BOMA California Advocacy Update: Proposition 13 Weathers Attacks & 2017 Legislative Results

All BOMAs in California are part of BOMA California based in Sacramento. The focus of BOMA California is strictly advocacy and - thanks to the involvement of BOMA members - they are really good at protecting the industry's interests.

It has been a VERY busy time in Sacramento as the legislative session has come to close. Please take a moment to review the information below from our California advocate, Matthew Hargrove, Senior Vice President of Government Affairs for BOMA California.

Proposition 13 Weathers Attacks By Two Gubernatorial Candidates 

Next year you will help choose the next Governor of the State of California. Although the election is more than a year away, four Democrats are already vying for the position.

The candidates include current Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and current State Treasurer John Chiang, as well as former Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin, and former Speaker of the Assembly and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

In their first “debate” in a question regarding taxes, two of the candidate – Villaraigosa and Eastin - went out of their way to criticize Proposition 13, the law that keeps your property taxes from seeing gigantic spikes each year.

Villaraigosa and Eastin said reforms are needed in the 1978 measure that capped property-tax increases for homes and businesses. Villaraigosa said the law was “broken” and protections for both residential and commercial needed to be revisited.

Eastin claimed that “Disneyland is paying what they paid in 1975,” which is a false talking point used by political groups seeking to implement a split roll property tax.

Click here to read a story about the debate.


It's a Wrap: Legislative Session is Over For The Year

Sunday was the final night for the Governor to sign or veto bills on his desk. In 2017 the Legislature sent 977 bills to his desk. He signed 88% of the bills (859) and vetoed 12% (118).

Last year, Governor Brown vetoed 159 out of 1059 bills, for a 15% veto rate. To put this year’s actions in context (lowest year to highest year of vetoes):

Between 2011 and 2016, Governor Brown vetoed between 10.7% and 15% of the bills

Between 2004 and 2010, Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed between 22.3% and 35% of the bills

Between 1999 and 2003, Governor Davis vetoed between 6% and 25% of the bills

Between 1991 and 1998, Governor Wilson vetoed between 8.6% and 24.5% of the bills

Now, here are some of the bills we followed closely. 

Bills Signed By the Governor We Opposed

This is the most important category of bills to look at. Our industry opposed these measures, yet they were signed into law. These are the bills that are most likely to have a negative impact on your operations:

AB 168 (Eggman D) Employers: salary information. (OPPOSE)

AB 1180 (Holden D) Los Angeles County Flood Control District: taxes. (OPPOSE)

AB 1701 (Thurmond D) Labor-related wage liabilities. (OPPOSE)

SB 2 (Atkins D) Building Homes and Jobs Act. (OPPOSE)

SB 63 (Jackson D) Unlawful employment practice: parental leave. (OPPOSE)

Bills Signed By The Governor We Supported  

Here are some bills signed by the Governor. Our industry was in support of all these measures:

AB 72 (Santiago D) Housing. (SUPPORT)

AB 73 (Chiu D) Planning and zoning: housing sustainability districts. (SUPPORT)

AB 246 (Santiago D) Environmental quality: Jobs and Economic Improvement ACT (SUPPORT)

AB 879 (Grayson D) Planning and zoning: housing element. (SUPPORT)

AB 1223 (Caballero D) Construction contract payments: Internet Web site posting. (SUPPORT)

AB 1284 (Dababneh D) California Financing Law: Property Assessed Clean Energy program (SUPPORT)

AB 1515 (Daly D) Planning and zoning: housing. (SUPPORT)

AB 1553 (Cervantes D) Economic development: Capital Access Loan Program. (SUPPORT)

AB 1583 (Chau D) Proposition 65: enforcement: certificate of merit: factual basis. (SUPPORT)

AB 1598 (Mullin D) Affordable housing authorities. (SUPPORT)

SB 145 (Hill D) Autonomous vehicles: testing on public roads. (SUPPORT)

SB 167 (Skinner D) Housing Accountability Act. (SUPPORT)

SB 205 ((G&F) Local Government Omnibus Act of 2017. (SUPPORT)

SB 229 (Wieckowski D) Accessory dwelling units. (SUPPORT)

SB 242 (Skinner D) Property Assessed Clean Energy program (SUPPORT)

SB 329 (Leyva D) Manufactured homes: financial assistance programs. (SUPPORT)

SB 540 (Roth D) Workforce Housing Opportunity Zone. (SUPPORT)

SB 564 (McGuire D) Joint powers authorities: Water Bill Savings Act. (SUPPORT)

SB 653 (Moorlach R (County tax collectors: notices: publication. (SUPPORT)

SB 711 (Hill D) Electrical corporations and gas corporations: rates and charges. (SUPPORT)

 
Bills Vetoed By The Governor

Finally, here are some bills vetoed by the Governor that we were happy he did not sign into law, as we opposed most of them:

AB 248 (Reyes D) Hazardous waste: facilities: permits. (OPPOSE)

AB 890 (Medina D) Land use: planning and zoning: initiatives. (OPPOSE)

AB 978 (Limón D) Employment safety: injury and illness prevention program. (OPPOSE)

AB 1179 (Kalra D) Hazardous waste facilities: inspections. (OPPOSE)

AB 1239 (Holden D) Building standards: electric vehicle charging infrastructure. (NEUTRAL)

SB 42 (Hill D) Public lands: Martins Beach: property acquisition. (OPPOSE)

California Business Properties Association (CPBA) Strategic Issue Conference - December 7-8th in Napa, California

TEN major groups have come together to host an event you don’t want to miss!

California Business Properties Association (CBPA), the American Council for Engineering Companies (ACEC), the Building Owners and Managers of California (BOMA CAL), the California Alliance for Jobs (CAJ), the California Building Industry Association (CBIA), the California Business Roundtable (CBRT), the California Manufacturers & Technology Association (CMTA), the Commercial Real Estate Development Association (NAIOP), the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) and the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) are co-hosting one of the premier biannual policy gatherings, 2017 Strategic Issues Conference.

The Strategic Issues Conference offers a unique opportunity, in an intimate setting, to enjoy significant exposure to key decision-makers and policymakers from both the public and private sectors. The goal of the Strategic Issues Conference is to increase public policy and political awareness of state and national issues, and to foster collaborative efforts among business leaders from all sectors of the California economy. Your sponsorship will contribute in achieving this goal, and will signal your strong support for the commercial, industrial, and retail real estate industry.

Click here for more information!

BOMA International Advocacy Update: Tax Reform Framework Released

Tax Reform Framework Released

Recently, the Trump administration and Republican leadership from the U.S. House and Senate released the outline of the long-anticipated tax reform plan, “Unified Framework for Fixing Our Broken Tax Code.” The nine-page framework outlines some specific changes to the tax code, including lowering the tax rate for pass-through businesses to 25 percent; reducing the corporate tax rate to 20 percent; and allowing full expensing of new investments in depreciable assets other than structures for up to five years.

While these reforms could have the potential to positively impact the commercial real estate industry, many specifics remain unaddressed. For instance, there is no mention of 1031 “like-kind” exchanges, carried interest, depreciation of structures, how interest expense will be limited or how tax cuts will be funded. This framework is the latest in a series of discussion documents outlining how President Trump and congressional leadership view comprehensive tax reform.

BOMA International advocacy staff will continue to work with members of Congress to help craft legislation that encourages the growth and health of the commercial real estate industry. For more information on BOMA’s policy position on tax reform, visit the BOMA International website.

BOMA San Francisco Member Concerns About Homelessness and Street Behavior

In response to calls from members regarding the state of homelessness and street behavior in the City and County of San Francisco, please take a moment to review the following information.

BOMA San Francisco’s Government Affairs Policy Advisory Committee (GAPAC) made homelessness and street behavior a key issue in 2016. They met with City and County of San Francisco (CCSF) Department staff in charge of homelessness mitigation coordination:

• Joyce Crum, Director, Housing and Homeless Division, Human Services Agency;
• Lt. Michael Nevin, SFPD homelessness issue veteran;
• Sam Dodge, Director of Housing Opportunity, Partnerships and Engagement (HOPE), Mayor Ed Lee’s Office (precursor agency to the newly formed Department of Homelessness);
• Brenda Meskan, San Francisco Department of Public Health, Director San Francisco Homeless Outreach Team.

Click here to review our summary of the April 2016 meeting.

Based on the April 2016 meeting, the Government Affairs Committee decided to aggregate the resources available from CCSF to BOMA members to help with the various homeless and street behavior issues. Click here for more information about that document published in July 2016.

As you may know BOMA San Francisco members heard from Jeff Kositsky recently at a BOMA member luncheon this year on the progress his Department of Homelessness is making to help house those who are homeless and guide them to CCSF resources.

The City and County of San Francisco is focused on helping those less fortunate than most and they are trying. There is a sizable amount of resources that the CCSF is using to try to lessen homelessness and questionable street behavior. Collectively, CCSF staff point to a few things to consider:

• Homelessness is acute in San Francisco but especially egregious in large West Coast cities in general, e.g., Los Angeles, Seattle and Portland. They have sizable homelessness populations. San Francisco, by contrast, has around 6-7k homeless at present and that general count has been holding. Housing and social services are their overall solution.
• The epidemic opioid crisis is contributing to not only homelessness but questionable street behavior from many individuals that is overwhelming CCSF’s response. 

BOMA is here to help connect you to the resources the CCSF provides. Please email johnb@boma.com.

EXCELLENCE IN ADVOCACY: Honoring Ken Cleaveland, Vice President, Public Policy for BOMA San Francisco - November 15, 2017

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER TODAY

After a long career in the association management field and having served BOMA San Francisco the past 22 years as leader of our organization’s legislative and regulatory advocacy efforts, Ken Cleaveland will be retiring on December 31, 2017. We’re dedicating our last general membership luncheon of the year to pay tribute to Ken and to thank him for his outstanding service.

Please join your colleagues, friends, BOMA leaders, community partners, and special guests in honoring Ken at our November Membership Luncheon.

Register for BOMA San Francisco's Annual 2017 Codes Seminar - November 9, 2017

REGISTER TODAY

BOMA San Francisco’s Annual Codes Seminar will feature presentations on a wide range of important topics — especially for commercial property managers. This is an opportunity for BOMA members to meet and interact with important city officials from the Building and Fire Departments responsible for enforcing these codes and to hear from our own design and construction professionals on the most recent changes to our local codes and permitting processes and the most effective ways to comply. It’s BOMA San Francisco’s most important regulatory update of the year, so don’t miss out!

Topics

Commercial Permitting

ADA Review: What’s New?

What to Remember?

Fire Code Update: What’s Impacting TI’s

Title 24 Energy Review

BOMA 2017 for Office Buildings: Standard Methods of Measurement

Elevator Update:

Modernizations and Cal-OSH

State & Local Legislative Update

Presenters

Mark Walls, Sr. Building Inspector, San Francisco Dept. of Building Inspection

Dan DeCossio, Dept. Asst. Fire Chief, SFFD, and SF Fire Marshal

Steve Panelli, Chief Plumbing Inspector, SF Dept. of Building Inspection

Mohsin Shaikh, PE, LEED AP, Mechanical/Energy Plan Inspector, SF Dept. of Building Inspection

Jeff Maddox, The Fire Consultants

Skip Soskin, AIA, Huntsman Architectural Group

Steve Taylor, PE, Taylor Engineering

Craig Oty, IALD, PE, LC,

The Engineering Enterprise

George von Klan, GVK Elevator Consulting Services, Inc.

Joe Armas, Otis Elevator

Manuel Fishman, Esq., Buchalter