Advocating For Business and Los Angeles in 2017

by Gary Toebben

Advocating for legislation that stimulates economic growth, more good jobs and a higher quality of life is one of the core missions of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. The heart of our influence and success in these efforts is member engagement. Personally taking your stories to elected officials about the impact of legislation on your companies, organizations and clients is essential to our success.

As a part of this advocacy, the Chamber sponsors major visits to Sacramento and Washington D.C. with our members each year. Not a trip goes by without legislators telling us how impactful it is for L.A. County business and civic leaders to come to the capitol, as a large group, with a focused agenda for improving the economy and quality of life for our businesses and residents. The dates for our 2017 trips have been set and you are invited to join us.

ACCESS Sacramento: Tuesday, March 28 - Wednesday, March 29

ACCESS Washington, D.C.: Monday, May 22 - Wednesday, May 24

 This will be a major year in both Sacramento and D.C., one in which your voice is vital. In Sacramento, we’ll be stressing that we cannot wait any longer to address our housing crisis, our crumbling transportation network and our inadequate water delivery system. Businesses and residents in L.A. City and County led by example this past fall when we passed Measure M to fund local transportation projects and Measure HHH to construct permanent supportive housing for the homeless. Now State leadership must do its part and develop solutions that will benefit our region and the state as a whole.

In Washington, D.C., many of the relationships we have developed over the past eight years will be gone. That means we have new stories to tell, new relationships to establish and new partnerships to build. We’ll continue to talk about the importance of the federal government collaborating with cities, counties and states in rebuilding our national infrastructure. We’ll talk about the importance of giving states the flexibility and funding they need to reestablish the best system of public education in the world. We’ll also talk about the growing challenge of homelessness across the country and the need for comprehensive immigration reform.

Whether you are a Republican, Democrat, decline to state or apolitical, this is an important year to tell your story, as well as help us tell the collective story of L.A. Put these dates on your calendar and plan to participate. It’s important and you can make a difference.

And that's The Business Perspective.