Previous News

The Inland Valley Chamber Legislative Alliance (IVCLA) met with Senator Gloria Negrete McLeod (32^nd Senate District) to garner her support of a bill calling for flexibility in the workplace.  The bill, which is sponsored by the California Chamber of Commerce is tentatively titled The Small Business Family Scheduling Option of 2008 (ABxx—Benoit, Palm Desert). 

The bill would allow small businesses (25 or fewer employees) the option of granting individual employees’ requests to work alternative work schedules, such as 4 ten hour days without the employer being in violation of the daily overtime rules.  Many employers would like to have the option of offering more flexible work schedules to benefit employees and their families.  Unfortunately, with the antiquated overtime rules in California, employers are prohibited from offering any such arrangement.  California is one of only a few states that still have the daily overtime rules versus weekly overtime rules.  Most other states have realized the benefit of allowing employees to have more flexible working hours. 

The IVCLA encouraged Senator Negrete McLeod to consider co-sponsoring this bill and provided her with research highlighting the following key points:

· Flexibility in daily overtime rules would benefit both employers and employees.

· Employees struggle with striking a balance between work and family.

· Increasingly long commutes at peak hours diminish the quality of life.

· Fewer trips to the workplace result in lower carbon emission.

· Workplace flexibility isn’t just about working families or women, it’s about everyone.

· Employers who make missteps in using current process can end up in court.

· This bill specifically targets small businesses and would not affect large employers who would remain governed by current legislation.  

Both the IVCLA and the Senator felt the meeting was productive.  The Senator offered advice that might help move the bill forward and invited us back to keep her apprised of the status.

Health Care Bill Defeated in Senate Health Committee

The Inland Valley Chamber Legislative Alliance (IVCLA) has worked hard to defeat ABX1-1 (Governor Schwarzenegger’s and Assembly Leader Fabian Nunez’s health care bill) and we are pleased to inform you that the bill was defeated in the Senate Health Committee on Monday, January 28, 2008.  As we have reported in the past, we feel that this bill would have created a bureaucracy that the state will be unable to afford. 

We are also very pleased to announce that Senator Gloria Negrete-McLeod voted “No” on this bill.  Members of the committee seemed to agree with a report by Legislative Analyst’s Office showing that the plan would ultimately be under-funded.

The IVCLA would like to thank all members who contacted the Senator’s office and assured a “No” vote on this matter.

ALTERNATIVES TO HELP EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYEES PAY FOR HEALTH INSURANCE - SHOT DOWN

The focus of the Inland Valley Chamber Legislative Alliance (IVCLA) is to continue with efforts to keep businesses informed of developments regarding health care.  We have been meeting with legislators and questioning the fact that all bills that would help employers and employees with the high cost of insurance have been put in the suspense file.  In other words, put away to die and just go away.  We were even told while meeting with a legislator that we should not be bringing up Health Savings Accounts (HSA’s) or Cafeteria Plans because these issues will never get through the legislature.  Although the IVCLA does not think that HSA’s and Cafeteria Plans are the only solution, we would like them to be part of the discussions.  However, Sacramento seems to think that the only solution is that businesses pay to insure the entire state. 

The special session is still moving forward with the idea that  businesses should either provide health insurance to their employees or pay a “fee”, estimated to be anywhere from 4% to 7.5% of their payroll.  Keep in mind if Sacramento has their way, it will be a fee and not a tax.  The rationale here is that the “fee” can be raised without the legislature even voting.

Many are thinking that the special session will fail and that SB 840 (Kuehl) will ultimately be on the ballot in February or next November.  This is a universal health care initiative that will provide health care benefits to everyone who claims to be a resident of California. SB 840 has been opposed by the IVCLA and previously vetoed by the governor. 

A universal health care plan creates a statewide bureaucracy to administer health care.  A universal health care plan is in place in Canada and total taxation is 28% higher in Canada than in the United States.  Consumers may think that universal health care is free but it is in fact very expensive to operate.  Another drawback is that consumers are unable to visit a specialist without prior authorization and that often takes many, many months.  Mortality rates for breast cancer and prostate cancer are significantly higher in Canada because of the wait time to receive surgery, chemotherapy and/or radiation.  Don’t be fooled into thinking that universal health care is free, it is certainly not.

We, as business leaders, need to keep the pressure on Sacramento to include business groups in the discussion of health care.  Let your local legislators know that you want them to keep you informed on health care and let them know that you want to be part of a reasonable solution.

HEALTH CARE TAX OR FEES

WHATEVER YOU CALL IT SMALL EMPLOYERS WILL PAY THE LARGEST PORTION OF THE HEALTH CARE PROPOSALS.

The focus of the Inland Valley Chamber Legislative Alliance has been educating businesses on the pending legislation regarding health care.  We have been meeting with legislators, writing letters and generally trying to represent small business.  It looks like we have much more work to do as the Governor has called a Special Session with the legislators to try and come up with some kind of a compromise.  It has been widely speculated that the special session will hammer out the details of a comprehensive universal health care plan and there will be a ballot initiative to try and figure out how to fund this ambitious project.  We would have to guess that the legislature will mandate and we, as business owners, will have to pay. 

Here are the facts that we do know:

· Very small businesses, that employ less than 20 people, make up 74% of all businesses in California.

· Small businesses, that employ less than 100 people, make up 83% of all businesses in California.

· Minimum wage will increase, again, January 1, 2008.  The increase will be $0.50 per hour.

These businesses will be asked to either provide health insurance to their employees or pay a “fee”, estimated to be anywhere from 4% to 7.5% of their payroll.  Keep in mind if Sacramento has their way, it will be a fee and not a tax.  The rationale here is that the “fee” can be raised without the legislature even voting.

We would ask that every business owner take a look at their bottom line and see if your business can take this kind of a hit.  If it can, then you should be able to help insure your employees.  If it can’t, then now is the time to act and let your local legislator know that you cannot afford this kind of measure.  If we let the voters decide who will fund this nonsense, our guess is all business

Chamber Reps Discuss Health Care with Assemblymember Carter

Montclair Chamber legislative representative to the Inland Valley Chamber Legislative Alliance (IVCLA), Dana Cox, headed up a group of IVCLA delegates who met with Assemblymember Wilmer Amina Carter (D-Rialto) last month.  Their focus was on health care reform and ways that the legislature can work together with small business on this important issue.  The group agreed to provide Assemblymember Carter with information about reform that would not put the entire burden of funding health care on business.  The group hopes to meet with other area legislators in the future.  Executive Director Kelly Johnson accompanied Dana and representatives from other member Chambers. 

At its August meeting The Inland Valley Chamber Legislative Alliance (IVCLA) reviewed a marketing budget that will include print media and direct mail campaigns for the next year.  The Alliance will continue to upgrade the web-site to make sure that all member chambers have the most current information on business legislation.  We recommitted to the issue of health care and health insurance for the next six months.  We will be meeting the Governor’s office again to address their package to fix our ailing health care system.

The Legislative Subcommittee met with Assemblymember Wilmer Amina Carter (D-Rialto) and we were encouraged by our meeting.  We asked her to help educate us on the general feeling of the current health care bills being debated in Sacramento.  She was extremely helpful and we were able to share our concerns about businesses carrying the burden of insuring California.  We agreed to provide her with information regarding Cafeteria Plans and Health Savings Accounts and we will try and schedule a follow-up meeting with her to discuss this issue further.  We would like to thank Roslyn Garner of the Rialto Chamber of Commerce for setting up this meeting. 

The IVCLA continues to be concerned that legislation to add payroll taxes, for Universal Health Care or something similar, keeps moving forward; while legislation that offers us new options and tax savings to offer insurance keeps getting put in the suspense file. There were eight bills in the Senate and Assembly that would have offered these types of tax savings and seven of the eight were put into the suspense file and will not be considered again this session.  This is very disheartening to business owners who have the desire to offer insurance to employees and their families but have been unable to afford it.

The IVCLA hopes to work with all of our local legislators to see if we can address the situation in a way that makes sense for business.  We feel that there are incentives and cost cutting measures that can be offered to employers to help solve some of the problems.  Sacramento seems to be bent on only increasing payroll taxes.  This is an issue that every business in California needs to be looking at and letting your elected officials know how you feel. 

We will keep you informed of our progress.