|
 The
Regional Legislative Alliance is an alliance of
chambers in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties that
tracks and takes action on regional and state issues.
2006 RLA Highlights – An Amazing
Year!
The Regional Legislative Alliance of
Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties just completed its
fourth year with much success and all 300,000 people
represented by this alliance should be proud.
The membership continues to grow and
this year the RLA increased to nine chambers and two
professional associations. In February we welcomed the
Gold Coast Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, an organization
that brings diversity, perspective and strength to the
table.
The RLA has money in the bank and
with plans to enrich membership by, among other
programs, developing the web site to be a better tool
for forum discussion among members, an information
resource for the general public and a way to send
letters to elected officials on the various issues on
which the RLA takes positions.
Four of our founding board members
are retiring, leaving their chamber or leaving the
executive committee. All of these people played a
significant role in getting the organization started and
working hard to elevate it to a prestigious
organization. Tom Kelley served on the executive
committee since the organizations’ inception serving as
the first president and immediate past president of the
RLA. Arlene Fraser, former CEO of Port Hueneme Chamber
of Commerce left her chamber position earlier this year
and Lin Graf, Carpinteria Chamber of Commerce retired in
December. Ernie Villegas served as the vice president
and was a chamber representative for several of the
member chambers retired from Southern California Edison
SCE this year and moving off the executive committee.
The RLA continues to develop sound
policies to help steer the organization. This year the
endorsements policy was established to allow endorsement
of issues, not individuals. Additionally it was
determined that the executive committee members will
serve a two year term paralleling the two-year
legislative session. Legislative analysis was refined
this year by a committee that evaluated the long list of
bills impacting business and narrowed it to pinpoint
bills particularly harmful to this region. The RLA
closely tracked and took action on 35 bills resulting in
hundreds of letters, phone calls and e-mails directed to
the State Capitol.
The RLA hosted United States Senator
Diane Feinstein in Santa Barbara, bringing more focus on
the region. Attendees had the rare and unique
opportunity to hear from a Federal lawmaker firsthand
about her priorities and approach to steering
California’s future. In addition, Dan Beal of the Auto
Club of Southern California leant his expertise to the
RLA membership to explain the technical nature of how
California transportation projects are funded, what
projects are needed and what decision makers must
consider in transportation planning.
Our annual trip to Sacramento had the
largest attendance yet with 42 attendees descending on
the Capitol to lobby on behalf of the Ventura and Santa
Barbara region. Key legislators and administration
officials including: Dan Dunmoyer, Gov’s Deputy Chief of
Staff and Sr. Advisor for Policy Development and Lynn
Jacobs, Director, Dept. of Housing and Community
Development.
In addition to our day to day
activities and annual trip to Sacramento, the RLA
continued to lobby on key issues and influence decisions
by joining key coalitions to wage our support for liquid
natural gas, travel and tourism and the 2006 ballot
initiatives.
As we say goodbye to a successful
2006, we welcome 2007 with a strategic plan to direct us
in the next five years. Details about that strategic
plan will be the topic of next month’s article.
Thank you for being a part of the
RLA’s success this year!http://www.legislativealliance.org |
