A letter signed by 88 California organizations advocating for the Governor's proposed plan to accelerate the building of infrastructure in California

June 2, 2023

Dear President pro Tempore Atkins, Speaker Rendon, and Members of the California Legislature,

CC: Governor Gavin Newsom and Infrastructure Advisor Antonio Villaraigosa

We the undersigned write to express our full support of the Governor’s proposal to expedite approval and construction of essential climate, water, clean energy, transportation, semiconductor manufacturing, and other infrastructure projects across California. We appreciate you considering the support of those promoting a robust economy that works for all Californians.

This package of 10 budget trailer bills includes $180 billion in investments over the next decade to address the state’s aging
infrastructure, create jobs, and help meet ambitious climate goals. It will create an estimated 400,000 good-paying jobs in construction and related fields. The plan also speeds the building of certain projects with the following proposed reforms:

       •   Streamline environmental planning.
       •   Increase coordination among local, state, and federal agencies.
       •   Increase funding for agencies to accelerate reviews.
       •   Trim required paperwork for reviews.
       •   Exempt certain projects from overly onerous environmental reviews.
       •   Limit the duration of CEQA lawsuits to nine months in court.

We strongly support this plan that will speed up construction, expedite court review, smooth permitting, and address the abuse of the CEQA process that has halted key projects—at a cost of fewer jobs and delayed or blocked crucial infrastructure development throughout our state.

We urge your swift approval of the proposals included in the Governor’s Infrastructure Plan. Delaying the approval of this package harms California’s efforts to attract federal funding of many of these projects, and it disadvantages the very communities most in need of opportunity.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact the New California Coalition’s Policy Director, Robert Oakes at (209) 423-6664.

Sincerely,
Jim Wunderman, Bay Area Council
Tracy Hernandez, BizFed
New California Coalition, Co-Leaders

1. 21st Century Alliance, Brian Brennan

2. Alameda Chamber & Economic Alliance, Madlen Saddik

3. Asian Business Association, Dennis Huang

4. Bay Area Council, Jim Wunderman

5. BizFedLA, Tracy Hernandez

6. BOMA, Matthew Hargrove

7. Business Resource Group, Sharon Evans

8. California Asian Pacific Island Chamber of Commerce, Pat Fong-Kushida

9. California Builders Alliance

10. California Building Industry Association, Dan Dunmoyer

11. California Business Properties Association, Matthew Hargrove

12. California Forward Action Fund, David Nelson

13. California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Julian Cañete

14. California Manufacturers and Technology Association, Lance Hastings

15. Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce, Bret Schanzenbach 16. Carson Chamber of Commerce, Barry Waite

17. Center for Demographics and Policy at Chapman University, Marshall Toplansky

18. Coalition of California Chambers - Orange County

19. Construction Industry Air Quality Coalition

20. Construction Industry Coalition on Water Quality, Michael Lewis

21. Downtown Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, Claudia Oliveira

22. Fairfield-Suisun Chamber of Commerce, Jared Neumayr

23. FASTLinkDTLA, Hilary Norton

24. Foothill Transit, Doran J. Barnes

25. Fremont Chamber of Commerce, Matt Senekeremian 26. Fresno Business Council, Deborah Nankivell

27. Fresno County Economic Development Corporation, Will Oliver

28. Fresno Metro Black Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Cassandra Little Ph.D.

29. Greater Coachella Valley Chamber of Commerce, Chris Collier

30. Greater Los Angeles Realtors, Marty Nash

31. Greater Ontario Business Council, Peggi Hazlett

32. Greater Sacramento Economic Council, Barry Broome 33. Greater San Fernando Valley Chamber of Commerce, Nancy Hoffman Vanyek

34. Harbor Association of Industry and Commerce, Henry Rogers

35. Heartland Coalition, Pete Weber, Founder

36. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of San Francisco, Carlos Solórzano-Cuadra

37. Industry Business Council, Joanne McClaskey

38. Inland Empire Economic Partnership, Paul Granillo

39. Ken Rosen, Chairman Fisher Center for Real Estate & Urban Economics, Haas School of Business University of California Berkeley

40. Latino Economic Council of Sacramento, Jim Gonzalez

41. Lodi Chamber of Commerce, JP Doucette

42. Lomita Chamber of Commerce, Heidi Butzine

43. Long Beach Chamber of Commerce, Jeremy Harris

44. Long Beach Economic Partnership, Randal Hernandez 45. Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, Maria Salinas

46. Los Angeles Coalition, Michael Kelly

47. Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation, Stephen Cheung

48. Manhattan Beach Chamber of Commerce, David Archer

49. Metro, Stephanie Wiggins

50. Modesto Chamber of Commerce, Trish Christensen

51. Monterey Bay Economic Partnership, Denise M. Silva 50. Move LA, Eli Lipman

52. Napa Chamber of Commerce, Jeri Hansen

53. National Association for Industrial and Office Parks SoCal, Justin McCusker

54. National Federation of Independent Businesses, John Kabateck

55. New California Coalition, Robert Oakes

56. North Bay Leadership Group, Cynthia Murray

57. Oakland Chamber of Commerce, Barbara Leslie

58. Opportunity Stanislaus, Dave White

59. Orange County Business Council, Jeffrey Ball

60. Pacific Merchants and Shipping Association, Michelle Grubbs

61. Pasadena Chamber of Commerce, Paul Little

62. Rebuild SoCal, Jon Swiltloski

63. Redondo Beach Chamber of Commerce, Dominik Knoll

64. Regional Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Sandy Cajas

65. Sacramento Metro Chamber, Amanda Blackwood

66. Sacramento Regional Builders Exchange, Tim Murphy 67. San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, Rodney Fong

68. San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership. Luis Portillo

69. San Juan Capistrano Chamber of Commerce, George Pappas

70. San Leandro Chamber of Commerce, Emily Griego

71. San Mateo County Economic Development Associa- tion, Rosanne Foust

72. San Pedro Chamber of Commerce, Elise Swanson

73. San Rafael Chamber of Commerce, Joanne Webster

74. Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce, Ivan Volschenk

75. Santa Cruz County Chamber of Commerce, Casey Beyer

76. Silicon Valley Leadership Group, Ahmad Thomas

77. South Bay Association of Chambers of Commerce, Mark Waronek

78. Southern CA Association of Governments (SCAG), Kome Ajise

79. Southern California Leadership Council, Mike Roos

80. Southland Regional Association of REALTORS®, Tim Johnson

81. TechNet, Linda Moore

82 The Two Hundred for Homeownership, Robert Apodaca
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83. Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce, Donna Duperron

84. Valley industry and Commerce Association, Stuart Waldman

85. Venice Chamber of Commerce, George Francisco

86. Walnut Creek Chamber of Commerce, Bob Linscheid 87. West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, Genevieve Morrill

88. Yorba Linda Chamber of Commerce, Alex Hernandez