For many years, the Silicon Valley Leadership Group has hosted a Sacramento Advocacy Trip where our member company representatives travel to Sacramento to engage with State leaders and advocate on behalf of the SVLG’s policy priorities. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this event took place virtually for the first time in 2020. On March 23, 2021, the Leadership Group again held a successful virtual Advocacy Day event with 20 small-group meetings with legislators, bookended by a morning roundtable discussion with Assemblymember Phil Ting and an afternoon roundtable session with the Executive Secretary for Governor Gavin Newsom, Jim DeBoo.
This year’s Advocacy teams were divided into groups based on their policy priorities. Our teams were focused on Transportation and Housing, California’s Business Climate, Energy and Environment Issues, and Education, Health, and Workforce Development. Each group participated in a series of meetings with legislators, including:
- Assemblymember David Chiu – Chair, Assembly Committee on Housing and Community Development
- Assemblymember Laura Friedman – Chair, Assembly Transportation Committee
- Assemblymember Autumn Burke – Chair, Assembly Committee on Revenue and Taxation
- Asseblymember Bill Quirk – Chair, Select Committee on California’s Clean Energy
These are only a few of the many legislative offices our members were able to engage with on issues that matter to the Leadership Group.
During the Morning Roundtable discussion, Assemblymember Phil Ting spoke about COVID recovery measures, the need for clean vehicle incentives and electric charging stations at worksites, and issues related to California’s Housing crisis. Members also asked the Assemblymember to speak to topics such as telehealth and business competitiveness in our State.
Our event was finalized with a robust conversation with the Executive Secretary for Governor Gavin Newsom, Mr. Jim DeBoo. Jim shared his belief that the State will “roar back” following the pandemic recovery efforts, noting that “hope is on the way.” He also spoke with members about California’s business climate, sharing statistics about the number of start-ups and amount of venture capital in California that is hard to find anywhere else in the nation.
The Leadership Group is grateful to our members, State leaders, and event sponsors – Waymo, HP, Huawei, and Silicon Valley Bank – for making this event such a success!
March 31, 2021
