Latest News
Primary 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…
AB 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…
RIP 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…
Do 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…
SB50 – 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…