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| For Immediate Release September 18, 2003 |
CMTA Contacts: Gino DiCaro
916-498-3347 William Hodges 916-498-3324 Coalition Contact: Tom Knox 916-448-4266 |
Business Leaders Call on Governor Davis to Veto Pending Job Killer Bills
 |
“This study demonstrates the sad truth that many employers have known for some time,” said Allan Zaremberg, President of the California Chamber of Commerce and co-chair of CCJ. “California’s business climate is not competitive with other states. For years the legislature has added burdens, costs and mandates that have taken their toll. When companies look at the business climates of the major states with which we compete, we just don’t fare very well. The result is that existing companies are tempted to leave and new businesses are created elsewhere.”
The SAER Group report looked at a variety of economic development factors and analyzed the business competitiveness of California and its major competitors. The group used data from 2000 to compare factors across the states. The data analysis was conducted in order to build a business scorecard to readily identify where California is superior or inferior to other states. Factors that went into the evaluation included demographic characteristics, workforce measurements, business costs, and personal quality of life issues. New York ranked last among the states and, along with California, was given an F. Colorado and Utah ranked the highest and were given an A.
“This study shows we are already in bad shape from a competitive standpoint, but that’s only part of the news. The rest of the story is that the business climate in California has deteriorated since 2000, and the legislature has just passed numerous job killing bills that will make the situation even worse,” said Larry McCarthy, president of the California Taxpayers Association and co-chair of CCJ. “It is imperative that Governor Davis veto the job killers that have been sent to him. The first step in turning our economy around is to do no more harm. If the Governor is serious about making California competitive again, he will veto these bills.”
CCJ released a list of bills they want Governor Davis to veto. The list includes SB 2 (Burton), which will impose a new multi-billion dollar health care mandate on California employers; SB 288 (Sher) which will jeopardize existing air pollution permits, weaken current air pollution requirements and likely mean new fees on employers_; SB 796 (Dunn) allowing bounty-hunting private attorneys to sue employers for minor or inadvertent wage and hour labor code violations and extort civil penalties or settlements; AB 16 (Jackson) unnecessarily complicating the ability to move oil products to California refineries, which will result in supply problems, price spikes and job loss in the state; AB 1715 (Corbett) limiting the ability of employers and employees to agree to arbitrate disputes and opening the door to costly lawsuits that benefit lawyers, not workers; AB 274 (Koretz) exposing California employers to more frivolous lawsuits by presuming a company is automatically guilty if the employer discharges, demotes, suspends or reduces the hours or pay of an employee within 90 days after an employee makes a claim under the Labor Code; and SB 810 (Burton) unnecessarily complicating the ability of landowners to conduct prudent stewardship of private forestlands, resulting in the loss of billions in dollars of state taxes, closure of many mills, and the loss of thousands of family wage jobs.