Note: On February 15, 2022 the Human Services Commission was eliminated.

meeting agendas

For previous meeting agendas, please look at the City's meeting calendar. To isolate just the Human Services Commission agendas, scroll down to the drop down menu and select the Commission by name and the relevant date window you'd like.

Commission Duties

The Human Services Commission (formerly the Human Rights Commission) was established to implement the San José Human Rights Policy and to develop programs promoting the fulfillment of human rights in the City. The commission studied, reviewed, evaluated and made recommendations to the City Council relative to all matters affecting human rights including discrimination, equal employment opportunity policies and practices, and recommended courses of action regarding the City’s equal opportunity and equal access efforts and its programs relating to City employment.

The City Council is the final decision-making body and the Human Services Commission acted in an advisory capacity to the Council and worked with staff members of the City Manager’s Office.

Meetings

The commission met on the third Thursday of the month at 6:15 p.m., City Hall Tower Conference Room 1753. On average, commissioners spent five hours a month attending monthly meetings and an additional seven hours per month on commission business.

Commission Work Plan

To understand what the Commission was working on, take a look at the FY 2019-2020 work plan.

Member Qualification

The Commission consisted of thirteen members who were representative of the entire community and who had an interest and commitment to human rights concerns. Each member served a three year term. All members must be residents of San José.

There was no compensation for the members of the Human Rights Commission. However, from time to time, commissioners could be reimbursed for some expenses incurred on City business.

Political Reform Act

The Conflict of Interest Section of the Political Reform Act applies to the Human Rights Commission. However, commissioners were not required to file a Statement of Economic Interests (Form 700).

Appointment

All applications received were submitted to the Project Diversity Screening Committee for review according to the needs of the commission as specified in a Needs Assessment Memo. Applications were forwarded to the city attorney for a conflict of interest review and thereafter, the applicants were asked to appear before the Screening Committee members for an interview. Following interviews, the Screening Committee developed a list of applicants which was submitted to the council member liaison to the commission. The liaison forwarded the list to the Rules Committee of Council either with or without a supplemental recommendation. The City Council made the final appointment to the commission based on Rules Committee recommendations.

Attendance

Commission Members were expected to attend all Commission Meetings. San José Municipal Code Section 2.08.060 specifies that a Commissioner who has unexcused absences from any three consecutive regular meetings, or 20% of the meetings in a calendar year, is deemed to have resigned from the Commission.

Additional Information

• Official List
• Agendas/Minutes

For more information, please reach out to Sabrina Parra-Garcia, Executive Analyst with the City Manager's Office at 408-535-8171 or sabrina.parra-garcia@sanjoseca.gov.

Archived Agendas