Government Affairs

BOMA California was created in 1988 in an effort to have the industry speak with one unified voice to policymakers in a cost efficient, coordinated and consistent manner.

BOMA California acts swiftly and decisively on behalf of the commercial real estate industry.  The association aggressively represents the industry and actively shapes public policy in a broad range of venues.  From the Governor and legislators in the State Capitol, to energy issues before the CPUC and new code requirements before the Building Standards Commission, BOMA California exists to affect change assure policymakers understand the impacts of their actions.

BOMA California gives commercial real estate a platform and acts as a key communication link between our industry and a host of state policymakers and numerous state agencies.  Concurrently, BOMA California’s Board of Directors identifies the most important issues facing our industry at any given time, and uses industry experts to help prioritize and direct the association’s activity.

What Have We Done For You Lately?
Through individual action and strategic alliances, BOMA California has accomplished the following:

Legislation:  BOMA California tracks and directly engages legislators on legislation which would have significant impact our members. In 2008 more than two thousand separate pieces of legislation have been introduced in the California State Legislature and all of them were read to identify potential impacts on the commercial real estate industry. 

So far in this session, we helped assure legislative approval for an industry seat on the State Historical Safety Advisory Board; reformed the BID law; and participated in negotiations on the ADA “safe harbor” bill.  The association has also been instrumental in stopping or amending a number of very bad bills, including those requiring LEED Gold standards for all new construction, one that would mandate the use of photovoltaics to remove new buildings from the state’s power grid, and one that mandated that owners provide their Energy Star rating information to all tenants. 

Energy:  BOMA California is the only organization representing the commercial real estate industry full-time in front of key energy regulatory agencies.  In 2007 and 2008 our efforts before the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) led to significant rate reductions in Northern and Southern California, a historic agreement to allow owners to submeter tenants’ electrical usage, and stopped mandatory Demand Reduction proposals such as Critical Peak Pricing.  Over the next three years it has been calculated that commercial building owners will save upwards of $43M in Northern California alone on their energy bills which can be directly tied to BOMA’s advocacy efforts.

Regulatory/Taxation:  BOMA California has protected commercial property owners’ interests on a wide variety of issues including forced access by telecommunications companies, energy deregulation, mandatory statewide fire sprinkler retrofit requirements, split roll property taxation, toxic mold liability, extreme new disabled access requirements, and much, much more.

BOMA California is directly engaging in the process that will produce a set of "green" building codes, making California the first state in the nation to adopt such standards.

ARCHIVE REPORTS

2007 LEGISLATIVE WRAP-UP
In 2007, the California State Legislature introduced 2,760 separate pieces of legislation.  All of these bills were read by staff by BOMA California staff and more than 90 were identified that could potentially impact the commercial real estate industry. Click here for a summary of the highest priority 2007 bills and their outcome.


BOMA INTERNATIONAL ANNOUNCES 2007 ADVOCACY PRIORITIES
Our friends at Building Owners and Managers Association International (BOMA International) have announced their 2007 federal advocacy priorities:  Insurance, Taxes, and Sustainability and Energy. 

Insurance: The two major issues are calling on Congress to extend the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, and researching solutions to the exorbitant rate increases our industry has seen for wind coverage.

Taxes: Among other things, BOMA will focus on working to extend, or make permanent, the "tax-extender" policies that congress passed in late 2006, including the extension of the 15-yr depreciation for leasehold improvements and the immediate expensing of brownfields clean-up costs.

Sustainability and Energy: BOMA will continue its push to expand and extend the tax incentives for the energy-efficient upgrades that were included in the Energy Policy Act of 2005.