June 27, 2016

The following content is from our latest Policy Update newsletter. To get these updates directly to your inbox, sign up here.

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How is it that law makers are able to cast votes without thought to the effect on the economy? The California Policy Impact Project (C-PIP) aims to help lawmakers see the impact of their actions and we need your help.

The San Diego Chamber has formed a partnership with dozens of statewide and regional business groups with C-PIP to shine a bright light on the direct economic impacts of policy makers’ votes.

For many years, state and local lawmakers have been getting a “free pass” when they cast votes that hamper job creation or stunt economic growth. At the state and local level, policy makers move from issue to issue, seemingly, without regard to the cumulative impact they are having on the economy.

In poll after poll Californians say that “jobs and the economy” are the most pressing issues in our state. Yet often their elected representatives are pursuing an agenda that cuts against job creation. And they are getting away with it because no one is collecting, compiling, organizing, and presenting the downside economic consequences in connection with their votes on these “job killing” bills or ordinances.

The Chamber intends to connect the dots so law makers no longer get that free pass. We need your help to do this. There are three phases to C-PIP.

• Phase I will require information collection, from your business or company.
• Phase II will focus on “telling the story.” We will compile the information and present it to the public, lawmakers’ constituents, the media, and social media. This will be carried out by the Chamber communications team in coordination with their counterparts in other business organizations.
• Phase III will be advocacy focused. We will work with policy makers to address or mitigate the downside economic consequences of their votes. This phase will be conducted by the Chamber policy staff and advocacy team and our counterparts in the other business organizations.

Lawmakers’ decisions, at the state and local level, to vote for extreme minimum wage hikes is a good place for us to begin because these laws are relatively new with long-term and broad industry impacts. There is a clear upside for those who will enjoy the wage increase. Yet the lawmakers’ disregarded the downside impacts: lost jobs, reduced hours, reduced benefits, business closures, stalled expansion plans, exacerbating the youth unemployment crisis, etc. We anticipate other economically damaging measures to come from this legislature and many local governments, so we must organize ourselves in a collective effort so we can replicate this effort on other issues in a sustained and impactful manner. This project will start with the minimum wage impact. And depending on our success in Phase I we will pursue other policies.

So here is how you can help, please go to go to www.C-PIP.org and fill out the simple survey. That’s it.

The survey does not require you to include the name or your company or business. Is does, however, require your email address, first name, and phone number in the event there is a verification need. The survey will only take 5-10 minutes. The questions are mostly multiple choice. However the last question allows an “in your own words” response if you have a “story” to tell. If you are willing to share your story, simply check the box and our communication team with follow up with you.