By TR Robertson
Newly elected Carlsbad City Council member Teresa Acosta chaired the final Government Affairs Committee Zoom meeting for 2020 this week highlighted by presentations from Jennings Imel from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and John Dadian, from Dadian & Associates. Both presenters gave final wrap-ups of the recent November elections.
Jennings Imel, from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, gave their perspective of the results of the recent November elections. He said the two priorities the U.S. Chamber looked at was the maintaining of a pro-business status in the Senate and identifying Democrats that were pro-business. He said that during the election the trend was a large amount of money being spent on election contests across the nation. There was a strong performance by Republicans in the Senate races and over-all a good night for the business community with the results in the elections. Jennings said it will be a divided Congress with a Republican majority in the Senate and the Democrats with a majority in the House. He also said that President-Elect Joe Biden will have to work with the Republican Senate to get what legislation he introduces passed. The next two weeks will be critical for the nation, before Congress leaves for the holiday break, as Congress works on a COVID relief package and the possible $908 million dollar proposal.
John Dadian, of Dadian & Associates, looked at local and state election results. He said the County Supervisors have approved a $20 million package to assist small businesses and have introduced state sales tax deferrals for these businesses. He said one thing to consider is that the next elections will be interesting as there will be redistricting and California will lose 1-2 Congressional seats. John said the county will be looking at focusing on more social services issues like health and human services and law enforcement issues. San Diego City Council will have 5 new council members and a new mayor. Six of the nine Council members will only have one Republican member. With respect to SANDAG transportation issues he said it will be road repair vs public transportation in determining what will go through first. When asked about the possibility of outgoing San Diego Mayor Falconer running for state governor, Dadian said this will be a hard battle for him if he does choose to run for mayor.
Aaron Byzak, from Tri-City Hospital – reported the election for new board members was a robust election process and of the 4 seats up for election there will be 3 new board members for the 7-seat board.
Matthew Phy from State Senator Patricia Bates Office – housing grants are coming back for Oceanside & Encinitas; some $512 million in business and economic development is available for small business dealing with COVID issues; and the EDD cases are still being dealt with as quickly as possible.
Alex Kiwan from State Assemblymember Tasha Boerner Horvath’s Office – the deferred state sales tax for small businesses was once again mentioned; references to AB 1731, dealing with businesses employing workers without laying them off was discussed; a mention that EDD was still available for small businesses; a seminar is going to be held for high school students learning how to apply for college during the pandemic.
Kristal Jabara from County Supervisor Jim Desmond’s Office – the stimulus grant program for small businesses is available and those interested are encouraged to reach out to their office for information and questions. Each Supervisor will have $4 million to distribute to specific businesses – go to www.sandiegocounty.gov for more information.
Jason Haber from the City of Carlsbad – the new City Council members will be sworn in next week; the City Council will begin gathering public input on a variety of issues; the City Council will soon be going over their regional assignments.
Bret Schanzenbach – CEO of the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce – The Chamber voted to oppose the worker recall ordinance; Wednesday, December 9th at 5 pm the Chamber will present a virtual Volunteer & Committee of the Year Recognition Celebration; go to www.carlsbad.org/eventcalander for more information; the Carlsbad Village Fairs were cancelled this year and hopes that they will return; also cancelled was the proposed Holiday Bazaar scheduled for Dec. 12th; the 1st Friday Breakfast program on Dec. 4th at 7 am will focus on 8-9 non-profits from the Carlsbad area and their mission.
The next Zoom meeting for the Carlsbad Government Affairs Committee will be January 6th at 7:30 am.
