CMTA | Legislative Weekly 2002

Informing & Monitoring
» Capitol Updates
» Leg. Watch
» Press Releases
» Leg Vote Record
» CA Cost Index
» Features
» Audio & Reports
» Job Data
» Calendar
» Coalitions
» Fed Update

» Policy Objectives
» Policy Principles

Membership
»Membership list
»Invest in CMTA
»About Us
»Yellow Pages
»Questions?
»Join Committees
»Advertise

Services & Discounts
»Group WC Program
»Discount Programs
»Training

Directories

»CMTA Staff
»Send us e-mail
»Directions to CMTA
»Rent Conference Room

Grassroots Activism
Sign up to receive action alerts

Warning: main(masthead.php) [function.main]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /target/apacheweb/domains/cmta.net/htdocs/legweekly/121302.php on line 15

Warning: main() [function.include]: Failed opening 'masthead.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/share/php:/usr/share/pear') in /target/apacheweb/domains/cmta.net/htdocs/legweekly/121302.php on line 15
Legislative Weekly
December 13, 2002

2003 Tax Conference Now Online
CMTA’s 2003 Tax Policy Conference is set for February 4, 2003 in the Tsakopoulos Library Galleria at 828 I Street, Sacramento. The preliminary agenda and a quick and easy registration form is now online.

The conference will focus on economic stimulus measures such as tax incentives as a critical part of any budget solution. Panels will include business tax experts, economists, legislators and fiscal staff, department of finance, and the legislative analyst office. A keynote lunch speaker will give us an economic forecast and policymakers will be invited to share their latest ideas.

All registered attendees to the conference will also receive free admission to CMTA’s “Welcome” Legislative Reception at 5:00 pm in the Galleria. The entire State Legislature has been invited as well as State Constitutional Officers, senior officials from the Governor's administration and regulatory agencies.

Legislators Appointed to New Commission on Structural Challenges to Budgeting
In the face of a growing budget deficit that could reach as much as $30 billion, Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson (D-Culver City) and Republican Leader Dave Cox (R-Fair Oaks) named six members of the Assembly to sit on the newly created Commission on Structural Challenges to Budgeting. Leading the commission will be Wesson and Cox as Chair and Vice Chair, respectively. Wesson appointed the following Assemblymembers to the commission: Jenny Oropeza, Darrell Steinberg, Joe Canciamilla, John Dutra, Jackie Goldberg and Joe Nation (as an alternate). Cox appointed Assemblymembers John Campbell, Tony Strickland, Patricia Bates, Bill Maze, Sharon Runner and Rick Keene (alternate).

Newly Introduced Tax and Corporate Counsel Legislation
On the tax, corporate counsel, and budget front, the beginning of the 2003-2004 legislative session resulted in the introduction of the following bills so far:

Tax Policy:

Escutia">

SB 17 (Escutia D-Norwalk) expresses the intent of the legislature to impose a split-roll property tax system that targets business properties for enormous tax increases. According to Escutia, SB 17 would require commercial and industrial property owners to pay a non-residential property tax upon reassessment in a change of ownership. While this bill remains light on specifics and is only a “spot bill”, it is clear that Escutia is committed to targeting business property for greater tax increases in order to help close the budget shortfall.

Chan

Dutra

AB 4 (Chan D-Oakland and Dutra D-Fremont) would raise personal income taxes on the wealthiest Californians. While this bill is only a “spot bill”, the intent is the same as last year's version carried by Senate Leader John Burton (D-San Francisco). The intent of AB 4 is to increase personal income tax rates, beyond the present maximum of 9.3 percent, for that portion of the taxable income of an individual that exceeds $130,000 and of married taxpayers filing jointly that exceeds $260,000. Meanwhile, Governor Davis recently said he would like to smooth out the “wild gyrations” in California's tax structure, now heavily dependent on taxing the wealthy, to provide more stable long-term funding for education, health, and social programs.

Romero

SB 5X (Romero D-Los Angeles) was introduced as a special session bill to impose a 5-cent per drink fee on alcoholic beverages to fund the state's trauma centers. The bill would impose the fee on wholesalers of beer, wine and distilled spirits. This is a re-hash of a similar bill she introduced last session, which died in a legislative committee. The new bill also attempts to draw a nexus between alcohol and emergency room use. While this sounds like a tax, Romero’s bill might only need a majority vote of the legislature, based on a court decision that found that a fee imposed to cover government costs related to a product does not have to be approved by a super-majority needed for other tax increases.

Corporate Counsel Issues:

Speier

SB 1 (Speier D-Hillsborough) resurrects, for the 4th time, privacy legislation that goes well beyond the federal law enacted in 2000, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. SB 1 would prevent companies from sharing consumer's information unless they receive express permission from consumers beforehand, a burdensome process known as “opt in.” For information that companies share with affiliates, the measure would require institutions to use the “opt out” process. This year, like the last four years, there will undoubtedly be protracted negotiations on this issue.

Correa

AB 69 (Correa D-Santa Ana) is a measure filled with intent language only at this time, but seeks to put an end to lawyer's spurious use of the state's unfair competition law. Section 17200, of the California Business and Professions code permits prosecutors and private attorneys to claim that a business is acting “unfairly” and then sue. Increasingly, lawyers have been filing frivolous 17200 suits and then offering to drop legal action in exchange for significant monetary settlements. Correa’s “Bad Apples” bill seeks to reign in these type of questionable legal practices and the abuse of what was intended to be the cornerstone of the state's consumer protection laws.

Clearly, the start of the legislative session has been marked by the introduction of tax increases that are likely to have significant impacts on the already high costs of doing business in this state and further damage the business climate, while contentious corporate counsel issues are debated throughout the upcoming year.

Davis Suspends Transfer of Gasoline Sales Tax Funds to Transportation Fund
Governor Gray Davis this week issued a proclamation declaring that the state's fiscal problems necessitate suspending the transfer of sales taxes collected from sales of gasoline to the state's Transportation Fund. In 2000, Davis signed the Traffic Congestion Relief Program into law, which dedicated sales tax on gasoline sales to fund transportation projects. The law was ratified by California voters in March 2002, but contained a provision calling for suspension of the transfer during a state fiscal crisis. Under the current law, approximately $1 billion of the gasoline sales tax would be transferred from the General Fund to the Transportation Fund. However, Davis pegged the transfer as one way of correcting a portion of the states $20 plus billion-budget shortfall.

“This is a necessary step to get ahead of the budget challenge we face,” Governor Davis said. “I urge the Legislature to move quickly to approve a bill that will ease pressure on the General Fund as we face the task of closing the shortfall.”

Opportunities for Business Contacts with Foreign Officials
Many of California's manufacturers have vast international concerns, ranging from plants and facilities in other countries to marketing, trade and commerce issues. When foreign dignitaries come to California, the recently created “Speaker's Office of International Relations and Protocol” is there to help members of the assembly and their constituents participate in such visits with the appropriate protocol and formality.

Pedro Villegas of the Office wants to make sure the business community knows about the opportunities that often arise to meet with important officials of countries in which they have an interest. Last year alone the Office welcomed guests from over 90 countries to Sacramento. These visitors were referred to the Office by assemblymen, the U.S. Department of State, consular representatives, and various non-governmental organizations.

To maximize the value of each visit, the Office maintains a database that includes information on the international profile of each district, such as trade-dependent industries and local immigrant populations. This gives members the information they need to contact and provide access to their internationally-oriented constituents.

Periodically, as the Office informs us about upcoming visits, CMTA will alert you of the opportunity to meet and have a conversation with important foreign officials that might be difficult or impossible in the host country.

Our first alert is that the Ambassador of Chile to the United States will be visiting the Capitol in early January. Pedro wonders if any of you have a specific interests in the Ambassador and the pending U.S.- Chile Free Trade Agreement?

You can contact Pedro at 916-319-3600 or Pedro.Villegas@asm.ca.gov.

###

to Leg Weekly Index