Sacramento Trip 2006

Thank you the Metropolitan Water District for sponsorship of our trip. 

Report by Joe Vitti, Granada Hills Chamber

UCC Presentation Packet for Legislators
This year, the United Chambers of Commerce (UCC) attendees presented to each of the invited legislators a packet of material prepared specifically for this trip. The content of this packet included a brief description of what the UCC is and the business community it represents. In addition, one page summary arguments on each of the 6 issues recently considered by the UCC were included in the packet.
To download your own packet, click here. 

Briefly, the issues are:

1] Infrastructure
UCC believes in the overwhelming importance of transportation above all other elements, in the Infrastructure Bond being considered by the legislators for the November ballot.  UCC also supports funding to stabilize the fragile levees in the Bay-Delta, which is the backbone of the water delivery system into Southern California, and supports surface water storage located south of the Bay-Delta for use in dry-years or catastrophic failure of the levees in the event of an earthquake.

2] Breakup of the LAUSD
UCC supports the identical bills of Senator George Runner (SB 1326 ) and Assembly Member Keith Richman (AB 2017) that would breakup the LAUSD into 15 districts of about 50,000 students by the year 2010

3] Redistricting
UCC supports redistricting of the state legislative district boundaries as presented in the March 9,2006, State Constitutional Amendment-3 (SCA-3)of Senator Lowenthal. The current district boundaries have resulted in "safe" seats contributing to legislative gridlock.

4] Four-day Workweek
UCC supports AB 2217( Villines) and SB 1254(Ackerman) to provide flexibility in overtime rules to permit individual employees and employers to agree on a 4 day 40 hour work week.

5] Minimum Wage
UCC is against any increase in the minimum wage and does not support SB1167 (Maldonado), AB 1835(Lieber), or SB1162(Cedillo)

6] Term Limits
UCC's position is to support longer term limits for state legislators. It will provide more continuity and institutional memory and decrease reliance on special interest lobbyists.
 

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April 24,2006

Meetings with Legislators - State Capital Meeting Room 125
During our meetings with our guests we provided them 5 to10 minutes for their opening remarks. We then discussed the UCC positions on the above 6 issues. We found this to be more effective use of the brief time we had [about 30 minutes], to advocate our point of view.

10:00AM - 10:30AM
Frank "Fred" Aguiar - Governor's Staff - Cabinet Secretary
Fred is the governor's liaison to all 12 Cabinet members. He discussed the Infrastructure Bond that Governor Schwarzenegger proposed for the 10 year growth plan for the State. Estimates vary but an increase of 20 million people is expected in California in the next 20 years. Major infrastructure programs have been delayed for decades and the Governor is pressing hard to deal with this major issue. Transportation, Education, Levees, Affordable Housing, and Water Storage funding were all considered in the Bond measure. The size of the Bond has been reduced significantly to between $30-35 billion dollars and it is expected to be on the November ballot. The Water Storage funding is not included in the Bond due to strong objections from the Democrats.

10:30AM - 11:00AM
Senator George Runner  (R-17)
George was pleased with the UCC support of the LAUSD Breakup bill SB1326. He met with the Governor on Wednesday of the previous week and said the Governor also supports the bill. He told us that the Governor was "off script" with his comment that he would sign the Romero Bill giving Mayor Villaraigosa leadership of the LAUSD. However he is pleased with the mayor's effort to impose change on the LAUSD. Runner spoke with Susan Kennedy, Chief of Staff to the Governor, to confirm this "off script" comment by Schwarzenegger.  The Senator also suggested that a petition drive to breakup the district may get under way in the future if there is not sufficient support for the proposed Breakup legislation. 

11:30am - 12 noon
Elizabeth Hill - State Legislative Analyst
Elizabeth Hill is the Chief Legislative Analyst with a department of 52 employees that has been working for the state 30 years. This nonpartisan office provides fiscal and programmatic expertise and does an analysis annually of the state's budget. It also prepares special reports and does the fiscal analysis of all measures on the state ballot. She told us that the proposed state budget has an operating deficit of $4-5 billion dollars. In addition her office estimates that the state faces a $40 -70 billion dollar unfunded liability and has recommended that the state needs about $5 billion dollars a year to deal with this issue.

1:30PM - 2:00PM
Brian Kelly - Staff to Senator Don Perata (D-9)
Brian gave us some conceptual estimates of the revised Infrastructure Bond that the legislators are currently discussing. Total amount $30 -$35 billion: $12- $15 billion for transportation; $10 billion for education; $2 billion for Affordable Housing; the remainder for Levees. "Design Build" will be an element for some of the projects. He expects the Democratic and Republican leaders will come up with a comprise Bond that will be on the November ballot.

2:00PM- 2:30 PM
Keith Richman (R-38)
Keith thanked us for the support of the LAUSD breakup bill. The first Infrastructure Bond was filled with pork. He said private/public partnerships, the Design Build approach, and improving the permitting process are needed to help satisfy our transportation needs.  He also pointed out the Sacramento River is pouring out thousands of gallons of fresh water a second and the state needs to do more to capture more fresh water in storage facilities to satisfy our increasing water consumption needs.  Legislation is also proposed to close the loophole in the Prop. 42 funds to ensure that all the monies collected would go only to transportation projects.  He said the Governor will veto the minimum wage bills and most Republicans will not vote for any of them. Keith also repeated the warnings of the Legislative Analyst's office about the state's growing unfunded liability.
He also added that the LAUSD also has a growing $10 billion dollar funding liability. He said the pension retirement benefits should be changed by increasing eligibility for retirement to age 65 from 55. He pointed out that if the LAUSD goes bankrupt it becomes the state's problem.

2:30PM-3:00PM
Edward G. Heidig- General Counsel and Deputy Secretary for Business, Transportation and Housing Agency
Ed works closely with Sunne Wright McPeak. She is in the Governor's cabinet and is Secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing Agency.  Sunne is a Democrat and Ed a Republican.  He said she is doing a good job and he works well with her. Governor Schwarzenegger has appointed a number of Democrats to key positions including his Cabinet Chief of Staff Susan Kennedy.  Sunne has significantly improved the permitting process time from 120 days to about 60 days by changing the timing requirements of less critical information.  He repeated the major stumbling block to the Bond Infrastructure measure was the Water Storage issue. He pointed out that 1 out of every 7 people work in transportation and the state is the truck line to the rest of the country. They recognize that Transportation must be supported heavily by the Bond Infrastructure funding. His estimate was for 15 million more people in California by 2021.

3:00PM- 3:30PM
Michael Mendez  - Senior Assistant to Cindy Montanez (D-9)
Cindy was in committee meetings. We had a brief discussion with Michael and requested he present Cindy with the UCC position papers. He said he would.

3:30PM-4:00PM
Lance Christensen - Legislative Assistant to Senator Tom McClintock (R-19)
Senator McClintock was in committee meetings. We had a brief discussion with Lance about the Senators 3 Principles of Public Debt that should be kept in mind when fixing the current fiscal situation.  Those principles are: (1) Bonds should only be used for capital projects with a useful life at least equal to the debt service.  (2) State bonds should be used only for projects that benefit the entire state. Projects that exclusively benefit local communities should be paid for exclusively by those communities.  (3) Revenue bonds, not general obligation bonds, should be used for capital-intensive projects that provide direct services to distinct users. We asked him to present the UCC position papers to Tom and he said he would. 

4:00PM-4:30PM
Nate Solov - Legislative Director and Joshua Townsend- Press Secretary for Assemblymember Fran Pavley (D-41)
Fran was also in committee meetings. Nate indicated that she is a supporter of the 405HOV lane and also extending the Metrolink. She is termed out and plans to run for State Senator Sheila Kuehl's (D-23) seat. Nate and Joshua will discuss the UCC position papers with the assemblymember.

4:30PM- 5:00PM
Dan C. Dunmoyer  Deputy Chief of Staff - Senior Advisor for Policy Development for Governor Schwarzenegger.
Dan confirmed that the Infrastructure Bond measure is expected to get to the ballot in November and it will be in the neighborhood of $30- $40 billion dollars. Negotiations are ongoing and both sides are compromising. He said that it will include Transportation, Education and Levee funds but no money for Water storage. Dan said Arnold plans to keep promoting his "Strategic Growth Plan" and believes improvement in transportation is the biggest challenge.
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April 25,2006

Sacramento Convention Center
80th Sacramento Host Breakfast
Highlight -Speech by Governor Schwarzenegger
For 80 years the Sacramento Host Breakfast has offered decision making leaders in the state to get together and exchange views. The highlight of the morning is a speech by the Governor. Schwarzenegger was sworn in as the 38th Governor in November of 2003 and was making his 3rd appearance at the Host Breakfast. Arnold made an excellent presentation to the 1500 or so business leaders from around the state. He made the following points supporting his view that things have significantly improved in California since he took over.

*Workmen's compensation costs have been reduced by 40%
* The $22 billion debt 2 1/2  years ago has been significantly reduced
* He has brought democrats and republicans together to help solve some of the states problems
* Revenues have increase from $76billion to  $94billion
* 577,000 new jobs have been created
* He has vetoed over a dozen "Job Killer" bills
* He has reduced the structural deficit from $16 billion to $4 billion
* Prop 42 - all money is now going for transportation
* 3000 Mega Watts of Solar power is planned for the state
* The plans are being developed for the Hydrogen Highway

Arnold said "if you don't have a plan, then you have a plan to fail" He went on to discuss his "Strategic Growth Plan" that includes major improvement to our transportation systems, our ports, and the educational system. He asked why is it necessary for the Silicon Valley companies to go overseas to get talented people?
He explained that the condition of the levee system in the Sacramento delta is one earthquake away from a $100 billion dollar cost to the Federal government. It will also significantly impact the water supply resources for Southern California. He said he will continue to bug the Federal government for monies to fix the levee problem. He was turned down a couple of weeks ago by President Bush for a preemptive federal disaster declaration. However, the Army Corps of Engineers is going to help with levee repairs. He also said we need to add more state prison capacity.
He closed by saying we need a massive Infrastructure building plan to meet the needs of the 50 million people that are expected to live in the state by 2025.

Address by Phil Angelides - Treasurer, State of California
Phil Angelides worked in California State government from 1975 to 1983. He was in the private sector running a successful development company through the 80's. In 1991 he became the chair of the California democratic Party and was elected State Treasurer in 1998. His remarks focused primarily on his candidacy for Governor and how he will be a business friendly governor. He pledged to eliminate "red tape" from the government bureaucracy.

California Chamber of Commerce- Breakout Session
Updating Infrastructure: Highways, Housing, Water, Energy & Ports
I attended this particular session of the 6 concurrent sessions offered by the California Chamber. Infrastructure has been the topic of discussion since the Governor proposed a $222 billion plan. The question is can a compromise be worked out to place an infrastructure bond on the November ballot.
Session Moderator: David Ackerman 
Infrastructure speakers: Moira Topp- Deputy Legislative Secretary, Office of the Governor & Senator Alan Lowenthal (D-27)
Moira Topp is the chief lobbyist for the Governor and explained how the she has been working with Senator Perata and others to develop an Infrastructure Bond measure acceptable to all the parties involved. Prop 42 funds will be used only for transportation needs and the $1 billion owed to Prop 42 will be paid back. A key component of the Strategic Growth Plan is to consider the importance of "goods movement." Also innovative financing, Design Build projects and public/private financing plans are to be used when possible.
Senator Lowenthal agreed with much of what Moira had to say.  He believes that a new Infrastructure Bond measure will be on the November ballot. He thought that in a few weeks or less compromises on the many issues will be worked out with acceptable language for the leaders of both parties. Some of the Sticking points according to Lowenthal were: Design Build vs Design Sequencing; Private/Public Partnerships; Prop. 42; CEQA revisions: Water Storage Issues; Environmental Protection; Toll Roads; Education; Affordable Housing etc.  A 2/3 vote is needed by the legislature for Bond approval so Schwarzenegger will need Democratic and Republican support for the Infrastructure Bond.

Town Hall meeting - Fabian Nunez Speaker of California State Assembly and George Plescia -Republican floor Leader California State Assembly
George Plescia and Fabian Nunez were in agreement as far as the need to have the Infrastructure Bond on the November Ballot. Nunez said he realizes much of the credit for the success of the Bond measure will go to the Governor but he is driven by what is good for the state and is committed to getting it on the ballot. Nunez also said he is in favor of redistricting and an increase in term limits to 12 years. Plescia agreed and said legislators need time to develop trust with other legislators. When asked about the most effective way to get a legislator’s attention on an issue Plescia said that "phones ringing off the hook" was on the top of the list.
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