March President's Message
BOMA San Diego
WERE YOU AWARE?!
For approximately $10 per month, your firm is represented in Sacramento to fight against higher property taxes and 4,000 bills targeting our industry…
Two questions our Board of Directors often receive is what is BOMA Cal, and what, as part of my dues am I getting from it? The best response to these questions I’ve heard is from Matthew Hargrove, our lobbyist in Sacramento. He likens BOMA Cal as our legislative shield from the over 4,000 bills that are introduced annually, and our dues as an insurance plan against the aggressive interests that seek to advance their agendas at the cost of our industry. To put that $10 a month insurance into context, I would like to highlight two perennial themes and a single issue victory BOMA Cal has shielded us.
Every year, the commercial real estate industry is targeted as not paying its fair share in property taxes while simultaneously being charged for over contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. Attacks on Proposition 13 and the establishment of a split-roll tax are an annual threat. Interests continue to assert our members do not pay their fair share of property tax and ought to pay more. BOMA Cal works closely with the California Business Properties Association (CBPA) and other business groups to preserve the integrity of Prop 13. Another regular challenge is balancing California’s increasing ambition to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with the energy efficiency initiatives our industry is already adopting. Educating lawmakers on the cost of Title XXIV and demonstrating the many steps we have already taken to reduce our environmental footprint drastically scales the implementation of even more aggressive regulations. These efforts save our property owners many thousands of dollars each year.
BOMA Cal advocates for our Associate members as well. In 2013, a bill that would require successor building services providers to retain the staff of the service provider it replaced due to the award of a contract. This bill fundamentally challenged contractor/contractee as well as employer/employee paradigms, not to mention jointemployment liability. The bill created a dynamic whereby a property manager would be unable to remove a service provider’s employee even in the presence of due cause. Recognizing this was built upon existing bad statute BOMA Cal led a statewide campaign to defeat on the floor. Much of the campaign’s credit can be traced back to San Diego, as former BOMA San Diego president, Ray Magnussen, visited each Association educating BOMA’s membership, and testified in front of the State Senate to provide practical industry perspective where the unintended consequences of the statue upon which AB 350 was drafted, created an unlevel playing field benefiting unscrupulous providers. BOMA International recognized this success as the single most important legislative victory of the year and awarded the campaign the annual Govie.
Later this month, leaders from BOMA San Diego will meet with industry counterparts to review and deliberate a new batch of bills affecting our industry. We welcome our members’ insight into any legislation it may be monitoring for its firm. Together, we will defend commercial real estate’s role in the economy and advance our industry through advocacy and educational outreach.
To stay up to date with how BOMA Cal is serving you, keep an eye out for the weekly newsletter sent each Friday.
Tom Magnussen, President