Representing Lodi at the Cal Chamber Capitol Summit

Last Wednesday, CalChamber, the association of California Chambers of Commerce, hosted an amazing event in Sacramento that featured informative speakers and panels and a chance to connect with business leaders and advocates from around the state. I was fortunate to be able to attend the Summit, and the Lodi District Chamber of Commerce was recognized as a leader in advocacy efforts in support of its members and our community!

Lodi Chamber Receives Advocacy Champion Award
The Lodi Chamber has proven itself as a leader in advocating for our businesses locally as well as at the state level. This might be the most important, but at times, least visible activity of our Chamber.
“Communities look to their local chambers to be problem solvers for the community,” said Nick Ortiz, CalChamber vice president of local chamber relations. “The Advocacy Champion chambers stepped up

to the plate in a big way.”

Advocacy Champions published the voting records of their state legislators on key business issues, joined coalition efforts to let state elected officials know about community sentiment on issues of interest to

members, voiced the local chamber’s position at legislative policy committee hearings and met with state elected officials on important policy issues. I want to send a special Thank you to our former CEO Pat Patrick for his leadership and energy around this critical piece of Chamber work.

Speaker: Dan Walters – Cal Matters: The Current Political Climate in the California Legislature
Anyone who has visited Calmatters.org has surely come across the thoughtful opinion pieces from Dan Walters (check out his current piece on the CA budget squeeze here). His talk at the Summit was about the push and pull that is currently going on between Gov Newsom and the progressive wing of the Democratic Party that has gained increasing political influence over the past few election cycles. He discussed that many of the pieces of the progressive legislative agenda are on hold as the inflows into the State coffers are shrinking rapidly, and a budget surplus is turning into an ever-growing deficit. Mr Walters foresees that this conflict will continue through the remainder of Gov Newsom’s term. He predicts that decisions will have to be made to either significantly raise income taxes, which voters have largely rejected, or to continue to put a freeze on new bills and programs that require additional spending above and beyond what has been budgeted, which will anger the progressives in the legislature.

Speaker: Dee Dee Myers – GO-Biz Director: The State of California’s Economy and Vision for the Future
Dee Dee Myers once served as the White House Press Secretary under Bill Clinton. She has also authored a best-selling book Why Women Should Rule the World. She is director of California GO-biz (Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development), and a special assistant to Governor Newsom. She touted California’s competitive advantage of the centralization of high-tech company headquarters and talented workforce that continue to help power the state. She acknowledges that the challenge of housing affordability has had an effect on growth and that new strategies are needed to ensure that California can continue to attract world-class companies and talent.

Housing Affordability Roundtable Discussion
The CalChamber members requested that the afternoon roundtable discussion focus on housing, and this theme weaved throughout all the speakers and discussion. It feels that housing touches all the issues that are important to Californians including inflation, homelessness, housing cost, and the environment. The panel included Assembly Member Buffy Wicks, State Senator Scott Wiener, Sac Metro Chamber CEO Amanda Blackwood, and from the Los Angeles Area Chamber, Patricia Torres Bruno. The panel was moderated by Micah Weinberg, CEO of California Forward. They discussed some of the bills that have been authored by Member Wicks and Senator Wiener including SB-423 (Opposed by the League of California Cities) and SB-4 (No formal position taken by the Chamber as of yet) aimed at increasing housing supply. Patricia Bruno from the LA Area said it is taking 7 years and costing $750K per unit to build ‘affordable’ housing in her region. CEO Amanda Blackwood touted the successful campaign for Measure O that is set to go into effect in a little over a month.

One-on One Meeting with Assemblyman Heath Flora
A special shout-out to Asm. Flora for taking a few minutes to meet with me at his office. Asm. Flora is a tremendous representative for our district, and his experience as a farmer and as a fire-fighter gives him a well-rounded perspective on the needs of his constituents in both the public and private sectors. The Lodi District Chamber of Commerce looks forward to supporting Asm Flora’s efforts in fighting for common sense and pro-growth legislative action in Sacramento. Asm Flora had a perfect 17-0 voting record on major bills that CalChamber had taken a position on. The Lodi Chamber cannot ask for a better partner in terms of advocating for our local businesses at the State Capitol. Thank you, Assemblyman for all that you do!

Energized & Ready to Continue our Fight for Lodi Business
I came out of the Summit energized and ready to lend our support behind the efforts of CalChamber and our elected officials to tackle some of the large issues affecting our state such as housing affordability, reform of PAGA, and streamlining the permitting processes for both large infrastructure and standard residential and commercial development projects.