As you may have heard in recent days, legislators in California attempted to pursue a multi-billion dollar transportation funding bill leading up to a November 30th deadline that they needed to meet. Although the funding package was ultimately unsuccessful, following is a recap describing CTA’s advocacy activities during the past few weeks.   

This funding package, like all major tax and fee bills was one of the most politically complex pieces of legislation our staff has had to respond to. However, with any major legislation making its way through Sacramento, there are always opportunities that present themselves as well. Since new taxes require a 2/3 supermajority to pass both houses, our position in these discussions was central to a final deal being agreed to. Due to the enormity of our stake in these discussions, CTA worked to leverage our position to secure language that would provide the industry immediate protection from litigation related to meal and rest standards, and piece rate compensation. Due to the sensitivity of these negotiations, our staff could not widely publicize our activities.  

Ultimately, the entire transportation funding discussions were not successful at putting a final bill together that could generate the needed 2/3 supermajority level of support it would need before the November 30th deadline. Our position and our language on meal breaks and piece rate was a focal point of the discussions right up till the very end, but due to circumstances unrelated to our industry, the entire legislative package couldn’t move in time before the November 30th deadline. Although this result is disappointing, one huge positive for CTA is that we were able to educate a wide swath of legislators on the importance of these issues, and we were able to secure champions from both sides of the aisle that fought for us till the end with regard to this particular effort related to the transportation funding bill. 

Since legislative leadership has decided to not move the funding package before November 30th, the expectation is that they will pursue a bill in the springtime of 2017. Without a doubt, CTA will continue to be involved in any future transportation funding discussions and we will work to determine what openings, if any, there are to pursue major industry priorities. As most of you know, we have also been actively engaged with the lobbying push regarding the "Denham Amendment" effort taking place on the federal level (an effort to re-establish the intended federal preemption aspects of the FAAAA statute passed by Congress in 1994). The expectation now is that there will be a resolution to that effort in March or April of 2017. 

We have heard from our membership that addressing our industry’s exposure to litigation is one of the biggest priorities for our Association. We will continue to pursue any and all avenues to achieve this objective. 

 

Click here to view Governor Brown's Letter to Stakeholders.