Advocacy Alerts

California has created an Employer Vaccination Toolkit, a website designed to help employers make COVID-19 vaccinations more convenient for their employees.

California’s innovation-based economy pays economic dividends not only in our traditional technology hubs, but in every region of the state and in a wide variety of jobs. Key to the state’s competitive advantage in innovation is a robust and historically stable tax incentive known as the research and development (R&D) tax credit.

The California Chamber of Commerce has named 14 local chambers of commerce as recipients of the 2021 President’s Circle Award.

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CalMatters journalist Dan Walters led nearly 500 attendees of the CalChamber Virtual Capitol Summit on May 12 through an insightful overview of how the dramatic change in the human makeup of California since the 1970s has affected the shaping of public policy. The demographic shift, he commented, has turned the state from one of the most reliably Republican in the nation to one dominated by the left/progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Above, Walters speaks at the 2019 Summit in Sacramento. Watch the video of his presentation.

Sacramento Host Committee Chair Susan Savage, CEO of the Sacramento River Cats and a member of the CalChamber Board of Directors, emcees the Virtual Host Breakfast, a blend of pre-recorded and livestreamed videos, on May 13. The annual event is co-sponsored by the California Chamber of Commerce and the 30-member Host Committee, made up of business leaders from Sacramento. See more about the committee and the history of the event at sacramentohostcommittee.com.

Small business was in the spotlight this year at the 95th Annual Virtual Sacramento Host Breakfast on May 13.

Ana Matosantos, Cabinet Secretary in the Office of Governor Gavin Newsom and director of the state Department of Finance in the administrations of both Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, commented on the “remarkable swing” in the state’s budget outlook in a question-and-answer session at the virtual meeting of the CalChamber Board of Directors on May 13. In putting together the budget, she said, the administrations have worked to address priorities “within the means that we have available at different points in time.” A lot of the focus and investment of the current administration is on how to make sure “that we expand opportunity, not contract it,” she said.

Action on several California Chamber of Commerce-opposed job killer bills will be delayed until next year with their failure to move out of the Assembly fiscal committee on May 20. Others, including a massive corporate tax increase and bills increasing litigation costs, will be subject to more immediate action.

CalChamber President and CEO Allan Zaremberg moderates a roundtable discussion at the Virtual Capitol Summit on May 12 with CalChamber Executive Vice President for Public Affairs Martin R. Wilson and CalChamber Executive Vice President Jennifer Barrera. Wilson gives an update on the gubernatorial recall and redistricting processes. Barrera highlights CalChamber efforts to stop pending job killer bills, the Cal/OSHA emergency temporary standard on COVID-19 and the unemployment insurance fund deficit. Watch the discussion at www.calchamber.com/videos.

California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross joined the California Chamber of Commerce last week to speak on important issues facing the state’s food and agriculture sector.

Following are remarks presented by Donna L. Lucas, 2021 chair of the California Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, at the 95th Annual Virtual Host Breakfast on May 13. Lucas is president and CEO of Lucas Public Affairs, Sacramento.