Posts by admin
Support for Santa Cruz Community Credit Union
On Thursday, August 12, 2021, the Santa Cruz County Business Council (SCCBC) Policy & Issues Committee convened to discuss the Santa Cruz Community Credit Union (SCCCU) sale of their downtown building to fund the expansion of the Member Access Plan and other financial services across. There was clear consensus from members in attendance that the…
Read MoreFeb 10th Vaccine Update Fed/State/Local
On February 10th, 2021 the Issues and Policy Committee of the Santa Cruz County Business Council met and heard a staff presentation on the current state of vaccine distribution at the federal, state, and local levels. You can access the full presentation here, but please know it is a policy overview, and not a guide…
Read MoreAffordable Housing on the River
The lack of housing, and affordable housing specifically, is something Santa Cruz residents know all too well. Not only is housing expensive, but the houses are old too. These issues can at least be marginally addressed with the help of the RiverFront Project – a density bonus housing development beginning on the northern corner of…
Read MoreWhat Bus Service?
That’s a question the residents of Santa Cruz County might soon be asking themselves if any of the following state bill pass: A1350, AB2012, and AB2176. Each one is aimed at increasing ridership in existing bus systems by completely eliminating the cost of ridership for specific age groups and people. AB1350 would allow anyone under the…
Read MorePrimary Election Results, Subject to Change
It’s officially been a week since the California March 3rd primary, and based upon the latest results both statewide and locally, it was a much tighter election than I think most people thought it would be. Yes Bernie Sanders overwhelmingly won California, but that was pretty much expected to happen, even with the announcements of…
Read MoreAB 5 Legislative Update
With the new legislative year approaching we thought it would be a good idea to give an update on the newest gig-worker law, California’s AB 5. We have previously covered AB 5 here, but essentially this bill set the ABC test as the official standard for independent contractors. There are a variety of bills aimed…
Read MoreRIP 50 (for now)
Unfortunately for most California residents, SB50, a bill that would have prioritized new housing development near job centers and high quality public transit–but was contingent upon providing higher levels of affordable housing–died last month in the state senate. There were two “groups” that were vocally opposed to the bill: folks who are generally against new development, but hide…
Read MoreDo Project Labor Agreements Hurt Local Workers?
Two weeks ago I received a series of calls from a number of local businesses that do work with the City of Santa Cruz, who were outraged about an item that was appearing on the City Council’s agenda that would severely favor out of the area businesses for all future contracts. It seems, without first reaching…
Read MoreSB50 – Back in Action
Last year the Business Council worked extensively on SB50, an update to the State’s Density Bonus Law that allows for higher density development and expedited approval processes for eligible parcels near high quality transit corridors and job centers. We even wrote an extensive article about the bill, and made the trip to Sacramento to lobby…
Read MoreNew Year New Updates: State and Local Homelessness 2020
There is a lot of commotion in the City of Santa and the entire state of California around how governments can be more efficient in reducing the number of people experiencing homelessness. Recent data documented by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reveals that California has “more than 151,000 homeless people, including more than…
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