March 2006

REPORT ON ACTIONS TAKEN AT FEBRUARY 20, 2006 MEETING

1.  Minutes.  The minutes to the January 16, 2006 meeting were approved as submitted.

2.   Break-up of the Los Angeles Unified School District.  Following a discussion led by Senator George Runner and Assembly Member Keith Richman on their identical bills which propose a plan for reorganizing the LAUSD into smaller units not exceeding 50,000 students, the following motion was made and passed:

      MSP [Goldwater/McCarthy]  [Unanimous]:  To support the concept of reorganizing the Los Angeles Unified School District, as embodied in SB 1326 (Runner - R, Antelope Valley) and AB 2071 (Richman - R, Simi Valley); and to authorize use of UCC’s name as a supporter of both bills by both legislators.
Ross Hopkins, co-chair of the GAC, will serve as the point person on this issue for UCC, with the two legislators.

3.   Proposition 82 - “Pre-School for All” Initiative.  Following discussion, the following motion was made and passed:

      MSP [Bursk/Vierck] [Unanimous]: To oppose Proposition 82, the “Pre-School for All” initiative, which has been approved for placement on the June 6, 2006 Primary Election ballot, and to authorize UCC to join the Stop the Reiner Initiative Coalition, being sponsored by the California Chamber of Commerce and other business and taxpayer organizations.

4.   Governor’s Proposal to Raise the Minimum Wage.  The Governor’s proposal, as embodied in Senator Abel Maldonaldo’s SB 1162, was discussed, and background provided on his motivation behind it.  The proposal seeks to increase the state’s minimum wage $1, from $6.75 to $7.75 over a two year period, but not provide for the automatic inflation adjustments that are included in AB 1835 (Lieber) and AB 1844 (Chavez) and two initiatives currently being circulated for placement on the June or November 2006 ballot.

      The impetus for the bill is the Governor’s belief that a minimum wage proposal would likely be passed by voters, and is thus inevitable.  His strategy is win support for an increase while forestalling the automatic trigger, which would have far more serious effects on businesses.

      Committee members were reminded that UCC’s current position is to oppose both the increase and the automatic trigger.   The following motion was made, but failed to pass:

      MSF [Simon/Vitti] [3 yes – 8 no]: To support the Governor’s proposal as a defense against the two bills and two initiatives.

      As a result of this vote, UCC’s position on the minimum wage remains unchanged.  The committee co-chairs will thus advocate against the two state Assembly bills and the two initiatives, should they qualify for the June or November 2006 ballot.

5.  Infrastructure Proposals.  Due to the late hour, discussion on this item was put over to the March 20 meeting.  Sean McCarthy will give his report on the Mobility 21 Conference he recently attended on UCC’s behalf, written copies of which were attached to the February 20 GAC Agenda.  Committee members were asked to bring this report with them to the March meeting.  Committee Co-Chair Dorena Knepper distributed two additional documents relating to this issue:

• Newsclip from the Daily News (Feb. 16 issue), describing the key infrastructure bills that the Legislature will be acting on in the next month; and

• Excerpt from the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce’s newsletter, reporting its action in support of infrastructure bonds.

Committee members were asked to bring these hand-outs with them to the March meeting as well.