Chamber to Host State of the City Address
Register Early for Mega Mixer
Festival of Lights Returns to Riverside
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N o v e m b e r 2 012
‘The Chamber‌building a stronger local economy’
Volume 31, Number 11
Chamber Members Count!
Rate the following elected government entities as to whether or not you think they are “business friendly.� (1: Very Unfriendly to Business - 5: Very Friendly to Business)
Rate the following elected government entities as to whether or not you think they are "business friendly." (1: Very Unfriendly to Business - 5: Very Friendly to Business)
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City City Council Council County County Board of Board of Supervisors Supervisors
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GRB Inside Highlights Chair’s Column............................. 2 Governmental Affairs................. 3 New Members............................... 9 Calendar....................................... 11
Medical School to Boost Regional Economy and Quality of Life
After more than four years of hard work by the Chamber and other community partners, the Inland Southern California area took a major step forward in alleviating the area’s physician shortage with the recent preliminary accreditation of the UCR School of Medicine. “The Chamber, the community and everyone supporting this effort has worked hard actively advocating on behalf of the School of Medicine,� said Chamber President/CEO Cindy Roth. “The accreditation news is a tremendous win for the entire region. The medical school will be a critical economic driver for local business and will change the area’s economic climate with the creation of jobs.� The medical school is expected to significantly impact the economy through the creation of new jobs, direct spending by the medical school for goods and services, and generation of tax revenue. Every primary care physician trained by the medical school is expected to have a $1 million economic impact. Currently, UCR has an annual statewide economic impact of more than $1 billion and the medical school’s biomedical and
Riverside receives California’s first new public medical school in four decades. The UCR School of Medicine will immediately begin recruiting students for its charter class entering in August 2013.
clinical science research facilities will assist in building and enhancing the ongoing health sciences research at UCR. The School of See Medicine on page 6
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UCR School of Medicine Accreditation Heralds More Jobs for Region
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Chamber Backs Prop. 32 to Curb Special Interests Initiative seeks to limit special interests through limits to payroll deductions and political spending In an ironic example of the need for campaign finance reform in California, one of the most heavily-contested battles on the November ballot is Proposition 32, a popular initiative that would limit the capabilities for special interests to influence elections. With more than $60 million spent by both sides, the Chamber urges voters to support this measure and control special interests from overly influencing elected officials. The most impactful portion of the initiative, banning payroll deductions of money to be used for political purposes, preserves every employee’s right to contribute to campaigns by means other than payroll deduction (for example, by check or by monthly debit from an account or credit card), but ensures that those contributions are voluntarily authorized by the employee in writing annually. This assures that all political contributions are voluntary: individual union members or employees of large corporations are free to directly support the candidate of their choice or contribute voluntarily to their union or company’s political action committee. This provision specifically targets large special interests that commonly play an outsized See Prop. 32 on page 10