(August 20, 2009)  California Chamber of Commerce President Allan Zaremberg and business leaders from throughout California urged  the Legislature to focus on reviving the state’s economy and putting Californians back to work, during a news conference at the state Capitol yesterday. 

“The only sustainable way to generate the revenues needed to fund state services such as education and public safety is to create a growing economy,” said Zaremberg. “Rather than adding new burdens to Californians already paying high taxes, the state should be facilitating business expansion and job creation and eliminating barriers that keep new businesses from coming to California. Economic growth will address our fiscal challenges and historic levels of unemployment while providing the revenue to build the infrastructure necessary for the state’s future.”

Zaremberg presented a draft roadmap for change called the ‘Agenda for Economic Recovery’ that focuses on reforms the Legislature can do now to help Californians get back to work. “Restoring California’s economic health and creating high-wage jobs should be priorities 1, 2 and 3 of this Legislature,” Zaremberg said.

The main elements of the agenda are the following:

• Establish a process that analyzes and reports on the economic impact of legislation, regulation and administrative decision-making. Part of the state’s financial problem is the fact that the state analyzes only the fiscal impact of state actions rather than determining the full impact of a policy proposal on our economy. An essential piece of the agenda is the establishment of Economic Impact Committees in the Legislature to evaluate the impact proposed legislation will have on the state’s economy. Currently, legislative committees limit testimony to less than 10 minutes and often “waive testimony” altogether when a bill goes before the committee responsible for assessing the economic and fiscal impact. A new process will ensure that potential legislation does not cost jobs and stifle business development and would model the independent analysis that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) provides at the federal level. This process will help policymakers avoid unintended consequences of proposals and ensure that legislative goals are met in a cost-effective manner.
• Create a state economic development plan that addresses the needs of the state and local communities. A critical part of the success will depend on enhanced partnerships between state and local leaders to develop a strategy to facilitate economic growth and job creation throughout the state and across industries. The agenda calls for developing and implementing a comprehensive economic strategy. Similar efforts are underway at the local level to develop concrete action items for spurring investment, job creation and workforce training. There are lessons to be learned from these endeavors, best practices to be identified and partnerships to be enhanced in order to get California’s communities back on track toward fiscal health.
• Resurrect legislation designed to improve the state’s economic environment, restore its competitive position and facilitate the creation of high-wage jobs in all sectors of the economy. Every year bills that would improve California’s economic health are killed with little discussion about the merits of the proposals. Meanwhile business investment has declined, bankruptcies and foreclosures are on the rise, and unemployment has reached record levels. To jumpstart California’s recovery, these proposals must be seriously considered and enacted.
• Defeat or postpone consideration of legislation that will further harm our economy and create new burdens on families and businesses. Since the state cannot pay for existing programs and state revenue continues to decline, creating new programs or requirements will add to the current crisis. Californians desperately want their elected officials to provide solutions to our economic decline, yet there are several bills that have been introduced that would inhibit job growth, deter investments in California, and put unnecessary obstacles in front of entrepreneurs.

For more information, visit www.economicrecoveryca.org.