EVP NOTES — The 2015-16 Legislature – An Opportunity

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The elections are over. Those pesky political phone calls have stopped. (How did they get around the Do Not Call List?) What remains is a Legislature which is one of the most inexperienced in recent memory.

The freshmen legislators who were elected in November join a large number of first termers. In fact, a majority of lawmakers, 72 out of 120, will come to Sacramento with, at most, two years of state level experience. This is a direct result of term limits: voters wanted to get rid of long serving powerful politicians. In its place we now have representatives with little experience in policy making.

On the positive side, recent changes to the term limit law, allow legislators to serve 12 years in one house. The effect of this means that many of those recently elected will serve for a longer period of time and there will be less jostling and searching for new jobs as soon as they are elected. Legislators will also have more time to focus on policy issues.

This all presents a very good opportunity for PCOC. What we do best is to educate legislators as to the implications of policy decisions that impact the pest control industry. We have our work cut out for us as we move into 2015. My prediction is that there will be many threats to our industry: the key will be to meet every single one of those threats with reasoned and common sense facts.....hopefully before they are introduced in bill form. In addition, we must be proactive: reaching out early on to those newly elected Senators and Assemblypersons.

We have a very active and challenging year ahead!

Pest Control Operators of California
www.pcoc.org

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