ADVOCATE
CALIFORNIA
GENERAL ELECTION
YOUR
TUESDAY
NOV. 4, 2014 Your Vote Matters
An award-winning quarterly publication of the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce
Fall 2014
Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe Presents His 8th Annual State of the County Address on November 14 Over the next few months, Los Angeles County will be undergoing massive changes. We will have two new supervisors replacing Gloria Molina and Zev Yaroslavsky, and a new Sheriff and Assessor will be elected. Our CEO, Bill Fujioka, will be retiring and we will be bringing in several new department heads. While fresh perspectives are always good, this is a huge amount of change in a short period of time for one organization, especially for one with a $27 billion budget and 100,000 employees. With these leaders go volumes of institutional knowledge. The County, like any organization of its size, is hugely complicated. Having some history and understanding of how things work is invaluable to keeping operations running smoothly. Our job at the County, as the ultimate safety net, is to solve problems. We can’t engage in partisan bickering, impart executive orders or point fingers— the buck stops with the five members of the Board of Supervisors.
Our job at the County, as the ultimate safety net, is to solve problems… the buck stops with the five members of the Board of Supervisors. While every day is not a picnic, we put aside our political differences and work to find solutions. In the end, you will find that most votes are 5-0 or 4-1—“compromise” cannot be a bad word when you are managing the largest county in the nation. Perhaps my biggest concern is the budget. The Board, our CEO, department heads, unions and staff pulled together through the really tough economic times to keep programs and services in place, and to avoid lay-offs and furloughs. Our efforts were rewarded with two credit rating increases, to the highest levels
the County has ever achieved. This is unheard of in municipal governments across the United States. This matters because the County has funding to continue the programs and services our residents expect, and to make investments in our infrastructure. We are able to borrow money at very low rates to invest in our communities by building new Community Centers, which we are opening in Hacienda Heights, Rowland Heights and Whittier, and allows us to put $45 million towards expanding or building new libraries in areas that currently have inadequate facilities that do not meet the needs of our residents. The coming months will be challenging, but I look forward to welcoming my new colleagues and new leaders to the County. There is a lot that all of us can learn from their predecessors about balance, fiscal prudence and good management, for the benefit of the 10 million residents of this great County!
This year the Chamber welcomes The Queen Mary as its keynote sponsor for the State of the County event. There are few icons from the last century that have stood the test of time. Rising from the ashes of the Great Depression, the Queen Mary ship became the fashion of ocean travel and a defender of the peace in World War II. Long retired from sea travel, the Queen Mary, now located in Long Beach, is a clarion reminder of another age, and yet continues to attract a million and half visitors each year. In an effort to showcase the Queen Mary’s historic legacy, the Queen Mary Heritage Foundation has recently announced its vision for a future world-class museum and science center. Located in the ship’s former engine rooms, the 65,000 square foot state-of-the-art museum will feature a science center, educational classrooms, 4D theater, and museum-quality exhibition spaces. It will be a place for visitors to be fully enthralled and entertained while providing a truly authentic atmosphere.
To register for the State of the County event, go to www.LBChamber.com. Table sponsorship levels are available starting at $995 for a table of 10. Single tickets are $50. For more information contact Samantha Cardenas at scardenas@ lbchamber.com or (562) 432-7830.
Chamber Issues Recommendations for Ballot on November 4, 2014 The Long Beach Area Chamber released its positions on four of the six statewide ballot measures for the November 4, 2014 General Election. The Chamber also took a position on a local Los Angeles county ballot measure impacting the city of Long Beach. The measures that The Chamber supported would help with ensuring a reliable water supply and provide essential services to the Long Beach area. Another measure supported by The Chamber would help ease the “cycle of boom and bust budgeting” which happens during good and bad years in the State’s economy. The Chamber opposed measures that are considered “job killers” or measures that put the Long Beach area economy at a disadvantage. The Chamber is committed to educating its members on various measures that will affect them and urge all of its members to consider the following positions:
Statewide Ballot Measures
YES Proposition 1: Water Quality, Supply, and Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2014
Proposition 1 would authorize $7.1 billion in general obligation bonds for state water supply infrastructure projects, such as public water system improvements, surface and groundwater storage, drinking water protection, water recycling and advanced water treatment technology, water supply management and conveyance, wastewater treatment, drought relief, emergency water supplies, and ecosystem and watershed protection and restoration. The Chamber believes that reliable water supply is critical to numerous sectors of the economy throughout the state and in Long Beach.
YES Proposition 2: Rainy Day Budget
Proposition 2 would require the director of finance to submit estimates of general fund revenues and expenditures for the ensuing fiscal year and the three fiscal years thereafter within ten days following the submission of proposed adjustments to the governor’s budget. Placed on the ballot with
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NO Proposition 45: Approval of Healthcare Insurance Rate Changes
Proposition 45 would require healthcare insurance rates for individual and small group health insurance to be approved by the Insurance Commissioner before taking effect. Currently, state regulators have the authority to review, but not approve, rates for individual and small group health insurance. Proposition 45 allows a single elected politician— the insurance commissioner—to control what benefits and treatment options insurance covers, with virtually no checks and balances to ensure decisions are made to benefit patients and consumers instead of special interests in Sacramento. The Chamber believes this measure is duplicative by creating more costly bureaucracy. There are already two other bureaucracies that oversee health insurance rates. The addition of another bureaucracy will cause costly confusion with other regulations and add more red tape to the health care system. Furthermore, California just established a new independent commission responsible for negotiating health plan rates on behalf of consumers and rejecting health plans if they’re too expensive.
NO Proposition 46: Drug and Alcohol Testing of Doctors. Medical Negligence Lawsuits
Stabilization Fund Act of 2014
In this Issue
bipartisan support, Proposition 2 places in the State Constitution the requirement to create a rainy day fund, saving money and paying down state debts when times are good. The constitutionally protected reserve can be used to protect schools, public safety and other vital services in bad times. Preventing politicians from spending temporary revenue spikes for ongoing spending will keep the state from spending more than it can afford.
Proposition 46 would increase the monetary cap on medical malpractice damages for such things as pain and suffering from $250,000 to $1.1 million and adjusted annually for future inflation. Health care providers would be required to check a statewide prescription drug database before prescribing or dispensing certain drugs to a patient for the first
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time. Hospitals would be required to test certain physicians for alcohol and drugs. The Chamber believes by quadrupling the limit on medical malpractice awards in California, Proposition 46 will cost consumers and taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars each year, and cause many doctors and other medical care professionals to quit their practice or move to places with lower medical malpractice insurance premiums. If medical malpractice awards go up, health insurance companies will raise their rates to cover their increased costs. When health care insurance companies raise their rates, Californians pay more in health care premiums as passed on to consumers.
Los Angeles County Ballot Measure
YES Proposition P: 2014 Safe Neighborhood Parks Tax Measure
Proposition P would impose a new $23 parcel tax to maintain park funding as a previous parks tax measure is about to expire. Current funding, approved in 1992, generates $45 million a year for neighborhood and regional parks and recreation. Proposition P continues this funding through an annual $23 per parcel special tax for 30 years. All funds must remain local within LA County and can only be used for parks, recreation, and open space projects. If approved by voters, the new flat tax would represent about a $10-a-year increase for the average single-family residence, which currently pays about $13 a year under the expiring assessment. The amount of the current assessment is calculated in part by formulas which take into account how much properties benefit from improvements funded by the levy (parcel tax). The Chamber believes this is a better approach as some properties currently; such as vacant lots, are taxed as little as three cents a year, while commercial properties can be taxed as much as $10,000 a year (citing extreme ends of both examples). The proposed new flat tax would be $23 on ANY property, regardless of its size. Over $24 million has come back to Long Beach for parks, recreation and other related projects throughout the city.
4 Q & A with Boardmember Phil Jones
5 Chamber PAC Endorsements