(May 19, 2010) In this time of economic uncertainty, California needs to focus on job creation, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and California Chamber of Commerce Chair Larree Renda said at the Sacramento Host Breakfast yesterday.

“Job killer” legislation is the last thing California needs, Schwarzenegger said during a question-and-answer session with CalChamber President and CEO Allan Zaremberg at the 85th annual breakfast.

The breakfast, sponsored by the 25-member Sacramento Host Committee and the CalChamber, attracts a statewide audience of hundreds of leaders from business, agriculture, industry, education, government, the military and the consular corps.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

“What we need is to do the opposite, what we need to do is to create jobs,” the Governor said. His last year in office is all about “job, jobs, jobs,” Schwarzenegger said.

“I have experts in my office – you know like they have in rescue [missions]; those sniffing dogs. Well I have sniffing dogs over there that sniff out ‘job killers,’” Schwarzenegger said. “They come to me to tell me about all the ‘job killers,’ and then I sit down and I look at them and I say, ‘Hasta la vista, baby.’”

Zaremberg pointed out that the Governor has vetoed more than 200 “job killer” bills since taking office in 2003.

Employers Key

In remarks preceding the question-and-answer session with the Governor, Renda emphasized that “Employers are the bridge to California’s future. We are the key to helping our state get back to work.”

She called on breakfast attendees, to commit to an “ongoing dialogue” with lawmakers.

CalChamber Chair Larree Renda

“We need to tell our lawmakers that we will not look the other way while they vote on over-regulation, and vote on ‘job killing’ bills. We need to tell them our expectation is they will work with us — not against us — to put our state back on strong financial footing,” Renda said.

Open Primary Act

Getting the legislators to come together and make decisions based on what is best for California and not what is best for their party, is the main reason voters should support Proposition 14, the California Top Two Candidates Open Primary Act, on the June ballot, Schwarzenegger noted.

“Even though I am finished with the governorship, let me tell you something, no matter who comes into office will be sick and tired of the dysfunction of our government,” Schwarzenegger said. “You are producing people who are too far to the left and people who are too far to the right, so when they come to Sacramento, they are too far apart, they cannot get together.”

He said the members of the Legislature are talented, good people with special skills, but that the system itself is “horrible.”

CalChamber-supported Proposition 14 would allow all voters to choose any candidate regardless of the candidate’s or voter’s political party preference and ensure the two candidates receiving the greatest number of votes will appear on the general election ballot regardless of party preference.

Renda commented on the troubles that partisanship in the Legislature has created for the state’s economy and business community.

“Sacramento seems paralyzed by gridlock and partisanship,” Renda said. “The vitality of California is threatened, not only by the economy, but by the persistent belief that the state’s businesses can bear any burden and somehow continue to provide jobs and drive growth. As my dad used to say back in Iowa, ‘That dog doesn’t hunt.’”

Budget Reform

The Governor said the private sector should not have to pay for the mistakes made by the Legislature through tax increases that hurt businesses.

“The problem in Sacramento is that they don’t understand business that well,” he said.

He compared the problem in Sacramento to the lack of leadership in New Orleans leading up the Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

“They knew for years that those levees were vulnerable. They knew for years that if a big storm comes it would wipe out the city, but they sat there and they hoped for the best and then what happened was finally Katrina came and wiped out the city, and now the economic decline came worldwide and it wiped out the state of California,” Schwarzenegger said.

CalChamber President and CEO Allan Zaremberg and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

The Governor has proposed several budget reforms to fix the system in Sacramento, including pension reform. The California pension system has increased from $150 million 10 years ago, to $3 billion today — a 2,000 percent increase, the Governor said. He said he wants to bring that number back to those 1999 levels.

Schwarzenegger also discussed the need for a rainy day fund in the state budget, commenting that this year’s problem would have been $10 billion lower if the state had been saving.

“We need to put money aside, and this state has consistently tried to avoid putting a rainy day fund aside and tried to avoid living within its means,” he said.

Schwarzenegger said the homebuyer tax credit is a perfect example of a way to create jobs — a policy that gets construction projects moving and contractors working. Three things he said he would like to work on during his final months as governor are tort reform, the new hire tax credit for businesses and cutting through the red tape of the construction permitting process.

The Governor also highlighted the long-term benefits of the water bond on the November ballot. In addition to taking care of the environment and the Delta, he noted, the package includes above-ground and below-ground water storage, “the canal, or which some people call ‘a conveyance’ because they don’t like the word canal” and groundwater cleaning.

Zaremberg closed the session with a question about Schwarzenegger’s recent statement that he wishes he could run for a third term.

The Governor referred to the book “Pumping Iron” and his smiling through five-hour workouts, 500 sit-ups and the like “because each rep gets you a step closer to the goal.”

 In working to make California that “golden dream by the sea,” Schwarzenegger said, “I wouldn’t mind doing another term because it is great work and I really enjoyed it even though there were a lot of obstacles.”

The CalChamber 2010 list of job killers is available at www.calchamber.com/jobkillers.