We are deeply saddened to share the news that CRA member, Robert “Bob” Bell, passed away on May 26, 2021, in San Diego, California. Bob Bell founded Robert Bell Insurance Brokers in 1983 to be an independent leader representing the equipment and party rental industry. Bob was one-of-a-kind, generous, driven and resilient and enjoyed talking with friends and family about a number of topics. He worked in many facets of the insurance industry over the last 60 years, and many are unaware that he was responsible for designing and implementing the rental industry’s insurance program that is used today. Without his understanding of the business and pioneering spirit, the rental industry could still be hobbled with inefficient coverage.

 

Bob was loved by many and will be missed dearly. He was born May 30, 1937 in McKeesport, PA, to Velma (Egan) and Joseph Bell. He was a devoted husband, father, grandfather and friend. He is survived by his children Heather and Michael (Debra), his grandchildren Joseph and Jacob, his cousin Carol Fennelly, his niece Danielle (Ian), and sister-in-law Patricia Bell. He was preceded in death by his wife Kathryn Marie Bell, daughter Ann Marie Bell, his parents, his sister Kathleen (Fred) Berthold and brothers Joseph R. and Ronald Bell. The family requests in lieu of flowers, donations be made to St. Baldrick’s Foundation, Conquer Childhood Cancer at https://www.stbaldricks.org/fundraisers/mypage/4229/2021

CRA members, their employees and their college-age children are all eligible to apply for a RSIF Scholarship. Every student can use a helping hand. Perhaps you are considering continuing your education, or would like to attend a trade or certificate program that will enhance your job skills. One of the missions of RSIF is to promote education in the rental industry and that applies to adult students of all ages and at many levels. Complete the application and return to CRA by June 30, 2021. Click Here for the Application.

Peer Executive Groups (PEG) is very excited to announce the marvelous winners of the 2021 Top Gun achievements in advance of the fall PEG meeting schedule. This award is given to the rental store operators who receive the PEG Pinnacle Award for Financial Excellence. It is only given to the top 25% of stores, based on two ranked financial indicators that are calculated from financial statements submitted by rental store operators enrolled in PEG peer groups and non-members who elect to participate. 

 

The CRA June “4th Wednesday Rental Workshop” will take place via Zoom on the 23rd from 2:30 – 4:00 pm. The topic this month is: Getting the Most from Your Scarce Tent Labor—Tent Equipment and Tools for Faster Installs, sponsored by Rainier Industries. Training Certificates will be provided to all that pre-Register. Training for this FREE MEMBER BENEFIT runs for an hour and is followed by a Q&A session. Participants have a chance to win a $50 Amazon Gift Card at the raffle held at the end of the workshop. Thank you to Rainier for sponsoring this workshop!

 

PushPower LLC
Greg Baker
3034 Gold Canal Drive, Suite B
Rancho Cordova, CA 95670
(916) 223-8517
https://pushpowerllc.com/

 

 

CRA’s 2022 Equipment and Party Rental Rally Tradeshow will be held January 20-22, 2022 at the South Point Casino Hotel & Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada! Visit www.RentalRally.com for more information.

 

Thank you to the exhibitors that have already signed up for the tradeshow. Click on “Learn more” to see the list of exhibitors signed up for the show to date.

 

Construction Equipment Market Intelligence. Rouse will help you make intelligent business decisions with the most accurate and reliable market information on construction, transportation and material handling equipment. Rouse is the industry's gold standard for appraisal valuations, used equipment sales support and rental metrics benchmarking.

 

Manufacturers Rep. Wirant Sales Inc. was established in 1975 to service the construction industry. They furnish a wide variety of construction equipment to the National and Independent rental companies and to the construction, industrial and traffic & barricade equipment dealers covering California, Nevada, Arizona, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and New Mexico. They offer sales training, product demonstrations and after-sales support to customers. Their past experience working many years for Multiquip, JLG and Grove, and ownership of an Independent Rental Company and an Equipment Servicing Center provide them with the knowledge to provide you with the right product to meet your requirements and the ability to get after-sales technical support for you quickly to maximize product performance and uptime.

Xtreme Manufacturing made a big return to in-person trade shows with the debut of the world’s tallest fixed boom telehandler at World of Concrete 2021. The new Xtreme XR1585-C delivers an industry leading maximum lift height of 85 ft. (25.9m), and is the first Xtreme telehandler to utilize a five-section boom design. Capable of lifting loads weighing up to 15,000 lbs. (5,443kg), the Xtreme XR1585-C benefits from a 67 ft. (20.4m) maximum forward reach and is available with a choice of fixed, fork positioning, swing or side tilt C-class carriages. Weighing 65,500 lbs. (29,710kg), the Xtreme XR1585-C is powered by a 4.5L Cummins 173hp Tier 4 Final diesel engine for excellent rough terrain capabilities, and features a large capacity 100-gallon (272.5L) fuel tank. Utilizing a newly designed chassis, specific to this model, the XR1585-C is 102 in. (2.6m) wide, has a stowed height of 10 ft. 1 in. (2.7m), and a turning radius of 16 ft. 8 in. (4.8m), and has wide stance outriggers as standard for maximum stability.

The California Air Resources Board and California State Legislature recently proposed regulations and legislation banning the sale small off-road engine-powered equipment, including lawn mowers, chain saws, string trimmers, leaf blowers, pressure washers and generators manufactured as early as January 2024. These proposals to ban the sale of small engine-powered equipment are not adequately supported by data and industry expects would negatively impact tens of thousands of small businesses, many of which are minority owned. These proposals would drastically limit equipment choices for professional landscape contractors, outdoor power equipment dealers and critical infrastructure workers (such as construction workers, utilities workers, farmers and first responders) throughout California – small business owners that rely on small engine-powered equipment every day as cost-efficient and high-performing solutions.

 

We are all being affected by CARB legislation that is limiting the use of small engines in the state of California. The bill has passed the Assembly and is now in the Senate. It is expected the Senate will have the first reading in the next 2-3 weeks. As a result, it is important to get the message out as soon as possible. The link below was developed by OPEI (Outdoor Power Equipment Institute) and NALP (National Association for Lawn Placement), which equipment dealers and users can use to submit a prepared message to CARB and their CA Legislators. Hopefully there will be enough voices heard and the legislation will be reversed, allowing these engines and equipment to be sold again in California.

As part of its ongoing commitment to support the governor’s efforts to fully reopen the economy on June 15, the California Business Roundtable submitted comments to the Cal/OSHA Standards Board asking them to reject the anti-science and confusing masking requirements for vaccinated employees included in the draft Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) readoption. “By treating vaccinated employees to nearly the same standard as unvaccinated employees, the ETS effectively casts doubt on whether the COVID-19 vaccine makes a person safe from COVID and is effective at preventing infection. Moreover, since the ETS makes little distinction between a vaccinated and unvaccinated employee, it creates a disincentive for employees to get vaccinated. This is the wrong message to send to employees looking to re-enter the workforce,” wrote CBRT president Rob Lapsley. The letter asks the Standards Board to follow the science and to immediately conform its regulations with state and federal guidelines on indoor mask wearing for vaccinated individuals.

 

“We support the governor’s reopening strategy, which acknowledges the critical role consistency and clarity are in fully reopening the economy by removing the Blueprint and creating a simpler set of guidelines moving forward. We hope that you will join Governor Newsom and the business community in supporting guidelines and regulations that promote economic activity and reinforce the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine by immediately aligning the ETS with the science,” Mr. Lapsley concluded.

On June 3, 2021, the Cal/OSH Standards Board held an emergency meeting to address Cal/OSHA’s proposed updates to the current COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS). The meeting was attended by as many as 800 participants and lasted well into the evening because of significant public commentary. After conclusion of public comment, the Board openly deliberated over the proposed updates to the ETS. In its first vote, the Board decided to reject the update. However, after a brief recess, and ensuing discussion over the repercussions of leaving the current ETS in place, the Board reversed its vote and approved the proposed update to the ETS. The updated language will now proceed to the Office of Administrative Law for expected approval, and likely will be in place (and enforceable) by June 15, 2021.

 

What does that mean for employers? In short, the current ETS will be updated to reflect the Division’s changes to various sections of the ETS regulations. The updates include, but are not limited to, provisions for vaccinated employees, changes to distancing and barrier requirements, the necessity of employers to acquire N95 masks for voluntary use and tracking of employee vaccination status. Some of the changes will not go into effect until July 31, 2021.

The California Business Roundtable provided highlights from the recently released trade data from the US Census Bureau and US Bureau of Economic Analysis. The data reflects the annual revision process extending back to 2016. 

CA Share Of Total Trade Through US Ports
The share of total US goods trade (exports and imports) through California ports edged down to 18.18% (12-month moving average; compared to 18.28% in March 2021 and 17.36% in April 2020). California remained the #1 state, ahead of Texas with 16.90% (compared to 16.62% in March 2021 and 17.73% in April 2020). Trade through the Atlantic port states was at 30.59% (compared to 30.75% in March 2021 and 30.06% in April 2020). The state’s continued lead in this area forms the trade-related base for one of California’s largest centers of middle-class, blue-collar jobs. Transportation & Warehousing alone provided 689,900 jobs, up 78,000 from the year prior. 

 

California Goods Exports
Total California goods exports were up $4.8 billion from April 2020 (up 46.4%). The 2020 numbers, however, reflect the sharp drops in world trade at the beginning of the pandemic period. Using April 2019 as a more “normal” year base, exports were up 7.7%, or about 1.7% annually in real terms. California remained in 2nd place with 10.82% of all US goods exports (12-month moving total), behind Texas at 19.37%.

California Democrats control the governor’s mansion, every statewide elected office, both U.S. Senate seats, 42 of 53 congressional districts and hold a supermajority in both houses of the state Legislature. You’d think such electoral dominance would remove any need to further stack the process in their favor – but you thought wrong. Perhaps the political class is paranoid because most California voters are not as far to the left as they are. Politicians know this and it’s borne out in most election cycles. In November, attempts to gut Proposition 13, reimpose affirmative action, allow 17-year-olds to vote, allow rent control and abolish cash bail went down in flames. Now what we’re seeing is a pattern of trying to keep democracy out of the hands of the voters. The most stunning example is Gov. Gavin Newsom’s apparently unconstitutional appointment of a U.S. Senator, when the U.S. Constitution’s Seventeenth Amendment states that vacancies “shall” be filled by an election unless the legislature empowers the governor “to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.” Assemblyman Kevin Kiley, R-Granite Bay, immediately questioned the constitutionality of Newsom’s appointment of then-Secretary of State Alex Padilla to fill the vacancy created when Sen. Kamala Harris resigned to become vice president. Evidence that he was right comes with the introduction of Assembly Bill 1495, which finally creates the required special election, but not until November 2022. “We’ll be electing someone to serve for a month,” Kiley observed. “Here’s the truly crazy part: Padilla will at the same time be running for reelection. So, on your November 2022 ballot you’ll see what looks like a printing error: a race for the same Senate seat will appear twice.”

 

Thank you to all who take time to participate in our surveys. CRA uses the information we gather to better serve you. If you have an idea for a survey for CRA members, please send your request to CRA at Info@CalRental.org. This month, we revisited members' thoughts about using an "on-hold" message service. 

 Mitchell Gutierrez from Orbit Rentals in Whittier is the winner of the June Survey Raffle.
Congratulations Mitchell!