The Oceanside Chamber of Commerce Votes to Oppose the SOAR Initiative ​
 Area business leaders site concerns with property rights, economic vitality
 
On February 20th, the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors unanimously voted to oppose the Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources initiative, known as S.O.A.R.
 
The proposed initiative would require a vote of the people of Oceanside for any request requiring a zone change to open space or agricultural property. This initiative destabilizes farmers’ rights, creates devastating community impacts, and denigrates the City Council. 

Based on recommendations of the Emerging Issues Committee, the Board of Directors of the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce considered the following ballot measures on November 8th ballot.  For those measures deemed to be business related, the following positions were adopted:

by Amber Ter-Vrugt

The following is a quick overview of some of the key issues facing Oceanside's business community, as discussed at the Chamber's October Emerging Issues Committee meeting. 
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Hot Topics! There’s a bunch…
Have you read your general election guide?! Confused? Emerging Issues took a deeper dive on a few of the propositions…
Prop 51: School Bonds, if this doesn’t pass, it will have a huge hit on school development across the state and will help Mira Costa if the Mira Costa bond passes.  Emerging Issues Committee made a recommendation to support it.
Prop 52: Critically important for Medical reimbursement for local health systems and hospitals. Emerging Issues Committee made a recommendation to support it.
Prep 53: Niche revenue bonds proposal for water infrastructure billing, Emerging Issues Committee made a recommendation to remain neutral.
Prop 54: Most important proposition on the ballot to revise legislative proceedings (NO MORE GUT AND AMEND or WORF)! Emerging Issues Committee made a recommendation to support it.

by Amber Ter-Vrugt

Hot Topics! There’s a bunch…
Brian Butler, Career Education Advisor discussed the California Career Pathways Trust Grant

• $13M came to San Diego County and is being divided amongst all San Diego school districts
• Oceanside developed and e-portal to help students develop the essential skills to be successful in the work place and they are looking to engage with the business community to help augment the program by providing speakers, internships and other relevant experiences for the student

Improving WIFI access in Oceanside, Jim Falanc from Southern Contracting

• Southern Contracting is finishing street light conversion to LED’s – Oceanside is the first city in the US to install digital lighting controls which creates a huge economic development opportunity for the city as the city is basically plumbed for city-wide Wi-Fi… the economic development impacts are endless

​by Amber Ter-Vrugt

Hot Topics! There’s a bunch…
Special presentation on dead bills from Chris Marsh, District Director, Senator Bates;

1. SB1140, died in committee but will be reconsidered…
2. SB1141, died in committee but will be reconsidered. The bill intended to create a pilot program that would allow for local control of roads / highways, basically disband CALTRANS.
3. SB1142, ADA reform bill that died would have assisted small business in defending themselves against predatory litigation, but fortunately, there is still movement to support businesses with predatory ADA litigation (example: SB269, AB54).
4. SB1248, died in committee but will be reconsidered. Would require CEQA litigators to be more transparent.
5. SB1251, died in committee but will be reconsidered. California Financial Transparency Act

​by Amber Ter-Vrugt

Hot Topics! There’s a bunch…
Brian Rupp, Shopoff Realty. Shopoff is developing a handful of projects in North County. In Oceanside they are working on;

• 38-unit town home project on PCH at Moore street in South O
• Park Villas at El Corazon is a proposal for 70 for sale town homes (down from 80), on 5 acres, and is an important piece of the city’s smart growth initiative being so close to the sprinter.  Part of the 465 acre specific plan includes an interest in retail / mixed use development.  After working with the city and the community, Shopoff revised their project, set back the town homes, added a proposal for signage and landscaping to screen the town homes ($2M in additional costs) and added commercial retail space. To accommodate the changes and still make the project pencil, Shopoff is asking for an additional 38 units. The emerging issues committee made a recommendation to the board of directors for the Oceanside Chamber to support the project and the addition of the 38 units.

by Marva Bledsoe, Business and Community Political Action Committee

At a recent meeting of the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce’s Emerging Issues Committee, Ray Major, an Economic Analyst for the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) provided a status report from the San Diego Forward Regional Plan, including a review of TransNet projects.
What do we want our region to look like in 2050? Where will we live? How will we get around? How can we grow in a way that fuels our economy and preserves our environment, takes everyone’s needs into account, and still maintains our quality of life? San Diego Forward: The Regional Plan tackles these questions and provides a blueprint for a sustainable future for the San Diego region.  TransNet is the voter-approved half-cent sales tax administered by SANDAG.  To date, $3.3 billion in TransNet funds have been leveraged with more than $10 billion from federal, state, and local funding sources to deliver more than 650 projects throughout the San Diego region.

Tracey Bohlen, City of Oceanside Economic Development Manager
 
Two years ago, the five cities located along the Highway 78 corridor - Oceanside, Carlsbad, Escondido, San Marcos, and Vista - launched Innovate78.  Innovate 78 is an economic initiative designed to increase prosperity through collaboration. Under Innovate 78, the five cities pledged to work together to attract and retain business and to not undermine each other’s economic interests.
 
Innovate 78 grew from the realization that the five cities along the 78 Corridor have much in common and can benefit by collaborating to promote common business interests, whereas competing against each other could drive businesses, jobs and investment dollars away. 

A quick overview of what was covered in the Oceanside Chamber’s March 2016 Emerging Issues Committee Meeting.

By Amber Ter-Vrugt

Jennings – US Chamber – priorities for 2016!
The Transpacific Partnership, a free trade agreement with 11 other nations along the Pacific Rim, is the #1 priority for the US chamber! This will open up trade markets for the US that never existed before.
Other priorities include regulatory reform, tax reform, and combatting harmful legislation.
Regulatory Onslaught…63 federal agencies have 3,305 regulations at various stages of implementation
Two major regulatory rules that are coming down the pike…

1. The Overtime Rule increases the minimum salary threshold for exempt employees from $23,660 to $50,440… so basically a 113% increase, or you have to make those employees hourly employees. California is a little different; our baseline is a little higher than the Federal average, but this rule would still have a huge impact on businesses with full-time employees that make less than $50K!!
2. The Fiduciary Rule which will come on line in spring 2016 was intended to help keep the “bad-actors” out of the financial planning business, but it basically makes it tougher for investment advisors to do their job and opens up more opportunities for litigation which helps no one.