Valley Industry & Commerce Association
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VICA Advocates for California's Entertainment Industry
- VICA Government Handbook Now Available
- Unions Look to Kill Tourism
- VICA Supports Port of LA's GHG Emission Reduction Goals
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- Job Opening: Membership & Development Manager
- Thank You to Our Members
- Events
- News
- Member Messages
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"My goal is to hand over a city budget next week that is stronger than ever, an infrastructure program unequaled in America, and a pathway to house our people and save our planet with the urgency that this moment demands."
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Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti
Statement during his State of the City Address
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VICA in Action: Help Advocate to Keep the Film and Music Industry in California
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AB 2926 (Kalra) Employee Obligations: Exclusivity Options - OPPOSE
VICA strongly opposes Assembly Bill 2926, which would prohibit exclusive contracts in much of California's vibrant entertainment industry. This bill would radically upend nearly a century of business practices and legal principles that have benefited employers and employees alike. This bill would also destabilize California’s music business, cut opportunities for working artists, and weaken the state’s economic recovery.
AB 2926 would destroy this balance and usher in harmful changes that would impact California businesses in every industry. The bill would reverse longstanding business practices that have made California home to a vibrant film, TV, and streaming business, undermine collective bargaining, and harm the industry that has created a robust middle class of entertainment industry workers. An exclusivity clause provides an artist with generous compensation for their exclusive commitment to a production, often from creation through exhibition. With artist participation assured, the producer-employer is afforded the stability necessary to finance, insure, and arrange all the other elements for the production to move forward.
By abandoning this strong, well-working framework and freezing deal terms in inflexible statutory text, AB 2926 will reduce advances for all but the biggest superstars. It will make it harder for new artists to get signed and divert time, resources and funding needed to break new acts to those who have already made it. Further, it will erect new obstacles for diverse, innovative, and less commercial voices and genres. It will undermine California’s economic recovery by eliminating high-wage recording, touring, and other music-related jobs. The music industry contributes nearly $40 billion every year to California’s GDP, and supports over 430,000 jobs and 72,000 venues.
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VICA's Government Handbook - Order Your Copies Today
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We're pleased to announce our
2022 Government Handbook has been finalized!
The VICA Government Handbook is your pocket guide to who's who in government and at VICA. We hope it is of value to you and your efforts to communicate with elected officials.
If you are registered for any upcoming events and/or committee meetings, we will have your copies ready for pick up. Don't worry if you aren't attending a meeting, we will also be mailing out government handbooks in the next couple of weeks.
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VICA Fights Back as Unions Look to Kill Tourism Industry
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VICA strongly opposes the Los Angeles Responsible Hotel Ordinance, which will create an onerous permitting process for the development of new hotels and force hotels to house the homeless throughout the City of Los Angeles.
The amount of housing needed in California is exponentially larger than what hotels can offer. The city might pay too much for an older property just because they need it to be available in a certain time frame. Paying too much for a property may not leave financial room to perform sufficient renovations to make former motel rooms habitable as apartments, and ultimately take the cost beyond what it would have cost to develop those units from scratch.
This ordinance limits and impedes hotel expansion and growth. Furthermore, this act lays a significant pressure on hotels to address the homelessness epidemic by mandating them to report available rooms for unhoused Angelenos to occupy. In addition to the additional reporting requirements, hotels are being wrongly blamed for the city's homelessness crisis, social services, and traffic congestion. Rather than blaming the hotel business for the homelessness situation, the city should focus on long-term solutions such as affordable housing projects and housing development funds.
Hotels are not responsible for solving the homelessness crisis. Los Angeles is dependent on tourism and the economic benefits, customers, and visitors it brings to our city.
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VICA Supports Port of LA's GHG Emission Reduction Goals
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VICA supports Assembly Bill 2554 (O’Donnell), which would support the state’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emission goals by providing financial incentives to offset the cost of new Zero Emission (ZE) drayage trucks through existing programs or through the implementation of the ZE Drayage Truck Financial Assistance Program.
There are an estimated 300,000 drayage trucks that service California’s ports each year, and port efficiency is critical to the statewide and national economy. More than one million jobs in California and three million jobs nationwide are linked to trade through California’s ports, and truck driving is consistently ranked as one of the best paying careers for workers without a college degree.
Despite advancements in clean truck technology, used diesel trucks cost less than $50,000, while a new ZE truck could cost more than $350,000. This month, the Port of Los Angeles began collecting the Clean Truck Fee Rate, which will generate approximately $45,000,000 annually to help offset the cost of the ZE drayage trucks that service the Port.
The Port is not able to do it alone, and the government, through bills like AB 2554, must help eliminate the cost differentials and provide resources to make the transition to cleaner technologies more affordable.
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Click the image to learn more and apply today!
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VICA Welcomes Our Renewing & New Members
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Silver Member:
Bronze Members:
New Bronze Member:
Members:
New Member:
- Los Angeles Mission College
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Last Chance to Register:
State Officeholders Dinner
Friday, April 22
Stage 29 at Universal Studios Hollywood
VICA’s State Officeholders Dinner provides a rare opportunity for Valley business leaders to connect with state lawmakers and participate in an informal event, allowing for fun, candid, and interactive conversation.
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VICA Leaders Forum with Rick Caruso
Friday, May 6
Sheraton Universal Hotel
Rick Caruso is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Caruso, an American real-estate company. Currently serving as chair of the board of trustees at the University of Southern California, Caruso has been president of the Los Angeles Police Commission and a member of the LA Board of Water and Power Commissioners. He is a candidate in the 2022 Los Angeles mayoral election.
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Aviation Committee
Tuesday, April 19
12:00 - 1:30 PM
Hosted at Aerolease Group
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Government Affairs Committee
Wednesday, April 20
12:00 - 2:00 PM
VICA Office
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Labor & Employment Committee
Wednesday, May 4
8:30 - 10:30 AM
Hosted at Hilton Universal
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Education Committee
Thursday, May 5
8:30 - 10:00 AM
Hosted at Los Angeles Valley College
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May Sacramento Advocacy Day
Tuesday, May 17
All Day
Sacramento, CA
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Travel
Masks will continue to be required until at least May 3 when flying commercially and in other transportation settings, including on buses, ferries and subways, while health officials monitor an uptick in coronavirus cases. Last month, executives from 10 airlines, including American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, sent a letter to Biden urging him to end the pandemic-related travel policies, including the mask mandate.
Water Drought
With a third year of drought shrinking the creeks that cascade down the eastern Sierra Nevada, the level of Mono Lake has fallen so low it has triggered a 72% reduction in the amount of water Los Angeles can divert from area streams this year. On April 1, Mono Lake‘s level measured just under 6,380 feet above sea level — about 1 inch below a threshold set in the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s licenses for diverting alpine runoff from streams that feed the lake east of Yosemite National Park.
Port of Los Angeles
The Port of Los Angeles is projected to bring in $632 million in operating revenue next fiscal year, with expenses expected to increase 6.5% to $326 million, based on the port’s proposed 2022-23 budget, which officials rolled out late Thursday, April 14. The budget discussion, during Thursday’s Los Angeles harbor commission meeting, came two days after the port announced the amount of cargo it moved last month, the best March in its history. The Port of LA also had its best first quarter, continuing a cargo surge that dates to the second half of 2020.
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Taxes
With tax day upon us today, a new California poll shows that the share of state voters who believe they pay too much has grown. Nearly two-thirds of California voters say the state and federal income taxes they pay are too high, according to a new UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll. That is up 10 percentage points compared with a similar statewide poll taken six years ago.
Los Angeles Lakers
Coaching searches are a flat circle.
Three years ago when the Lakers were looking for a new head coach, Southern California News Group put out a list of five possible candidates (none of whom were Frank Vogel) who were linked to the job by media reports. Fast forward to the search for Vogel’s replacement: Three of those names have resurfaced, because in an already small NBA coaching world, there are even fewer people who are widely seen as capable of handling all the pressure of leading the Lakers.
Grocery Workers
Southern California grocery workers voted overwhelmingly late Thursday to ratify a three-year labor contract with Ralphs, Albertsons, Vons, and Pavilions. The employees, represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers, approved a deal that was outlined in a tentative agreement. The contract goes into effect immediately for more than 47,000 grocery workers at 540 Ralphs, Albertsons, Vons, and Pavilions stores across Central and Southern California. Thursday’s ratification follows the April 9 approval of another labor contract between grocery workers represented by six of the seven UFCW Locals and Stater Bros.
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Are you interested in a Membership Spotlight?
Answer the below questions, send responses and a professional photo,
and we'll ensure your in the line up for 2022!
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MUST BE A CURRENT VICA MEMBER TO BE FEATURED!
Please keep each question response to 2-4 sentences maximum.
- Please share a bit about your background and a fun fact that people would love to learn, ie: scrapbooking is your favorite hobby, you were in a band, you have traveled around the world…
- What has been your organization’s largest accomplishment or efforts made over the past year?
- Please share how VICA has supported your business strategy or expanded your footprint with the business community?
Send responses and headshot to Peter Warda
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Member Messages
Get Your Message in VICA Weekly!
VICA members can promote their business, events and news in VICA Weekly. Member messages are available for $50 per week or $175 for four weeks. Messages are text-based and may not contain more than 70 words. A logo may be added for an additional $5 per week. For more information or to schedule your member message, contact cathy@vica.com or call (818) 817-0545.
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ABOUT VICA
Presenting the business perspective on behalf of employers in the
San Fernando Valley cities of Los Angeles, Burbank, Glendale, Calabasas,
Hidden Hills, San Fernando and Santa Clarita.
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