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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
- In August, The Oceanside Chamber of Commerce announced its endorsements for the 2020 City of Oceanside Elections. The Chamber Board of Directors voted to support Ryan Keim for District 3 and Peter Weiss for District 4. Both candidates have demonstrated that they share the core values of the Chamber, including the support of free enterprise, a streamlined and predictable regulatory system and an overall environment in which business can thrive. Both candidates currently serve in appointed roles on the City Council, with Weiss serving as Mayor and Keim in an at-large Council seat.
- The endorsements by the Chamber Board followed several months of work by the Advance Oceanside Political Action Committee. Much of 2019 was spent developing policies and procedures and seeking Chamber member input on what issues were most important to them.
- The Advance Oceanside PAC has now focused its efforts on fundraising and helping its candidates secure victories in the two district seats.
Ryan Keim for District 3
Peter Weiss for District 4
Public Policy & Business Advocacy
- Supported AB 1731 (BOERNER HORVATH) which will streamline California’s work share program to allow more businesses to more quickly and easily enroll in the program. California’s work share program is a helpful program for employers who cannot afford to keep their staff on full-time but want to do everything possible to keep valuable employees employed and avoid lay-offs during difficult times. AB 1731 would provide for presumptive initial approval of submitted applications to join the program, rapid responses from the Employment Development Department (EDD) with necessary forms and require the creation of an online application portal by EDD to facilitate rapid approval.
- The Chamber continued to actively participate in a coalition to defeat AB 1383. This bill will significantly harm small employers in California by requiring any employer with as few as 5 employees to provide 12-weeks of protected leave each year and threatening them with litigation for any unintentional mistake. It will also impact large employers by providing the opportunity for a 6-month mandatory leave of absence. Chamber CEO has participated in meetings with Assemblymember Tasha Boerner Horvath and others to express business owners’ concerns about this bill. Unfortunately, despite our efforts the bill passed and will now to go the Governor.
- The Oceanside Chamber partnered with the Carlsbad and Vista Chambers to take their business advocacy work to the next level by purchasing subscriptions to OneClick Advocacy, the flagship advocacy software platform of OneClickPolitics. The platform includes innovative communications tools such as photo and video messaging, integrated text messaging, direct social media posts to legislators’ profiles, rotating email messages and auto-population of advocate data into our webforms among other features. The new platform was used in an email campaign urging the Governor to provide direction to our County that will facilitate the expeditious re-opening of indoor operations for our gyms, salons, churches, personal services and other businesses that have been impacted by this latest round of closures.
- The Chamber continued its work with the Save Small Business Coalition. The group’s primary focus and goal remain to push for legislation that quickly and effectively provides the assistance needed for our small businesses. The following are the 4 key areas that we are now championing alongside the US Chamber of Commerce:
- PPP Reform Allowance for a larger percentage of operating expenses
- Workforce Development
- Business Liability Protection
- Local Aid (State & Local Municipalities financial support)
- The Chamber has been actively engaged with a coalition to defeat Prop 15 on the November ballot. If passed, Prop 15 would usher in the largest property tax increase in state history at $12.5 billion and would threaten the tax protections provided by Proposition 13 since 1978.
- The Chamber is supporting Proposition 20 The “Reducing Crime and Keeping California Safe Act” on the November 2020 ballot, which will close a dangerous loophole by reclassifying clearly violent crimes as “violent,” so violent offenders will no longer be eligible for early release. The proposition was designed to make changes to AB 109 (2011), Proposition 47 (2014), and Proposition 57 (2016)—three measures that were each intended to reduce the state’s prison inmate population. Many people, including small business owners feel that these measures contributed to the criminal behavior associated with homelessness on our streets.
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