Blogs of the LA Area Chamber

This past Saturday, thousands gathered in the San Gabriel Valley for the opening of the Gold Line Extension, which connects Pasadena to Azusa, through the cities of Arcadia, Monrovia, Duarte and Irwindale. This $1 billion, 11.5 mile extension was funded with Measure R dollars approved by the voters in 2008.

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When Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) is sworn in as assembly speaker Monday, it will mark a historic moment in California politics: For the first time, the two top posts in the state legislature will be held by Latinos.

Rendon will join Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) at the top of the Capitol’s political pyramid, a development that could signal much brighter prospects for health care legislation — especially the effort to provide adult immigrants who are living here illegally with coverage under Medi-Cal, the government program for people with low incomes.

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The California legislature Monday approved a new health care tax, capping a months-long quest to safeguard over $1 billion in annual Medi-Cal funding the federal government had threatened to take away.

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Next Monday, Speaker-elect Anthony Rendon from Los Angeles County will be sworn in as the 70th Speaker of the California State Assembly. He was elected on Jan. 11 to the chief leadership position of the 80-member body, taking the helm from outgoing Speaker Toni Atkins, who we thank for her service.

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Los Angeles County has more than 200,000 young people who are out of school and out of work. At the same time, many businesses are struggling to fill thousands of entry-level positions. We call these 16-24 year olds “Opportunity Youth,” because their disconnection from the labor force is a significant loss to the L.A. economy.

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This is an important year for small businesses looking to gain an edge on the competition by offering group health insurance to its employees through Covered California for Small Business (CCSB) and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

In 2016, businesses with up to 100 employees can apply for coverage for their workers. That is an increase from 2015, when only businesses with fewer than 50 workers could apply for coverage through the Covered California exchange.

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Angelenos in every corner of the City at one point or another have been impacted by a broken water main or electricity blackout. These incidents are the most visible signs of our aging water and power systems and the necessity of maintaining the infrastructure in the 465 square-mile area served by the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (LADWP). The business community has a long history of recognizing that improvements to and maintenance of our utility infrastructure is key to the health of our economy and has supported rate increases that dedicate funds to this use.

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In his State of the State address in January, Gov. Jerry Brown once again called on the Legislature to find a solution to California’s funding gap for highways, bridges and transit. The funding shortfall for the basic transportation needs of our state is getting worse every day and our businesses, residents and visitors are grumbling. 

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Covered California, the state's insurance exchange, announced Friday that it was extending its enrollment deadline until Feb. 6 for people who had officially begun the process of signing up by Sunday.

Exchange officials said they extended the Sunday deadline to accommodate a surge in enrollment in the previous week involving “tens of thousands” of consumers.

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Each year thousands of qualified high school seniors do not apply to college because they fear the financial barriers are too great and they are unaware of opportunities to secure financial aid. In 2014, the “California Financial Aid Tracker” from Education Trust-West revealed that 40 percent of California’s public high school graduating seniors do not file financial aid applications and leave millions of dollars of financial aid unused. 

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