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Redondo Beach Chamber of Commerce

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December 1, 2007

Chamber Annual Vote Record: Holding Elected Officials Accountable to Our Business Community

The Redondo Beach Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Bureau focused its efforts this year on 38 potential new laws that might impact our business community. The Chamber discussed and took a position of support or opposition on each potential law and communicated each position with our local legislators.

“The Redondo Beach Chamber is issuing its fourth vote record since 2004,” stated Marna Smeltzer, President and CEO of the Chamber. “We are continuing our effort to inform our elected officials on the important issues impacting our businesses. We will continue to hold them accountable to our business community in 2008,” continued Smeltzer.

“Our legislators work hard for our community,” stated Glenn Bishop, Chair of the Redondo Beach Chamber board. “The Chamber also works hard to ensure that our business community’s interests are represented and this year’s vote record is a testament to that hard work,” Bishop continued.

The Redondo Beach Chamber lobbied during the 2007 legislative session for our legislators to OPPOSE 30 bills and SUPPORT 8 bills. The Redondo Beach Chamber’s official positions on each of the 38 bills have been available online at www.RedondoAdvocacy.biz including summaries and explanations of why the Redondo Beach Chamber opposed and supported each of the 38 bills.

“Our efforts are paying off,” stated Charles Gale, Jr. Chair of the Redondo Beach Chamber Government Relations Council. “Our businesses need to understand that we have a job to do and that job is to educate them on the amount of times our state legislators impact the vitality of our local economy,” continued Gale.

To reach the “Percentage FOR pro-jobs legislation”, the Redondo Beach Chamber tallied the number of times our legislators voted for the Chamber’s position and divided that total by the total number of bills in which each legislators voted. A bill is not figured into the vote record percentage if a legislator, for whatever reason, did not vote on a bill or if the bill died before the legislator had an opportunity to vote.
 

Summary of Votes

2007 Vote Record – In Depth

 “N/A” = potential new law died before elected official had an opportunity to vote or in the case of the Governor the potential new law did not reach his desk.

AB 8 Nunez (D)

Health Care

Redondo Beach Position: Oppose

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: Support

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support

Governor: Vetoed

AB 338 Coto (D)

Workers' Compensation: Temporary Disability Payments

Redondo Beach Position: Support

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: Support

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support

Governor: Signed

AB 437 Jones (D)

Employment Discrimination

Redondo Beach Position: Oppose

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: Support

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support

Governor: n/a

AB 493 Ruskin (D)

Motor Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Incentives

Redondo Beach Position: Oppose

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: n/a

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support

Governor: n/a

AB 504 Swanson (D)

Lockouts

Redondo Beach Position: Oppose

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: Support

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support

Governor: Vetoed

AB 510 Benoit (R)

Employment: Working Hours

Redondo Beach Position: Support

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: n/a

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: n/a

Governor: n/a

AB 512 Lieber (D)

Contracts: Translation

Redondo Beach Position: Oppose

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: Support

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support

Governor: n/a

AB 613 Tran (R)

Workplace Postings

Redondo Beach Position: Support

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: n/a

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: n/a

Governor: n/a

AB 644 Dymally (D)

Workers' Compensation: Medical Treatment Utilization

Redondo Beach Position: Oppose

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: n/a

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: n/a

Governor: n/a

AB 889 Lieu (D)

Metro Green Line Construction Authority

Redondo Beach Position: Support

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: n/a

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support

Governor: n/a

AB 904 Feuer (D)

Recycling: Food Containers

Redondo Beach Position: Oppose

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: n/a

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support

Governor: Signed

AB 1065 Lieber (D)

Public Resources: Building Standards

Redondo Beach Position: Oppose

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: n/a

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: n/a

Governor: n/a

AB 1073 Nava (D)

Workers' Compensation

Redondo Beach Position: Oppose

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: Support

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support

Governor: Signed

AB 1108 Ma (D)

Children's Products: Phthalates

Redondo Beach Position: Oppose

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: Support

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support

Governor: Signed

AB 1201 Leno (D)

Collective Bargaining: Direct Care Registered Nurses

Redondo Beach Position: Oppose

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: n/a

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: n/a

Governor: n/a

AB 1285 Parra (D)

Taxation: Credits: Research and Development

Redondo Beach Position: Support

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: n/a

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: n/a

Governor: n/a

AB 1459 Levine (D)

Coastal Act of 1976: Coastal Development

Redondo Beach Position: Oppose

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: n/a

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: n/a

Governor: n/a

AB 1554 Jones (D)

Health Care Coverage: Rate Approval

Redondo Beach Position: Oppose

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: n/a

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support

Governor: n/a

SB 48 Alquist (D)

Community Development: Healthy Food Choices

Redondo Beach Position: Oppose

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: Support

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: n/a

Governor: n/a

SB 140 Kehoe (D)

Fuels: Renewable Diesel Fuel

Redondo Beach Position: Oppose

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: n/a

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support              

Governor: n/a

SB 180 Migden (D)

Labor Representatives: Elections

Redondo Beach Position: Oppose

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: n/a

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support

Governor: Vetoed

SB 201 Florez (D)

Leafy Green Vegetable Crop Safety

Redondo Beach Position: Oppose

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: Support

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: n/a

Governor: n/a

SB 210 Kehoe (D)

Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Fuel Standard

Redondo Beach Position: Oppose

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: Support

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support

Governor: Vetoed

SB 375 Steinberg (D)

Transportation Planning: Travel Models: Reviews

Redondo Beach Position: Oppose

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: Support

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: n/a

Governor: n/a

SB 412 Simitian (D)

State Energy Resources Conservation & Dev. Commission

Redondo Beach Position: Oppose

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: Support

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: n/a

Governor: n/a

SB 423 Harman (R)

Exemplary Damages

Redondo Beach Position: Support

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: n/a

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: n/a

Governor: n/a

SB 466 Steinberg (D)

Forest Resources

Redondo Beach Position: Oppose

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: n/a

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: n/a

Governor: n/a

SB 494 Kehoe (D)

Vehicular Air Pollution Control: Clean Alternative

Redondo Beach Position: Oppose

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: Support

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: n/a

Governor: n/a

SB 549 Corbett (D)

Employees Right to Bereavement Leave

Redondo Beach Position: Oppose

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: Support

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support

Governor: Vetoed

SB 622 Padilla (D)

Employment: Misclassification of Employees

Redondo Beach Position: Oppose

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: Support

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support

Governor: Vetoed

SB 747 Corbett (D)

Disabled Person: Equal Access Rights

Redondo Beach Position: Support

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: n/a

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: n/a

Governor: n/a

SB 831 Lowenthal (D)

Billing: Mobile Telephony Service

Redondo Beach Position: Oppose

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: n/a

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: n/a

Governor: n/a

SB 840 Kuehl (D)

Single-Payer Health Care Coverage

Governor: n/a

Redondo Beach Position: Oppose

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: Support

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: n/a

Governor: n/a

SB 886 Negrete McLeod (D)

Management Districts: District Board

Redondo Beach Position: Support

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: Support

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support

Governor: Signed

SB 899 Simitian (D)

Toxic Packaging Materials

Redondo Beach Position: Oppose

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: Support

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: n/a

Governor: n/a

SB 936 Perata (D)

Workers' Compensation: Permanent Disability

Redondo Beach Position: Oppose

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: Support

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support

Governor: Vetoed

SB 942 Migden (D)

Workers Compensation: Disability

Redondo Beach Position: Oppose

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: Support

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support

Governor: Vetoed

SB 990 Kuehl (D)

Hazardous Waste: Santa Susanna Field Laboratory

Redondo Beach Position: Oppose

State Senator Jenny Oropeza: n/a

Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support

Governor: Signed

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Impact of Our 2007 State Legislative Vote Record
 

By Glenn Bishop

Chair of the Board

This month, the Redondo Beach Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Bureau released its annual vote record on our area legislators. Each year the Chamber discusses and takes a position of support or opposition on each potential law. This year the Chamber took positions on 38 potential laws. We then communicate our positions to our state legislators urging them to vote in favor of pro-business legislation and oppose any legislation that would be detrimental to Redondo Beach businesses.

The results are less than favorable.

Our two local legislators, State Senator Jenny Oropeza and Assembly Member Ted Lieu voted about 11% of the time with the Chamber. This is down from 31% when State Senator Debra Bowen was in office last year. Assembly Member Ted Lieu’s percentage is down as well from 28% in 2006. The results are clear: potential laws that positively impact the Redondo Beach business community the most are not a top priority. Their business agenda clearly differs from our agenda.

I hope our local legislators take notice. We want to continue to work with our legislators and advance the business community’s agenda in 2008. There will be many more issues to take positions on and my only hope is that State Senator Oropeza and Assembly Member Lieu will make 2008 a priority for business as we continue to represent our interests with government.