California Employer Advisory Council

President’s Letter

May 6, 2008

Happy New Year, Everyone!

I hope your holidays were all wonderful, and that the new year is getting off to a good start for you.

I know it has been a while, for which I apologize. Life has been very hectic (in a good way!) for the last several months, and I haven't been able to get a letter out. However, with the start of a new year, I thought it would be a good time to touch base.

Where to start? How about with our website. Our wonderful Webmaster, Alex Hill, has been hard at work revising and updating the site. It should be going live any day now. I will attach a separate memo with more detail about the changes, but one that I think is particularly exciting is that he has added a great calendar feature that draws on the local EAC pages to populate a statewide calendar, so that everyone can see what's going on. In addition, right at the top of the page events for the current month will be displayed. All very cool! Alex will be making a presentation about the new site at our Annual Conference.

And that's the next thing I'll mention. Planning for the 2008 Annual Conference, in Redding, is moving along very well. In addition to a wonderful educational agenda, the Committee is putting together a wine social at the Turtle Bay Museum by the Sundial Bridge, which is absolutely beautiful. The conference will be May 8-9, and the Committee is also putting together some nice weekend packages for anyone who wants to stay a few days to explore the region. In addition, nomination packets will be going out shortly for the CEAC Awards, the Veterans Awards, and for the CEAC Board election. There will be a lot going on, so plan now to attend!

What next? Last year I sent out a request for our membership to contact their legislators to try to stop a major budget cut aimed at EDD. I want to thank all of you who did so-the threatened cut was left out of the final budget! (Although the Governor enacted a smaller cut before signing.) Again, thank you to everyone who contacted his or her legislator, and stay in touch with them-this will be an ongoing battle.

Turning to other topics, at our September meeting, the Board began a process, guided by staff from EDD's Public Affairs Department, of developing a marketing plan. We are hoping that by defining our goals and developing a concrete plan we will be able to market the CEAC and local EACs more effectively, and really become the "go-to" organization for employer education in the state. At our next meeting, on January 25, we will continue working on the plan, and also participate in some media training. We anticipate developing a plan that can be used by all EACs but that still allows each EAC to retain its own "personality" and local focus. In addition to this, we are continuing to work with EDD and the state Workforce Investment Board to make the local EACs an integral part of the workforce investment system's employer services.

One last thing I wanted to mention is that I have been asked, through my involvement with Small Business California, to help the Governor's Office set up a series of roundtable discussions around the state on healthcare legislation. As I'm sure you are all aware, the Assembly has passed AB1X, and it will now be taken up by the Senate. Any healthcare reform will have a tremendous impact on employers, particularly on small businesses, and this will be a good opportunity for business people to meet with the Governor's staff to discuss ideas and concerns. There will be five or six of these roundtables conducted in various locations; as soon as I have dates and locations, I will contact the local EAC Chairs to make sure your members have an opportunity to participate.

I'm sure there is something else that I am forgetting, but I guess this will be all for now. Again, I hope your new year is starting off well (apart from all the rain!), and I look forward to seeing you all in Redding!

Regards,

Frances M. Laskey
CEAC President