Southwest California Legislative Council 2016 Vote Record

This report for the second year of the 2015–2016 legislative session focuses on California legislators’ floor votes on Southwest California Legislative Council priority bills.

This is the 11th vote record the SWCLC has compiled. The SWCLC publishes this report in response to numerous requests by member firms and coalition members that would like a gauge by which to measure the performance of their legislators.

Partial Picture

No vote record can tell the entire story of a legislator’s attitude and actions on issues of importance to business. Each year, legislators cast thousands of votes on thousands of proposed laws.

To fully evaluate your legislative representative, consult the legislative journals and examine your legislator’s votes in committee and on floor issues. You can view these via links at http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/

The SWCLC adopted positions on 84 state bills this year, supporting 32 and opposing 52. Twenty four bills made their way through the legislative process and were among the 1,059 that landed on the Governor's desk. We supported 14 of those and opposed 10.

There were more than 3,100 bills, constitutional amendments and other measures introduced this session. Many bills, both JOB KILLERS and JOB CREATORS were rejected by legislators in policy or fiscal committees, thus stopping proposals before they reached the floor for a vote.

The vote record does not capture these votes. Most bills in this report cover major business bills that are of concern to both small and large companies and especially to companies doing business in Southwest California and fit the Strategic Initiatives of the SWCLC.

The SWCLC recognizes that there are many bills supported or opposed by business that may not be included in this vote record and analysis. A full list of bill positions for SWCLC is available at http://southwestca.biz/

Factors Considered

● The bills and votes reflect legislators’ attitudes toward private enterprise, fiscal responsibility and the business climate.

● Each bill was a priority for the SWCLC, a position had been adopted by the SWCLC and that position had been communicated one or more times to the author of the bill, the appropriate committee and to our local legislators.

● The bills were voted upon by the full Senate and Assembly. This year 24 of 84 bills met that criteria. Last year 32 bills from a total of 88 did.

● Unless otherwise noted, final floor votes are shown. Concurrence votes and conference report votes are considered final votes.

Historical Record

Once again Southwest California legislators scored well with most posting 90% or better voting records.

As in past years, this is indicative of the fact that Southwest County tends to elect more business-friendly, fiscally conservative legislators who reflect the needs of their constituency.

The SWCLC focused on a broad spectrum of issues in keeping with our Strategic Initiatives of budget & tax reform, job creation & retention, infrastructure & the environment, and healthcare.

Within that framework, the SWCLC weighed in on CEQA reform, ADA nuisance lawsuits, reducing or eliminating tax and regulatory burdens, onerous environmental legislation, minimum wage and healthcare issues.

The Council worked to support issues of local concern like returning Vehicle License Fees to local cities (SB817 – vetoed again), making it easier for small businesses to accommodate ADA requirements (SB269 - Chaptered), and to defeat the Senate Pro-Tem’s attempt to stack the local SCAQMD Board.

Vote Record

Senator Jeff Stone (R) SD28, achieved a 91% voting record in the second year of his term. The Senator scored a win with SB1261 which will help address a shortage of skilled doctor care for underserved communities.

Senator Richard Roth (D) SD31, scored 70% this year, up from 58% last year. Two of Senator Roth’s bills were highly favored by the Council this year. Both SB817, the perennial bill to returns VLF funds to our newest cities, and SB269, which would make ADA compliance easier for businesses, passed the legislature with bi-partisan support. The Governor again vetoed VLF relief but signed the ADA bill this year

Senator Mike Morrell (R), SD23, voted with the Council 87% of the time.

Assemblymember Marie Waldron (R) AD75 voted with the Council 97% of the time, Melissa Melendez (R) AD67 84% and Brian Jones (R) AD71 100%. Jose Medina (D) AD61, earned just 65% in support of business friendly bills.

Governor Jerry Brown, vetoed JOB KILLERs like SB654 and AB1643 but also killed SB817 and SB907. The Governor did vote in accord 63%, up from just 47% last year In 2014 he was with us 60% of the time, 64% in 2013 and 62% in 2012. On average, a 14% better record than Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The Southwest California Legislative Council considers it a privilege to advocate on behalf of business interests in Southwest Riverside County.

We would also like to thank our dedicated Legislators and their local staffs for their support and cooperation in 2016.

Thanks also to our sponsors, supporters and Chamber coalition partners.

Southwest California Legislative Council 2016 Vote Record

This year in addition to our own Report Card, we have included the Best Business Votes as compiled by the California Chamber of Commerce as well as the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association Legislative Report Card. While the SWCLC does not assign a grade to legislative vote records, the HJTA is not so shy.

This year the Southwest California Legislative Council based scores on our representatives vote records on 24 bills. CalChamber based their chart on 17 bills and HJTA selected 22 bills for their measurement. Most compilations, including SWCLC, only consider the final floor vote when determining the result. We also try to make allowances on bills that have been subject to the gut-and-amend process significantly altering the bill prior to the final vote, sometimes making it unrecognizable from the original.

Many bills are amended as they make their way through the process, some as many as ten times. These amendments are often in response to concerns of other legislators acting on the bill in committee but can also be in response to pressure exerted on the author by various advocacy groups such as the SWCLC. Each iteration of a bill must be reevaluated for similarity to the original bill and a new position letter submitted to the author and subsequent committees for inclusion in the bill analysis record. Unlike gut-and-amend bills, which typically involve a completely different subject and/or author, most amended bills simply insert minor modifications to the original language. Sometimes the bill is made more palatable, sometimes the bill becomes even more onerous.

The SWCLC circulates a preliminary version of the final list to each legislative office for commentary prior to publication. They may confirm the record, offer a correction to the record, or provide an explanation of a vote. It’s unrealistic to expect our legislators to vote in accord with the Council on every issue as they do have other constituencies, but we do like to find out why they may have voted a different way on a bill.

It is also important to remember that sometimes a NO VOTE RECORDED (NVR) is just as good as a vote if it helps defeat or pass a bill by a slim margin. Sometimes a legislator is unwilling to vote against a colleague or party caucus, but will refrain from casting a vote in favor. As such, NO VOTE RECORDED is neither counted for nor against a legislator by the SWCLC but it does affect the percentages.

The CalChamber does consider NVR if the legislator was not absent at the time of vote and if , in their estimation, the NVR supported or opposed a position held by the CalChamber. In such cases, abstaining from a vote may hinder passage of a bill, just as a “no” vote does.

The report card from the Howard Jarvis Tax Association is designed to help Californians gauge how their state representatives are actually performing on taxpayer-related issues both positive and negative. Positive proposals include bills that clarify the parcel tax exemption process for seniors and create additional campaign finance transparency, negative bills include a car battery tax increase, which they chose to double-weight in their scoring, and numerous bills which serve to undercut the ballot initiative process.

The Southwest California Legislative Council is an advocacy coalition of the Temecula Valley, Murrieta, Lake Elsinore Valley, Wildomar, Menifee Valley, and Perris Valley Chambers of Commerce. The Council meets the 3rd Monday of each month at: 26529 Jefferson Avenue, Murrieta. Council meetings are open to all Chamber members. If you have a legislative measure that will impact you or your industry segment, please submit a summary of your concern to your Chamber for possible inclusion in a future agenda.

Gov Win/

Bill # Author Intent Position Status Stone Roth Morrell Melendez Waldron Jones Linder Medina Brown Loss

AB1142 Gray R Mining S CHPT Y Y NVR NVR Y Y Y Y Y WAB1643 Gonzalez D Workers Comp O VETO N NVR N Y N N Y Y V WAB2143 Irwin D Electronic recording S CHPT Y Y Y NVR Y Y Y Y Y WAB2220 Cooper D 100,000+ cities S CHPT N Y N NVR Y NVR Y Y Y WAB2693 Dababneh D PACE disclosures S CHPT Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y WAB2664 Irwin D UC Innovation S CHPT Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y WAB2748 Gatto D Environmental disasters O VETO N Y N N N N Y Y V WSB269 Roth D ADA S CHPT Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y W SB654 Jackson D Parental Leave O G & A N NVR N Y Y N Y Y V WSB822 Roth D Citrus disease S CHPT Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y WSB867 Roth D Maddy Fund ext S CHPT Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y WSB936 Herzberg D Business loans S CHPT NVR Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y WSB940 Vidak R Landowner S CHPT Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y WSB1261 Stone R Physicians residence S CHPT Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y WSBX2-2 Hernandez D MCO tax S CHPT N Y N N Y Y Y Y Y W

AB1066 Gonzalez D Ag Wrkrs overtime O CHPT N NVR N N N N Y Y Y LAB2729 Williams D Oil wells O CHPT N Y Y N N N Y Y Y LSB3 Leno D Min Wage O CHPT N Y N N N N NVR Y Y LSB817 Roth D VLF S VETO Y Y Y NVR Y Y Y Y V LSB907 Galgiani D Mtg Forgiveness S VETO Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y V LSB1150 Leno D Successors interest O CHPT N NVR N NVR N N N NVR Y LSB1167 Leyva D Indoor workers O CHPT N Y N N N N N Y Y LSB1234 De Leon D Retirement Plans O CHPT N Y N N N N Y Y Y LSB1383 Lara D Cow Farts O CHPT N Y N N N N N N Y LVoting Record 91% 70% 87% 84% 96% 100% 74% 65% 63%

Supported Bills Opposed Bills

SWCLC2016 Bill Tracker

Senate Assembly

The Southwest California Legislative Council

Wishes to thanks Our 2016 Partners:

Southwest Riverside Country Association of Realtors

Metropolitan Water District of Southern California

Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District

Commerce Bank of Temecula Valley

California Apartment Association

Southwest Healthcare Systems

CR&R Environmental Services

The Murrieta Temecula Group

EDC of Southwest California

Paradise Chevrolet Cadillac

Temecula Valley Hospital

The Gas Company

Abbott Vascular

Temecula Valley Chamber of Commerce - Founder

Murrieta Chamber of Commerce - Founder

Lake Elsinore Valley Chamber of Commerce - Founder

Wildomar Chamber of Commerce

Menifee Valley Chamber of Commerce

Perris Valley Chamber of Commerce

A coalition of the Temecula Valley, Murrieta, Lake Elsinore Valley, Wildomar, Menifee Valley and Perris Valley

Chambers of Commerce

OCTOBER 21, 2016 ● PAGE 10 CALIFORNIA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

80% or more with CalChamber 60%-79% with CalChamber 40%-59% with CalChamber Less than 40% with CalChamber

CalChamber Best Business Votes 2016Legislators are listed in descending order according to how often they voted in accord with the California Chamber of Commerce position (first number) versus how often their votes were not in accord with the CalChamber position (second number) in 2016. Total votes may not match the vote record because the tally for not voting or absent is not included in this list. Votes when a legislator was absent are not included in calculating percentages.

SenateAnderson, Joel (R) 17-0Bates, Pat (R) 17-0Fuller, Jean (R) 17-0Huff, Bob (R) 17-0Moorlach, John M.W. (R) 17-0Nguyen, Janet (R) 17-0Stone, Jeff (R) 17-0Vidak, Andy (R) 17-0

Berryhill, Tom (R) 16-0Gaines, Ted (R) 16-0Morrell, Mike (R) 16-0Nielsen, Jim (R) 16-0

Cannella, Anthony (R) 16-1

Galgiani, Cathleen (D) 11-6Glazer, Steve (D) 11-6

Roth, Richard (D) 9-8

Pan, Richard (D) 8-9

McGuire, Mike (D) 6-11Wieckowski, Bob (D) 6-11

Hueso, Ben (D) 5-10

Liu, Carol (D) 5-11

Allen, Ben (D) 5-12Hernandez, Ed (D) 5-12Lara, Ricardo (D) 5-12Leyva, Connie (D) 5-12Mendoza, Tony (D) 5-12Wolk, Lois (D) 5-12

Hancock, Loni (D) 4-12

Beall, Jim (D) 4-13Block, Marty (D) 4-13de León, Kevin (D) 4-13Hall, Isadore (D) 4-13Hertzberg, Bob (D) 4-13Hill, Jerry (D) 4-13Jackson, Hannah-Beth (D) 4-13Leno, Mark (D) 4-13Mitchell, Holly J. (D) 4-13Monning, Bill (D) 4-13Pavley, Fran (D) 4-13

Senator Sharon Runner (R) absent due to illness for votes on March 31, May 26, June 2. Deceased July 14, 2016.

AssemblyGaines, Beth (R) 16-0Kim, Young (R) 16-0Mathis, Devon (R) 16-0Obernolte, Jay (R) 16-0Patterson, Jim (R) 16-0

Bigelow, Frank (R) 15-0Grove, Shannon (R) 15-0Harper, Matthew (R) 15-0

Allen, Travis (R) 15-1Brough, William P. (R) 15-1Jones, Brian (R) 15-1Mayes, Chad (R) 15-1Wagner, Donald (R) 15-1

Chang, Ling Ling (R) 14-2Chávez, Rocky (R) 14-2Gallagher, James (R) 14-2

Melendez, Melissa (R) 13-2

Dahle, Brian (R) 13-3Lackey, Tom (R) 13-3Olsen, Kristin (R) 13-3Steinorth, Marc (R) 13-3Wilk, Scott (R) 13-3

Achadjian, Katcho (R) 12-4Maienschein, Brian (R) 12-4Waldron, Marie (R) 12-4

Daly, Tom (D) 11-5

Gray, Adam (D) 10-5

Baker, Catharine (R) 10-6Frazier, Jim (D) 10-6Hadley, David (R) 10-6

Cooper, Jim (D) 9-7Linder, Eric (R) 9-7Salas, Rudy (D) 9-7

Gipson, Mike (D) 8-8O’Donnell, Patrick (D) 8-8

Brown, Cheryl (D) 7-9Campos, Nora (D) 7-9

Irwin, Jacqui (D) 6-9

Cooley, Ken (D) 6-10Eggman, Susan Talamantes (D) 6-10

Arambula, Joaquin (D) 5-10Levine, Marc (D) 5-10

Bloom, Richard (D) 5-11Dodd, Bill (D) 5-11López, Patty (D) 5-11Ridley-Thomas, Sebastian (D) 5-11Wood, Jim (D) 5-11

Hernández, Roger (D) 4-11Medina, Jose (D) 4-11Nazarian, Adrin (D) 4-11

Alejo, Luis (D) 4-12Atkins, Toni (D) 4-12Bonilla, Susan (D) 4-12Bonta, Rob (D) 4-12Burke, Autumn (D) 4-12Calderon, Ian (D) 4-12Chau, Ed (D) 4-12Chiu, David (D) 4-12Chu, Kansen (D) 4-12Dababneh, Matt (D) 4-12Garcia, Cristina (D) 4-12Garcia, Eduardo (D) 4-12Gatto, Mike (D) 4-12Gomez, Jimmy (D) 4-12Gonzalez, Lorena (D) 4-12Gordon, Rich (D) 4-12Holden, Chris (D) 4-12Jones-Sawyer, Reggie (D) 4-12Low, Evan (D) 4-12Mullin, Kevin (D) 4-12Quirk, Bill (D) 4-12Rendon, Anthony (D) 4-12Rodriguez, Freddie (D) 4-12Santiago, Miguel (D) 4-12Stone, Mark (D) 4-12Ting, Phil (D) 4-12Weber, Shirley (D) 4-12Williams, Das (D) 4-12

Thurmond, Tony (D) 3-12

McCarty, Kevin (D) 2-12

Making It Harder for Politicians to Fib to Their Constituents

Jon Coupal Oct 16, 2016

It was Will Rogers who said, “If you ever injected truth into politics you have no politics.” If the renowned satirist were with us today, he would not be shocked by the dishonesty of the Sacramento political class, even if the rest of us find it offensive.

Many of our current class of politicians attempt to present themselves as standing for the interests of average folks. They pay lip service to low and moderate income Californians, while California continues to have the highest sales and gas taxes in the nation. They claim to be supporters of property ownership, then attack Proposition 13 and then proceed to make it easier for government to take private property through eminent domain.

For those trying to sort out who is actually representing average taxpayers and who, instead, is doing the bidding of powerful special interests, the just released Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association Legislative Report Card will help. The Report Card holds lawmakers accountable by documenting how lawmakers have voted on issues important to taxpayers.

Of the 120 members of the Legislature, 76 received a grade of “F” while only 27 earned an “A” grade.

In the legislative session that ended last month, Governor Brown signed over 800 bills. These bills create thousands of pages of new laws, spanning dozens of code sections. The HJTA Legislative Report Card also draws attention to the best and worst of these bills. For example, Assembly Bill 2153 (Cristina Garcia) that imposes a new tax on car batteries. It may seem like a small matter to some, but it represents another step by Sacramento to make personal transportation more expensive for average folks.

The Report Card also spotlights lawmakers who support legislation that helps taxpayers. Los Angeles Assemblyman Matt Dababneh received a higher grade due to his carrying an HJTA-sponsored bill, AB 1891. This new law allows seniors and those with disabilities to permanently opt out of paying education parcel taxes if they fill out a required form one time, which is sent to their residence.

Votes on 22 bills were used to score lawmakers. These reflect a range of policy issues including new tax and regulatory burdens, and attacks on the initiative process that would make it more difficult for taxpayers to exercise their right to place measures, like Proposition 13, on the ballot.

The Report Card also documents a troubling trend. Some lawmakers, who at one time were supportive of taxpayers’ interests, seem to have shifted their allegiance and now routinely vote for taxes, bonds, and other measures that increase the burden on average Californians. A record number of these legislators received “C” and “D” grades this year. Taxpayers can only hope that this was due to election year politics and not the beginning of a trend.

Seven lawmakers deserve credit and thanks for a perfect score. Members of the Assembly receiving 100% are: Assembly Republican Leader Chad Mayes, Shannon Grove, Jay Obernolte, Matt Harper and Don Wagner. They were joined on the Senate side by Ted Gaines and Jim Nielsen.

To view the 2016 Legislative Report Card, and find which representatives are proud of their grades, and which would rather they stay hidden, please go to www.hjta.org where it can be found under “Hot Topics.”

Jon Coupal is president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association — California’s largest grass-roots taxpayer organization dedicated to the protection of Proposition 13 and the advancement of taxpayers’ rights.

DISTRICT ASSEMBLY MEMBER PARTY GRADE %

72 Allen R A 98.5

5 Bigelow R A 98.2

73 Brough R A 98.4

76 Chavez R A 92.6

1 Dahle R A 98.2

6 Gaines R A 93.9

3 Gallagher R A 90.8

34 Grove R A 100

74 Harper R A 100

71 Jones R A 96.6

65 Kim R A 91.7

26 Mathis R A 94.9

42 Mayes R A 100

67 Melendez R A 96.5

33 Obernolte R A 100

23 Patterson R A 98.4

40 Steinorth R A 91.1

68 Wagner R A 100

55 Chang R B 80.4

66 Hadley R B 80

36 Lackey R B 84.6

77 Maienschein R B 87

75 Waldron R B 86.3

38 Wilk R B 85.2

35 Achadjian R C 72.3

16 Baker R C 75

DISTRICT ASSEMBLY MEMBER PARTY GRADE %

60 Linder R C 75.7

12 Olsen R C 71.3

45 Dababneh D C 36.2

43 Gatto D D 53.6

30 Alejo D F 26.7

31 Arambula D F 23.1

78 Atkins D F 24.1

50 Bloom D F 25.9

14 Bonilla D F 21.2

18 Bonta D F 24.1

47 Brown D F 27.6

62 Burke D F 27.5

57 Calderon D F 27.8

27 Campos D F 25.9

49 Chau D F 24.1

17 Chiu D F 26.5

25 Chu D F 25

8 Cooley D F 21.2

9 Cooper D F 14.8

69 Daly D F 31

4 Dodd D F 30.4

13 Eggman D F 28.8

11 Frazier D F 25.8

58 Cristina Garcia D F 29.6

56 Eduardo Garcia D F 28.6

64 Gipson D F 27.6

DISTRICT ASSEMBLY MEMBER PARTY GRADE %

51 Gomez D F 26.7

80 Gonzalez D F 25.9

24 Gordon D F 23

21 Gray D F 37

48 Hernandez D F 28.5

41 Holden D F 25

44 Irwin D F 25.9

59 Jones-Sawyer D F 26.9

10 Levine D F 19.2

39 Lopez D F 22.4

28 Low D F 25.8

7 McCarty D F 23.2

61 Medina D F 27.6

22 Mullin D F 18.9

46 Nazarian D F 24.9

70 O'Donnell D F 27.3

20 Quirk D F 21.7

63 Rendon D F 25.9

54 Ridley-Thomas D F 30

52 Rodriguez D F 25

32 Salas D F 33.3

53 Santiago D F 25

29 Stone D F 25.9

15 Thurmond D F 24.1

19 Ting D F 25.9

79 Weber D F 27.2

DISTRICT ASSEMBLY MEMBER PARTY GRADE %

37 Williams D F 20.4

2 Wood D F 25

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DISTRICT SENATOR PARTY GRADE %

38 Anderson R A 93.3

36 Bates R A 96.5

16 Fuller R A 97.9

1 Gaines R A 100

23 Morrell R A 91.7

34 Nguyen R A 93.4

4 Nielsen R A 100

28 Stone R A 95.8

14 Vidak R A 99.4

8 Berryhill R B 84.8

37 Moorlach R B 85.5

12 Cannella R D 55.6

29 Huff R D 60.8

26 Allen D F 19.1

15 Beall D F 25.7

39 Block D F 26.1

24 De Leon D F 26.1

5 Galgiani D F 33.3

7 Glazer D F 21.7

35 Hall D F 18.8

9 Hancock D F 17.2

DISTRICT SENATOR PARTY GRADE %

22 Hernandez D F 26.7

18 Hertzberg D F 22.3

13 Hill D F 24

40 Hueso D F 31.2

19 Jackson D F 23.1

33 Lara D F 26.7

11 Leno D F 24

20 Leyva D F 25.9

25 Liu D F 25

2 McGuire D F 20.7

32 Mendoza D F 22.2

30 Mitchell D F 23.9

17 Monning D F 27.1

6 Pan D F 22.9

27 Pavley D F 26.6

31 Roth D F 31.5

10 Wieckowski D F 24.1

3 Wolk D F 20.8

21 Runner R N/A 0