The Legislative Scorecard

With the 2014-15 legislative session over, it’s a good time to take a look at how Gov. Jerry Brown treated San Fernando Valley businesses. It’s hard to make green in the Golden State. California’s reputation for beaches is as renowned as its predilection for tight-fisted regulations and onerous mandates. And that’s not just one group’s opinion. At the Valley Industry and Commerce Association, we’re constantly hearing from our 400-plus members that it’s not just difficult to operate a business in California – it’s increasingly difficult to lure outside businesses here because of the high cost of living. The Tax Foundation has ranked California 48th for its business tax climate two years in a row because of the state’s nation-leading individual tax rates. The magazine Chief Executive has ranked California 50th – the worst state in the nation for business. So this Sisyphus-like struggle facing the business community leaves us pleased that Brown signed 16 of the 19 bills VICA brought to his desk. He vetoed two-thirds of the bills we deemed harmful to businesses. The governor vetoed a ban on employer arbitration (AB 465), which will save everyone millions in legal fees by allowing business owners to seek a more cost-effective resolution to workers’ issues. A bill on ordinance violations (AB 514) – which would have allowed municipal governments to set arbitrary punishments for certain offenses – was also rebuffed by Brown. We’re pleased he saw the need for transportation improvements by signing Senate Bills 9 and 767 into law. SB 9 allows for cap-and-trade dollars to be directed toward large transformative projects to make public transit more efficient. SB 767 will permit the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to place a sales tax increase for transportation projects on the ballot in November of next year. VICA’s Valley on Track, a coalition of businesses, transportation advocates and neighborhood groups, is looking forward to continuing our work with officials on making transportation upgrades for the Valley. Brown also signed AB 374, a crucial law on “step therapy” that has the ability to save lives and millions of dollars for health insurance ratepayers. The bill ends an insurer-requested “first-fail” medical practice that starts drug therapy with the most cost-effective drugs before progressing to more costly medications if the initial prescriptions don’t work. AB 374 prohibits an insurer from providing step therapy if a patient has made an override request and the prescribing provider determines step therapy to be medically inappropriate. However, the governor also signed several business-unfriendly bills and perpetuated California’s regulatory reputation with a few costly autographs. AB 888 and SB 546 will threaten jobs in the region and drive up the cost of living. AB 888 bans the sale of cleaning products that use plastic microbeads. By addressing the issue at the state level, California legislators are only sending the manufacture and sales of these items to other states, not protecting the environment or our manufacturing industry. SB 546 requires health care providers to undergo an extensive rate review process before making price adjustments, which is expected to slow the process and, ultimately, cost the ratepayer more for fewer options. While VICA garnered a major victory in removing a petroleum mandate from SB 350 – the bill called for a 50 percent reduction in fuel, which would have required roughly 10 million more electric cars to be on the road by 2030 than what market experts see as feasible – lawmakers were already talking about renewing “the fight” next session. Therein lies the concern. Instead of working with industry leaders for manageable goals with incentives, an arbitrary fuel reduction figure is assigned without checking on its feasibility – which sets up a high-stakes game of political brinkmanship funded on the taxpayers’ dime. While we know there will be more discussion and new mandates in the next legislative session, VICA looks forward to working with lawmakers and officials on creating a better business climate and quality of life here in the Valley. Stuart Waldman is president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association, a Sherman Oaks-based business advocacy organization that represents L.A. County employers at the local, state and federal levels of government.