California Chamber of Commerce

The California Chamber of Commerce (CalChamber) is the largest broad-based business advocate to government in California. Membership represents one-quarter of the private sector jobs in California and includes firms of all sizes and companies from every industry within the state. Leveraging its front-line knowledge of laws and regulations, the CalChamber provides products and services to help businesses comply with both federal and state law. As a not-for-profit organization with roots dating to 1890, the CalChamber promotes international trade and investment in order to stimulate California's economy and create jobs.

CalChamber membership facts:

Members total more than 16,000
Members employ one-fourth the private sector workforce in California
75% of CalChamber members have 100 or fewer employees

Mission statement

"Serve as an advocate and resource for California employers and to engage in other activities, domestically and internationally, that enhance the California economy and make the state a better place to live, work and do business."

Board of directors

The members of the California Chamber’s Board of Directors are elected by the CalChamber’s members and are ranking executives in their organizations, representing many of the state’s leading firms and industries, as well as the small business segment. These executives provide leadership as the CalChamber pursues its aggressive agenda to protect employers' rights and interests in the legislative and regulatory arenas, and to foster a strong and growing economy in the state and nation.

History

The CalChamber has been presenting the business viewpoint for nearly 120 years with an experienced public policy advocacy staff. The CalChamber is the most effective voice in the state capital for all California employers. It has consistently functioned as a source for legislative campaign information and the coordination of political contributions with grass-roots strength stemming from ties with California's local chambers of commerce.

CalChamber President

Allan Zaremberg is president and chief executive officer of the CalChamber. He took over the top staff position in 1998 after six years as executive vice president and head of the CalChamber’s legislative advocacy program. Enhancing the state’s economic growth has been the goal of Zaremberg’s activities. He has headed statewide ballot campaigns to close the legal loophole that permitted shakedown lawsuits, to assure adequate funding for transportation infrastructure and to oppose anti-business proposals that would have raised the cost of health care, electricity and public works. He led negotiations culminating in comprehensive reforms of workers’ compensation, endangered species laws and other key issues. Before joining the CalChamber, Zaremberg served as chief legislative advisor to and advocate for Governors George Deukmejian and Pete Wilson. Zaremberg served as a captain and flight navigator on a KC-135 jet air refueling tanker while in the U.S. Air Force from 1970 to 1975. He received a B.S. in economics from Penn State University and a J.D. from the McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific, where he was a member of the Law Journal.

On the issues

Each year the CalChamber tracks some 3,000 legislative proposals on behalf of employers, works to promote cost-saving reforms and fights anti-business legislation.

Backed by the veto pen of a pro-jobs Governor in Arnold Schwarzenegger, the CalChamber has stopped numerous “job killer” bills from becoming law, saving employers millions of dollars and protecting jobs for the California economy. In recent years, the CalChamber has made efforts to:

protect workers’ compensation reforms;
help control unemployment insurance costs;
help control health care costs;
stop tax increases — both in legislation and at the ballot box;
keep a lid on wage costs;
safeguard the ability of California ports to keep goods moving;
win voter approval of investment in critical infrastructure;
stimulate business activity through support for the enterprise zone program;
ensure students are better prepared for the workplace;
help California small businesses;
promote tourism marketing;
keep the lid on excessive litigation; and
increase world trade, investment and tourism opportunities.

Job killers

Each year the CalChamber releases a list of "job killer" bills to identify legislation that will decimate economic and job growth in California. The CalChamber will track the bills throughout the rest of the legislative session and work to educate legislators about the serious consequences these bills will have on the state.

Among the bills on this year’s list are new health care taxes, rollbacks of workers' compensation reform, limits on affordable housing and development, restrictions on the use of voter-approved transportation funding, and a tax on freight movement.

Related resources

HRCalifornia [6] A CalChamber Website dedicated to human resources (HR) topics covering a wealth of information ranging from the basics for those new to HR to more in-depth coverage. Labor law information is grouped according to an employee’s life cycle, from the beginning to the end of employment, and everything in between. Through HRCalifornia.com, CalChamber members also can get answers to HR-related questions by sending the query to Labor Law Helpline experts, logging onto the community forum or consulting the listing of questions and answers by topic. Online tools help visitors assess the safety of their workplaces, areas where they may be at risk of not complying with labor laws, the workplace posters they need and whether they are properly classifying employees as exempt or non-exempt. The HR Watchdog blog written by the editor of the CalChamber’s popular California Labor Law Digest offers comments and insights on the latest labor law news.

CalBizCentral [7] A CalChamber Website with products that answer California and federal labor law and HR questions, plus information on training options to help businesspeople learn how to comply with labor law requirements.