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December 20, 2008

The 2008 Vote Record: Redondo Beach Chamber Increases Legislator’s Business Votes

The Redondo Beach Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Bureau releases its vote record on the top twenty most important legislative proposals impacting our business community. The Chamber discussed and took a position of support or opposition on each proposal and communicated those positions with our local legislators, Senator Jenny Oropeza and Assemblymember Ted Lieu.

“The Chamber is issuing its fifth vote record since 2004,” stated Marna Smeltzer, President and CEO of the Chamber. “We are pleased that Senator Oropeza and Assemblymember Lieu increased their overall support for pro-jobs legislation by 30% and 24% respectively since our last vote record in 2007,” continued Smeltzer.

In other words, in 2007, Senator Oropeza voted for Redondo Beach Chamber-supported pro-jobs legislation 10% of the time. This year, she voted for Redondo Beach Chamber-supported pro-jobs legislation 40% of the time. In 2007, Assemblymember Lieu voted for Redondo Beach Chamber-supported pro-jobs legislation 11% of the time. This year, he voted for Redondo Beach Chamber-supported pro-jobs legislation 35% of the time.

“Our legislators need to be held accountable to the business community if we want to continue to attract businesses and jobs to our area,” stated John Parsons, Chair of the Redondo Beach Chamber Board of Directors.

The Redondo Beach Chamber lobbied during the 2008 legislative session for our legislators to OPPOSE 12 bills and SUPPORT 8 bills. The Redondo Beach Chamber’s official positions on each of the 20 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 20 bills.

“Our legislators understand the importance of improving the economic vitality of Redondo Beach,” stated Charles Gale, Jr. Chair of the Redondo Beach Chamber Government Relations Council. “Supporting proposals that create jobs and opposing proposals that drive jobs out of Redondo Beach is priority number one,” continued Gale.

To reach the “Percentage FOR pro-jobs legislation”, the 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
 

2008 Vote Record – In Depth

Not voting = Elected official did not vote.
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 1 a (Nunez) Healthcare Reform
Redondo Beach Chamber Position: Oppose
State Senator Jenny Oropeza: N/A
Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support
Governor: N/A

AB 844 (Berryhill) Junk Dealers and Recyclers: Nonferrous Material
Redondo Beach Chamber Position: Support
State Senator Jenny Oropeza: Support
Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support
Governor: Signed

AB 904 (Feuer) Recycling: Food Containers
Redondo Beach Chamber Position: Oppose
State Senator Jenny Oropeza: N/A
Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support
Governor: N/A

AB 1065 (Lieber) Public Resources: Building Standards
Redondo Beach Chamber Position: Oppose
State Senator Jenny Oropeza: Support
Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support
Governor: N/A

AB 1956 (Calderon) Tangible Personal Property
Redondo Beach Chamber Position: Oppose
State Senator Jenny Oropeza: N/A
Assembly Member Ted Lieu: N/A
Governor: N/A

AB 2112 (Saldana) Energy Building Standards
Redondo Beach Chamber Position: Oppose
State Senator Jenny Oropeza: N/A
Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support
Governor: N/A

AB 2127 (Benoit) Employment: Alternative Workweek Schedules
Redondo Beach Chamber Position: Support
State Senator Jenny Oropeza: N/A
Assembly Member Ted Lieu: N/A
Governor: N/A

AB 2279 (Leno) Medical Marijuana
Redondo Beach Chamber Position: Oppose
State Senator Jenny Oropeza: Support
Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support
Governor: Vetoed

AB 2321 (Feuer) Transportation Funding: County of Los Angeles
Redondo Beach Chamber Position: Support
State Senator Jenny Oropeza: Support
Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support
Governor: Signed
 

AB 2558 (Feuer) Regional Transportation Agencies: Fees
Redondo Beach Chamber Position: Oppose
State Senator Jenny Oropeza: Support
Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support
Governor: N/A

AB 2716 (Ma) Employment: Paid Sick Days
Redondo Beach Chamber Position: Oppose
State Senator Jenny Oropeza: N/A
Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support
Governor: N/A

AB 2938 (De Leon) Water Diversions: Fish Monitoring
Redondo Beach Chamber Position: Support
State Senator Jenny Oropeza: N/A
Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support
Governor: N/A

SB 375 (Steinberg) Transportation Planning: Travel Models: Reviews
Redondo Beach Chamber Position: Oppose
State Senator Jenny Oropeza: Support
Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support
Governor: Signed

SB 691 (Calderon) Junk Dealers and Recyclers: Nonferrous Material
Redondo Beach Chamber Position: Support
State Senator Jenny Oropeza: Not Voting
Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support
Governor: Signed

SB 1391 (Padilla) Recycled Water
Redondo Beach Chamber Position: Support
State Senator Jenny Oropeza: Support
Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support
Governor: Vetoed

SB 1420 (Padilla) Food Facilities: Nutritional Information
Redondo Beach Chamber Position: Oppose
State Senator Jenny Oropeza: Not Voting
Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support
Governor: Signed

SB 1539 (Calderon) Meal Periods
Redondo Beach Chamber Position: Support
State Senator Jenny Oropeza: N/A
Assembly Member Ted Lieu: N/A
Governor: N/A

SB 1583 (Corbett) Employment: Independent Contractors
Redondo Beach Chamber Position: Oppose
State Senator Jenny Oropeza: Support
Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support
Governor: Vetoed

SB 1608 (Corbett) Disabled Persons: Equal Access Rights: Civil Actions
Redondo Beach Chamber Position: Support
State Senator Jenny Oropeza: Support
Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support
Governor: Signed

SB 1717 (Perata) Workers’ Compensation: Permanent Partial Disability
Redondo Beach Chamber Position: Oppose
State Senator Jenny Oropeza: Support
Assembly Member Ted Lieu: Support
Governor: Vetoed

Click here to contact the Redondo Beach Chamber for more information

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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.