Advocacy UpdatesLocal Lawmakers Evaluated for Business-Friendly Votes in SessionRecent CalChamber report shows local legislators’ perspectives on a variety of important issues for local business.
With the close of the 2014 legislative session, the California Chamber of Commerce (CalChamber) recently released its legislative vote record on California state legislators, including several that represent Riverside and its surrounding communities to determine how often they aligned with critical business priorities.
"The business community needs to hold our legislators accountable for their decisions in Sacramento. They should see how their decisions will impact the small business owner, the employer, and every taxpayer in California," said Joseph Ortiz, Attorney and Partner with Best Best & Krieger and Chair of the Chamber’s Governmental Affairs Council. No vote record can tell the entire story of a legislator’s attitude and actions on issues of importance to business. Each year, legislators cast thousands of votes on thousands of proposed laws. Sometimes a legislator is unwilling to vote against a colleague, but is willing to support the business community’s opposition to a bill. In such cases, a legislator may abstain from voting, which will hinder passage of a bill, just as a "no" vote does. To recognize that not voting can aid the opposition to a bill, the vote record also includes the number of times legislators did not vote in support of a Chamber-opposed bill in the total. Chamber President/CEO Cindy Roth agreed, "Our Chamber works closely with CalChamber and other chambers across the state to make sure that our lawmakers know where we stand on policies that impact our members. Legislators may not always agree with us but it is important that we keep that relationship active to inform them on what matters for local business." To see the Vote Record, click here |
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