Back to News

August 2006

Southwest California forms regional business advocacy coalition

The Daily Transcript, San Diego

Along with its growing economic might, southwest California also is learning how to flex its political muscle.

Chambers of Commerce in Lake Elsinore, Murrieta and Temecula each had political action committees that had limited success influencing policy and lawmakers.

"We used to call them political committees because there wasn't a lot of action," explained Kim Cousins, president and chief executive of the Lake Elsinore Valley Chamber of Commerce.

"We needed another platform that was more energized."

Finding strength in numbers, the three chambers in late 2004 joined forces to create the Southwest California Legislative Council to give the region a bigger say in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., about local issues that mattered.

"With 3,500 combined chamber members, we had a much stronger voice," said Cousins.

The chambers staffed it with a part-time political consultant, who set up an interactive Web site that helps member businesses contact legislators.

The consultant is Shaun Lumachi, a former chief lobbyist for the California State University students' association. He meets monthly with the group's 15-member board.

In the short time since it was created, the council has allowed businesspeople to band together to develop a line of communication with federal and state legislators.

Earlier this year the lobbying group developed two-dozen legislative priorities for the year, addressing issues ranging from water supply to the privatization of some government services.

The Southwest California Legislative Council's 27-point platform doesn't propose specific legislation, but provides a framework for considering bills that come before the state Legislature and local governments in Riverside County.

Board members discuss bills that could affect local businesses and vote to support or oppose particular legislation. The group then encourages its 2,500 member businesses and others to use its Web site to draft and send letters to state legislators.

The group pledges to "monitor and review alternatives to (1) any proposed state minimum wage increases, and (2) any local or state living-wage ordinances."

The council also set out a range of issues that relate to privatization and outsourcing of government services, infrastructure, tax credits and regulations on businesses.

It urged Assemblyman John Benoit, R-Riverside, to introduce a bill that would allow the governor to declare a "transportation state of emergency" and thus bypass some of the usual procedures for approving highway projects like those hampering improvements to the Railroad Canyon interchange on the Interstate 15 in Lake Elsinore.

Although the bill came up one vote short in a transportation committee, Cousins considered the five votes it received a moral victory because it ultimately drew attention to a need for greater investment in our roads and highways.

"We are just trying to add some common sense to the existing transportation program," he said.