GOVERNOR’S PLAN TO ADDRESS BUDGET/STIMULATE ECONOMY

The Governor has called a special session of the Legislature to address the budget crisis and announced an action plan to “invigorate our economy and generate jobs for the state's unemployed.” The Governor called for a combination of cuts and revenue increases to solve California's budget shortfall which has now reach $11.2 billion.

The Governor's plan to stimulate employment in our state includes:

• Accelerating hospital construction to inject approximately $160 million into California's economy.
• Pushing out and expediting infrastructure bond monies to create jobs and help unemployed residential construction workers in the hardest hit areas of the state get trained in a new type of construction.
• Keeping high paying jobs in California by providing overtime exemptions and allowing more flexible work schedules to increase productivity.
• Clarifying meal and rest periods to save businesses hundreds of millions of dollars in litigation costs and create less confusion from meal break violations which will mean fewer terminations.
• Reducing barriers to public-private partnerships and "design-build" agreements to enable more infrastructure to be built better, faster and cheaper and generate more jobs during the housing downturn.
• Keeping television and film production in California by providing targeted tax credits and keep thousands of jobs in the state and economic output in our state.

Click here for more information.
 

ELECTION RESULTS – PROPOSITIONS

BOMA California took positions on three of the statewide propositions. On each of these measures, our position was supported by the voters of the state:

* Proposition 5 - FAILED. Would have decriminalized certain activities and made it impossible to get police out for infractions on our properties.
* Proposition 7 - FAILED. Attempted to lock in energy prices 10% about their actual costs.
* Proposition 11 - PASSED. Legislative Redistricting Reform.

Click here to see full results of all the propositions.
 

ELECTION RESULTS – LEGISLATURE

Prior to Tuesday’s election, the California State Legislature had a Democratic majority with 25 Democrats and 15 Republicans in the Senate and 48 Democrats and 32 Republicans in the Assembly. When all the dust settles, it looks as if the Democrats will not only retain their majorities, but have actually increased their numbers in both houses: +1 in the Senate (assuming the 19th District race results hold) and +2 in the Assembly.

The 19th Senate District (Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties) race remains extremely close, with just 100 votes separating the two candidates. The seat is being vacated by Republican Tom McClintock, one of the most conservative members of the Legislature, who has been elected to fill John Doolittle’s congressional seat.

Assuming these gains hold, the Democrats have inched themselves closer to the “holy grail” of having a 2/3’s majority of 27 in the Senate and 54 in the assembly. A 2/3 majority is required to pass a budget, including any new taxes, and to override vetoes. The Democrats stand four votes short of this threshold in the Assembly and one vote short in the Senate.
 

CASH FOR TRASH - DECONSTRUCTION AND REUSE IN ACTION

In October of 2006 the developer and design-build team of the ‘Uptown Monterey’ project committed to making it the first LEED certified shopping center in the state of California. In August 2008 the project finally received its long-awaited certification – LEED Silver.

A key component was the deconstruction of a former grocery store on site, followed by the reuse of salvaged building materials in one of the new buildings. These activities were filmed as part of a new documentary called Cash for Trash – The Case For Deconstruction.

As collaboration between the City of Monterey and Daniels & House Construction Co., the goal of this documentary is to educate about deconstruction as an alternative to demolition and how reusing salvaged material can be economically viable.

The project developer is Doug Wiele, President and Founding Partner, Foothill Partners Inc. Doug is a long time CBPA Board Member and leader in the shopping center industry. Please join us in congratulating him on this wonderful success.
 

INTEGRATED REGIONAL WATER MANAGEMENT GRANT PROGRAM

The Department of Water Resources (DWR) has scheduled a series of mid-November workshops on Propositions 84 and 1E funded Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) Program. The purpose of the meetings is to discuss how DWR plans to expedite both the Proposition 84 IRWM Implementation and Proposition 1E Stormwater Flood Management grant funding.

On September 30, 2008, Governor Schwarzenegger signed SBxx1, which contained appropriations for the IRWM program.

Proposition 84 -$181,791,000, of which $100,000,000 is for implementation grants
Proposition 1E -$150,000,000 for Stormwater Flood Management projects

Workshops will be held in November to open discussions with potential grant applicants on how DWR plans to award these funds. The region acceptance process will be discussed, questions will be answered, and a draft schedule will be reviewed.

Tuesday, November 18 - Riverside
Wednesday, November 19 - Sacramento
Friday, November 21 - Goleta
 

CORPORATE WATER FOOTPRINTING CONFERENCE

How can water management help companies and your properties save energy and costs? How does water reduction drive sustainability? These are two of the central questions being answered at the Corporate Water Footprinting event which is taking place December 2-3 at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco.

Confirmed speakers include sustainability experts from Pepsi, Coke, ConAgra Foods, Nestle Waters, IBM, Cisco, Adobe, Intel, GE, Dean Foods, Steelcase, JP Morgan and more. Water management experts from The Global Water Challenge, Business for Social Responsibility, The Pacific Institute, and the World Resources Institute are also speaking.

BOMA California is supporting this event which entitles any member a discount of 20% to attend this event. Simply type “csrw20” into the discount code box when booking online or quote “csrw20” when booking by phone or fax. For more information, click here to visit the website.
 

BOMA CALIFORNIA 2009 CALENDAR

JANUARY 2009

(t)January 15—
BOMA CALIFORNIA BOARD MEETING (With Dinner To Follow)
Renaissance Esmeralda, Indian Wells, CA
1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

January 16-19 –
BOMA INTERNATIONAL WINTER BUSINESS MEETING
Indian Wells, CA

FEBRUARY 2009

February 26—
CBPA NEW LEGISLATOR LUNCHEON
Sacramento (Hyatt)

MARCH 2009

March TBD (Late March)—
BOMA/INDUSTRYWIDE LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
TBD (in Southern California)

March 23-24—
BOMA INTERNATIONAL, NATIONAL ISSUES CONFERENCE
Washington D.C.