model. We testify today in honor of and with gratitude for an ordinance on Bill 9 250654, which would expand the Economic Opportunity Review Committee to include two additional business community voices represented by the Asian American Chamber of Commerce and the Independence Business Alliance. The expansion of the committee to include our voices would be consistent with the posture taken by other Philadelphia City entities which focus on economic development and inclusive growth, such as the Philadelphia Tax Reform Commission and Mayor Parker's Roundtable Business Roundtable. We believe that when our communities are given seats at the table, work to represent all Philadelphians becomes possible. As you may know, in October of 2021 we formally came together with our local African American, Asian American and Hispanic Chambers of Commerce to develop and launch the Diverse Chambers Coalition. The purpose of this first of its kind local partnership is to work collectively as a community to meet the unique challenges diverse business enterprises face when they engage with our local economy. With the goal of economic uplift for and within diverse business community, we speak with the united voice on issues where we unanimously align. Our aim is to do the good things for businesses and the best thing for our people, which we believe are not mutually exclusive. Its existence has become a guide star in terms of the advocacy work we do as an autonomous chamber and collective partner. The LGBTQ+ community in and itself is an essential part of the business economy in the city. LGBTQ+ businesses in Philadelphia are more than just enterprises. They are driving forces for culture, identity and progress. 2% of the Greater Philadelphia region. Philadelphia is home to the nation's only gay neighborhood that is actually called the Gayborhood, a recognized and celebrated area with several LGBTQ+-owned or allied bars, cafes, boutiques and bookstores, and our businesses are represented in every neighborhood of the city and across any kind of industry you can imagine. The inclusion of the IBA ensures a more inclusive and equitable Philadelphia where LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs and residents can thrive authentically.

The City of Philadelphia has historically done an incredible job including the experiences, challenges and perspectives of LGBTQ+ individuals in the city's economic and social policies to ensure all communities are fairly represented in Philadelphia's economic development. We would be honored to participate in the Economic Opportunity Review Committee as a meaningful voice should City Council determine our inclusion appropriate. In thanking you for your time today, we remain grateful for the consideration of the Committee on Commerce and Economic Development and City Council generally, and are deeply appreciative of Councilmember Ahmad's efforts to ensure that the voices of more Philadelphians are heard in the inclusive growth of our city's economy. We look forward to continuing to work with you to forge solutions for the success of the city we all love to call home. Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony. Any questions? (No response.)

Seeing none, anyone else here to testify on Bill No. 250654? (No response.)

Seeing none, thank you very much. Mr. McMonagle, can you please call the panel for the next bill 250 --

Bill No. 9 250646 can we please have Camille Duchaussee.

I'd like to recognize also for the record Council President Kenyatta Johnson's present for the hearing. And before we proceed with testimony for the next bill, I'd like to recognize Councilmember Thomas.

Good afternoon, Mr. Chair. I know it's been a long day, so thank you for giving me a couple minutes. I know that we're very limited on time. And so, I'm going to be very brief in my remarks. First and foremost, I do want to apologize to the members of the Committee. As I stated before, this is a bill that we are still in the process of baking. And so my ask today is that the members of the Committee pass the bill out of the committee today, given my word that there are still some things and amendments that we're working on. So where we are today is -- and I really wanted to talk about the purpose of the bill and why we're here but I understand we're limited on time, so I'm going to skip that part and just speak specifically to the amendments that we have here today, what we plan to do in the future. And so, today you all were given amendments that has redefined the purpose, the definition. We've also provided some exemptions as well as technical changes to the bill. We've had over, Lord knows, 50 meetings since the bill was introduced to where we are right now. We've listened to over 100 different stakeholders, businesses, community leaders, business leaders, to get their input as it relates to what we need to do with this legislation. So the process has been very inclusive, but it's definitely a process that's technically challenging but we've been able to make a lot of progress based on where we are right now. The reason I'm asking you to pass the bill out of committee today and acknowledge that in the future, we're going to continue to work with stakeholders and brainstorm a final number around what the amount of hours of training will be both for new hires as well as annual training. We're also going to continue to have dialogue around who can provide the training. That is not in today's amendments, but that is a conversation that my office and my team will continue to have with stakeholders, and we will also continue to listen to and meet with other stakeholders around a number of concerns that I did not address that have also been communicated with us so we can make sure that this is the best possible bill that it can be for the City of Philadelphia. I just will close out by saying this, next year is an important year and the process as it relates to this legislation started by thinking about 2026. As you know, I've been really trying to be thoughtful about preparing Philadelphia for 2026. I have another hearing resolution that I already introduced around traffic. We've done a lot around money and allocating dollars for different things. So this is just another step in the right direction. And I'll close out by saying thank you to the Admin, all of the stakeholders, the amazing people at SEIU 32BJ working with them and talking to the actual members, the security guards, and listening to their stories have been horrific. So I know that there's a lot of people here from the business community who are concerned about the legislation. My office, my team, my door will remain open, but I can tell you right now this has been one of the most emotional pieces of legislation I've ever had to work on because we spent a lot of time listening to people. And when you listen to people and they tell you their stories and their experiences, you know it's heartbreaking when someone finds out that I have a bill dealing with security and a person reached out to my office and said I worked for a company for three weeks and never got a paycheck. It's horrific when we deal with the industry and we look at a number of different concerns around training, safety and things of that capacity. So this is an important bill. It sets standards for the industry. I have a lot more to say, but I'm going to be quiet because I'm going to respect the time of the members of this Committee. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll be here throughout the course of the hearing to answer any questions as well. (Applause.)

Thank you. I guess we could start now. Camille, if you want to state your name for the record and then proceed with your testimony.

Good afternoon, Chairperson Squilla and members of the committee. My name is Camille Duchaussee and I'm the Chief Administrative Officer for the City of Philadelphia. Today I'm testifying on Bill No. 250646, which would create certain citywide minimum training requirements, security training requirements, as we understand it. The intent of this bill is to ensure all security employees are equipped to deal with the considerable challenges that they face. The Parker Administration fully supports adequately training, appropriately training security employees. If security employees are trained, they are better qualified and equipped to perform their duties. We support the intent of this proposed legislation and have engaged in meaningful and collaborative conversation on the bill's language and potential effectiveness and feasibility. As a result, several of our practical concerns have been addressed already by some of the amendments that will be proposed today. However, we still have some lingering concerns which we wish to work through and are committed to continuing to work with stakeholders to meet the goal of ensuring our security personnel are provided relevant standardized training. Those concerns primarily entail the prohibition against allowing training to be done inhouse by employers, the practicality of the five-year experience requirement for third party area 501(c)(3) nonprofits, for finding the security curriculum requirements to allow for site situation-specific adjustments, for example, a security employee at a nursing home may have different responsibilities than a security employee at a hotel in the heart of Center City, and for delaying the implementation date to ensure the Administration has reasonable amount of time to create the framework needed to administer the legislation and resource, both human and fiscal, a new unit that will handle the implementation and enforcement. As we do not have a complete picture of the full extent of the work needed and potential challenges to creating this framework, a January 2027 implementation date is more practicable. I do want to acknowledge Councilmember Thomas, appreciate the sentiment that maybe if this is not fully baked, there is continued work to be done, continued collaboration and appreciate very much the commitment to do so. Again, the Administration supports the intent of this bill. We are grateful for the productive conversations we have had about this bill with the relevant stakeholders thus far and look forward to continued conversations in partnership with all parties. That concludes my testimony and I welcome the Committee's questions.

Thank you so much for your testimony. Any questions from the Committee? (No response.)

Seeing none, thank you so much. Mr. McMonagle, can you please read the next panel.

Can we please have Tyrone Patterson, Beverly Thorpe, Andre Dozier, Cynthia Alexander and Daisy Cruz. (Witnesses approached witness table.)

Tyrone, we can start with you. Just state your name for the record and then proceed with your testimony and then we'll go in the order as called. Tyrone, do you want to start?

Tyrone Patterson.

Please proceed with your testimony.

Okay. Good afternoon. My name is Tyrone Patterson and I've been a security guard in Philadelphia for over 11 years. I'm also a member of 32BJ 12 Executive Board and part of our 13 bargaining committee. 14 When I first joined the 15 workforce 21 years ago, things were 16 a lot different. I was here when 17 we ratified the first contract in 18 2012 and since then, we have been 19 able to fight and win great 20 contracts. I'm proud to say we have made a lot of progress, but there is still so much more we can do and will do. 2026 is going to be a big year for our beautiful city and it will be a lot of security needed. Philadelphia will welcome and influence an influx of visitors for events, including the FIFA World Cup games, the MLB All Star Game, the NCAA Men's March Madness and the PGA Championship. We want to make sure that with all these visitors and eyes on the city, they see it as a safe and protected city. Serving as a security officer in Philly can be demanding and dangerous. Of the officers we surveyed, over half reported they had encountered high risk incidents within the last year, such as individuals requiring emergency medical assistance, individuals in several emotional or mental distress or confrontations with aggravated individuals. And of half that the report has high risk incidents, a shocking 30% has experienced aggressive confrontation during their tours. Just yesterday I was meeting with an officer who was at work in North Philly and he got shot several times by some teenagers with those gel blasting guns. Those things really hurt. Another officer told me he got stabbed in the hand while he was at work. I bring that up because there are constant random- involving threats we face every day. We are encouraged by our city leadership that they are taking our fight seriously because we want to make sure that every security officer has the minimal training they need. Thank you. (Applause.)

Good afternoon, Chairperson Squilla and members of the Committee. My name is Daisy Cruz. I'm the District Director for SEIU 32BJ. 32BJ is the largest property service worker union in the country. We represent over 185,000 members along the East Coast, including 3000 security officers here in Philadelphia. They play a critical role in safeguarding Philadelphia's hospitals, universities, commercial office buildings and more. And yet, predominantly Black and Brown workforce remains largely non-union, is not pay substantial wages to support themselves and their families. And most of them claim they want improved and high quality training necessary to better protect themselves and the public. 32BJ strongly supports Bill No. 250646, which would provide crucial training resources to Philadelphia security officers. This bill will provide critical inperson instruction for newly- hired security officers in their first 90 days on the job and an additional eight hours of recurrent annual training thereafter. The law would also establish a city-managed certification process to ensure that all the training is provided by qualified organizations. Finally, the bill will require any training program to develop the real world skills that security officers need to perform their duties, not just site-specific customer service. Skills like community health competency, lifesaving first-aid techniques such as CPR, defibrillator use, conflict de-escalation and threat identification. S. states now mandates training for unarmed security officers. Pennsylvania is one of the few states that has failed to establish such standard. In the absence of such a standard, officers report that what training they are provided is inconsistent or absent. For example, more than in security officers say that they have either never received training from their employer on how to safely de-escalate a hostile confrontation or have not received a refresher within the last year. Even more concerning, less than half of the security officers report that they have not been taught how to administer basic CPR. By passing legislation requiring comprehensive inperson training and annual refreshes, Philadelphia can empower security officers to better protect both themselves and the public. Low standards in this industry fuel high turnover rates which undermine public safety. This means fewer experienced workers on the site to handle emergencies and identify risk putting public safety at risk. Security Officers deserve union representation, wages and benefits sufficient to allow officers and their families to thrive, along with sufficient hours, training and modern equipment to ensure that the best services for customers and the public. Private security is a growing field that employs many working people from our Philadelphia community. Security is one of the largest occupations in the city with over 14,000 Philadelphia workers employed in the sector. As the demand for security rises, we must ensure officers are fairly compensated, properly trained and willing to stay on the job. Now, it's time to raise standards for the industry to make private security and accessible occupation with a pathway to the middle class security and professional advancement. 32BJ members have made significant progress since first winning their union in security. But they're not done yet. And now, union members are fighting to ensure that more officers have a chance to raise standards across this entire industry. 32BJ security officers are at the bargaining table and are trying to professionalize the industry with higher wages, improve benefits and better training. So on behalf of the union, we want to thank Councilperson Isaiah Thomas for seeing the importance of this moment and introducing this crucial training bill. I know that public safety is a top priority for everyone on Council and everyone who lives and works in Philadelphia.

It is crucial that security officers have the training they need to handle people who are experiencing mental health issues, substance abuse and the everyday threats that they are the first line of defense for. We are encouraged that almost everyone in City Council took the time to listen to the stories of our officers when we visited City Hall a few weeks ago. So I of course can ask you all to consider moving this bill out of committee. You have heard from Mr. Tyrone and you're going to hear other stories from other security officers here, but I also want to identify that we know that there's a boss campaign against this whole training bill. You're going to probably hear later on from other officers that are union members who have been asked by their bosses to come here and testify against this bill. So I just wanted to make sure that I identify that. Thank you and have a good day. )

Afternoon everybody. My name is Cynthia Alexander. I've been a security officer here in Philadelphia for 20-plus years. I'm in a commercial building here in Center City and it's a wide open melting pot of people coming and going out in this particular building. So what I want to talk about is one time while I was on duty in the lobby area, three gentlemen were waiting for their host to come and take them to another level within the building. A woman walked into the building, neatly put together in a long maxi dress looking very professional. I thought she was joining the three gentlemen because she approached them, they nodded as if they knew her. She then bent over as if she was going to tie her shoes, whatever she was wearing on her feet. So it was a complete lean over. She grabbed at the hem of her dress. She slowly came up into a standing position, raising up the front of that dress and there was nothing on underneath that dress. And then she began to yell and scream and rant about how men were allowed to say and do anything they wanted. She didn't like it. And I'm assuming that these gentlemen standing there very innocently triggered something within her, but she went into a rant and a rave and they looked around that lobby quickly to find me, the security person. I'm panicking, but I know I have to handle this situation. I quickly run around toward the gentlemen telling them to move, move, move now. They complied. So I'm thinking how am I going to handle this, what do I do, what do I say. And instantly realized I'm not trained for this. I don't know what it is I'm supposed to do, but instinct said put it together, handle it, so that's what I did. So I looked at her and said, sisterwoman -- now, I know I don't know her. I know she doesn't know me, but I know I have to be in charge of it because that's my responsibility in the lobby. So I called her sisterwoman so she can feel like we have built an instant rapport. And she looks at me and she's ranting. I'm like, sisterwoman, bring your voice down. Stop this negativity in this lobby because we need to talk about what you just did. It's not right that you did that. It's not appropriate. And people are going to talk about what you just did here. So you and I, we're going to go outside, we're going to stand in the sun and we're going to exhale and we're going to talk about your behavior because that just wasn't right. And she's fussing. And I'm like, well, you know what, not here. We're not doing that here. We're going to be outside. We're going to talk, we're going to chill, so come go with me, come on. We don't want all eyes on us because it's not a good look. So, you know, she's fussing. She's saying what she's saying. She's sticking to whatever is in her head about why she's in that building, behaving, but she's walking in, she's talking and I'm guiding her out. And it's not because I had some specialized training to handle this situation. It was because instinct said, what if she does something else so you have to think for everybody in this lobby. You have to protect everybody in this lobby the best way you know how. So let's remove her from this building. And although she's fussing and talking about what she wanted to do, she's moving with me. So we're outside and she goes, so where are we going from here? And I told her, I said, well, this is the furthest I can go with you, but we can stand here and we can talk a little minute. So I talked to her for a little minute and I tell her, I need to get back to my job. Please don't come back here this day behaving this way. The next time you come into my building you have your stuff together. You be on point. So take a walk, think about what you did here today and don't let me catch you like that again. (Applause.)

Thank you for your testimony.

Good afternoon. My name is Andre Dozier. I'm a security officer in Philadelphia for over 20 years. I had to go outside the company and spend extra money just to get CPR training. That's how crucial it is. We're the first line of defense, the ones who respond before the responders. We can't afford to be without this training because the responsibility falls on us. It's insulting to hear people come up here and say that we're not the first responders, the police and the EMTs are. Well, you're right. We can't afford to be without this training. Well, I'm here to say that this training will save many lives. So tell that to the persons that we do save. This is hard. We often feel bad because we can't help right then and there. If somebody falls or we have to wait for 911, you know, to get here, we have to wait for 911 to show up. And as you know, they're overworked, understaffed. Moments like this, every second counts. So I leave you with this: I was on my way to work one day and I had to save a young man's life. I was able to give CPR to a child. He was about 9, years 7 old. He was in his mother's arms 8 at the time I seen him. There was 9 about 100 people there. And what 10 shocked me the most, which actually brought me into tears, is that out of those 100 people no one knew CPR. The reason why I came and went over there to perform the CPR is because I saw that the child was blue. I got permission from the mother to perform the CPR. This is how crucial it is. So think about this before you leave here today. Everyone in this room at some point in time had some type of training, emergency training. But out of those trainings, how many times you actually had to perform that CPR or emergency training. This is how crucial it is, because if I wasn't there and I didn't have the training out of those 100 people, that little boy wouldn't have made it. He was only 9. So not only that this is a job, we also need this training in the streets. We are the first responders before the first responders. It is the skills that everyone should have and this is a bill that everyone should think about. Thank you. (Applause.)

Hello. Good afternoon. My name is Beverly Thorpe. I'm a security officer of Philadelphia. Our job is challenging and mentally and physically draining. Some of our guards are very young and come onto this field and have no training at all or little training. We deal with a lot of people that experience homelessness and mental health issues every day. I had an incident where woman was unresponsive in the bathroom. We knocked -- I knocked on the door a couple of times. She didn't answer. The door was locked, so I had to crawl underneath the stall to get to her and try to help her. We all have stories like this. We have to deal with unclothed individuals washing their clothes in the sink. We have to deal with people who are spitting on us and cussing us out and screaming at us. For me, I am a caring person and I realized she was living in a crisis and a mode, and I did -- that's the situation life trained me to do. That's not my job and that's the problem here. We need training on conflict resolution and assisting people with mental health issues. And I don't see the argument that this training is too expensive. It's too expensive not to. We are hired to serve and protect and you should want security officers who can do that and we can't do it if we aren't trained properly. It is hard work. And beyond just training, we need better standards for our guards. So please vote to pass this bill through committee because it could be the difference between life and death for someone. Thank you. (Applause.)

Thank you so much. Any questions for this panel? (No response.)

Seeing none, Mr. McMonagle, can you please call the next panel to testify.

Can we please have Steve Amitay and Ed Grose. (Witnesses approached witness table.)

Just state your name for the record and then proceed with your testimony.

Hi, Chairman Squilla, members of the Committee. My name is Steve Amitay, and I'm the Executive Director of the National Association of Security Companies. In Philadelphia, NASCO member companies employ thousands of trained security officers who are performing security services at a vast array of client sites. For decades, NASCO and its members have worked with legislators around the country to develop and enact commonsense laws for licensing and training of security officers. And NASCO strongly believes that all persons performing security services, whether they work for a contract security company or directly for a business or institution, should undergo baseline training related to the job tasks and responsibilities of a private security officer. As documented and material sent to the bill's sponsor security officers in Philadelphia working for NASCO member companies receive initial training, on-the- job training, client and site- specific training and recurring training that enable them to successfully perform the security tasks required of them as laid out in the contract with the client in specified and site post orders. However, this summer out of nowhere, with no input from or consultation with security companies, Bill 250646 was introduced. And I don't mean to be rude. That bill shows a complete lack of awareness and total disregard for the current training being provided to security officers as well as a severe lack of understanding as to how and by whom security training is provided. More troubling, the bill 15 seems premised on the faulty notion of the roles, responsibilities and liabilities of security officers. Through its required training subjects, the bill clearly implies that privately-employed security officers working via a contract at a client site have the same "public safety and community wellness, responsibilities and duties as police officers, EMTs, drug and alcohol and mental health counselors who receive hundreds of hours of training," and that is simply not true. If an unarmed private security officer at a client site observes someone acting violently, then the officer should warn people in the vicinity to stay away and call 911. And I'm very happy when that woman encountered that woman that when she reached down she didn't pull a knife and pull it on the security officer unless it's a life-threatening situation or a private security officer has specific intervention instructions and also specified specific training as required for their assigned site; such as in a hospital setting a security officer should not and does not have a responsibility to get involved in a violent situation. More so, not only could the officer get harmed or cause someone else to get harmed by getting involved, but a security officer, unlike a police officer or EMT, has no immunity from criminal or civil liability if something bad happens as a result of getting involved. Well, I've not seen any evidence that insufficient training is a systemic problem in Philadelphia, nonetheless, as NASCO did with the Democratic-controlled Maryland legislature in 2023, we're more than willing to work with the Council to create and enact appropriate baseline training requirements for all security officers in Philadelphia. First- aid CPR, use of force, de-escalation, communication. In Maryland, a bill was enacted that required all security officers undertake hours of initial training as I just described on basic security officer functions and skills and eight hours of refresher training for license renewal. The Council is serious about passing a commonsense security officer baseline training bill. NASCO Is ready, willing and able to assist. If not -- I would just say good luck meeting that new January 1, 2026 implementation date with a yet-to-be-created training program with yet-to-be authorized trainers with yet-to-be-created training schools where companies will not be able to train their own officers.

And essentially, by July 1, 2026 the law would require every single person in Philadelphia who is performing security services will have had to have this new 40 hours of training or they're not going to be able to work security. Thank you very much.

Good afternoon, Chairman Squilla and the members of the Committee on Commerce and Economic Development. My name is Ed Grose and I am the President and CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association, also known as GPHA. We represent approximately 100 hotels throughout the region and virtually all hotels in Center City, Philadelphia. Philadelphia hotels employ over 10,500 people, over 80% of which are Philadelphia residents. This year our membership will generate approximately $123 million in tax revenue to the City of Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. GPHA sincerely appreciates the opportunity to testify on this matter and thanks the sponsor Councilman Thomas for his willingness to work with us and our stakeholders on this legislation. Last year our hotel sold approximately 3.6 million room 7 nights, welcoming tourists, conventioneers, business leaders and families from all over the world to Philadelphia. As you can imagine, ensuring the safety of our millions of hotel guests is an absolute must for our industry and the extensive training we require of our security officers is a direct testament to this. At the majority of our member hotels, new security officers are required to complete over 165 hours of total training in their first 90 days and an additional 54-and-a-half hours on an annual reoccurring basis. Our security officers complete trainings in human trafficking, pool safety, armed robbery, active shooter situations, CPR and first- aid, de-escalation tactics, emergency preparedness, workers compensation, reporting and public demonstrations, just to name a few. Our concern with the legislation as introduced is that our hoteliers would not receive credit for this extensive training that is already being provided. Instead our hoteliers would be required to send their security officers, regardless of the training they already received, to a third party security trainer. Our ask is that those employers that already provide security officer training in equal or greater amounts to the legislation be given credit for their current training programs and not be required to participate in additional training programs. GPHA agrees with the sponsor that it is important, particularly in preparation of 2026, that all security officers receive a baseline training certification. However, for those employers that meet, or in the case of our hoteliers, well exceed the legislation's prescribed training requirements, they should be given credit for the training they are already doing. In closing, GPHA thanks the Chair, the sponsor and the Committee for considering our testimony and we look forward to continuing to engage City Council on this important subject. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Are there any questions from the committee? Councilmember Young.

Just one question, could you repeat -- this is for Mr. Grose. How many hours of training you said your members do?

165 hours total training in the first 90 days and then 54-and-a-half hours on an annual basis reoccurring.

Councilmember Gauthier -- all right. Thank you so much. Thank you.

I'd also be willing to share the copy of the training if we haven't done so already.

If you want to provide that to the Chair, we'll be able to submit it for the record. Thank you so much. Now, we'd like to go into public comment. We do have a bunch of panels here, over 50 people to testify. So if you can be concise and keep it to the point, we would like to hear everybody's testimony on this. Mr. McMonagle, could you please read the next panel.

Can we please have Natalie Kidd, Tahirah Polland and Natori Benson. (Witnesses approached witness table.)

Natalie, if you'd like to start. Just state your name for the record and then proceed with your testimony.

Certainly. My name is Natalie Kidd and I serve as Chair of the Building Owners and Managers Association of Philadelphia, which represents the owners and managers of commercial real estate across the city, including office towers, mixed-use developments and corporate campuses, together house tens of thousands of employees and hundreds of businesses. And I would like to thank Committee Chair Squilla as well as the entire Committee for this opportunity to testify regarding Bill 250646. Just by means of background for anyone not familiar, BOMA is a nonprofit organization whose members provide within the city limits alone over 51 million square feet of office space for over half a million office workers. Our member buildings not only define the Philadelphia skyline, but we are a major economic engine for the City of Philadelphia. 7 billion which translates into $250 million in real estate taxes alone. 16 billion a year. 3 billion a year, which is 70% of the tax base for the City of Philadelphia. And our members share Council's Committee to ensuring that Philadelphia's buildings are safe and secure for every tenant, visitor and worker. Commercial real estate invests heavily in security, life safety and emergency management, and not because of regulation, but because it's the right thing to do for our people and our assets. We truly value the employees that provide security and they are professionals that provide security in our buildings day-in and day-out. And having said that, Bill 250646, as drafted, will do the opposite of what it intends to because while its goal of improving safety is laudable, the bill's current structure and mandates would disrupt the city's security infrastructure, reduce job opportunities and increase costs. It restricts employers from training their own security staff. We've talked about that. That is unprecedented anywhere in the country. S. jurisdiction with security training requirements eliminates the employer's right to train its workforce. This reduces flexibility, it hinders rapid deployment when we need qualified officers and it ignores the fact that our security teams are already trained on site-specific systems, procedures and needs. And this loss of flexibility comes, as many have said, as Philadelphia takes the world stage in 2026. The events that are coming in next year demand seamless coordination between property owners, private security and public safety, work that is already underway. And this bill would make that coordination not only harder, but it means that out-of-town security providers that are going to be coming in, especially for event-focused firms will not be subjected to the same training and legislation. This mandated training also exceeds the role of private security. Again, I'm truncating my comments because others have made this point already, but I do want to confirm that the bill would erase essential customization in favor of a single citywide template that does not fit the diversity of Philadelphia's built environment. It adds excessive cost administrative and potential job losses. Based on the requirement of the bill, as drafted, a typical 30-story office building would be faced with an additional 40,000 burden just for the first year training. 4 million in increased costs, costs which will be passed along to our tenants who are already grappling with inflation, higher insurance premiums, labor costs and post- pandemic recovery challenges. Faced with these costs, many owners and managers will respond by reducing the number of onsite officers to rely more on technology or reclassifying security positions to avoid the burdens of the bill. This is going to result in fewer trained eyes and ears in our buildings and on the street. No one wants that and it's precisely the opposite of what the legislation intends.

The bill also imposes new administrative layers, requiring the city to create and fund a new authority to certify training programs, track compliance, enforce penalties. That means more bureaucracy, more cost and more delays, both for the public and the private sector. It also adds a shared liability for the training organization, whatever that ends up being, as well as the City of Philadelphia, where currently that liability lies with the security contractors. It is also out of step with every other jurisdiction. There was mention made of surrounding states. Let's just address them. Maryland requires 11 hours of initial training. 12 Delaware, practical training 10 to hours. Philadelphia has 14 proposed 40 hours in person plus annual refreshers. That's four times more stringent than any comparable jurisdiction and it places us at a competitive disadvantage to our near neighbors. Finally, there's a broader economic impact. At a time when the city's downtown recovery is still fragile, this bill 24 increases the cost of occupancy for tenants, large and small. Commercial tenants, who are the lifeblood of Center City's economy, will shoulder the cost through higher rent and security charges. Some may choose to reduce their footprint. And at the end of the day, these increased costs do not go into the pockets of our valued security professionals. It adds to administrative burden. BOMA Philadelphia and our members fully support high quality, meaningful security training, but it must be practical, flexible and aligned with actual roles of private security officers and the reality of building operations. The SEIU is presently in contract negotiations with the security vendors and our goal is to provide the greatest economic impact to the security officers who work in our buildings, rather than increase these unnecessary training costs. We urge Council to pause, pause Bill 250646 and instead convene a stakeholder working group. There is no need to push this out of committee today. This rush is irresponsible. We would love to participate in a stakeholder working group that includes property owners, security professionals, public safety officials and craft a collaborative, risk-based framework that strengthens security without jeopardizing jobs or our competitiveness. BOMA would welcome the opportunity to participate in this stakeholder group, because our shared goal is a safer and stronger Philadelphia and we can achieve that through partnership, not arbitrary mandates. I thank you for your time and consideration and welcome any questions. )

Thank you for your testimony. Before we go to the next -- Councilmember Thomas.

Mr. Chair, I just want to get some clarifying numbers. Based on the testimony that I heard, I just have one request. So I just want to get some clarifying numbers. If I heard you correctly, you said that you have about 40 hours a week that -- I mean 40 hours of training that will cost about $30,000; is that what you said?

The --

Can you just go back to the numbers? I'm very curious -

Sure. I'm happy to share this with you because I threw a lot of numbers at you. I get it.

Sure.

When you look at an average, because we have to look at the totality of our -- we sort of tried to average it out because the security needs of One Liberty Place, the Shops, is going to be very different than the Comcast Technology Center versus, you know, standard office building. There's public and private components. We tried to take that into consideration. So as drafted, a typical 30-story office building has on average 14 security professionals. With that required 40 hours of training, that puts an additional $40,000 burden just for the first year training. It doesn't take into account any --

That's what I thought you said.

Yeah.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So my math isn't the best. But if you do the numbers on $40,000 for people to be paid, 11 how much are you paying people? 12 (Applause.) 13

I don't pay 14 people --

Mr. Chair, this is my request. And I'm not going to interrupt everybody that comes to talk. But this is my request. My request is that anybody who tells us how much money this is going to cost us should also tell us how much they pay the security guards who work in their building. Because at the end of the day, I don't think it's fair for people to come to us -- in every meeting I had I said to folks, if you're going to tell me how much this is going to cost you and that's your concern, then tell me how much you pay people. And so, what folks are going to say is -- they're going to say, well, we don't pay the security guards directly, we contract to a third party company. And I was falling for that in the beginning. But then after talking to a number of different providers, from what I understand there are options for employers to pay people a little bit more so everybody doesn't have to make $16 an hour. So listening to that $40,000 number, for 14 people that sounds like they're paying people to be poor. (Applause.)

So before we start listening to any numbers, I ask that anybody -- and I will not interrupt anybody else. But I hear people saying they're not paying people to be poor, but the numbers say that you need $60,000 a year to not be in poverty in the City of Philadelphia. So I'm just asking, Mr. Chair, that if you're going to come before Council to talk about the cost, the technical side, in my remarks I said we will work on that and some of the concerns that you have been listening to are things I'm committed to working on. But I don't think it's fair to come before this legislative body and complain about how something's going to cost when the people who are doing the work live in poverty. Thank you, Mr. Chair. (Applause.)

Thank you. You want to proceed -- state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.

My name is Tahirah Polland and I'm a security officer here in Philadelphia. I'm not talking about wages or whatever that is. That's not what I came to talk about. I came to talk about one specific thing, that's training. I've been working from the company that I worked for over six years and I'm going to say I'm proficient in training. I have training which I can co-tap and take to any other job that I want to. I'm CPR-trained. I trained on a defibrillator. I know how to use it. I'm trained on four point command training, which means if a person comes into a hospital and they are irate and we need to restrain them, I'm there and I could do it. And I was trained for that on-job training from my job. That's really all I have to say. Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony. Do you want to add anything?

Good evening. My name is Natori Benson and I've been a security officer for four years. Y'all can hear me?

There you go.

Okay. My name is Natori Vincent and I've been with Allied Universal for four years. I have proper training. I know where to get training from if I need training and I also do training. That's all I had to say.

Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Any other questions for the panel? (No response.)

Seeing none, thank you so much. Mr. McMonagle, can you please read the title -- I mean, please call next panel.

Can we please have Sydney Toombs, Rafael Benitez and Keith Coble. (Witnesses approached witness table.)

Sydney, if you want to start, just state your name for the record and then you could --

(Inaudible).

Okay.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

First, thank you for hearing us, Committee. My name is Sydney Toombs, and I'd like to start with the fact that I am a Philadelphian through and through. I grew up on Hollywood Street near 29th and Columbia Avenue. I attended Edward Gideon and Central Public High School. I was hired as a security officer in 1993 at the time making the principally sum of $5.75 an hour. In my time I was promoted to shift supervisor, site supervisor, account manager, district manager and I currently serve in the role as general manager. In my time with Allied, I have provided and received wide ranges of training. I learned about gender identity from training with Allied. Whether it's active shooter clearing, HIPAA, CPR, MOAB, all of these trainings I have received and been a part of and these are critical within our contracts that we provide. And I am standing here as testimony of what opportunities exist for someone within the city to move up and be productive. So that was really what I wanted to share.

Thank you so much. State your name for the record and then proceed.

Okay. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen of City Council. , and I've been an employee with Allied University for six years, three years as a guard and three years as a supervisor. I currently work as a first shift supervisor at a rehabilitation hospital in Center City, Philadelphia. Prior to working at Allied, I worked for Children's Charity for Kids with Disabilities. I worked as an EMT for several years, a roofer, health and wellness coach and a personal trainer. I'm saying all this because when I was hired as a security professional with Allied, I had zero experience in this field. Allied provided me with the tools I needed to become a competent security professional. That training provided focus primarily on safety protocols, de-escalation techniques, emergency responses, et cetera. As I stated earlier, I worked at a rehabilitation hospital but I've also worked as a guard in the Fashion District, at University here in Philadelphia and at a luxury residential building. Each site I worked at had a training that was customized to the site and client's needs. I believe this is important because that training allowed us to know the needs, wants, risks and vulnerabilities of that business that we were securing. I can especially remember a time when our training specifically, our de-escalation training, helped me resolve the situation at work. We had a patient who had surgery and was in a recovery room awaiting his anesthesia to wear off. The patient grew agitated and aggressive because he didn't want to wait in the recovery area and wanted to go home. This patient threatened staff verbally and stated that he would assault anyone who got in his way of leaving. I responded to the call with a couple of guards and we approached the patient with calm voices in a respectful manner, asking him what the issue was. He stated that he wanted to leave and would eff up anyone who tried to stop him. He then got up and charged his way towards the exit. We maintained a safe distance while explaining to him that staying would be in his best interest. He wasn't trying to hear none of that and turned his hostility towards me, calling me out of my name, calling me racial slurs and threatening to beat me up. Now, I'm from West Philadelphia so initially I felt myself getting mad and for a spit second I contemplated assaulting him, but I remembered my training and remained calm. And after a few minutes of back and forth, he calmed down and returned to his area in the recovery room. I'm grateful for the training that I received because I could have lost my cool, hurt the patient or the patient could have hurt me. And from day one, Allied has always stressed to its employees to never put themselves or others in harm's way. I do most of the training at my facility, 85% of the training at my facility. And when the new hires come to me, they have a basic knowledge of what we expect of them as security guards. I quizzed them about certain things that I've learned in the training previously and it seems like the training is pretty uniform to all employees who come through our initial training at 1617 JFK. They also go to the 40th Street Annex to learn CPR, infant, adult and childhood CPR, and they come to us with a great understanding of how to be a basic security guard. It's my job at our site to train them further to how to work at the rehabilitation hospital. And that training consists of our Allied ed courses where it talks about de-escalation, how to stop the bleed, how to respond to emergency incidents, active shooters, mass casualty incidents, et cetera. And we also have scenarios that we go through at the hospital, like real-life scenarios that they put us through to make sure that we understand the training that we went through. So with all that being said, I think it's kind of BS for other guards to say that they didn't get good training when they get first applied to Allied because everybody would do the same things.

Everybody would do the same training, from two days down at JFK -- I mean, a day at JFK, two or three days at 40th Street. And when they come to the sites, they get an additional three or four days of additional training. And specifically me, I don't clear anybody for employment or to start at the site unless they have a clear understanding of exactly what we expect from them before they start working. So that's all I have to say.

Thank you. Thank you for your testimony.

Good afternoon. My name is Rafael Benitez. Sorry, I got strep throat. I've been working at Allied for closely years. I first started the same procedures. You come in, they train you. Once you go to your site they give you also more training. And I have to second the motion on our supervisor Keith because he's the one that trains us, so I can only say and second that emotion because I work alongside with him based on my experience since I've been here. Thank you.

15 Thank you so much for your 16 testimony. 17 Any questions? (No response.)

Seeing none, Mr. McMonagle, please next panel. (Applause.)

Could we please have Chiquiata Johnson, Helen Howell and Reggie White. (Witnesses approached witness table.)

Again, if you have heard some of the testimony already stated, if you could just -- if you're stating something new, please provide it but be as short as possible because we do have 50 people to testify.

Hi. My name is Chiquiata Johnson. I worked for Allied for like almost five years and I had pretty good training, and it's all what you put into it, you know. If you really want to do a good job, you just have to put the work in. I'm a little nervous. But I got training and I still do trainings every day. When you clock in, you have a little training to do before you clock in. So that's all I got to say.

That's fine and thank you for your testimony.

Thank you.

Please proceed.

How's everybody doing? My name is Reginald white or Reggie White if you're an Eagles fan. And thank you for the opportunity to speak about this proposed bill. I am an account manager for Allied Universal. I've been working for Allied for 27 years. It's actually the only job that I've ever had in life. Started as a weekend security officer, graduated from Community College and decided to make Allied my career. Started off like I said as an officer, went through extensive amounts of training to become a supervisor, assistant account manager and I've been a manager for over years. One thing that I will say is that Allied does take great care and great attention to detail. When it comes to training, we do an extensive amount of onboarding training and also site-specific training. It's something that we and our industry we're very proud of. We're very proud of not only the training, but also the innovation of the training. You know, we've went from book training to online training to actual training that we do. Whenever an officer clocks in for their particular shift, we have the ability to send training notices to that officer specifically for what might be going on, on that particular shift. So we have grown. As the world has grown, our training and our technology has grown also. But all I want to say is that I personally am a product of the Allied Universal training, the Allied Universal program and also the idea that someone from my background, North Philadelphia, can come to Allied as a young security officer, I started off at 19, can come to Allied, can see examples of other security professionals who have ascended to become managers and things of that nature. And all of those things start with the training. I didn't get where I'm at just because I'm the smartest person in the room. I was trained and I was retrained and I was constantly given opportunity to train, either from my own inquisitive mind or from what's given to me from my superior. So if training is a question, I will be the first to say that we do a heck of a lot of training. And I know every industry is different, but I will say that I worked at hospitals, I've worked at universities, I've worked at high-rise office buildings and each of these industries go through painful trainings to make sure that we give our employees an opportunity to do a great job. In conclusion, I just want to say that I think that these conversations are important to our industry and I welcome these conversations. But in terms of training, I do think that the training program that we have at Allied is top notch. And like I said, I'm a product of that training. Thank you. (Applause.)

Thank you. Thank you so much for your testimony. Any questions? (No response.)

Seeing none, Mr. McMonagle, can you please read the next panel.

Yes. Can we please have Jadan Kirton, Terrell Parker and Jamir Quarles. (Witnesses approached witness table.)

Good afternoon. Jadan Kirton. I've worked for Allied since 2024, which is about a little over a year now. I can personally say that Allied training has been or is well put together. I feel like you don't go anywhere or, yeah, you don't go anywhere, you don't go on to any site feeling as though you don't know anything. I know for a fact from personal experience any site that I have been to always provides me training. And if I have questions, there's always someone I can ask, whether it's a site supervisor, whether it's an account manager, whether it's another co-worker of mine. Just anyone that is within my field, I can always ask and I never feel as though I don't know what I'm doing. Thank you. (Applause.)

Thank you. Please proceed. State your name.

Good afternoon. My name is Jamir Quarles. I am a security account manager with Allied Universal. I've been with the company for five years now, always in a high-rise building setting. And I started off as a security professional so I can see both sides of the spectrum, whether that's receiving the training or offering it. I think Allied Universal provides an extensive amount of training. I know I heard it before someone else speaking that we have an online training course and it goes over not just what your site- specific training is. It also goes indepth with the broad view of security. It's helped me be more confident in my task. In addition to the broad training that we normally take, personally myself I've also been offered CPR first-aid and ad training, white glove training, active shooter. So there are trainings out there that's offered to you, whether you're a security professional, shift supervisor, site supervisor or anyone else in a leadership position. And that's all I have to say. Thank you. (Applause.)

Thank you so much for your testimony.

Can we please have Rochelle Jones, Arthur Hawkins and Stacey Reynolds please. (Witnesses approached witness table.)

I'll go first. Good afternoon, Councilmembers. Thank you for the opportunity to come before you today and speak on Bill 250646. My name is Arthur Hawkins. I began my career with Allied Universal in 2016 as a security officer and transitioned with hours of court training to a supervisor. I transferred to residential service where I currently serve as a shift supervisor. In this role, I oversee security operations within a residential building, including dorms, quads and various auxiliary facilities. Over the past decade I have participated in extensive training programs that emphasize de-escalation techniques, CPR trainings, comprehensive safety protocols. For example, Allied Universal's biannual supervisor development sessions have strengthened my understanding of security policies and reinforced our shared commitment to maintaining safety for both officers and the community we serve. At Allied, we maintain a steadfast focus on safety above all else. While all officers are highly trained to handle a range of situations, we also recognize the importance of contacting emergency services for matters that extend beyond a security officer's scape of responsibility. As a shift supervisor, I have had the opportunity to collaborate closely with other departments to address situations that could pose a potential risk or a liability. In closing, I hope my testimony today illustrates how Allied takes a role in handling safety standards. And with your support, I will continue to serve and contribute to the protection and preparedness of our city in the important year. Thank you. (Applause.)

Hi. I'm Stacey Reynolds. I've been with the company -- I started in 1995 -- so technically probably over close to 30 years. As a security officer, the same thing as Sydney Toombs. I was making $7.25 when I started with Allied. I did get the training. I was working at the Art Museum. The Art Museum, I really didn't care for art but once I got there, they trained me on not to touch the artwork. Why shouldn't we touch the artwork? What would it do to damage the paintings? They trained me in art and I never knew nothing about art. I learned Picasso and I learned, you know, anything that was in there. I got all of this from the training that I walked around with that supervisor that trained me and that manager that trained me about artwork. From then on, I grew, I stayed there for probably over five years and moved on to become working at the University different segment. Every entity is different. The training there for the University, for college students, we had to get CPR-trained. We had to learn about de-escalation. We had to learn how to speak to -- and we weren't just security officers. We were actually kind of like their parents because they're away from home. So we learned how to communicate with the staff and that was from training before I even stepped foot inside of a dormitory. From then on, I wanted to learn more so I actually went to one of the managers that mentored me to become a supervisor. They trained me how to become a supervisor because I wanted to become a leader. And in that role of becoming a leader, I actually navigated through the University and became a client value manager, speaking with the client, speaking with the officers, training the managers, training the supervisors. Because I had great leadership around me, I wanted to develop them and to be great leaders. All my officers I hired within became supervisors. Right now I'm at another facility. It's in health care. (Inaudible) health care is tricky. Anybody that comes to health care with me, they know they are being trained 40 hours. They are getting trained 40 hours. They come in the door -- before they come into the door, they have to learn about HIPAA, EMTALA, bloodborne pathogen. They have to make sure their PPE is ready. They have to have all these things in store before they step foot inside the door. After that, they get the on-the-job training. On the job training, they walk around learning each post, what they do. They sit at each post. They learn the ins-and- outs of everything at the hospital. I make sure that all the Allied officers that's underneath my umbrella knows exactly what they need to know. I feel as though Allied -- and I probably have a few people over here on the right that's working for me now, and I picked them. I mean, I chose them because they got the right training. They trained. They sat there. It was customer service, and I saw something good in some of the officers and made them become building rovers because they were great officers and they still are and they still get the training. So I'm not sure what happens at other accounts, but I know for sure that when you step forward with Allied, if they have customer service working in high rises, you should know customer service, de-escalation, how to keep calm, call 911. Those things were taught before we walked in the door. We don't get sit at the post and say, hey, this is your post. You are trained before you go. So thank you. (Applause.)

Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Any questions? (No response.)

Seeing none, Mr. McMonagle, please read the next panel to testify.

Can we please have Ramona McCloud, Jermaine Rhynes and Sandy Bragg please. (Witnesses approached witness table.)

Please state your name for the record and testify. And thank you for the people who gave up their time and let us know that they will not be testifying. And state your name and proceed with your testimony.

Good afternoon. I'm Sandy Bragg. I own Imperial Event Security Services --

Hold on. Speak a little closer.

Closer? Thank you. We are a Philadelphia- based certified women-owned security company that has served the city for years. We 17 specialize in event security and we 18 work with hundreds of events each 19 year. 20 I'm here today to 21 express deep concern over the 22 proposed security training 23 legislation. Because while I 24 understand and respect the intent behind the bill, especially in light of the increased number of events planned for 2026, the execution of the bill is very flawed. Security is not a one-size-fits-all. Every venue has different standard operating procedures. Every event is unique and our officers must be trained to adapt, observe and respond appropriately. I believe the standards still aim quite high for a training baseline and may be missing some fundamental elements. For example, it focuses on coordination with police, fire and emergency personnel during an emergency. However, it skips over the everyday communication skills that are essential during a regular shift. Sites like the Pennsylvania Convention Center, the Zoo, the Barns are looking for guards who are trained to observe, identify what's out of the ordinary, communicate that effectively. Clear communication about something as simple as a propped or broken emergency exit door is part of their daily reality. Managing line controls, crowd safety, securing access points, credential checking are all critical for our jobs. If training focuses too heavily on emergency coordination without covering these basics, it risks overlooking the first level of preparedness and the obligation to the support systems that the venues need. Customer service and routine site-specific tasks make up 90% to 95% of a guard's average day, and that's not really addressed at all. This bill will impose significant financial burdens on dedicated, loyal employers costing hundreds of thousands of dollars and will ultimately impact hard-working Philadelphians. Many will face stagnant wages or even layoffs as sites are forced to cut back to absorb the excessive costs mandated by this legislation. And our guards will still have to be trained by us for site-specific training. At our company we invest heavily in continuous training. Philadelphia is known for its vibrant events, but too often Philadelphia doesn't succeed at events. We survive them. And my examples for that are that when you look at who's holding events in Philadelphia and who's managing them, we're looking at groups like Welcome America, Inc., who was just awarded the FIFA Fan Fest contract. They hire out-of-state labor and they bus in guards for their events. When the NFL Draft was in Philadelphia, they used a Pittsburgh company and they bus in labor. The World Meeting of Families bused in labor. The Roots Picnic brought in guards from out of town. Even Eagles games have guards bused in from Baltimore and D.C. For us, this bill could mean hundreds of thousands of dollars in training and wage expenses and we may still be watching out-of-town companies busing in untrained labor not getting that work. So concerns for us in events cannot be addressed unless the city is going to say that Philly events need Philly companies. So Philly events are a source of pride for us, but they're very complex. We are often the first hello and the last goodbye that tourists and travelers see. And our training has to be practical, site-specific and employer-led. It should balance the customer service with the nature of their position. I urge the Council to reconsider this legislation and work collaboratively with security professionals to develop standards that employers can incorporate into their internal programs, similar to what other states do. We care about our people. A well-trained guard is a happy guard and it's a guard that comes to work. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Please state your name for the record and proceed. MS. McCLOUD: Hello. My name is Ramona McCloud. I've been with Allied for years. I'm not a political speaker. This is my first time in a situation. 32BJ is my union. I'm with Allied so I feel like, you know what I mean. So I've been trained. I've been to two sites and I've been trained at each site very well, CPR, de-escalation, active shooter, all that. What I deal with every day is customer service because I work the front desk. We pretty much deal with our training every single day. Without the training that I had, as far as CPR I did save my little nephew's life from drowning. So I did get to use my CPI training to do that and I wouldn't have been able to do that without Allied. So I can't really say anything bad about that. And that's really all I have to say. Nothing against you guys. Nothing against Allied. Both parts have points, but I can't go against, you know, what I've learned. I've been trained pretty good and I've saved my cousin's life -- I'm sorry, my nephew's life. So I appreciate the training that I've had.

Thank you. Thank you so much. (Applause.) MS. McCLOUD: Thank you, everybody. Ramona McCloud.

Can we please have Omar Wilson, Albert Littlepage and Jim Pio please. (Witnesses approached witness table.)

I'm so glad that I don't see that red button. You want me to go first?

I'll go first.

Okay. Go ahead.

Good afternoon, Chairman Squilla and members of the committee who are presiding over this hearing this afternoon. Thank you. My name is Omar Wilson, President of Scotlandyard Security Services. We have the largest minority-owned security firm in the Delaware Valley and has been doing business for 36 years, employing over 400 people, with 90% of those employees living in Philadelphia. We at Scotlandyard are very concerned about Bill 250646, not because we're against the training of our officers but because the way the bill is currently written. This bill will put Scotlandyard out of business the way it was written. Scotlandyard is a very intensive training program for its employees, and the training of our employees is central to our operation and our customers. All officers at Scotlandyard are required to undergo training before starting any assignment and must also complete on-site training. We've had training programs funded through an RFP process by Philly Works and the Private Industry Council in Philadelphia and has trained over 200 security officers throughout the city of Philadelphia for PA Act 235 training programs, and trained those individuals for other employers. We know that we have the expertise and experience to train our own employees because training is the heart of what we do for our company and our employees. This bill opens up litigation issues for the city and any outside training company. We do believe the bill 4 should be amended in the following areas: Godfather all current security officer employees who are already trained and working on the job; amendment, all security companies should be allowed to conduct their own training according to a city-approved training curriculum; companies will submit their training curriculum to the appropriate city agency for approval; once approved, the city agency should audit and monitor the implementation of the curriculum of our security employees; security companies will issue a certificate to the employee and provide the city with a copy. The existing 235 officers are already trained through the state of Pennsylvania and should be exempt from this process. Based on the language in the bill if the city mandates training, there could be legal ramifications for the security company if sued, implicating both the city and the training provider in any lawsuit. Therefore, our staff is crucial in protecting ourselves and provide training. The initial training should be shortened from 40 to 13 hours. We also should remove the 14 language where only nonprofits can 15 conduct training for the security officers and only companies that are not related to the security company can conduct training. This section becomes a mute point if the security companies conduct their own training programs under improved curriculum. Some of the classroom topics in the bill are outside the scope of basic security, officer duties of deter, observe and report. Topics fall outside the basic security risk profile for a security company to obtain insurance. Based on this bill, our insurance rates will almost double because the topics are outside the basic risk profile for insurance companies. Mr. Chairman and Co-chairs, thank you for your time.

Councilman Thomas.

I just want to say thank you to Omar and the team at Scotlandyards for their testimony today and the information that they provided to our office throughout the course of this process as well as other members of Council. I just want to note for the record that some of today's amendments actually address some of the concerns that were communicated today. So thank you for that information. Thank you for those concerns. But some of today's amendments, as far as the finding and liability and insurance issues, we feel like we cleaned a lot of that up in today's amendments. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Councilman. Good afternoon. My name is Albert Littlepage and I want to thank you Chair and Co-chairs for presiding over this hearing this afternoon. I also want to say to the members of SEIU, that I stand with you in solidarity. There are many of you that I work with to this day. I know the benefits of being a professionally-trained security officer. Although I am Director of Training for Scotlandyard security, like you I work security now and then, and like you, there are times that I am in the trenches. I've heard some people come in here today to talk about how long they've been in the security field. Well, I've been in the security field for 42 years. I started at the Gallery at Market East in 1983. 98 an hour. And so, I will just say that in not prolonging the conversation today, I think training is essential. Throughout my career in the security field, I've always, always considered training to be the most crucial factor in ensuring the safety of security personnel. When I worked at the Gallery, I've heard some of these stories. I can remember when a man jumped from the third floor and committed suicide in the Gallery. I can remember walking into an office and seeing a man pluck lice off his body. I can remember that people that were on narcotics that were sitting there drugged out and we have to try to get them resurrected or call emergency personnel. So there are horror stories that go along with this business. But what I always say, and I want to try to stay on script, is that the reality of it is that for 364 days, nothing could go wrong and one day all hell could break loose. You have to be prepared in that moment. And so, I say today as we reflect on some of the incidents that were really tragic to security officers like the gentleman at Macy's, like the officer that was killed in the parking lot, we have to make sure that we preserve ourselves through training. Training helps us to prepare for the unexpected. It is always my prayer that every person in this room 7 makes it home safely to their loved ones. Our security training standards, which we want to be responsible for, are mandatory. They are required for all levels of our staff, from the executives to the entry level personnel. Our training concepts and standards over the basic disciplines like the role of a security officer, conflict resolution -- and if you've been married years like I 19 have, you know about de-escalation, 20 all right. And so, I will just tell you that I am a first-aid CPR instructor. I teach AED. Those things are essential. Listen, I want to be real with you. The young lady said something about how she was trained and it helped her save her family member. Listen, I'm from South Philadelphia, right. I remember we had the highest murders in the youth in the city. I teach my son the same thing I teach security what to look for. I teach my wife the same thing when she parks in that Wannamaker garage in the morning, what to look for, be observant, get off the phone with me and watch what you're doing, right. So there are basic steps to security that are challenging. And for me, I like to implement that we at Scotlandyard are invested in training, we're invested in our security personnel. And for me, I believe that training is relational. You see, my security personnel have my cell phone number. If it gets to a point where there's a problem, they can contact me directly. Training is ongoing, ongoing. It never stops. And so, in conclusion -- let me see here where I want to go -- and the gentleman mentioned the MOAB training. I just wanted to make sure that we go with the acronym. You understand that that's dealing with managing of aggressive behaviors. But I also put in here in my years of security, I decided to invest in myself. You see, it's one thing to say you want the company to invest in you, but you have to invest in yourself, right.

So when I looked at security and I decided to make this my profession, I went and got an Associate's Degree in leadership, I went and got a Bachelor's degree in theology, I went and got a Master's degree in organizational leadership. And so security has been very good to me, right. 98 an hour, I'm blessed, thank you, you know. And I meant to say victory, brother. All right. And so, again I just wanted to share that with you because I'm committed to training. I don't just commit people to training. I live training. I live it on a daily basis. All right. And Scotlandyard Security is more than capable of doing their own training. We have the capacity to do our own training. We have professional staff members that can do the training and we like to make sure that we are doing our own training so that we can make sure that we put professional -- and also, I wanted to say to the Councilman, I saw on Facebook this morning he was talking about all the entertaining things that were going to be coming up in the next year or so in the city in 2026. But the reality of it is all of us want to make sure that our security officers look professional and that they're customer service-trained and that they put on a good show for the people that come into this great city of ours. I've always stood by this. I love Philadelphia and we want to continue to service Philadelphia with the best security professionals there are. Thank you. )

Thank you. Jim, don't talk about your wife.

No, we're good. Jim Pio. I work with Signal Security. I'm the Chief Marketing Officer for the state of Pennsylvania, New Jersey. Unique background about me. Some of the members up here know me, but Mr. Chairman, thank you for the time also honorable members, thank you so much for letting us speak to this today. I was a security officer. Before I was a chief marketing officer, I was a security business owner. So I owned the Philadelphia region in our franchise. I recently sold my business in April and stayed on with the team to be the marketing officer. As an owner and as an officer of the company, I've provided the training to a lot of our team members. And I run that training -- to the gentleman on my right, I run the training very similar. I'm very blessed to have a wonderful wife and two children and I would want to know that if I put them out in the world, that the folks that I train could make sure they are safe. So our training to say is robust. I think everyone in this room could agree that we all want our security officers to be trained. No matter what side of the fence you sit on this issue, whoever you're with here today, we all want trained, competent individuals. The way we go about that in my business and the way we take care of our people, you're 40 hours minimum in classroom training, that's any officer. I've administered that training. And yet again, continuing education. Every year we have numerous officer paths. I've had the distinct honor and privilege of employing a tremendous amount of young men and women in this city that otherwise had very little opportunity, that may have only had a GED. I didn't go to college. I didn't have that opportunity either, but I was very blessed that I knew work ethic, work hard, promotions, work hard, things get better. That's what I've tried to teach my folks. Aside from just basic security officer training, I'm teaching them life skills. I have that tremendous opportunity. Again, I teach these boys how to iron shirts. I've hemmed pants for women that were a little bit shorter and they didn't make pants that were short enough, I got down, chalked that line, took it to the sewing machine and sewed it for her.

(Inaudible).

Well, I've done that and I'm very proud to have done that. We provide tuition reimbursement. We do CPR. We do first-aid. I do what's called an AAP program. That's Attendance, Appearance, Performance. I want you to know how to show up, show up looking good and performance, and that's continuing training. Anyone that goes through my AAP program can receive $1 an hour raise 30 days from employment, whatever they started at, a dollar raise in 30 days as long as they showed up in uniform and did their training. In 90 days I do it again every time I do that program. I retro pay them every dollar they would have made from the day they started with me. Once they go through AAP, I give them the opportunity to be a manager, be a supervisor. To the Councilman, my supervisors make between 70,000 to $120,000 a year. I'm not ashamed to say that my entry level officers are in that $18 to $20 an hour range. Not ashamed to say that. Three times the minimum wage for most of my employees, the vast majority. I'd be happy to answer any questions. I know the chamber has provided some of our training programs. But again, I thank you all for listening to my testimony. I hope it was insightful.

Thank you. Thank you so much. And we appreciate your testimony and I really appreciate the people who took their names off the list because I think we've heard a lot from all sides of this argument. Is there anybody else here to testify? (No response.)

Seeing none, that will conclude our hearing and we now will go into a public meeting. I do want to acknowledge and thank the sponsor Councilmember Thomas and his ability, willingness to continue to work on this legislation. Obviously, we hear that there's more work to be done and we thank him for his willingness to do that and work with the stakeholders in order to get the legislation necessary to possibly be voted by on Councilmembers. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Driscoll for a motion on the amendment to this Bill No. 23 250646.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I offer an amendment to Bill No. 250646. A copy of the amendment has been circulated to all members of the committee. I move that the amendment to Bill No. 7 250646 be approved. (Duly seconded.)

It has been moved and properly seconded that the amendment to Bill 12 No. 250646 be approved. All those in favor signify by saying aye. (Aye.)

Those opposed? (No response.)

The ayes have it and the amendment to Bill No. 250646 has been approved. Chair recognizes Councilmember Driscoll for a motion on Bill No. 250646 as amended.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that Bill No. 4 250646 as amended be reported from this committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended to permit first reading of this bill at the next session of Council. (Duly seconded.)

It has been moved and properly seconded that Bill No. 250646 as amended be reported from this committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended to permit the first reading of this bill at the next session to Council. All those in favor signify by saying aye. (Aye.)

Those opposed? (No response.)

The ayes have it and the motion carries. (Applause.)

Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Driscoll for a motion on Bill No. 250654.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that Bill No. 16 250654 be reported from this committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended to permit first reading of this bill at the next session of Council. (Duly seconded.)

It has been moved and properly seconded that Bill No. 250654 be reported from this committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended to permit first reading of this bill at the next session of Council. All those in favor signify by saying aye. (Aye.)

Those opposed? (No response.)

The ayes have it and the motion carries. That will conclude the meeting business before the Committee today. Thank you all very much for your attendance. (Committee on Commerce and Economic Development concluded at 4:28 p.m.) C E R T I F I C A T I O N I, hereby certify that the proceedings and evidence noted are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me in the foregoing matter, and that this is a correct transcript of the same. __________________________________ TANEHA CARROLL