California Puts Chill on Business Climate

I am taking very strong exception to your Oct. 19 editorial, “Blackouts Leave Black Eye,” on the change in California’s business climate. You imply that the major reason for the rating and ranking reduction in attractiveness issued by a third party is the electric/energy crisis of 2001. There are other reasons for the change. Allow me to provide some perspective, having had the opportunity to consult to many small and mid-size businesses in Southern California since 1995.

The first is continued high business taxes, particularly in the nation’s second-largest city, Los Angeles. The second is out-of-control workers’ compensation rates. The third is the enactment of SB 1661, the paid Family Leave Act, which will kill job creation in the years ahead, leaving this state with a permanently high unemployment rate. The fourth is the continuing dismal performance of the public education system, the primary source of the state’s workforce.

Kenneth W. Keller

Valencia