2017 WEEKLY REPORT FROM THE CAPITAL Week 6: March 13-17
Sponsored by:
A Healthy Private Sector Ensures
a Healthy Public Sector
Follow The Chamber on Twitter. Tray Abney, the Chamber's Director of Government Relations, will be tweeting from the Legislature. Follow him at @trayabney.
Light Week
This week saw a focus on children and payday lending. While those of us here at The Chamber love our future workforce, there weren't a lot of business-specific bills that were heard this week.
We did testify on a few though:
Teaching Financial Literacy in School. The Chamber testified in support of SB 249 in the Senate Education Committee on Tuesday. This bill would require that several facets of financial literacy be taught in public elementary, middle, and high schools. We supported this bill because we believe that these are fundamental skills that will form a basis for adult life. Click HERE to watch the hearing.
Leveling the Playing Field for Brick and Mortar Businesses. The Senate Revenue Committee heard SJR 5 on Tuesday as well. This bill has been passed the last several sessions and urges Congress to enact the Marketplace Fairness Act, which would implement the streamlined sales tax and ensure that our brick and mortar Chamber members are put on a level playing field with online sellers in terms of having to remit sales taxes. Click HERE to watch the hearing.
Ensuring Free Market Competition. The Assembly Transportation Committee took up AB 240 yesterday. Assemblywoman Tolles' bill would de-regulate the limo/executive/black car transportation business by removing the requirement for them to get the permission of their competitors before they expand their services and other such silly things. We testified in support of this bill as we believe that our members should be able to compete in the free market without government restrictions such as these. Because, America. Click HERE to watch the hearing.
Up Next Week...
Monday is a big day as it marks the deadline for individual legislators to introduce whatever bills they have left. Rumor has it that there are 500 or so bills left to drop, so we will have a much better idea of the universe of issues we will have to deal with for the rest of the Session.
Lots of Bills
We are currently tracking 680 bills and Bill Draft Requests (BDR's)
The Chamber's
2017 Legislative Priorities:
Link to The Chamber's 2017 Legislative Priorities Page
