CRA Member Newsletter
April 28, 2023 | CRA Newsletter: Legislative, Regulatory, Local & Other Updates
Message from the President
It has been a crazy month at the State Capitol as we approached policy deadlines and a number of bills the CRA team advocated on. As we wait for each house's Appropriations committees to meet and determine the fate of thousands of bills, we anticipate a number of floor fights and hard-fought battles as bills move to the second house. While other state legislatures are coming to an end, we are just getting warmed up in California!  

I hope you will take a moment and read through this email to get the most up-to-date information on legislation and regulation moving through the process. As always, if you have any questions or need additional information please do not hesitate to reach out to me directly or anyone on the CRA team!

Rachel

In this Issue:
  • Legislative Updates
  • Regulatory Updates
  • CA Community Pharmacy Coalition Updates
  • CRA Outreach, Activities & Other Updates
  • CRA In The News
  • Member News
  • CRA Member Portal
Legislative Updates
Regulatory Updates
California Community Pharmacy Coalition Updates
AB 1286 Closing a Pharmacy
AB 1286 (Haney) was heard in Assembly Business and Professions Committee earlier this month and the CCPC team has been meeting with members of the committee voicing our opposition to the bill. The Committee is offering amendments to the author for consideration. While this moves somewhat in a positive direction, it by no means moves CCPC from our strong opposition to the bill. B&P was the first policy committee meeting on this bill, so there will be more opportunities to share concerns and work on expanding the opposition coalition. Read the opposition letter here.

CRA held several meetings regarding this legislation including:
  • Board of Optomotery Executive Officer Anne Sodergren
  • Director of the Department of Consumer Affairs
  • Assemblymember Chen
  • Assemblymember Gipson's office
  • Assemblymember Alex Lee
  • The coalition also facilitated a discussion between subject matter experts from member companies and the Governor's office.

Board of Pharmacy
The CRA team testified at the Board of Pharmacy's April Board meeting in support of CRA-sponsored legislation SB 524 (Caballero) and in opposition to AB 1286 (Haney), in support of remote processing and keeping flavoring in medicine out of compounding requirements. We also secured Board support for digital signature requirements, which the CRA team advocated for in the weeks leading up to the Board meeting. 

The Board voted to officially take a watch position on SB 524, which is considered a win for the Coalition. As we expected, the Board is supportive of the concept of test to treat, but doesn't want to support unless AB 1286 passes and/or working conditions are addressed effectively tying the two bills together. Maria Serpa, Board VP, voted no on the watch motion and wanted to support if amended instead. Most of the public comments given during the agenda item were in support of the bill including CCPC. At the end of the day it’s good that the Board isn’t opposing SB 524 as that would have caused a lot of problems for our Coalition's legislative advocacy efforts.

More on Remote Processing
For background on the remote processing issue, which the CCP Coalition has been advocating on, the Board of Pharmacy Licensing Committee met earlier this month where committee members considered an initial draft proposal to create permanent statutory authorization allowing pharmacists working for community pharmacies to perform certain work remotely. Although many pharmacies have been allowing pharmacists to work remotely for years, the Board of Pharmacy had taken the position that remote processing is not permitted beyond the COVID-19 remote processing waiver, which is set to expire on May 28, 2023. 

CRA has been advocating to ensure community pharmacists can continue to work remotely, including providing comments at the Licensing Committee meeting this month. Although there is a Board-sponsored bill moving through the Legislature now dealing with pharmacist remote work (AB 1557), it is limited to in-patient settings due to labor opposition to creating this authorization for community pharmacies.

We will continue to advocate with the Board, the Legislature and the Administration on this issue. We raised this with the Director of the Department of Consumer Affairs earlier this month, who said she would have her legal counsel review current statute to determine whether they agree with the Board of Pharmacy’s position that remote processing is not/has never been permitted. Please let us know if you have any questions.
CRA Outreach, Activities & Other Updates
PAGA Update

CRA President Rachel Michelin was in Washington, D.C. last week to advocate and fundraise for PAGA. She met with a number of national associations to talk about the campaign, answer questions on strategy and broaden the coalition in support of PAGA reform. Meetings included the International Franchise Association, Food Marketing Institute, National Grocer's Association, Consumer Brands Association, Airlines for America as well as RILA & NRF. In addition, Rachel met with members of the California Congressional delegation including a briefing to Speaker McCarthy and, this week, presented the PAGA campaign efforts to BizFed's April Small Business and Employment Committee.
CRA President Provides Strategies for Local Government to Prevent Organized Retail Crime at League of California Cities'
City Leaders Summit

CRA President and CEO Rachel Michelin spoke on a panel at the League of California Cities' City Leaders Summit addressing "Strategies for Local Government to Prevent Organized Retail Crime". The panel included Fresno City Councilmember Mike Karbassi, whom CRA partnered with last year on a regional ORC and Retail Theft Summit in Fresno, California Highway Patrol Captain Jason Daughrity and Rite Aid's ORC Investigations Manager Michael Lamb.
CRA President Joins GoBiz for Historic MOU Signing with California Ports

CRA President Rachel Michelin joined the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development in an MOU signing ceremony at the invitation of Dee Dee Myers, Senior Advisor to the Governor and Director of GO-Biz. California’s five containerized ports inclusive of the Port of Hueneme, the Port of Long Beach, the Port of Los Angeles, the Port of Oakland, and the Port of San Diego, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in Sacramento launching the California Port Data Partnership alongside state and federal partners.
The MOU outlines an agreement between the five ports to jointly advance computerized and cloud-based data interoperability with a common goal of supporting improved freight system resilience, goods movement efficiency, emissions reduction, and economic competitiveness. Read more.
CRA Team Joins National Retail Federation at Women's Public Leadership Network 
National Summit

The CRA team attended the Women's Public Leadership Network National Summit in San Diego at the invitation of the National Retail Federation, a sponsor of the event. The Summit included a panel on workforce development, which CRA President and CEO Rachel Michelin spoke on alongside Molly Determan of the Energy Workforce & Technology Council and Pennsylvania State Representative Kristin Marcell. WPL Network's mission is to inspire women to seek public office.
CRA President Rachel Michelin Gives Keynote Address at San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership Economic Forecast Summit

CRA President Rachel Michelin provided the keynote address at the San Gabriel Valley Economic Forecast Summit, which brought together business leaders from across the state for an up-to-the-minute discussion of where the economy is headed. Read more about the event and Rachel's address here. Thank you to the San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership for the invitation.
CRA President Rachel Michelin Joins a National Discussion on Organized Retail Crime

Thank you to the National Retail Federation for
for the invitation to participate on a virtual panel discussion focused on Organized Retail Crime. CRA President Rachel Michelin gave updates on the funding CRA secured in the California State Budget last year for expanding the California Highway Patrol Task Forces, which will been instrumental in helping local law enforcement address retail crime. Rachel also discussed current ORC related legislation in CA.
Additional CRA Outreach Activities

The grant funding CRA secured in the State Budget last year through extensive advocacy outreach is now open for applications. CRA has reached out to local law enforcement to make them aware of the grant application availability and process (we recently met with the City of Atascadero's Police Department and have more meetings scheduled with local LE). See below for links to each of the webpages where the grant application and other information is available. Applicants must submit proposals before 5:00 P.M. (PST) on July 7, 2023. If the proposal is accepted the grant will last from October 1, 2023 until December 31, 2026. Please forward this information to any of your colleagues who are engaged in retail theft/public safety in California.

Organized Retail Theft Prevention Grant Program
Virtual Bidders’ Conference Thursday, May 11, 2023, at 10:00 A.M.
 
Organized Retail Theft Vertical Prosecution Grant Program
Virtual Bidders’ Conference Wednesday, May 10, 2023, at 10:00 A.M.

CRA also met with San Francisco County Supervisor Ahsha Safai during his Organized Retail Crime Working Group session held this week.

CRA participated in a lunch with Assembly Speaker Designee Robert Rivas.
CRA Monthly Policy Calls

The following includes the remainder of the 2023 monthly policy call calendar covering this year's legislative session (dates are subject to change). For CRA members' designated contacts who are not regularly receiving these policy call reminders and calendar invites, please email cra@calretailers.com to be added moving forward. Policy calls are held on Fridays at 11:00am PT (new time!).

  • May 12
  • June 9
  • July 14
  • No call in August
  • September 8
In The News
In Case You Missed It...

CRA is back in the news again with national, statewide and local media outlets reporting on the latest string of ORC and retail theft incidents that have, unfortunately, resulted, in some cases, retail employees losing their lives. While CRA's co-sponsored legislation AB 1708 was held in the Assembly Public Safety committee earlier this month, albeit saved for reconsideration at a later date, CRA will be leveraging our lead position with the media on the crime issue to combat upcoming fights in the second house, Assembly and Senate respectively, on related crime bills including SB 553 (Cortese) and AB 809 (Smallwood-Cuevas). Continue reading for the latest news clips CRA and CRA President Rachel Michelin are mentioned in/quoted.

New York Post

News Max

American Wire

CBS News

News Nation

ABC 7 News Bay Area

KTLA 5 Los Angeles

Office of Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi Press Release

Loss Prevention Magazine

Other News
CRA News

Meat + Poultry

Times of San Diego

KCET PBS Los Angeles

The Sacramento Bee
Member News
Twenty-One Electric Tesla Semi trucks to be Used by PepsiCo at Sacramento Bottling Plant

CRA member Walmart's Central Coast stores came together to help Monterey County Emergency Services Department with a donation of nearly $15,000 in essential items including blankets, towels, diapers, wipes, paper plates and utensils, toilet paper, paper towels, hygiene products, batteries, including AA, C, D, and 9 volts, and more. The donated items were delivered to shelters in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties to help the shelters handle an influx of people seeking refuge and assistance from the recent flooding. Read more.


The Home Depot Foundation to Fund More than
750 New Housing Units for Veterans Facing Homelessness

CRA member The Home Depot Foundation will add more than 750 units of supportive housing for veterans facing homelessness through $10.4 million in grants to its nonprofit partners. This funding will support the construction and renovation of supportive housing facilities, critical home repairs to keep at-risk veterans in their homes, and innovative housing solutions that will help more veterans exit or avoid homelessness and access affordable housing. Read more.


CRA Member Portal
CRA members get access to CRA's exclusive online member portal, which contains coalition letters, floor alerts, regulatory comments and testimony that California Retailers Association gave, authored or signed on to during the current and previous Legislative sessions. The portal also contains newsletter, news alert archives, advocacy materials (including our new digital advocacy packet) and important association governance documents for your reference. If you have not yet received your login credentials and access instructions please email cra@calretailers.com. We are also available to answer any questions you may have regarding portal navigation.