Industry Leaders Educate Legislators On Crucial Issues
CAL SMACNA hosted its 2025 Day at the Capitol on February 11, where attendees engaged with new leaders in meaningful discussions about the sheet metal and HVAC sectors. Following the elections last November, 30 new members were sworn into the Senate and Assembly. Together with the 37 new members from the 2022 elections, more than half of the legislative body has two years or less of experience. This year was crucial for educating these newcomers on the issues affecting our industry.
The event kicked off Monday night with a legislative reception featuring guest speaker Assembly Member Jeff Gonzalez from District 36 in Southern California. A combat veteran, small business owner, pastor, community leader and father, his unique perspective is that we need improvements to existing laws to better serve Californians, rather than new legislation.
Senator Brian Jones opened Tuesday morning’s legislative forum, discussing the challenges facing California. Senator Jones is the Senate Minority Leader for the California Senate Republican Caucus and serves as the Vice-Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He also sits on the Senate Insurance Committee and the Senate Governmental Organization Committee. His platform focuses on “fixing California” by reducing the cost of living, acting on homelessness, tackling rising crime and restoring educational excellence.
Chris Walker highlighted our key issues for the day: SB61, the prompt payment reform, capping retention at 5% for private construction contracts. This would help address cashflow for contractors and mirror public works policies. He also discussed the Pause Pledge campaign, which seeks to remind legislators to slow down the unprecedented number of bills introduced. The campaign highlights the cumulative effect of the sheer number of mandates impacting employers, including the new labor code requirements affecting mandatory paid and unpaid leave, employer reporting, complex record keeping and increased threat of litigation, fines and civil penalties for any potential incident of non-compliance.
Bay Area attendees included Phil Phillips (CAL SMACNA President), Duane Davies, Brian Pyle (Cal SMACNA Treasurer), Mark Napier (Executive Board members), Vijay Singh, Michelle Acosta, Paul Irwin, Jon Mohs (Board Members) Jon Aude, Carna Phillips, Greg Rothe, Sean O’Donoghue and Liz Heaney. Thank you to those who attended in support of CAL SMACNA and the HVAC industry!
