ORANGE COUNTY PLATFORM : Plugging the Drain of Businesses From California

Local government should work with businesses to determine what works and what doesn’t work in terms of government regulations.

Take, for example, the state waste disposal regulation. We at the chamber have been working with the city in determining the best way to enact local ordinances to be in compliance. We have some issues that we think the state is unclear on. We feel very strongly in the business community that the city needs to tell the state: “We’re not just going to do what we think you want, we want to make sure we’re clear as to what counts and what doesn’t.” I think there’s a perception that Irvine is a difficult place to do business, that there’s a lot of regulation. The reality is we’d like to make sure there are as few regulations as possible, as few restrictions on business as possible.

Businesses have been leaving California. That’s something the chamber is very concerned about. We’re looking at worker’s comp reform, welfare reform--legislation dealing with the things that make it more difficult to do business in California than in Nevada or Wyoming or any place else. Those are issues that are obviously outside the city’s immediate domain, but we intend to work hard on Sacramento. It’s very important to be active and not just take things lying down.