Building Industry Association
of San Diego

Three ballot measures pushed by local labor groups were pulled from consideration this morning at the City of San Diego’s Rules Committee.   The measures would have placed very strict conditions on contractors looking to do business with the city and would have required a public vote on a vast majority of future development projects.

The BIA, joined by a host of business and organization leaders, was on hand to speak against the ballot measures but when the item came forward for committee discussion, a lawyer for the labor backed organization announced they were pulling them from consideration.  Attorney, Araceli Martinez, said their group needed more time to work on the ballot language and would pursue other methods to bring them to the voters.

The move was not surprising since the measures were a labor backed scheme to counter councilman Carl DeMaio’s Competition and Transparency in City Contracting Initiative that would have banned Project Labor Agreements – long considered the holy grail for labor groups.  However, the County Registrars of Voters Office announced that DeMaio’s initiative failed to collect the necessary 96,000 signatures needed to get it on the November 2010 ballot.

That announcement, coupled with an uncertain vote when some  city council members confided privately that labor was going too far, prompted labor to abandon the measures.

Councilman DeMaio remains undeterred and is pursuing a hand count of every signature but money ($150,000 to conduct the hand count) and time are not on his side.  The Registrars of Voters Office says they lack the personnel to complete the count in time to qualify for the November 2, 2010 General Election.

The City of San Diego Rules Committee meetings Wednesday morning to consider placing three labor sponsored initiatives on the November ballot.  Introduced just two weeks ago, the three measures are an effort by labor to counter the Competition and Transparency in City Contracting Initiative that was submitted by San Diego Councilman, Carl DeMaio.  Whether or not his measure makes it to November remains in question with the City Clerk’s determination today that he failed to obtain the 96,000 valid signatures needed to qualify. DeMaio is appealing the finding and will demand a hand count of all signatures if necessary.

Ironically, the labor initiatives would go straight to the ballot without signatures if the council decides to do so.  With labor dominance of the city council, the chances of the labor backed measures making it on the ballot are quite strong.

One ballot measure would result in voter approval of any commercial construction projects if they receive compensation from the city for routine items such as an easement or fee deferral.

Another would  subject companies bidding on city projects to comply with the state’s  Public Records Act that would require proprietary company information available to the public.  It is a thinly veiled attempt to discourage contractors from doing business with the city.

Another seeks to amend the city’s outsourcing policy by requiring the Mayor to obtain bids from city employees for all work done by city contractors. It is seen as an attempt to make outsourcing so labor intensive that the city will not have the resources nor personnel to meet all the requirement’s.

The City of San Diego Land Use and Housing Committee revisits the issue of big box retail development at its Wednesday afternoon hearing.  Big box retail (e.g Wal-Mart Supercenters),  was subject of a fierce debate in San Diego five years ago when there was a strong push supported by organized labor to curtail their construction.

This latest attempt is being lead by District 4 Councilman, Todd Gloria, who considers such supercenters a ‘threat” to neighborhood businesses. Under Gloria’s proposal, retail developments over 90,000 square feet with more than 10% of floor sales dedicated to non-taxable goods would be subject to 14 separate findings and requirements before being considered by the full city council. The ordinance would essentially result in a regulatory moratorium on supercenters as any company would be hard pressed to meet the conditions.

Several business groups are expected to converge at the committee hearing to oppose this latest attempt to kill supercenters.

After suffering stinging defeats  in Oceanside and Chula Vista on the issue of Project Labor Agreements, union leaders are turning to their allies on the San Diego City Council to place multiple anti-business ballot measures on the November ballot.

The move is largely seen as a counter move to San Diego City Councilman, Carl DeMaio’s Competition and Transparency in City Contracting Initiative that will prohibit mandatory project labor agreements and would equal the playing field between union and nonunion companies competing for city contracts. The district 5 councilman recently submitted over 130,000 signatures to the City Clerk in order to have his initiative on the November ballot.

Labor is largely seen as having 6 pro-union votes on the city council and will use their influence to add the ballot measures by council edict and circumvent the signature gathering requirement.

One ballot measure would result in voter approval of any commercial construction projects if they receive compensation from the city for routine items such as an easement or fee deferral.

Another would  subject companies bidding on city projects to comply with the state’s  Public Records Act that would require proprietary company information available to the public.  It is a thinly veiled attempt to discourage contractors from doing business with the city.

Another seeks to amend the city’s outsourcing policy by requiring the Mayor to obtain bids from city employees for all work done by city contractors. It is seen as an attempt to make outsourcing so labor intensive that the city will not have the resources nor personnel to meet all the requirement’s.

Bowing to union pressure, the city will hold an emergency meeting of its Rules Committee in order to meet the filing deadline required to place these measures on the November ballot. The BIA has joined with the city’s business community to oppose the measures.

It was a very good night for most building industry supported candidate as the results trickled in from the Registrars of Voters. Nearly all industry backed candidates posted primary election wins that will send them to the General Election in November.  Lorie Zapf was the top vote recipient  in the race to replace Donna Frye in San Diego’s 6th District.  She will square off against former Assemblyman Howard Wayne in November.

San Diego City Council incumbents, Kevin Faulconer and Tony Young coasted to reelection with well over 60% of the vote as did Cheryl Cox in Chula Vista in her bid for another term as Mayor.

In Poway, long-time BIA member, John Mullin, took first place in a crowded field to replace recalled Councilwoman, Betty Rexford.

County Supervisors Ron Roberts and Bill Horn posted big leads in their bids for reelection, but both came just shy of the 50% mark in crowded fields and will head to November runoffs.

In Oceanside, it appears that the third time was the charm for Charles Lowery who leads Lloyd Prosser the race to fill out the remainder of former Councilman Rocky Chavez’s term. Prosser had strong backing from the business community including the building industry.

It was a bad night for labor as voters overwhelming supported propositions that will prohibit mandatory project labor agreements in Chula Vista and Oceanside. Proposition G in Chula Vista and Proposition K in Oceanside were crafted to curb growing union domination in public works projects.

The Registrar of Voters office says there are 160,000 ballots yet to be counted with a final tally expected by the end of the week. For the latest numbers visit the Registrar of Voters website.

While Poway voters have overwhelmingly shown Poway Councilwoman, Betty Rexford the door in the city’s recall election, who will replace her is far from certain.  Only 6 votes seperate to two top contenders with 20% of the precincts reporting.  Steve Vaus, the man who lead the recall effort leads with 1,115 votes and the BIA’s own John Mullin is right behind with 1,109 votes. Mullin is a long-time BIA volunteer and is running on a strong fiscal reform platform.

Recall Betty Rexford

YES 78.10%

NO 21.90%

Replace Rexford on Poway City Council

Steve Vaus 25.15%

John Mullin 24.93%

District 2

Faulconer  62.56%

Finucane  22.68%

District 4

Tony Young  63.93%

Brian Pollard 36.07%

Charles Lowery, 4,328   37.28%

Lloyd Prosser, 4,085   34.76%

Incumbent County Supervisors Ron Roberts and Bill Horn hold commanding leads over their rivals but need 50% of the vote to avoid November run offs.

Dist. 4

Ron Roberts 50.08%

Steve Whitburn 19.09

District 5

Bill Horn  46.05%

Steve Gronke  21.39%