While the legislature has wrapped up, CBPA’s work is in full swing. We’re spearheading coalitions to stop three detrimental bills—AB 98, SB 1103, and AB 2364—from becoming law. With over 80 companies and organizations filing individual veto letters alongside ours on AB 98, and more than 25 groups standing strong against SB 1103, our coalitions are making sure vetoes are front and center in the governor’s office. Even with AB 2364 shifting to a study bill, we’re pushing hard with business and biotech leaders to prevent costly mandates from taking hold. The governor has until September 30th to take action on all legislation pending his approval, and we’re working tirelessly to ensure these bills don’t make it into law.

You can now secure your tickets for the 2024 Industry Awards Dinner! Join us at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, the dazzling new event location. You'll be taken on a guided tour prior to the start of the event and will catch up with peers over bites and beverages.

Next, you'll be treated to our refreshed event program as we honor deserving individuals and organizations - including some exciting new award categories. Save the date for November 7th!

Last month, Governor Newsom signed landmark legislation that boosts the state’s effort to crack down and prevent organized retail crime (ORC) in the state. The package of 10 bills, co-authored by Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Salinas) and the Select Committee on Retail Theft, increases penalties for violent and repeat offenders while providing law enforcement and prosecutors with more tools to pursue retail thieves. While this group of bills broadly addresses ORC, a separate ballot measure appearing before voters in November — Proposition 36 — would bring tougher penalties for retail thieves who steal below $950, the current felony theft threshold.

Measure ULA, also known as the "United to House LA" initiative, is a Los Angeles city measure passed by voters in November 2022 imposing a new real estate transfer tax on high-value property sales. The intended goal of the measure was to direct those funds to affordable housing and homelessness prevention efforts. What’s resulted since the measure has passed is a sharp drop in housing production across Los Angeles.

CBPA played a key role in opposition to this measure, however what’s known as the Upland Loophole was used to pass the vote with a simple majority rather than the two-thirds vote typically required. Check out a recent article from Westside Current highlighting the negative impacts of the passage of this measure.

AB 2364 (Rivas; D-Los Angeles) threatens to create a bureaucratic nightmare, transforming the janitorial industry with unrealistic cleaning quotas and skyrocketing costs for employers. The bill was passed by the Legislature, and now Governor Newsom has until September 30th to sign or veto the bill. CBPA is working with a coalition of 25 groups to urge a veto on the bill. We encourage individual companies to send veto letters - Contact us for instructions.

For more information on AB 2364, check out this article by BOMA San Diego President Melanie Bamba Milinkevich as featured in Capitol Weekly.

In response to significant changes to the Net Energy Metering (NEM) rules recently made by the Public Utilities Commission, the California Energy Commission (CEC) is taking the rare step of rolling back a portion of its photovoltaic (PV) mandate that will no longer be cost-effective.  

In response to that Public Utility Commission change, the CEC is adopting an exception from the PV mandate for multi-tenant commercial buildings meeting the criteria.

The California Building Standards Commission (CBSC), on behalf of the California Air Resources Board (CARB) staff invite you to participate in a virtual public workshop to provide input on CARB’s development of a framework for measuring and reducing the net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from building materials used in the State of California. CBSC and Division of State Architect (DSA) staff will be on the working group with CARB.

The meeting is scheduled to be conducted from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm on September 19, 2024.