With the recent end-of-the-year legislative session, the Valley Industry and Commerce Association recorded an 84 percent success rate in getting our desired outcome for bills brought to the state Legislature. There were a total of 50 pieces of legislation that VICA became involved in during the session, and lawmakers agreed with us on 42 of them – a wide range of topics representing the needs of our more than 400 members. VICA, with help from our members, was able to hold off a statewide minimum-wage hike proposed by Senate Bill 3, sponsored by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco. This costly job-killer would have put an especially big hurt on small-business owners who are still figuring out how to cope with last year’s statewide 25 percent minimum-wage hike, and the recent ones passed by the city and county of Los Angeles. Small-business owners were among the biggest beneficiaries of our advocacy on Assembly Bills 11, 67 and 357, which were all defeated. AB 11 would have required employers to provide paid sick leave to part-time employees who work as little as 30 days a year. AB 67 would have required California employers to pay employees twice their hourly rate on Thanksgiving and Christmas – which would have been crippling for service industries and other businesses required to be open on the holidays. AB 357 would have required all food and retail establishments to post their work schedules for employees at least two weeks in advance. Any small-business restaurateur or shop owner understands the need to have flexibility in scheduling, especially with part-time and seasonal employees. So while lawmakers might not know or might forget what it’s like to run a business, we’re here to remind them. Of course, quite a few of our wins could become issues in the coming months when our lawmakers return to Sacramento and the Legislature begins its next session. VICA was able to defeat Senate Bill 32, sponsored by Sen. Fran Pavley, D-Calabasas, which would have increased existing greenhouse gas emissions reduction mandates by 80 percent of 1990 levels by 2050. Part of the reason it was problematic was because SB32 furthered a mandate set in 2006 by Assembly Bill 32, also authored by Pavley, which businesses are already spending millions of dollars on for compliance. Therefore, it would come as little surprise if VICA and its membership find themselves once again reminding lawmakers in the next legislative session that if they want to support responsible business growth, they should incentivize job creation. Lawmakers have the ability to spur investment in new technology to reduce emissions – by subsidizing and supporting those who finance the emissions reductions. In transportation, for example, VICA members supported Senate Bill 767, which authorizes the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, or Metro, to pursue a potential ballot measure to increase funding for transit-related projects. Now that it passed the Legislature, the Valley on Track transportation coalition VICA has organized will work with Metro to determine how the money for the potential ballot measure would be prioritized. How that money is prioritized for San Fernando Valley transportation needs will determine whether it continues to have VICA support. And let’s not forget Gov. Jerry Brown still has until Oct. 11 to sign legislation from the current legislative session into law. So even if you’re not a VICA member, but are a stakeholder in the business community, we urge you to check out our advocacy website, Advocacy.VICA.com, which has a legislative tracker that will allow you to follow the fate of bills and voice your concerns. Stuart Waldman is chief executive of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association, a Sherman Oaks-based business advocacy organization that represents Los Angeles County employers at the local, state and federal levels of government.