Join the Chamber for ACCESS Sacramento on March 28-29

by Gary Toebben

The Chamber's annual advocacy trip to our state's capital is less than four weeks away and the early bird deadline for registering is tomorrow, March 3. We are traveling to Sacramento earlier than normal this legislative session to get ahead of the budget conversations and share our thoughts on the positions that California might take relative to the new Federal agenda.

The theme of our trip this year is "The California Way." We will highlight California's uniqueness and the opportunities we see for improving the economy and quality of life in our state. Our initial advocacy agenda includes:

• Supporting a package of transportation reforms and funding to address our deteriorating roads and highways. Leadership in Sacramento has set an April deadline for coming to an agreement on a plan and we share that sense of urgency.
• Streamlining housing production to address our housing shortage crisis. We’ll be suggesting a variety of ideas to make it easier to build housing of all types for the citizens of our state.
• Meeting the health care needs of our employees and residents in an uncertain federal environment. Sustaining our progress is vital.
• Investing in our aging water infrastructure in order to assure Central and Southern California’s future water supply. While we’ve finally experienced drought relief from recent rain and snow, we need to move forward with state and federal approvals to implement Governor Brown’s California Water Fix.   
• Creating additional reforms and incentives to improve early childhood education, K-12 education, and our three systems of higher education.

ACCESS Sacramento begins with a reception and dinner on Tuesday evening, March 28 and continues until 5 p.m. on Wednesday, March 29. Local legislators are invited to the reception and dinner on Tuesday. Breakfast and lunch on Wednesday will feature keynotes from state leaders on prominent issues the state is facing in 2017. Confirmed thus far are Senate President pro Tem Kevin de León, who will welcome the delegation at our opening night dinner on Tuesday, and Senate Natural Resources Chair Bob Hertzberg, who will discuss water issues facing the state on Wednesday morning.

Please register HERE by tomorrow, Friday, March 3, for the early-bird rate. General registration will be open until Wednesday, March 22. You can reserve a room at the Citizen Hotel HERE at our special group rate prior to March 7.

We encourage you to join us in advocating on behalf of L.A., our businesses and your employees.

And that's The Business Perspective.