"The business community is watching the state’s whole implementation very carefully because the mandate and testing protocols have real-life implications for if and when a mandate comes from the state or federal government for the private sector."

The LA City Redistricting Commission sent their final map and report to the LA City Council for adoption. With plenty of issues and unknowns regarding the maps, Council President Nury Martinez and several members quickly expressed their opposition to the way maps were drawn. Martinez filed a motion to create an ad hoc committee that will most likely fix some of the issues affecting the Valley and around which district the University of Southern California will fall into. You can view final map here.

The maps proposed by VICA were unfortunately not chosen by the Los Angeles County Citizens Redistricting Committee as a finalist. There are four maps under consideration and VICA continues to monitor the situation. Here is a breakdown of the four maps being considered and links to view them:

With only these four maps left as finalists, one of these maps will ultimately be adopted. We urge you to voice your concerns and oppose Option C. We also urge you to support Option B and let the Redistricting Committee know that while you prefer to keep the San Fernando Valley wholly in 1 district, you support Option B with some adjustments. Submit public comment here.

The California Citizen Redistricting Commission issued a third set of “visualization” maps after groups representing the Valley, including VICA, presented to the commission. The commission adopted a good portion of VICA's proposals and ultimately created a better set of maps. There are still some changes that need to be made and we urge you to make suggestions to the commission. You can view the maps here. You can submit comments to the commission here.

Each year, the VICA Research Foundation offers three scholarships to outstanding local students with a demonstrated interest in business. We strongly encourage our members to share this opportunity with their organizations and students in our community. We have extended the application deadline to Friday, Nov. 5!

A $500 scholarship to a student attending a VICA-member high school or primary education institution.

Application Deadline: Extended to Nov. 5

A $1,000 Scholarship to a full time undergraduate attending a VICA member university or college.

Application Deadline: Extended to Nov. 5

A $1,000 Scholarship to a full time undergraduate attending a VICA member university or college.

Application Deadline: Extended to Nov. 5

This week, VICA sent a letter in opposition to H.R. 3, a bill that would impose limitations on the pharmaceutical industry and harm patient access to medical advancements. H.R. 3 would prevent the industry from having the means and pathways to further research, development, and bringing to market new medicines.

Congress should be concerned about healthcare spending but this current proposal is not conducive to bringing affordable and innovative medicines to Californians. In fact, studies show that an attempt to implement a most favored nation policy for pharmaceutical drugs will lead to decreased patient access over time. In the United States, 87% of newly launched medicines were available in the country throughout the last decade. In comparison, within the same timeframe, only two-thirds of those same drugs had availability in other parts of the world, including Canada and France.

VICA strongly believes that every person should have access to the life-saving medicines they need but H.R. 3 is a step backwards that limits innovation and access to those very medicines.

VICA wants to know which of our members have served in the Armed Forces!

Please send information about your branch and year(s) served to Cathy@vica.com!

LIVE EVENT: FIVE on the Hill at Hilton Universal City

Join VICA for the opportunity to hear updates that impact the business community from the Metropolitan Water District CEO and General Manager.

Thursday, November 18

LIVE EVENT: Sheraton Universal

Wednesday, November 3

9:00 to 10:30 a.m.

Virtual Meeting

Thursday, November 4

9:00 to 10:30 a.m.

Virtual Meeting

Tuesday, November 9

9:00 to 11:00 a.m.

Virtual Meeting

Wednesday, November 10

9:00 to 10:00 a.m.

Virtual Meeting

Friday, November 12

9:00 to 10:00 a.m.

Virtual Meeting via Remo

IN PERSON: FIVE on the Hill at Hilton

Tuesday, November 16

1:30 to 3:30 p.m.

Virtual Training

Thursday, November 18

5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

IN PERSON: Sheraton Universal

Missing the sense of urgency from congress, Governor Newsom and Transportation Secretary Buttigieg went ahead with an approval of $5 billion to modernize California's seaports. While the investment won't resolve the current gridlock, it will make sure these types of issues are prevented in the future.

Fraudulent unemployment claims topped $20 billion in a new report from officials. While the number is lower than what was originally reported, the fraudulent claims still accounted for 11% of all benefits paid since the beginning of the pandemic.

Before departing for an international summit in Europe, Biden stopped by Capitol Hill to speak about his framework for social and climate change programs. Biden hoped to end the feuding between Democrats and bring consensus around his legislative priority. Leading into the next election, the success of the plan could have serious implications for both the House and Senate in which Democrats have slim majorities.

On Wednesday, the City of Los Angeles used newly passed laws to ban encampments throughout the city. The council voted 12-2 in favor of banning sleeping and sitting at 54 locations around the city. Some of the banned locations include elementary schools, parks, and libraries.

A newly proposed bill aims to change the working conditions of fast food workers throughout California. With many fast food restaurants being franchises, accountability over wages and safety has been murky. The proposed bill aims to address this issue by creating a council made up of employees, franchisees, and corporate representatives to negotiate wages periodically.

Amidst a disappointing performance from Big Tech, the stock market closed on Friday with new all-time highs and wrapped up its best month of the year. The S&P rose .19% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose .25% to conclude the month. Microsoft rose 2.2% to surpass Apple as the largest listed company in the world.

University of West Los Angeles (UWLA)

Robert W. Brown is a native Angeleno. He attended Cal State LA and UCLA Law School, and has been the President of the UWLA for the past twenty-three years. He has been a corporate attorney and arbitrator for over 44 years. He has run three marathons including the first LA marathon and has rode his bike along the beach for 35 miles every Saturday for the past ten years. He is also an avid golfer and tennis player.

I am so proud of the UWLA. We have been in existence for 55 years, and is fully accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (“WASC”) and the California State Bar. Most people know UWLA as a school of law offering a Juris Doctor degree. However, in addition, we also opened a School of Business which offers a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership and Business Innovation. Our law school has produced thousands of lawyers and judges in the State of California. We offer all our accredited programs both on-ground and fully online. We have equipped our campuses with over a half million dollars of state-of-the-art dynamic classroom technology to give our students and professors the ability to interface in the classroom as well as online with the same quality and interactive experience. We have two campuses- one in Los Angeles, near LAX and another campus in the Valley on Plummer and Oak Knoll.

UWLA’s greatest accomplishment in 2021 was to be approved to offer all our programs- Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree, and UWLA’s Juris Doctorate degree, fully online as well as on campus. We also were able to provide high quality education to our students and keep our staff and faculty employed.

Our association with VICA is crucial for our university. Through the various programs and events of VICA, we are able to showcase our university and what our student’s offer to the business and legal community that is critical to training and employing our students. In addition, through my relationship with other VICA members and with the board, we are able to engage with leaders and network with some of the most prominent organizations in the greater Los Angeles community. Additionally, we can use VICA’s programming and events as a valuable source for knowledge, community involvement, and state-wide perspective which helps our university as it functions in the Valley and throughout Los Angeles. These precisely meets our overall organizational goals and objectives to have UWLA known as a premier private university in the greater Los Angeles region that businesses can look to for well-trained organizational leaders and prominent new lawyers.

VICA has been invaluable during COVID by allowing us to network with other organizational leaders and to share information, concepts, and strategies during this very perilous and uncertain time. I have felt comforted by attending board meetings and hearing the thoughts and concerns of other leaders. Our leadership at VICA have taken a very firm stance on promoting diversity and inclusion within the organization. I am very impressed by the leadership’s strong focus on advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives earnestly throughout the network of businesses associated with VICA. I look forward to continuing to be a contributing member of VICA and to watch our university and its professors, students, staff, and stakeholders continue to prosper in part from the work and support of VICA.

VICA members can promote their business, events and news in VICA Weekly. Member messages are available for $50 per week or $175 for four weeks. Messages are text-based and may not contain more than 70 words. A logo may be added for an additional $5 per week. For more information or to schedule your member message, contact cathy@vica.com or call (818) 817-0545.