Regional Water Issues – Regional Project as preferred alternative
The long-awaited draft Environmental Impact Report on Cal Am’s Coastal Water Project is finally out and the Government Affairs Committee has studied it and prepared comments for the Chamber to offer to the Public Utilities Commission.  The DEIR finds that constructing a desalination plant in the north Marina area is preferable to Cal Am’s original proposal for a plant in Moss Landing.  The DEIR also studies the regional water project proposed by Water for Monterey County Coalition, the group convened by the PUC’s Division of Ratepayer Advocates to explore more cost-effective ideas for solving Monterey Peninsula water supply problems.  The Chamber, guided by its long-standing Water Policy in support of a safe, sufficient, stable and secure water supply for our area, favors the regional project because it is cheaper to build, is a diversified set of supply projects with lower overall environmental impacts and increased stability.  The Government Affairs Committee and the Chamber will continue involvement in this issue to assure that our area will finally resolve its decades-old water supply dilemma.

General Plan Update
Now at almost the end of its tenth year, the Monterey County General Plan debate rolls on. While there are certainly numerous areas for deliberation and compromise within the proposed plan, two specific components have gathered the attention of many. The Draft EIR is calling for the County to develop a Natural Communities Conservation Plan (NCCP). The plan would essentially require protection of 158 species including 11 "natural communities," 100 "CEQA-defined plant species" and 47 "CEQA-defined" animal species resulting in the largest "NCCP" in the State, at a cost of around $20 million to prepare. It's important to note that Monterey County currently lists 28 officially threatened or endangered species, not 158. Another point of consternation is the referencing of outdated housing and population data. The EIR uses housing and population data to derive numerous assumptions within the plan including to what extent the County will grow, along with the infrastructure needed to support that growth. The housing projections were derived from a 2004 report instead a more recent report from 2008, which produced results more in line with historical assumptions as opposed to numbers correlating with the housing boom. The two reports differ substantially with projections off as much as 30% in some areas, certainly enough to impact the overall scope of the document.

The Employee “Free Choice” Act
This bill would eliminate an employee's right to a secret ballot election conducted by the NLRB; and would allow a union to become the certified collective bargaining representative with the mere signing of authorization cards by a majority of a company's employees.  By changing the current law in such a manner, unions can more easily organize throughout the county...especially since ACORN is posed in the Salinas area to organize on behalf of SIEU and now United HERE has just formed its own non-profit organization which will similarly organize on behalf of HERE.  And, of course, you can bet that both of these groups will be funded in great part by funds from the stimulus package!

The unionization of small businesses in this area will only further hurt our local economy...and business as a whole.  I urge you to take immediate action to stop this train wreck!!!  Click on the link below to access a petition opposing the Employee Free Choice Act....and by all means call Sam Farr, Feinstein, Boxer

http://www.uschamber.com/issues/index/labor/cardchecksecrbal.htm