Developing Worker Opportunity to Own legislation: SF's proposed Worker Opportunity to Purchase Act

Hope Williams (the Sustainable Economies Law Center) and Paola Eisner (co-op attorney, Tuttle Law Group, SF) will review nationwide efforts to develop worker Opportunity to Own (OTO) legislation, including the proposed federal Employee Ownership Financing Act and Massachusetts and Rhode Island proposed OTO Acts. They will also discuss their California coalition's ongoing efforts to create and pass the Worker Opportunity to Purchase Act (WOPA) in San Francisco. The panelists will discuss WOPA's substantive provisions; as well as the ongoing political and organizing  process the team is working though to get the Act passed.

Presenter and Moderator Bios

Presenter: Hope Williams, Director of Legislative Advocacy, Sustainable Economies Law Center

Hope Williams is the Director of Legislative Advocacy at the Sustainable Economies Law Center. As a black queer woman in the Bay Area she is devoted to housing rights and organizing people-power to fight the oppressive white supremacist regime. She spends most of her time making sure that the law is accessible to the people. She is a San Francisco City Commissioner and serves as a board member for both the San Francisco Community Land Trust and California Community Land Trust Network. Her background includes managing political campaigns, organizing within the boycott division of UniteHere!, organizing endorsements for Berkeley's Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act, and coalescing with tenants rights organizations. In her spare time, she secretly trains people on how to get arrested through coordinated acts of civil disobedience.

Presenter: Paola Eisner, Co-op Attorney, Tuttle Law Group, LLP

Paola Eisner provides transactional legal services to cooperatives and other mission-aligned businesses as an attorney at Tuttle Law Group (TLG). TLG is based in San Francisco, California. Paola advises different kinds of co-ops, including worker and union co-ops, agricultural co-ops, and housing co-ops. Paola also enjoys working on legislative drafting and policy development. Paola is on the board of the Co-op Professionals Guild and is on the steering committee of Cooperation Richmond. You can reach Paola at paola@cooplawgroup.com.

Moderator: Wayne Sine, CPA, MBA, Education Director, National Society of Accountants for Cooperatives

After retiring as Tax Director of a regional supply cooperative on the East Coast, Wayne Sine was asked to serve as Education Director for NSAC. As an active and long-term member of NSAC, Wayne previously served as Chair of NSAC’s Tax Committee, President of the Atlantic Chapter, and was a recipient of NSAC’s Silver Bowl Award. In addition to his work with NSAC, Wayne has also served on the Legal, Tax, and Accounting (LTA) Committee of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, Chaired the Tax Committees for both the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and the Virginia Manufacturers Association, served on the Tax Policy Committee of the Virginia Society of CPAs, and served as Region Vice President for Tax Executives Institute.