Tuesday, March 9, 2021
Virtual Meeting via ZOOM
Minutes
Present: Patti Arlt, Carole Beswick, Mike Burrows, Rachelle Bussell, Mark Cloud, Ken Coate, Sandra Cuellar, Jennifer Cusack, Michelle Decker, Kevin Dyerly, Louis Goodwin, Otis Greer, Milford Harrison, Mark Kaenel, Lowell King, Pam Langford, Bill Lemann, P.T. McEwen, Darcy McNaboe, John Mirau, Dan Murphy, Vikki Ostermann, Catherine Pritchett, Thomas Rice, Michael Rivera, Elizabeth Romero, Dan Schenkel, Kristine Scott, Paul Shimoff, Sol Teh, Eric Ustation, Lupe Valdez, Pete Van Helden, Ray Wolfe, Marisa Yeager and Frank Zabaleta.
Guests: Megan Barajas, Nick Calero, Julian Cuevas, Juan Herrera, Stephanie Medina, Arnold San Miguel, Todd Warden and Jonathan Weldy.
Lowell King, Chair, presiding. The speaker has time constraints so announcements and other Inland Action business items will be held until after the presentation.
Motion by M. Harrison/ Second by K. Coate/Passed: Minutes from March 2, 2021.
Dan Murphy introduced California Senator Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh. The Senator was elected in November 2020 to represent California’s 23rd Senate District, succeeding Senator Mike Morrell, which includes the communities of Rancho Cucamonga, San Bernardino, Redlands, Yucaipa, Loma Linda, Banning, Beaumont, and Hemet.
Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh is a native Californian and the daughter of Mexican immigrants and credits her family with teaching her personal responsibility, the value of an education and hard work, and that home ownership is the cornerstone of the American Dream. She has strong roots in the Inland Empire and is a graduate of San Bernardino High School. She attending UC Santa Barbara and attained her teaching credential at Cal State, San Bernardino. She went on to teach English language learners at the elementary school level before becoming a real estate agent.
Throughout her career, she has been a champion for stronger schools, lower taxes, better infrastructure, and more affordable home prices. She is working to lower the cost of living in California, to support a strong economic recovery, to preserve local control, and to reverse the cycle of higher taxes and increased government intrusion.
The Senator sits on the following committees:
- Banking & Financial Institutions (Vice Chair)
- Budget & Fiscal Review
- Business, Professions & Economic Development
- Education (Vice Chair)
- Housing
- Labor, Public Employment & Retirement (Vice Chair)
- Public Safety (Vice Chair)
The lack of housing supply to meet the drastic demand in California is unprecedented. Median home prices for a single-family home top the $600,000 price range, more than twice the national average. Our state has continuously been ranked the toughest state in the nation for first-time home buyers due to the relatively high cost of housing, the tight market for available entry-level homes and the struggle that young Californian’s face in saving for a down payment. She has introduced the First-Time Home Buyer Opportunity Act (SB 601) to incentivize homeowners to sell their homes to first-time buyers by increasing the capital gains exclusion on homes sold to first-time buyers. This legislation would grant homeowners who sell their homes to a first-time homebuyer the ability to exclude capital gains of $300,000 for single filers instead of the current $250,000 maximum and $600,000 for joint filers instead of the current $500,000 maximum from their gross income.
Senator Ochoa Bogh has introduced Senate Bill 336 which would require that California’s Department of Public Health (CDPH) publish new COVID-19 measures at least 72 hours on its website before taking effect. Currently changes are effective immediately leaving already struggling employers scrambling to review and comply with orders that may require significant changes to their operations. Passage of the bill will ensure local communities are aware of any changes to the state or local public health orders.
Small businesses have been disproportionately affected by the COVID19 pandemic and the related health and safety restrictions, with many thousands of businesses permanently shuttered and many more on unstable financial footing. This bill establishes the California Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Program within the California Office of Small Business Advocate (CalOSBA) to assist qualified small businesses affected by COVID-19 through the administration of grants.
The Senator supported AB 86-COVID-19 relief and School Reopening, Reporting, and Public Health Requirements as it incentivizes school districts to re-open and maintains local control.
8:50 a.m. The speaker and guests were excused.
Announcements: 1) A new county charter approved by voters last November requires the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors to appoint a Redistricting Commission to participate in redrawing Supervisorial district boundaries that will be in place for the next 10 years. Ken Coate, Chair, Inland Action Appointments Committee will assist candidates through the process. Suggestions for candidates in the various Districts were requested from the membership.
A majority of the members present voted to extend the invitation of membership to Amazon Air. Miguel Mendoza, Public Policy Manager would serve as their primary representative and Matt McCardle, Public Policy Lead, will serve as their the Alternate.
John Mirau made the first announcement of prospective new member, University Realty LLC. University Realty LLC is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) land developer that supports Arizona State University. They own several hundred acres of land in Reche Canyon and have been suggested for membership by member OPR (O’Reilly Public Relations). Their asset portfolio is valued at over $700M in four states. They are not looking for support on development projects but rather want to integrate into the community. Mark Stapp would serve as the primary and Lydia Chelle as the alternate.
Meeting adjourned at 9:03 a.m.