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Sipping on some much-needed coffee after a rough toddler sleeping night and a 4:30 a.m. alarm, I listened and learned from a self-proclaimed “legislative geek” along with a room of about 50 movers and shakers from Dublin and beyond.
Attorney, lobbyist and law professor Chris Micheli was presenting Tuesday morning at the Dublin Chamber of Commerce breakfast on “how businesses can influence California legislation” and taking questions on that and other subjects.
I had two main takeaways from Micheli – “engagement with your state officers at the local district level” (he told the local business officials and chamber representatives) and “we are nothing more than a bill factory” (he lamented about the reality in Sacramento).
Well a third bit that stood out was his quip in introductions about a 2-1/2-hour commute down to the Tri-Valley that morning — and I thought my drive in from Pleasant Hill was bad…
Micheli was the guest speaker thanks to Guy Houston, the former Dublin mayor and State Assembly member who now runs California Gold Advocacy Group here in town. They first got to know each other during Houston’s tenure in the legislature.
Calling California a “statutory state … with a statute or regulation on almost everything”, Micheli cited some remarkable statistics, saying there are more than 155,000 statutes and another roughly 60,000 regulations on the books in California. “They just go on for shelves and shelves.”
Nowadays, the Democratic-led legislature introduces hundreds and hundreds of bills each session. This year they sent 1,206 pieces of legislation to Gavin Newsom’s desk, with the governor ultimately vetoing 189 and signing the rest.
Anywhere from 30 to 50 new labor laws pass each year in the state, something that particularly caught the attention of folks in the Holiday Inn Dublin conference room – and something I’m more attune to as well, as I rise within our organization.
I’ll admit that awareness about legislation with implications for the journalism industry is an area I’m working to improve upon, having dulled myself on professional advocacy over the years when these skills really need to be sharpened. The number of bills and governmental initiatives that impact the news business sure seem to be ticking up these days.
Micheli’s follow-up to his comment on the California “bill factory” really made a lot of sense: by focusing on introducing new legislation (which is more headline-grabbing for politicians), the Assembly and Senate have largely ignored their duties to monitor and assess how new bills are implemented as well as oversee the executive branch.
As he wrapped his presentation, Micheli encouraged the attendees to stay involved in their local chambers and help the chambers advocate to regional and state leaders on their behalf.
The message of focusing on a local groundswell of support to spur legislative action around and above can be a universal one too, not just for the business community.
Spending the morning in Dublin also gave me the opportunity to drive around a bit on the west and central sides of town.
It still takes a minute for me to get used to all of the major residential construction being done near the western BART station, although there might be plenty to come soon enough not too far away.
Commercial projects are underway in the vicinity, including the work in the parking lot of the little strip mall where Starbucks used to be before relocating a block away. The headline construction, though, is on the corner spot in the Dublin Retail Center, where crews have really started kicking into gear for the new home of Korean grocery chain H Mart.
First touted in late summer 2022, the store is still technically “coming soon” with no firm date cited at the property or on the company’s website — but it looks much closer to fruition to the naked eye than even just weeks ago. We’ll work to confirm that opening timeline.
I also took the advantage of the time in the field to make my way over to the East County Hall of Justice to check out court records in a few cases. Sitting at the computer kiosk really sent me back to my old general assignment reporter days — although those hours, barely a decade ago, were spent thumbing through physical case files, not digital records like now.
More on those Tri-Valley case leads in the days ahead.
Hopefully we can clear one or more of those court stories before Election Day because my mornings (and afternoons and nights) will be taken over by editing election stories for about a week straight starting next Tuesday. Can’t wait … for it to be over.
Editor’s note: Jeremy Walsh is the editorial director for the Embarcadero Media Foundation’s East Bay Division. His “What a Week” column is a recurring feature in the Pleasanton Weekly, Livermore Vine and DanvilleSanRamon.com.
