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August 14, 2008

Southwest California Businesses Support Restoring Use of Critical Local Funds

Created by the 1999 Tribal-State Compact, the Indian Gaming Special Distribution Fund (SDF) is fully financed by 26 tribal governments that operate more than 200 gaming devices. The SDF provides critical funding for many public uses, including local governments and special districts impacted by tribal government gaming, gambling addiction programs, and reimbursement to State agencies that oversee gambling controls and regulations. Local governments have not received money from the SDF in over two years.

The Southwest California Legislative Council (SWCLC) supports legislation that would require the State to make its payment to local governments, ensuring the State could not spend or allocate monies from the fund that are not used towards gambling mitigation. In a year that sees a large budget deficit, these funds may be targeted by the State. Local governments would once again be without the entitled money as promised when the SDF was created.

The proposed legislation would extend the life of the SDF by one year and includes back payment of monies by the State to the local governments. The proposed legislation also addresses concerns that the money, when received by the local governments, is to only be used for services or projects that are related to casino mitigation. This would clearly set forth how the money could be used and eliminating any confusion of the SDF.

“Local governments use this money to mitigate the burdens of casino gaming,” stated Greg Morrison, SWCLC Chair. “The casino gaming tribes within the area have paid that money to the State in good faith and now our local governments are waiting on the State to bring that money back to our community,” continued Morrison.
 

October 8, 2007

Southwest California Businesses Protecting California’s Economic Vitality

The Temecula Valley, Murrieta and Lake Elsinore Valley Chambers of Commerce are joining forces with the Coalition to Protect California’s Budget & Economy. This new coalition is protecting the new Indian Gaming Compacts negotiated by Governor Schwarzenegger and the four Indian tribes with casino facilities on remote reservation lands in Riverside and San Diego counties.

“We want our business community to know we are serious when it comes to a balanced budget and job creation, especially in the Southwest California region,” stated Dennis Frank, Chairman of the Southwest California Legislative Council (SWCLC). “Businesses and jobs will be negatively impacted if the Compacts are repealed,” Frank continued.

The Compacts will provide hundreds of millions of dollars each year that will help ensure a balanced budget and provide other needed funding for schools, public safety, roads, and other programs and services throughout California. This will total over $9 billion over the next two decades without raising taxes. The tribes benefit by being allowed to add 3,000 to 5,000 slot machines in their casinos. This will also create thousands of new jobs.

The SWCLC is a regional business advocacy coalition of the Temecula Valley Chamber of Commerce, Murrieta Chamber of Commerce, and Lake Elsinore Valley Chamber of Commerce. Its mission is to provide a basis for the three chambers of commerce to act on local, state and federal government issues to secure a favorable and profitable business climate for the region.

For more information and to join the coalition, please visit: www.YESforCalifornia.com

April 2006

Attend Networking Luncheon: Impacting Your Business in 2006: Education, Jobs and Transportation

The April 2006 "Connections" Luncheon, coordinated by the Lake Elsinore Valley Chamber of Commerce, will highlight important legislative issues in 2006 impacting the vitality of the Southwest California economy.

Topics will include:

- Proposition 82: Is it Really Preschool for All?

- Workers’ Compensation Reforms, Part 2

- Transportation Solutions For Southwest Riverside County

Event Information/Location:

Thursday, April 20, 2006
11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Diamond Club/Diamond Stadium
500 Diamond Drive
Lake Elsinore
 

November 2005

Businesses "Connect" with Decision-Makers

Lake Elsinore Chamber presents the Southwest California Legislative Council "Connections" Luncheon

(Left to Right) State Assemblyman Ray Haynes, State Assemblyman John Benoit, State Senator Jim Battin and State Assemblyman Russ Bogh discuss important issues impacting the Southwest California business community at recent Connections luncheon.

Thursday, November 17, 2005

11:00am to 2:00pm

Diamond Club

Lake Elsinore Diamond Stadium

500 Diamond Drive, Lake Elsinore

The Southwest California Legislative Council (SWCLC) is a regional business advocacy coalition of the Temecula Valley Chamber of Commerce, Murrieta Chamber of Commerce, and Lake Elsinore Valley Chamber of Commerce.

Its mission is to provide a basis for the three chambers of commerce to act on local, state and federal government issues to secure a favorable and profitable business climate for the region.

The November 2005 "Connections" Luncheon, coordinated by the Lake Elsinore Valley Chamber of Commerce, provided regional businesses to question legislators on issues impacting the vitality of the Southwest California economy.

Topics included:

- The November 2005 Ballot Initiatives
- Transportation Impacts
- The Future of Workers' Compensation
- Disaster Preparedness
- Liquefied Natural Gas and Other Energy Sources
- How the Southwest California Legislative Council can partner with local legislators in 2006

October 10, 2005
Opinions Split on Governor's Veto of Minimum-Wage Hike

By William Finn Bennett

Staff Writer
North County Times

Area business leaders, employees and political figures have widely diverging reactions to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's recent veto of a bill that would have raised California's $6.75 per hour minimum wage by $1 in the next two years.

Small business representatives said last week that the governor's decision was the right thing, while minimum-wage workers said they needed the pay hike and find it hard to live on so little.
Kim Cousins, a director of the Southwest California Legislative Council, which represents 2,500 businesses in Southwest County, praised Schwarzenegger's decision.

Cousins said that a $1 per hour increase in the minimum wage would add to the cost of doing business ---- a minimum of $2,000 a year for each employee.

"If you have a 20-employee base, you are looking at well into the 40-thousands," he said. "In many cases, these increases are life or death to a small business."

Alejandro Aguilar, 26, took a different view, saying that earning minimum wage was a struggle to survive with what little he has.

Aguilar, who washes cars at the North County Car Wash on Mission Avenue in Escondido, said that he struggles to get by on the $6.75 an hour he earns.

"I have to pay rent and transportation, and send money to my family in Mexico, and it isn't enough," he said, adding that to make ends meet, he also does part-time yard work on one of his days off.

His co-worker, Fabian Leal, 23, said he shares the rent with two families in an Escondido apartment. He added that he is not happy with the governor's veto.

"It's a bad decision," he said. "Everything is so expensive and I can't pay my bills."

In a message to state Assembly members explaining his decision, Schwarzenegger said he did so because of a provision in the bill that would have allowed for automatic adjustments each year for inflation.

However, in 2004, Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar piece of minimum-wage legislation, and that bill did not have such an escalator clause.

A spokesman for the governor said that Schwarzenegger vetoed the 2004 bill because the economy was not strong enough at that time to allow the increase.

Schwarzenegger spokesman Vince Sollitto said that he believes that by refusing this year to negotiate a compromise with the governor, who sincerely wanted to increase the minimum wage, legislators were trying to set him up.

"By rebuffing his efforts to raise the minimum wage, creating a negative political image for the governor was the intent of the Legislature," Sollitto said.

On Friday, the bill's author, Sally Lieber, D-San Jose, denied Sollitto's allegations.

"We have tried over a period of months to get a solid offer from the governor's office and we got nothing but moving targets," she said, adding that legislators will be back and she is planning to introduce a similar bill.

The 2004 poverty level for a family of four was $19,157 annually, which would require the breadwinner in a family with one working parent to earn an hourly wage of $9.21, according to a study released last week by the California Budget Project, a Sacramento-based, nonprofit organization that calls itself a nonpartisan entity, "to increase public understanding of state fiscal policy issues."

But for that same family to have a modest standard of living in California, they would have to earn $71,377 a year, according to the report. That would mean that both parents would have to be earning an hourly wage of $17.16 each.

A September policy brief from the Institute of Industrial Relations at UC Berkeley reported that the real minimum wage, adjusted for inflation, has fallen by more than 30 percent since 1968. The report said that an increase of $1 dollar per hour would directly increase the wages of nearly 1.65 million workers in the state's private sector. That $1 increase would not have a measurable adverse effect on job creation and would, on average, add about 0.7 percent to the operating costs of businesses, the report stated.

However, the increase would have a bigger impact on some industries than others. Fast-food restaurants, for example, would see operating costs rise by an average of 2.7 percent. However, the restaurant industry "could easily shift cost increases of this magnitude to consumers through price increases of a similar amount," the report states.

Contact staff writer William Finn Bennett at (760) 740-5426, or wbennett@nctimes.com

Click here for a complete list of legislation tracked by the Southwest California Legislative Council in 2005

September 2005

Lake Elsinore Valley Chamber of Commerce

8th Annual Economic Development Committee Anniversary Luncheon - With the Inland Empire’s Premier Economist and Renowned Economic Forecaster Dr. John Husing

Event Information:

Date: September 15, 2005

Time: 11:30am-1:30pm

Location: Diamond Club

Reservations are required!

Call (951)245-8848 or email justin@lakeelsinorechamber.com

$35.00 for members. $45.00 for non-members.
 

The Lake Elsinore Valley “Connections” Economic Development Committee (EDC) of the Lake Elsinore Valley Chamber of Commerce announces its Eighth Annual Anniversary Recognition Luncheon celebrating the accomplishments of the past year and preparing for a new year of energetic, dedicated and innovative service to our business community.

Featured at this event will be the 2005 Economic Briefing by Dr. John Husing. The EDC is instrumental in assisting local businesses, attracting new business to our region and creating a business climate that fosters success for all businesses.

The EDC operates through cooperative partnerships to identify and achieve goals through the development and implementation of carefully planned strategies and serves as the business community’s greatest resource.

The vision of the EDC arises from a dedicated group of community members working diligently on behalf of the business community. Throughout the year, the EDC hosts monthly luncheons and business programs which provide members of business and civic communities the opportunity to network and exchange information on current issues and events that affect our valley, while providing valuable information and extensive business resources to those in attendance.

These popular monthly events draw attendees from all sectors throughout Southwest California. One of the highlights of these monthly events is the Anniversary Luncheon. This annual event is held to recognize and thank the generous sponsors that, through their commitment to our community, provide the funding for the EDC to carry on its work.

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