Earlier this week SB 3 (Leno; D-San Francisco), a measure that would raise California’s minimum wage to $13 per hour, flew through the Assembly Labor Committee on a party line vote.  This is above and beyond a 2013 state law that automatically raises minimum wage to $10 in 2016. However, the California Department of Finance (the Governor’s fiscal office) has come out against the additional hike to $13, stating that “This would lead to slower personal income growth, and an anticipated negative ...

Commercial property owners are encouraged to reach out to their local water district contacts and request a copy of the district’s drought ordinance or water conservation plan.  These are the two most common names for the documents created by local water districts, which spell out in detail how they will respond with water service in a declared drought. In many cases, these documents predate the current crisis, as declared by Governor Brown, but have been “dusted-off” and updated as the controlling ...

The California Water Fix was created to address the severe vulnerabilities of California’s water delivery system. It was drafted after nearly a decade of extensive expert review, planning, and scientific and environmental analysis by the state’s leading water experts, engineers and conservationists, as well as unprecedented public comment and participation. Click here to learn more about The California Water Fix and join the effort.  Read More →

November 2015   November 5: BOMA California Board Meeting 1:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. – Thunder Valley Casino, Sacramento   November 5-6: CBPA Board Meeting & Strategic Issues Conference Thunder Valley Casino, Sacramento   2016 and Beyond   June 26-28: BOMA International Annual Conference Washington, D.C.  Read More →

The California State Legislature is currently in Summer Recess so now is a good time to review the 2015-2016 Legislative Session so far. Representing the largest coalition of commercial real estate industry professional groups and individual companies, we are tracking over 400 pieces of legislation. We have taken positions on 150 bills (78 support and 72 oppose). Those bills that we oppose we work hard to fix in order to remove concerns.  So far, only one bill we are tracking has gone to the Governor, ...

Due to the Summer Recess, this Weekly eNewsletter will be on hiatus, returning on Friday, August 21. But don’t worry; your Sacramento staff will be here keeping an eye on the Capitol and if anything exciting happens we will make sure you know about it.  Read More →

A bill that denies employers the basic choice of whom to hire has passed the Legislature and is on its way to the Governor’s desk.  This bill is very similar to AB 350, a bill that the commercial real estate industry spent a significant amount of time and effort to defeat five years ago. AB 359 (Gonzalez; D-San Diego) inappropriately alters the employment relationship by requiring any successor grocery employer to retain employees of the former grocery employer for 90 days and continue to offer ...

Although we take every opportunity to find bills that we support, it seems that much of our time is spent pushing back and opposing bills that would make the business climate in California even more difficult.  We work closely with the California Chamber and other business groups to try to fix or defeat these measures.  Here are the bills that we are tracking that are still moving and are also on the CalChamber’s Job Killer list: Increased Labor Costs SB 3 (Leno; D-San Francisco/ Leyva; D-Chino) ...

Governor Brown has signed AB 1 (Brown; D-San Bernardino) into law which pre-empts local fines – even in charter cities – for letting lawns die back in order to conserve water.  Now, you just need to make sure you follow weed abatement and fire defensive space requirements.  There is a quip in here somewhere about “two Browns make it Green,” but we can’t find it.  Read More →

SB 251 (Roth; D-Riverside) Civil Rights; Disability Access, a bill that we strenuously SUPPORT continues to move.  Among other reforms, this bill enacts a tax credit for businesses that make accessibility improvements.  Yesterday, the bill unanimously passed the Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee and next goes to the Appropriations committee. Senator Roth has faced a lot of adversity as he has worked on this bill and has faced some unfair criticism from critics of reform.  We thank him for ...