For Immediate Release

Contact:
Scott Alevy
(619) 544-1360
Lisa Gesner
(619) 544-1381

May 22, 2008


The San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce's Board of Directors met today, May 22, 2008, and took official positions on several legislative bills, after extensive consideration from the Chamber's Public Policy committee. Below is a categorized list of the Board's legislative positions.

Americans with Disabilities (ADA)
SB 1608 (Corbett) – Disabled Persons: equal access rights: civil actions (Support)

Employment and Human Resources
SB 1661 (Kuehl) - Unemployment compensation: family leave: good cause. (Oppose)
SB 1717 (Perata) – Permanent Disability Workers Comp (Oppose)

Infrastructure
AB 642 (Wolk) – Design-build: counties, cities and special districts. (Support)
AB 2219 (Parra) – Subdivisions: water supply. (Support)
AB 2723 (De la Torre) – Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply, Flood Control. (Support)
SB 1473 (Calderon) – Building standards: green buildings. (Support)
AB 2046 (Jones) – Water supply assessments: groundwater. (Oppose)
SB 375 (Steinberg) – Transportation planning: travel demand models: sustainable communities strategy: environmental review. (Oppose)
SB 1165 (Kuehl) – Environment: environmental impact report. (Oppose)
SB 1550 (Florez) – Corporations: climate change disclosure. (Oppose)

Land Use/Construction
SB 1185 (Lowenthal) – Subdivision Map Act: tentative map extension. (Support)

Land Use/Military
AB 1832 (Saldaña) – Tidelands and submerged lands: City of San Diego (Oppose)

Restaurant Industry
AB 2572 (Parra) Menu Labeling. (Support)
AB 1420 (Padilla) – Menu Labeling. (Oppose)

Sales and Use Taxes
AB 1840 (Calderon) – Sales and use taxes: retailers (Oppose)

Technology
AB 2505 (Brownley) – Hazardous Waste: Polyvinyl chloride packaging containers. (Oppose)

The Board heard a presentation on the new Otay Mesa East proposed border crossing economic impact study, which projects that impacts from the new port of entry would have benefits to the San Diego regional economy of approximately $14 billion. The Board also heard from Dr. Terry Grier, Superintendent of the San Diego Unified School District on San Diego's educational system.

Founded in 1870, the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce is a nonprofit organization with the goal of promoting the business interests of its more than 3,000 member companies, while increasing the international region's prosperity.