Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) teachers, administrators and staff deserve our congratulations and support. Despite significant budget cutbacks, LAUSD students achieved a 19-point Academic Performance Index
The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce has consistently rallied our members and legislators to support regulatory reform in California — a cause made all
This weekend we’ll celebrate Labor Day, traditionally the end of summer and the return of football and cool autumn temperatures. Fortunately, talk is finally heating up on a game plan to put California back on track toward a winning economy. Last week, Gov. Jerry Brown released a three-part California Jobs First Plan to spur companies to hire California workers. This is on the heels of Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Economic Growth and Competitiveness Agenda to lead California into the post-recession “Next Economy.” With fears of an economic relapse on the horizon, the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce applauds both Gov. Brown and Lt. Gov. Newsom for putting plans on the chalkboard to make business investment and job creation the top priority for California lawmakers.
When part of our California landscape is burning, we send in the firefighters. The California dream is ablaze for millions of able men and women whose ability to support their families has gone up in smoke. The California Legislature will adjourn the 2011 legislative session on Friday, Sept. 9. Taking bold action in the next three weeks will not require more tax revenue, but it will require bipartisanship, political will and a relentless focus on passing laws that will encourage and enable the private sector to create new jobs for Californians.
Our 12 percent unemployment rate — with more than 2 million unemployed workers — is not a Democratic or Republican problem, it is a California problem. When Californians are not working, we have a poverty problem and a state revenue problem. California currently has the second highest rate of unemployment in the nation, an almost unimaginable situation given the vast resources of this great State. And it is getting worse. We have 53,000 fewer Californians working today than a year ago.
The business community applauds the bi-partisan efforts of President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Speaker of the House John Boehner and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi for the passage of legislation to raise the national debt ceiling and reduce the federal deficit. These leaders persevered to find the middle ground in a very contentious debate that had the nation wondering if it was still possible to compromise on any issue in Washington, D.C.
During the past two weeks, the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce has been part of a national business coalition — headed up by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — that has been urging Congress to find a solution to raise the debt ceiling and begin the process of reducing the national debt. We joined that coalition because the risk of not raising the debt ceiling and the long-term danger of not reducing the deficit were both too great to ignore.
The City of Los Angeles has the highest gross receipts tax rate of all 88 cities in L.A. County — a distinction that also puts it among the highest of any major city in the United States. This, coupled with the fact that technology now allows businesses to locate almost anywhere, has left the City struggling to attract and retain businesses, jobs and tax revenue.
In 2009, at the urging of the L.A. Area Chamber and other business organizations, the City convened a Business Tax Advisory Committee (BTAC), similar to the one created in 2001 which recommended a 15 percent business tax reduction that resulted in job growth and more money for the City’s coffers.
Comprised of nine citizens, including several tax experts, BTAC was charged with making recommendations to reform the City’s tax code, and doing so in a way that is revenue neutral. The Committee went to work studying immediate and long term solutions to fixing the City’s draconian tax practices and changing the often complained about review processes used by the Office of Finance. Recognizing the stakes and implications for the City, BTAC and the independent economist selected by the City to assist the committee, researched many scenarios for reducing the gross receipts tax, including complete elimination.
Anyone with a basic understanding of economics knew long ago where the unsustainable public employee pension system was headed. And last year, City of Los Angeles Chief Administrative Officer Miguel Santana painted a frightening picture of the severe financial crisis facing the City as the cost of pensions and health care for retirees continue to rise. Despite that, public officials, who were too afraid of public employee union backlash, stuck their heads in the sand.
We all know the problem isn’t exclusive to Los Angeles — the State of California is in the same mess, and across the country cities and states have made headlines on drastic measures aimed at bringing some sanity back to the bargaining table.
No one begrudges public employees’ good health care and retirement benefits, but the crux of this problem lies in fairness. Working families struggle to fund their own retirements and pay their own health care costs, yet they are providing public employees and retirees with full pensions and almost 100 percent of their health benefits. Public employees are suffering as well, losing salary and jobs due to furloughs and layoffs. When government has to lay off employees, municipal services for the public also take a hit.
Pirates aren’t what they used to be. No longer content with sailing the seven seas, they’re now entering the open waters of the Internet, searching for new sources of stolen treasure. With a few clicks of a mouse or taps on an iPad, one can find thousands of movies, song recordings and full-featured video games available to download at little to no cost. Sadly, many computer users downloading copyrighted content aren’t even aware that they are trafficking in stolen property.
June 15 is D-Day for the California Legislature. It’s the Constitutional deadline for passing a balanced state budget. And it is an opportunity to pull our State out of the financial and economic morass we find ourselves in today.
Financial deadlines usually force people out of their comfort zones and give them an urgency to act. Gov. Jerry Brown and members of the Legislature should use the June 15 deadline as an opportunity to put a financial workout plan into place for California.
In the business world, a financial workout plan is an agreement between a financially troubled company and its lender to alter the terms of repayment. Typically, the lender agrees to modify the terms in exchange for legally binding commitments from the company to fix the structural problems that got the company in trouble. That’s what California needs: a workout plan where taxpayers agree to extend temporary taxes on the condition that state government fixes the underlying conditions that got California in trouble.