CALTIA NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT!

August 22 is the deadline to contact your legislator to convey the importance of their supporting the Travel Promotion Act!

As a leader within CalTIA, we need your help in reaching your federal legislator who has not yet signed on as a co-sponsor of this legislation.

The Travel Promotion Act (TPA) is legislation that would help the U.S. welcome millions of additional visitors. The need for travel promotion continues to grow. Negative foreign press coverage of the U.S. entry experience persists and the latest Department of Commerce data reveal that the U.S. is still 11 percent below 2000 travel levels despite an extraordinarily weak dollar. And we know that 14% of those entering the United States visit California.

Momentum is with us, but time is not on our side. A number of legislators have not yet signed on to support this act. Please click here to see if your legislator has signed on. If your legislator has not signed on, CalTIA is asking if you would use the downloadable talking points and write a personal letter as a constituent to your federal legislator. Please find your legislator and using their contact information, please send a letter immediately. We need to contact them by August 22 for this to be effective. You can also call them if you would like, but be sure to send a letter on your business letterhead with your signature.

Thank you for helping CalTIA and TIA get this important legislation passed. Your efforts will reap rewards. Passing the Travel Promotion Act affects each and every one of us and is crucial for America's security and prosperity. The time to act is now!

Thank you for your help.

The Government Relations Committee
California Travel Industry Association

>>Talking Points (pdf)
>>Legislator link

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Legislature Reconvenes:
The Legislature reconvened on January 7, 2008 for the second year of a 2-year legislative session with a deluge of legislative proposals and suggested groundbreaking reforms regarding health care, education and infrastructure. Shortly after the legislative session commenced, the Governor and other legislators held their customary speeches, events, receptions and private meetings.

State of the State Address:
On January 8th, the Governor outlined his plan for California in his fifth State of the State address. The Governor re-emphasized his commitment to California by focusing on four major issue areas including budget reform, strategic growth, education and health care reform. Governor Schwarzenegger vowed not to raise taxes and in the midst of a $14 billion dollar deficit has called for deep budget cuts across the board.

Governor’s Budget:
The Governor released his proposed $141 billion general fund budget for the 2008-2009 fiscal year. Refusing to raise taxes, the Governor called for a fiscally responsible fix to the budget by trimming 10 percent from what almost all state agencies and programs would otherwise receive in the fiscal year. Included in the Governor’s budget proposal is a controversial plan to close 48 of California’s 278 state parks. Environmental groups have vowed to mobilize tourism officials, historical preservation advocates and park lovers to fight the plan in the state Legislature over the coming months.

At the same time, the Governor issued an emergency declaration triggering a special session in which the Legislature must address the current year's budget by cutting costs or increasing taxes. Under the provisions of Prop 58 the Governor has the authority to declare a fiscal emergency if he determines that the state faces substantial revenue shortfalls or expenditure increases. If the Legislature does not approve and send legislation to the Governor to address the fiscal emergency within 45 days, it is prohibited from acting on any other bills or adjourning in joint recess until such legislation is passed.

2008 Legislation of Interest:

SB 1057- Rental Cars
SB 1057, by Senator Carole Migden, would require rental car companies to advertise, quote and charge a rental rate that includes the entire amount, or a “bundled” total of the rental rate, including the customer facility charge, airport concession fee and the mileage charge that a renter must pay for a rental car. The bill would repeal 2006 legislation (AB 2592 Leno) which allowed these fees to be applied separately. This bill would also prevent rental car companies from collecting a tourism commission assessment fee to fund the CTTC. CalTIA will be working along side other coalitions to protect California’s vital tourism industry.

2007 Legislation of Interest:   
With the start of a new session also comes the introduction of thousands of bills. Because of the two year session, we are also continuing to track several bills of interest introduced in 2007. They have until January 31, 2008 to be voted out of their house of origin to continue through the Legislative process. (From the Assembly, out of the Assembly; from the Senate, out of the Senate)

AB 777- Animal Cruelty- 2 year bill 
AB 777, by Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, would create cumbersome guidelines relating to the conduct of elephants. CalTIA was in strong opposition to this bill and worked closely with staff and coalition members to stall this bill in the Legislature.

AB 1459- California Costal Act- 2 year bill
AB 1459, by Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, would prevent hotels in the costal zone from selling a portion of or all property for private or time-share ownership. With CalTIA’s help, AB 1459 never made it out of its policy committee hearing. 

SB 840- Single-Payer Health Care- 2 year bill
SB 840, by Senator Shelia Kuehl, would create a universal health care system within California. The system, based on the concept of shared responsibility, would be funded by federal, state, and county monies already spent on healthcare and by affordable insurance premiums that replace all premiums, deductibles, out-of-pocket payments, and co-pays now paid by employers and consumers. SB 840, strongly opposed by employers and coalitions including CalTIA, was vetoed once before largely because of its negative financial impact on employers.

Federal Issues:
Recently proposed changes to the federal Passenger Vessel Service Act could potentially devastate the tourism industry if adopted. The recommendations could take business provided by foreign vessels away from US ports and the loss of cruise passengers will result in a loss of jobs, revenue and taxation, all crippling to the region. If adopted, these regulations could eliminate an estimated 50% or more of California’s cruise business. As a result, both CalTIA and the California Chamber of Commerce sent letters urging the United State’s Customs and Border Patrol not to adopt the changes because of their potential to negatively impact California’s tourism. More legislation is expected this year as this issue continues to gain momentum.   

Term Limits: Prop 93
A Democrat-backed term limit initiative, put together by Assembly Speaker Nunez and Senate Pro Tem Perata, has qualified for the February 5, 2008 Presidential primary ballot as proposition 93. This measure, if passed, would reduce the number of years that a lawmaker could serve in the Legislature from 14 to 12 years, but would allow all of those years to be served in a single house. California law currently limits legislators to six years in the Assembly and eight in the Senate. The pending initiative would also allow additional terms for current incumbents, enabling Assembly Speaker Nunez and Senate pro Tem Perata to retain their leadership posts instead of being forced out by the current term limits law.

Redistricting Reform:
Included in the Governor’s call for a special session, the Legislature was unable to reach deal regarding redistricting. The decennial process of redrawing legislative and congressional boundaries often ignites controversy and as a result, has led to three publicly-sponsored initiatives currently gathering the necessary signatures in order to qualify for the November 4th, 2008 ballot.

The first proposal calls for the establishment of a Citizens Redistricting Commission comprised of 11 qualified voters formed by the Secretary of State and subject to a very detailed selection process. The Commission must submit the finalized redistricting plan only after holding public hearings and receiving public input.

The following two are much more similar in nature as they require the State Auditor to randomly appoint a 14-member Redistricting Commission to draw new district lines for the State Senate, Assembly and the Board of Equalization districts. Each Commission must be comprised of five members from each of the two largest political parties and four members unaffiliated with either party. The first Commission requires nine votes of approval for the final district maps, while the second calls for ten votes of approval. 

CalTIA’s Legislative Advocate is Tami Miller with Political Solutions in Sacramento. She can be reached directly at:

Political Solutions, LLC
1415 L Street, Suite 720
Sacramento CA 95814
(916) 492-2766 | (916) 443-5807 fax