1 agenda

Please consider adding your business to the list. The SWCLC is fully funded by sponsorships from various private organizations and businesses. The SWCLC exists solely because of the contributions of these proactive organizations and businesses located throughout the region.

Without their support the actions of the SWCLC would not be possible.

MEETING AGENDA

Monday, January 28, 2013 Ortega Adult School Multipurpose Room

520 Chaney Street, Lake Elsinore, CA 92530

Presiding: Dennis Frank, Chair

2013 Strategic Initiatives Budget & Tax Reform / Job Creation and Retention / Healthcare Reform

Call to Order, Roll Call & Introductions:

Chair Report

Agenda Items

1. Approval of November 2012 Meeting Minutes Action

2. SWCLC 2013 Strategic Initiatives Action

3. SWCLC 2013 Policy Platform Action

4. SWCLC 2013 Operating Procedures Action

5. Legislative Report #1 Action

1. AB 23 (Donnelly-R) / AB 124 (Morrell-R)/ SB 17 (Gaines-R) State Responsibility Areas: fire prevention fees

2. AB42 (Perea-D) / SB 30 (Calderon-D) Taxation: Cancellation of indebtedness: mortgage debt forgiveness

3. ACR1 / AB27 (Medina-D) / SB21(Roth-D) University of California: UC Riverside Medical School: funding

4. AB25 (Campos-D) Employment: social media

5. SB 56 (Roth-D & Emmerson-R): Local Government Finance

6. CARB / Riverside & UCR Relocation letter

6. SR74 / I-5 Interchange Information

7. 241 Toll Road Extension / Jeff Bott, Transportation Corridor Agencies Information

8. Op-ed's on CEQA Reform / Steinberg Support Information

9. Regional Legislator, Staff and Stakeholder Updates Information Federal: Senators Feinstein & Boxer. Representatives Calvert & Hunter State: Governor Brown, Senators Emmerson, Anderson & Roth, Assemblymembers Melendez, Waldron, Jones & Nestande Local: County, Cities, Utilities, EDC, Healthcare, League of Cities

10. Chamber & Council Member Announcements Information

11. Lunch Sponsor Freddy Ray's BBQ Eat There

Adjourn – Next meeting February 25th, 2013

The Southwest California Legislative Council Thanks Our Partners:

Southwest Riverside Country Association of Realtors Metropolitan Water District of Southern California Near-Cal Corporation Economic Development Corp of Southwest California

Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District The Gas Company Abbott Vascular The Murrieta Temecula Group Temecula Valley Chamber of Commerce Murrieta Chamber of Commerce

Lake Elsinore Valley Chamber of Commerce Wildomar Chamber of Commerce Southern California Edison Loma Linda University Medical Center Southwest Healthcare Systems Walmart

http://southwestca.biz/

http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB23&search_keywords=


http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTrackingEdit.xhtml

http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140SB17&search_keywords=




http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140ACR1&search_keywords=






http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist12/ortega.html

https://www.thetollroads.com/whatshappening/241completion.php

http://www.caeconomy.org/reporting/entry/where-things-stand-on-ceqa-steinberg-still-pushing-for-reform

http://www.freddyraysbbq.com/

https://www.facebook.com/SWCLC

Southwest California Legislative Council


2013 Planning Session Murrieta Chamber of Commerce

Temecula Valley Chamber of Commerce Lake Elsinore Chamber of Commerce

Wildomar Chamber of Commerce Meeting Minutes

November 26, 2012

Legislative Consultant: Gene Wunderlich 2012 Chair: Dennis Frank Directors Attendance:

Steve Amante, Amante & Associates Alex Braicovich, CR & R, Inc. Glen Daigle, Oakgrove Equities Jeff George, Superior Quality Construction Michael Klein, Nigro & Nigro Isaac Lizarraga, Rancho Ford Lincoln Tony Lopicolo, First Citizens Bank

Don Murray, Commerce Bank of Temecula Valley Karie Reuther, Granite Construction Joan Sparkman, Mt. San Jacinto College Gary Thornhill, Tierra Verde Tommy Thompson, Building Industry Association Roger Ziemer, The Gas Company

Directors Absent: Nicole Albrecht, Financial Accounting Services Staff Present: Alice Sullivan, Laura Turnbow – Temecula Valley Chamber of Commerce Patrick Ellis– Murrieta Chamber of Commerce Meeting called to order at: 12:10 by Chairman Dennis Frank 1. Approval of Minutes

The motion was made to approve the meeting minutes from the October 2012 meeting as written. The motion was seconded by a unanimous vote.

2. 2012 Wrap-Up

Legislator Report Card - Wunderlich provided a report card of items tracked and vote record for each legislator. A total of 92 bills were tracked, an increase from the prior year.

Bill Tracker – Wunderlich provided a recap. Wunderlich will add a column in the 2013 Bill Tracker which states which strategic initiative each bill pertains to.

State and Federal Focus - Representatives from Congressman Hunter and Congressman Calvert have stated an interest in attending meetings in 2013.

SWCLC Perception and role in community - The SWCLC has gained momentum and the reputation of the council is positive.


3. Strategic Plan

Strategic Initiatives - Directors were surveyed regarding their top three strategic initiatives for 2013. Based upon a vote the 2013 Strategic Initiatives for 2013 are: 1. Job Creation and Business Retention 2. Healthcare 3. Budget and Tax Reform With the current party majority it is important to reach across party lines. Look at legislation proposed by Democratic legislators to determine if any fall within our policy platform.

Policy Platform – See 2013 Policy Platform for proposed changes.

4. 2013 Goals

Create a speakers bureau to increase awareness of SWCLC. Directors will make presentations at local city council meetings and other various local organizations. (Rotary, TVCVB, Temecula Wine Growers Assoc., EDC. Directors interested in participating in speakers’ bureau: Michael Klein, Glen Daigle, Kari Reuther, Alex Braicovich, Don Murray, Jeff George.

Schedule mayors and members of participating city councils to attend monthly meetings. Engage members by increasing awareness of SWCLC website. Reach out to other legislative coalitions for input on best practices. Send congratulatory letters to newly elected officials and invite them to participate in the SWCLC.

(Wunderlich and Frank to coordinate) Increase sponsor outreach to fund additional legislative activities. Work to author legislation in 2014 Increase visits to Sacramento. Coordinate with other agencies/businesses that travel to Sacramento

and request they carry our information to local legislators. Carry white papers to Sacramento and Washington Set meetings with key organizations, ie: CalTrans

1. Chamber Announcements

Temecula Chamber of Commerce Temecula - Member Appreciation is scheduled for Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at Pechanga Resort & Casino. A blood drive will be held on December 1oth at the TVCC office.

Murrieta Chamber of Commerce Murrieta - A press conference will be held to announce the new location for the Murrieta Chamber offices. The press conference will be held at the Murrieta Spectrum Center.

Lake Elsinore Chamber will host the SWCLC meetings in 2013. The meetings will be held at the Ortega Adult School, located on Chaney Street.

Motion to Adjourn at 1:15 p.m.


Southwest California Legislative Council Strategic Initiatives As of January 1, 20123

The focus of the SWCLC 2012 Policy platform will be to support these primary initiatives. However, any policy or legislative initiative that may impact local members will be considered.

Job Creation & Business Retention

Budget and Tax Reform

Healthcare Reform Environmental Reform


Southwest California Legislative Council Policy Platform

As of January 1, 20123

Labor and Employment (Job Creation & Retention)

1. Review and evaluate measures that reform the extraordinary costs of the state’s public pension system for the sake of the state’s overall fiscal health.

2. Monitor and review alternatives to (1) any proposed state minimum wage increases and (2) any local or state living wage ordinances.

3. Monitor and provide recommendations to the current workers’ compensation reform measures to reduce costs to businesses.

4. Consider and review responsible healthcare policy proposals that maximize free market forces, minimize mandates upon insurers and providers, and results in increased availability of healthcare coverage affordable for employers, employees and individuals.

5. Monitor and support measures that reform our state’s educational system and encourage local workforce preparation preparedness.

6. Advocate against the unwarranted and frivolous lawsuits on our businesses, consumers, taxpayers, and communities.

7. Monitor proposals that undermine the current process of guaranteeing secret-ballot elections for unionization such as card check.

Pro-business Leadership (Job Creation & Retention)

1. Monitor and review the process of redistricting reform in California elections to ensure competitiveness of the highly politicized process of drawing legislative and congressional districts.

1. Expand community outreach for the SWCLC by:

• establishing a speakers bureau to address City Council meetings and other local groups • encourage members to participate in Project Leadership and similar efforts to develop future leaders • include reference to the SWCLC in self-introductions at all Chamber and business functions • drive community, civic and business leaders to SWCLC website and social media updates • include appropriate groups in SWCLC Calls-to-Action

2. Review and evaluate local, statewide, and when appropriate, federal legislation as it pertains to the SWCLC’s policy priorities and communicate the information to all chambers’ membership.

3. Continue to enhance working relationships with local, state and federal representatives and their staffs.

4. Consider and review legislation that promotes standards of corporate governance that guide boards of directors and corporate officers in managing their corporations in a competent, ethical manner.

Taxation and Government Reform (Budget & Tax Reform)

1. Review and evaluate reform measures that solve the state budget’s continuing structural deficit that promotes real economic growth and job creation.

2. Encourage cooperation among government agencies, and work to streamline and reduce unnecessary or conflicting requirements of regulatory agencies.

3. Review and evaluate cost effective ways to privatize government services and public contracts while maintaining or improving standards.

4. Review and evaluate state and local fee & tax increases and new fee & tax categories affecting the regional business community.

5. Support and promote when appropriate the preparation of cost/benefit analysis ensuring economic impacts are weighed before the imposition of regulatory statutes.

6. Ensure that regulations on business are kept to a minimum and do not put regional businesses at a competitive disadvantage.


7. Encourage the protection of private property rights.

8. Support state programs that secure tax credits for targeted work training programs.

9. Consider and review policies that promote the outsourcing of essential public services by government agencies.

10. Support practical business accounting procedures at the state level when trying to balance the State Budget.

11. Review and evaluate social welfare policies that are expansive and unregulated throughout all levels of government.

Healthcare (Healthcare Reform)

1. Consider actions that preserve the current voluntary employer-provided health coverage system.

2. Continue the efforts to contain the costs of premiums.

3. Conform to federal law on health savings accounts.

4. Support legislation measures to allow employers to offer more affordable benefit plans that allow choices in coverage mitigate the impact of providing healthcare coverage consistent with the Affordable Care Act.

5. Support policies that prevent cost shifting from government-provided programs to the private sector.

6. Work to curb the expansion of litigation in the healthcare system.

Infrastructure Improvements

1. Review and evaluate policies that ensure the Southwest California region maintains a reputation as an attractive prosperous location for business; to balance employment and housing needs with natural resource preservation; and to plan and construct the community infrastructure necessary to support current and future business needs.

2. Monitor land use, planning, housing and zoning issues that affect the Southwest California regional business community.

3. Review and evaluate development projects within the Southwest California region.

4. Encourage an adequate supply of appropriate housing to meet the needs of the Southwest California region.

5. Review and evaluate reliable, stable, and competitively priced energy supplies for California’s businesses and consumers.

6. Review and evaluate water management and flood control policies that improve water quality as the result of comprehensive approaches that will reduce contaminants from water sources in a cost effective manner.

7. Review and evaluate policies that promote safe, clean, high quality, adequate and reliable water supplies supporting the needs of economic growth and quality of life in the Southwest California region.

8. Review and evaluate policies that promote the Southwest California region as the frontrunner of technological advances in any infrastructure improvements throughout the region.

Immigration Reform

1. Support efforts that create a guest worker program that is comprehensive, addressing both future economic needs for workers and the status of undocumented workers already in the United States.

2. Support the creation of an effective employment verification system that is fast and reliable and the impacts on Southwest

California businesses while understanding enforcement ramifications at the local, state and federal level.

3. Support policies that ensure all workers enjoy the same labor law protections.

4. Support policies that require all workers striving for citizenship to demonstrate a working knowledge of the English language and

American civic requirements.

5. Support policies that expand temporary visa programs for essential workers, creating paths to permanent residence for these workers and providing a way to earn legal status for the millions of undocumented workers already in the United States.


7. Support the wellness and disease management education programs.

8. Monitor and support policies that encourage continued medical discoveries and innovations that improve quality of care.

9. Work to improve the timeliness of hospital construction and to ensure costs associated with such construction are kept at reasonable rates.

10. Help to reform the state hospital construction review process and the archaic methods used to delay hospital readiness.

Transportation

1. Review and evaluate public and private sector transportation improvement plans that impact congestion on freeways, streets and roads, and ensure mobility within the Southwest California region.

2. Review and evaluate legislative and regulatory proposals that impact the automobile, trucking, rail, aviation, and maritime industries.

3. Review and evaluate legislation and regulatory proposals that might place the Southwest California logistics industry at a competitive disadvantage.

Environment

1. Support policies that recognize the importance of balancing environmental issues including green, solar and de-salination programs and their impacts on the public and private sector.

2. Monitor policies that ensure long-term positive impacts on environmental stability and the economic vitality of the Southwest California region.

3. Encourage responsible environmental regulations and the potential impacts on local governments and agencies.

Tourism and Business Expansion

1. Support a stronger relationship between with the Temecula Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Economic Development Corporation (EDC) serving of Southwest California Riverside County, the Southwest California Manufacturing Council, InSoCalConnect and the Cities of Temecula, Murrieta, Lake Elsinore and Wildomar in order to advertise promote and enhance the Southwest California region.

2. Support and promote policies to increase travel visits to the wine country and other areas of interest in order to help stimulate the local economy and provide jobs throughout the Southwest California region.

3. Review and evaluate policies that ensure that the Southwest California region maintains a reputation as an attractive and prosperous location for doing business.

4. Promote economic development opportunities in the Southwest California region for business retention, expansion and attraction.


Southwest California Legislative Council Operating Procedures As of January 1, 20123

I. Composition

The SWCLC board shall consist of 16 voting members, five representatives appointed by the board of directors from each of the three original founding chambers of commerce of the SWCLC and one seat appointed by the Wildomar Chamber of Commerce. The SWCLC voting membership shall be a general representative makeup of the total five four chambers and a balance of industry representation throughout the region.

The Chair position shall be assigned to one chamber for a two year term rotating thereafter among the three original chambers.

SWCLC board members shall serve a one (1) year term beginning January 1 and ending December 31, with no term limits.

The SWCLC board membership is open to all Chamber members in good standing. SWCLC meetings are open to all members of the four chambers. All elected officials, or their designees, representing the region or individual cities are ex officio, nonvoting members of the SWCLC.

II. Policy Platform

Each year, SWCLC shall develop a policy platform consistent with SWCLC’s mission statement of local, state, and federal legislative issues for the following year. The Policy Platform shall be used to track local, state and federal legislation that might have an impact on the Southwest California region. The Policy Platform shall be recommended to the Board of Directors of each chamber no later than their January meeting for discussion and approval.

III. Legislation Position Authority

Board of Directors

The Board of Directors of each chamber shall be updated each month of any legislative positions approved by SWCLC. The Board of Directors shall have the authority to excuse their chamber from any position of the SWCLC.

SWCLC board members shall have the authority on behalf of the Board of Directors of the four chambers, to approve any legislative positions that align with the approved policy platform consistent with SWCLC’s mission statement. Decisions shall be made by a simple majority vote of the SWCLC Board of Directors present.

Executive Committee of SWCLC

The SWCLC Chairman, the immediate Past Chair and the President/CEO of each of the original three chambers, shall have the authority, by a majority vote, to act on behalf of the SWCLC to approve any legislative positions that align with the policy platform consistent with SWCLC’s mission statement.

The SWCLC shall be notified of this action within 48 hours. SWCLC B o a r d o f D i r e c t o r s shall have the authority to modify any decision of the SWCLC Executive Committee at its next scheduled meeting.

IV. Voting Membership Vacancies

Prospective SWCLC board members may apply for openings by notifying the President/CEO of their


respective chamber. The SWCLC Chair, in consultation with the representatives of each of the four chambers, will appoint voting SWCLC board members to fill in vacancies during the year.

V. Attendance

SWCLC shall meet the third Monday of each month at noon. If a SWCLC member accumulates more than 3 unexcused absences a year, the member loses their voting privileges. An unexcused absence will be charged to members if notification to the SWCLC Chair is not made prior to the start of the SWCLC meeting.

VI. Minutes

Minutes will be kept at all SWCLC meetings.

VII. Quorum

A quorum shall consist of 9 voting members in attendance at any regularly scheduled meeting.

VIII. Amendments

The authority to modify and approve the SWCLC Operating Procedures shall be vested in the Board of Directors of each of the four chambers.


Legislative Report Item 1 Action Item

AB 23 (Donnelly-R) / AB 124 (Morrell-R)/ SB 17 (Gaines-R) State Responsibility Areas: fire prevention fees

Presentation: Gene Wunderlich Recommended action: SUPPORT

Background: Existing law requires the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, on or before September 1, 2011, to adopt emergency regulations to establish a fire prevention fee in an amount not to exceed $150 to be charged on each structure on a parcel that is within a state responsibility area, as defined, and requires that the fire prevention fee be adjusted annually using prescribed methods. Existing law requires the State Board of Equalization to collect the fire prevention fees, as prescribed, commencing with the 2011–12 fiscal year. Existing law establishes the State Responsibility Area Fire Prevention Fund and prohibits the collection of fire prevention fees if, commencing with the 2012–13 fiscal year, there are sufficient amounts of moneys in the fund to finance specified fire prevention activities for a fiscal year. Existing law requires that the fire prevention fees collected, except as provided, be deposited into the fund and be made available, to the board and the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection for certain specified fire protection activities that benefit the owners of structures in state responsibility areas who are required to pay the fee.

AB 124 Introduced by Assembly Member Morrell, (Principal Coauthor(s): Assembly Member Olsen), (Coauthor(s): Assembly Member Achadjian, Bigelow, Chávez, Dahle, Beth Gaines, Gorell, Grove, Hagman, Jones, Linder, Logue,Mansoor, Melendez, Nestande, Patterson, Wagner, Waldron, Wilk)

Summary: These bills are similar to last year's AB 1506 (Jeffries) SUPPORTED by the SWCLC in 2012. These bills seeks to repeal the above provisions relating to the $150 fire prevention fee adopted in 2011.

Supporting: None on file.

Opposing: None on file.

Status: Introduced - Pending referral


AB 42 (Perea-D) / SB 30 (Calderon-D) Taxation: Cancellation of indebtedness: mortgage debt forgiveness


Background: The Personal Income Tax Law conforms to specified provisions of the federal Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007, relating to the exclusion of the discharge of qualified principal residence indebtedness, as defined, from a taxpayer’s income if that debt is discharged after January 1, 2007, and before January 1, 2010, as provided. The federal Emergency Economic Stabilization












Act of 2008 extended the operation of those provisions to debt that is discharged before January 1, 2013. The measure was recently extended as part of the 'fiscal cliff' bill H.R.8, until January 1, 2014.

Summary: These bills are similar to last year's SB 708 (Corbett) SUPPORTED by the SWCLC in 2012. These bills seeks to bring California into compliance with the recently extended federal bill governing the discharge of debt through foreclosure, short sale or loan modification.

Senator Joel Anderson (R-San Diego) has joined Senator Ron Calderon (D-Montebello) as the principal co-author of Calderon’s Senate Bill 30, intended to shield thousands of families faced with losing their homes through a “short sale.”

“Over 90,000 Californians lost their home through short sale last year, and if we don’t do this bill, they will be taxed on the loss of their home. That is unreasonable,” said Anderson.

A short sale is when a lender agrees to forgive a homeowner of a portion of their mortgage debt when the home is sold for less than the mortgage owed. California’s tax structure currently treats the forgiven debt as income, requiring a tax payment on money never received.

SB 30 would bring the state’s tax law into conformity with federal tax law and relieve the borrower of having to claim as income the forgiven mortgage debt.

Supporting: California Association of Realtors




ACR1 / AB27 (Medina-D) / SB21(Roth-D) University of California: UC Riverside Medical School: funding


Background: ACR 1, as introduced, Medina. University of California: UC Riverside School of Medicine. This measure states that the University of California, Riverside School of Medicine serves an important role in the State of California by training a diverse workforce of physicians and providing health care to an underserved region.

WHEREAS, The mission of the University of California, Riverside (UCR) School of Medicine is to improve the health of the people of California and, especially, to serve Inland Southern California by training a diverse workforce of physicians and by developing innovative research and health care delivery programs that will improve the health of the medically underserved in the region and become models to be emulated throughout the state and the nation; and

WHEREAS, Inland Southern California is vastly undersupplied with respect to physicians and this region of California has the lowest supply of physicians per capita than any other region of the state, according to the California HealthCare Foundation; and

WHEREAS, In primary care specialties alone, many California counties have far fewer than the 60 to 80 primary care physicians per 100,000 people, which is considered sufficient to meet demand. The Inland Empire has approximately 40 primary care physicians per 100,000 residents; and

WHEREAS, Latinos, African Americans, and Native Americans are vastly underrepresented in the physician workforce, and, in the Inland Empire alone, more than 45 percent of the population is Latino, compared to just 5 percent of the physicians in the region; and

WHEREAS, Inland Southern California also faces a dire health situation, trailing behind much of the state in several key health indicators, including coronary heart disease and diabetes; and

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/13-14/bill/sen/sb_0001-0050/sb_30_bill_20121203_introduced.html

http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140ACR1&search_keywords=






WHEREAS, The UCR School of Medicine has received preliminary accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the national accrediting body for allopathic, or M.D.-granting, medical schools, which enables the UCR School of Medicine to begin recruiting students to enroll an inaugural class in August 2013; and

WHEREAS, To meet the region’s workforce needs and improve the health of the population, the UCR School of Medicine will capitalize on UCR’s nationally recognized diversity and the ethnic diversity of the region by expanding the educational pipeline into medicine; and

WHEREAS, The UCR School of Medicine will also expand UCR’s strength in basic health sciences research to build research expertise in population health and health outcomes research. Through its research, the UCR School of Medicine will address specific health care challenges within Inland Southern California, serving as a catalyst for community-based participatory research leading to innovations in population health, preventive care, and health outcomes; and

WHEREAS, UCR is building its medical school from a long history of training physicians in partnership with the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) David Geffen School of Medicine. The UCR/UCLA Thomas Haider Program in Biomedical Sciences currently educates 28 first-year and 28 second-year medical students. Operating for more than 30 years, this partnership with the UCLA School of Medicine has produced more than 700 physicians; and

WHEREAS, Drawing from UCR’s diverse undergraduate population, the UCR/UCLA Thomas Haider Program in Biomedical Sciences has established a successful track record of recruiting, retaining, and graduating highly qualified medical students from groups that are underrepresented in medicine. A significant number of programs and partnerships currently exist that serve potential medical school applicants through mentorship, pipeline programs, and leadership training; and

WHEREAS, The UCR School of Medicine will continue and expand existing programs, build new programs and partnerships, and track key data concerning the applicant pool and the matriculating students of each class of 50 students. As the UCR School of Medicine increases the class size to 50 students, drawing now from a much larger general applicant pool, the UCR School of Medicine will continue to support programs that enhance the pool of qualified applicants considered for admission; and

WHEREAS, The UCR School of Medicine will also partner with existing health care providers for clinical rotations and residency training, building on the relationships that UCR has already established with the region’s health care providers; and

WHEREAS, The full funding of the UCR School of Medicine would ensure the execution of a vision of the first medical school to be developed in California in more than 40 years, and the UCR School of Medicine is poised to transform medical education by training physicians that will be more attuned to the needs of increasingly diverse and underserved patient populations and will be an outstanding and much needed asset in the state of California; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the University of California, Riverside School of Medicine serves an important role in the State of California by training a diverse workforce of physicians and providing health care to an underserved region; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.

Existing provisions of the California Constitution establish the University of California as a public trust under the administration of the Regents of the University of California. The University of California system includes 10 campuses, which are located in Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz.

Summary: This bill is similar to last year's AB 1309 (Miller) SUPPORTED by the SWCLC.

This bill would appropriate $15,000,000 from the General Fund to the Regents of the University of California for allocation, without regard to fiscal year, to the School of Medicine at the University of California, Riverside.

This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Supporting: None on file





AB25 (Campos-D) Employment: social media Presentation: Gene Wunderlich Recommended action: SUPPORT

Background: Existing law prohibits a private employer from requiring or requesting an employee or applicant for employment to disclose a username or password for the purpose of accessing personal social media, to access personal social media in the presence of the employer, or to divulge any personal social media. Existing law prohibits a private employer from discharging, disciplining, threatening to discharge or discipline, or otherwise retaliating against an employee or applicant for not complying with a request or demand that violates these provisions.

Summary: This bill expands last year's AB 1844 (Campos) SUPPORTED by the SWCLC. Last year's bill applied to private employers, this measure would apply the provisions described above to public employers. The bill would state that its provisions address a matter of statewide interest and apply to public employers generally, including charter cities and counties.





SB 56 (Emmerson-R / Roth-D) Local Government Finance Presentation: Gene Wunderlich Recommended action: SUPPORT

Background: Existing law required, on and after July 1 2004, and before July 1, 2011, that a specified portion of the motor vehicle license fee revenues deposited to the credit of the Motor Vehicle License Fee Account in the Transportation Tax Fund be allocated first to the County of Orange and next to each city and county meeting specified criteria, including each city that was incorporated from unincorporated territory after August 5, 2004. Existing law requires, on or after July 1, 2011, that the same portion of revenues be deposited into the Local Law Enforcement Services Account in the Local Revenue Fund 2011 for allocation to cities, counties, and cities and counties.

Summary: This bill would state the Legislature’s intent to enact legislation that would restore funding to cities that either were incorporated or annexed territory after 2004. Similar to last year's SB 1566 (Emmerson) and AB 1098 (Carter) SUPPORTED by the SWCLC. Excepting, while SB 56 has not been fully authored, the intent is to have this bill only apply to the cities of Wildomar, Menifee, Jurupa Valley and Eastvale. This will keep the costs of the bill low - under $25 million per year, opposed to the previous two bills which would have included other cities and counties and would have driven the cost up.








MOND A Y MORN IN G GROU P Advocating for Western Riverside County

January 16, 2013

OFFICERS

Barbara Robinson President

Ron Redfern Vice President

Ken Stream Vice President

Craig Blunden Secretary Joseph Kuebler Treasurer

DIRECTORS

Virginia Blumenthal Judy Carpenter Henry Coil, Jr. Jane Close Conoley James Cuevas Don Ecker Donald Galleano Lawrence Geraty Nick Goldware Gisela Gosch Greg Gray Tom Haider Kent Hansen Brian Hawley Sue Johnson Robert Krieger Ronald Loveridge Marcia McQuern Patrick O’Reilly Randy Record George Reyes Cindy Roth Roger Schultz Robert Stockton Matthew Webb Norton Younglove DIRECTORS EMERITUS

Arthur Littleworth James Robinson Joan Sparkman Russell Walling Jack Wyatt Jacques Yeager, Sr.

APPOINTED/ELECTED

Congressman Ken Calvert Senator Richard Roth Bruce Varner

The Honorable Mary Nichols California Air Resources Board P.O. Box 2815 Sacramento, CA 95812 Dear Chairman Nichols, On behalf of the Monday Morning Group of Western Riverside County, I am writing to urge you to select the City of Riverside and the University of California, Riverside for the relocation the facility of the California Air Resources Board (CARB) from its current location in El Monte. As I am sure you have seen from other letters of support from key representatives of the Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce, the City of Riverside, the County of Riverside, the University of California, Riverside and our elected leaders in the State Legislature, our community strongly believes that the location of your facility in Western Riverside County will bring significant benefits to our economic development. Furthermore, your own operations will be able to capitalize on the natural advantages of our region. From the work of the Center for Environmental Research & Technology (CE-CERT) at the University of California, Riverside to the region’s strong commitment to champion sustainable initiatives and improve our air quality, we believe that the location of your facility in Riverside will further this commitment and create a productive atmosphere for addressing environmental and air quality concerns. For the benefit of your organization, our region boasts a strongly competitive cost of doing business and cost of living that is comparatively lower than other parts of Southern California. This will allow your facility to continue its operations and employees to enjoy a high quality of life with a concurrently lower cost. With four institutions of higher education and the many outstanding programs and graduate schools located there, Riverside continues to be an excellent location for operations such as that of CARB. I am certain that when your site selection team visits our region and sees the advantages of locating in Riverside, they will come away with the same positive attitude towards our region that is shared by our residents, business community, and local leaders. The Monday Morning Group strongly believes that Riverside is an ideal location for your facility. We look forward to your visit to our region. Respectfully yours, Barbara Robinson President

Legislative Report Item 6 Action


Last year there were approximately +/-896 new bills enacted during the regular session.

Read them all right here:

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pdf/BillsEnactedReport2012.pdf




Meet the state Legislators primarily involved in Southwest California













Sacramento Bee, Op-ed, Senator Michael J. Rubio, January 13, 2013 YES: Opponents abuse CEQA to derail worthy projects By Michael Rubio Special to The Bee I support the California Environmental Quality Act and, when asked why I want to modernize it, I immediately think of the Metro Expo Line Extension in Los Angeles, connecting Santa Monica to downtown. If and when it is completed, this project will have taken more than nine years to complete. The project will significantly reduce traffic on one of the most congested freeways in the country and help California achieve its internationally renowned greenhouse gas reduction standards. It will also greatly improve air quality and overall public health. In New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman's book "That Used to Be Us," he writes about how "people have sort of gotten used to" the snail-pace project schedules in the United States compared with other countries. Similarly, many in California have "sort of gotten used to" the misuse of arguably one of the most important laws enacted in our state's history: CEQA. When NFL football stadiums are exempted from this law and projects that improve the public health and the environment take nine years, it motivates me to modernize CEQA. There are many examples of where the misuse of CEQA has impacted foster youths, elementary school upgrades, University of California campus improvements, urban bike lanes and critical infrastructure projects. We seem to have "sort of gotten used to" doing without all of these projects while CEQA lawsuits cause years-long delays and significant cost increases. Two specific examples occur in the Sacramento and Bay Area regions. In Auburn, a group of people calling themselves Residents Against Inconsistent Development, or RAID, used CEQA to challenge an affordable housing project that forced the developer to lose loans and grants. RAID then signed a settlement agreement to allow the project to move forward if the majority of units were market rate, essentially discriminating against poor people. The Sierra Club and the Audubon Society publicly stated that the suit was bogus, serving as an attack to stop affordable housing rather than to protect the environment. In Berkeley, an infill mixed-use development to house 40 low-income seniors was delayed two years by one person who sued, claiming the project would change the aesthetics of her neighborhood. The Sierra Club supported the project as it met every environmental law in California. This case cost the city and developer an extra million dollars. As 2013 is upon us, now is the time to look forward and determine how we are going to best fulfill our stated priority: restore full economic growth in California while leading the world on progressive environmental standards. As the incoming chairman of the Senate Environmental Quality Committee, I believe that modernizing CEQA should be the top priority to ensure that California remains both green and golden. Many laws have been adopted at the federal, state and local levels to protect the environment, including air quality, water quality, species protection, greenhouse gas reduction, toxics, hazardous waste, responsible land use planning and more. CEQA, however, has not been modified to reflect these new laws. Clearly, modernizing CEQA is needed so that California remains a leader in protecting the environment and growing a 21st century economy. We can do this while also preserving the best portions of the law – public disclosure and participation, mitigation of environmental impacts and the ability to challenge projects that don't meet existing environmental standards. Specifically, one of the main ideas being proposed is the basic premise that once a project has met the relevant environmental statutes, regulations and codes set forth by the state and local authorities, and has completed an Environmental Impact Report, that it be protected from lawsuits on those regulated aspects. Too many times, a project that has met all of the environmental requirements is unfairly delayed or even killed by a lawsuit. Misuse of CEQA should not be able to derail projects. As this process moves forward, we will continue to solicit input and make sure that the voices of interested stakeholders are both heard and considered. Public participation will always remain a key element of CEQA and the process to modernize this important law. We must never get used to the delay of projects caused by CEQA abuses.


Sacramento Bee, Op-ed, Tom Adams, former president of CLCV, January 13, 2013 NO: We should resist efforts to weaken a law that works well By Thomas Adams Special to The Bee The California Environmental Quality Act has protected public health and the environment again and again for more than 42 years. CEQA works by requiring public agencies to consider the effects of projects on the environment. If a project may have a significant effect on the environment, an environmental impact report is prepared. Citizens may comment on it. Agencies are required to avoid or reduce significant effects to the extent feasible. Alternatives to the project must be considered. The end result of this process is typically a decision by the public agency to approve a project subject to measures to protect public health and the environment. CEQA is not enforced by a government bureaucracy; instead it is enforced by citizens through the courts. Litigation, though important, is comparatively rare, less than 0.02 percent of total civil litigation per year. Under this process, CEQA prevented offshore oil drilling. It led to the preservation of the Santa Monica Mountains. It kept sewage out of vital bodies of water such as the San Francisco Bay and Newport Bay. When developers proposed an open-air human sewage treatment facility near the town of Hinkley, CEQA forced them to consider using an enclosed facility. When the Port of Oakland considered an airport expansion, CEQA forced it to address toxic air contamination threatening nearby residents. It was a CEQA lawsuit that began electrification of industrial equipment at the Port of Los Angeles in order to keep toxic pollution away from neighborhoods. The law has protected workers and residents from exposure to highly toxic and explosive anhydrous ammonia by requiring the use of alternative materials in industrial processes. CEQA has required freeways to make room for transit. It has required the Department of Food and Agriculture to consider the effects on schools, hospitals, nursing homes and parks before it authorized spraying of pesticides. Where there is a concentration of pollution sources, as in poor neighborhoods, CEQA requires consideration of the cumulative impacts of pollution. Because CEQA is powerful and effective, it has been under attack for most of its life. Currently there are calls for modernizing or updating the law. However, CEQA has been updated continuously. Though the law was first passed in 1970, 334 sections have been added, amended or repealed since 1990; 170 sections since 2002; and 83 sections since 2008. Some critics say that CEQA impedes California's progress toward renewable energy. That is not the case. Despite a few local legal challenges to these projects, the president of the California Public Utilities Commission recently confirmed that California is well on the road to meeting its standard of having 33 percent of electricity generated by renewable energy by 2020. Like all statutes enforced by citizen lawsuits, including statutes like the civil rights acts, or the Americans with Disabilities Act, there are always individual cases that can be criticized. However, it is one thing to spin an anecdote. It is another to offer proposals that are specific, thoughtful and carefully crafted. Those proposals will be evaluated by their ability to improve the protection of public health and the environment. Proposals to weaken CEQA in the guise of modernization should be resisted. No one can refute the overall record of this statute. Because of CEQA, California's air is cleaner; our water is safer to drink; our workplaces are healthier; and our landscapes are protected. Making our state laws work better is something we should all strive for, but no one should support proposals that would undermine a statute that has protected the health and environment of Californians for 42 years.

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