Business Priorities in the State Budget

by Maria S. Salinas

In his State of the State address last night, the Governor Gavin Newsom spoke of the “California way,” noting major differences in leading a dominant and innovative economy like California's, especially compared to other states and even entire nations. He cited over 1 million new jobs created during the pandemic which were made possible through the strength and resilience of California’s business community. 

In response to the Governor's budget proposal and in collaboration with 13 statewide and regional business organizations, the L.A. Area Chamber signed on to a letter to the Governor outlining the business community’s budget priorities. Coming together, we offered priorities to emerge as a stronger California.  

Those priorities included: 

• Supporting the governor’s proposals on tax credits for the hardest-hit industries;
• Supporting the governor’s proposals on increased funding for retail theft prevention and enforcement, and investing in a resilient goods movement sector;
• Calling for increased investment in paying off the state’s Unemployment Fund debt, including supporting the recent call by Assembly Democrats to pay off $7.5 billion of the estimated $20 billion debt; 
• Calling for investments for school facility funding; 
• Supporting the transition to endemic COVID policies and pushing equitable economic recovery.  

I believe the joint letter says it best: “Working together, we can learn from the last recession and recovery to build tools that allow job growth in all regions and along the economic wage ladder. We cannot ignore the need to invest and grow middle-income jobs, which are the pathway out of poverty for countless working families. We are committed to working with you and the Legislature to ensure a more equitable recovery that not only creates critically needed middle-income jobs, but also creates more stability for families and future state budgets.”

Read the full letter here. Read the press release here.