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Helping Businesses Prosper and our Community Thrive!
Your investment in the Oceanside Chamber is making a difference in our community! The Chamber's mission is to "stimulate economic prosperity and foster a vibrant community." Here's a quick overview if what your investment in the Chamber allowed us to accomplish in the recent weeks...
Political Action/Business Advocacy
Urge City Council to Take Action Now on Homelessness
At the April 7th meeting of the Oceanside City Council, Councilmembers will consider a hotel/motel voucher program and anti-camping ordinances. The voucher program offers a viable, short-term solution to sheltering our homeless population until a permanent shelter can be put in place. Additionally, the ordinances give our public safety officials more options to address a growing problem. The Chamber, along with MainStreet Oceanside and Visit Oceanside, is urging the business community to speak up in support of these solutions. Please contact the City Council by April 7th.
Federal COVID-19 Relief
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Through the Save Small Business Coalition, we urged Congress to immediately appropriate funding for flexible, unrestricted grants targeted to the smallest and hardest hit businesses. A nationwide poll of small business owners from last fall found that 68% of owners agreed that the loans available to small businesses through PPP have been of limited help to many small businesses because the guidelines on how to use them and the time frame for use have been unclear. Moreover, 62% say that the loans available to small businesses to survive during the pandemic are not equally distributed, and it is more difficult for small businesses owned by people of color and women to receive economic assistance.
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The Oceanside Chamber organized a Q&A with restaurant owners and Congressman Levin on The Restaurant Revitalization Fund, a grant program that will bring $28.6 billion in grant relief to restaurants. Following up to help schedule training for restaurant owners to prepare them for the application process.
State Legislation
The Oceanside Chamber of Commerce signed on to numerous CalChamber coalition letters on business related legislation including…
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Supported AB 62 which provides a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for any costs businesses incur attempting to comply with stringent Cal/OSHA COVID-19 regulations.
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Opposed SB 727 which would expand liability for businesses that use subcontractors. Contractors would now also be responsible for a subcontractor’s liability related to Unemployment Insurance withholdings/deductions/contributions or the failure to maintain workers’ compensation coverage.
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Supported SB 657 which allows employers to satisfy notice requirements under the Labor Code using electronic means for telecommuting employees.
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Supported AB 230 which allows for an employee-selected flexible work schedule and relieves employers the administrative cost and burden of adopting an alternative workweek schedule per division, which accommodates employees, helps retain employees, and allows the employer to invest these savings into growing its workforce.
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Opposed AB 1041 which would create a significant expansion of California Family Rights Act and Health Workplaces, Health Families Act. Significantly expands California Family Rights Act and Health Workplaces, Health Families Act for employers of all sizes by allowing employees to take leave to care for any individual of the employee’s choosing. While one more benefit may not seem significant in isolation, this mandate must be viewed in the context of all of California’s other leaves and paid benefits. California has numerous protected, overlapping leaves and benefits requirements.
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Opposed SB 213 which expands costly presumption of injury. Significantly increases workers’ compensation costs for public and private hospitals by presuming certain diseases and injuries are caused by the workplace and establishes an extremely concerning precedent for expanding presumptions into the private sector.
 Small Business Grant Program
The Chamber has partnered with the City of Oceanside and MainStreet Oceanside to administer a $750,000 Small Business Grant program. As of late March, the Chamber was on target to distribute over $425,000 to over 240 businesses.
Grant applications were received from a wide variety of industries including restaurants, salons, personal services, health and fitness studios, and businesses related to events and entertainment.
The Chamber is advocating for additional funds in order to run another grant program for Oceanside’s small businesses.
Economic Recovery
In March, the Chamber launched a new Economic Recovery Task Force made up of representatives from the business community, arts and culture community, City of Oceanside, Visit Oceanside and MainStreet Oceanside. Key focus areas for the task force will include Leveraging Oceanside’s American Rescue Plan Act funding for economic recovery, promoting economic recovery and development through the cultural arts, creating a year-round “shop local” culture, promoting business friendly policies to help businesses accommodate “pent-up demand”, and addressing the homelessness issue.
Serving as a Champion for our Community
The Chamber continued its Advancing Oceanside Podcast in order to bring attention to the businesses and non-profit organizations serving our community. Recent interviews have included Oceanside Cultural Arts Foundation, Milestone House, Tri-City Hospital Foundation and Bread of Life/San Diego Rescue Mission.
The podcasts can be viewed on the Chamber's YouTube Channel, IGTV, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
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