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San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce Hosts Successful "Straight Talk from Sacramento" Forum

The San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce hosted its popular "Straight Talk from Sacramento" forum on Thursday, November 6, 2008. “Straight Talk” is an annual interactive forum that facilitates discussion between Chamber members and elected officials serving the region in Sacramento. Participating legislators address targeted issues and initiatives facing individuals and businesses on local, regional and state levels. Using a real-time electronic polling technique, the audience has the opportunity to also weigh in on specific policy questions.

This year’s “Straight Talk” forum featured a question and answer session with former State Senator Dede Alpert, and former State Senator and Director of Finance for Governor Gray Davis Steve Peace.  Dennis Morgigno of Channel 4 TV moderated the forum.  State Senators Mark Wyland, Denise Ducheny, Christine Kehoe, and Director of Finance for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Michael Genest also called in to the forum to offer their perspectives on what the Special Session called by the Governor will accomplish, how our state government is positioned to respond to the budget crisis, and how San Diego's business community will be affected by decisions made in Sacramento during the coming weeks.

The forum offered an eye-opening look into what former and current legislators had to say about issues affecting our State.  Former Senators Alpert and Peace offered their candid insight into what should be done to address the budget crisis.  Both agreed that neither budget cuts nor tax increases alone would serve to fix the estimated $11 billion state budget deficit.

Michael Genest, the Governor’s Director of Finance, addressed the areas in which budget cuts could possibly be made, which include schools, health and human services, and in our prison and parole system.  All seemed to agree that while cuts such as these are difficult to make, they may be necessary made to repair the budget and keep our state’s economy intact.  Senator Ducheny mentioned other possible new taxes being considered, including an alcohol tax, oil extraction tax and vehicle registration fees. 

Audience polling revealed that many agreed with the former State Senators that a budget fix would need to come from a combination of spending cuts and tax increases, with 73% of the audience choosing this as the most favorable option.  Polling also showed that an overwhelming number of people in the audience (69%) felt that the budget was the number one issue for the coming year over issues like healthcare, economic stimulus and water supply, and that the Legislature should focus on the state budget before looking at healthcare reform (80%). 

Special thanks to our sponsors for this event: AT&T, Sharp Healthcare, Sharp Continuing Medical Education, Kaiser Permanente, Sempra Energy, Solar Turbines and Union Bank of California.