Daily Business Report: Aug. 4, 2023
Why California cities use your
tax dollars to lobby the Legislature
By Sameea Kamal and Jeremia Kimelman | CalMatters
The tiny Central Valley city of Farmersville reported lobbying on a contentious caste discrimination bill, even though it doesn’t have a large South Asian population. San Mateo County lobbied the state budget, plus one specific bill this session, focused on student meals, at the request of its health department. Rosemead in Los Angeles County lobbied on a stalled youth tackle football bill, at the urging of one city councilmember.
These are some of the more unusual and curious examples of one way business gets done at the state Capitol — local governments using taxpayers’ money to lobby the Legislature and state agencies, sometimes for more tax money.
According to a CalMatters analysis, local governments, water districts and transit agencies have spent nearly $24 million on lobbying the state this year, accounting for about 10 percent of the more than $233 million total.
Industry groups and special interests spend much more on lobbying. For instance, while the Hawaiian Gardens Casino and Chevron are the biggest lobbying spenders, at more than $5 million each, the city of Los Angeles ranked 23rd at about $1 million, just behind Vernon, a 328-person, scandal-plagued industrial city in Los Angeles County, which spent about the same but reported lobbying on “no legislation or administrative actions.”
Illustration by Adriana Heldiz, CalMatters; iStock
Let’s Get Ready to Rumble: The Newsom-DeSantis debate
CalMatters
Mark your calendars: The Newsom-DeSantis debate is finally on, apparently.
Date: Nov. 8 or 10. Place: Nevada, Georgia or North Carolina. Moderator: Sean Hannity of Fox News.
Gavin, California’s Democratic governor who is definitely not running for president (or so he says), and Ron, Florida’s Republican governor who definitely is, have been jabbing each other on Twitter and over the airwaves for months over migrants, schools, culture wars and much else.
In June, in his first interview with Fox News in 13 years, Newsom jumped at the chance to take on DeSantis in person. When Hannity said he would host a two-hour event, Newsom shot back: “Make it three.”
Last week, the Newsom campaign followed up with a formal offer to Hannity. And Wednesday night on Fox, DeSantis accepted: “Absolutely, I’m game. Let’s get it done. Just tell me when and where.”
A Newsom aide, to Politico: “DeSantis should put up or shut up. Anything else is just games.”
Under the rules proposed by the Newsom camp, it would be a 90-minute live debate, but without an audience and without notes for either governor. It would be marketed as a red state vs. blue state policy discussion.
Qualcomm says job cuts likely after forecasting lower 4th quarter sales
Qualcomm forecast fourth-quarter sales below market expectations on Wednesday and said it would likely cut jobs as consumer spending on smartphones remained stubbornly weak amid slowing global economic growth.
The company said it also expects no further sales to Chinese telecom giant Huawei because it does not have a license to sell 5G chips to Huawei. More broadly in China, a slower-than-expected economic recovery weighed on orders to Qualcomm. Smartphone shipments in the world’s second largest economy were down 5 percent in the June quarter, Canalys data showed.
Milestone: 1 in 4 new cars sold in California were zero-emission
In a historic first, 1 in every 4 new cars sold last quarter in California were zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs), according to the California Energy Commission. Earlier this year, the state surpassed its goal of selling 1.5 million ZEVs — a full year ahead of schedule.
These latest sales figures come as group of major automakers announced a partnership to build public ZEV charging networks throughout the country, showcasing where the industry has been going and California’s success in encouraging a thriving and competitive ZEV marketplace with the state’s world-leading requirement of 100 percent ZEV new car sales by 2035.
UC San Diego Health among first in nation to perform
regenerative brain cell procedure for epilepsy
By Annie Pierce | UC San Diego
In what could lead to a revolutionary advancement in the treatment of temporal lobe epilepsy, UC San Diego Health has become one of the first health systems in the country to inject regenerative cells into the brain to treat epileptic seizures.
Part of a national clinical trial, UC San Diego Health’s multidisciplinary team performed the third ever experimental regenerative brain cell therapy procedure earlier this month. UC San Diego Health is the only nationally designated Level 4 Adult Epilepsy Center in the region.
During the surgery, Sharona Ben-Haim, M.D., associate professor of neurological surgery at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and surgical director of epilepsy at UC San Diego Health, made multiple injections of inhibitory brain cells into mapped out precision points of the patient’s brain under the bright lights of the operating room.
Cal State San Marcos: Summer Scholars to showcase work on Aug. 11
By Brian Hiro | Cal State San Marcos
Cal State San Marcos’ College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics invited 88 students to conduct research this summer as part of the Summer Scholars program. The 10-week program will conclude with the Summer Scholars Poster Showcase, held on Friday, Aug. 11 from 9 a.m. to noon in the University Student Union Ballroom on campus.
During the showcase, research will be presented by Summer Scholars students, who are actively pursuing undergraduate degrees at CSUSM, and Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) students, some of whom are completing their undergraduate degrees outside of CSUSM and were selected/funded to conduct research for the summer on campus.
The Summer Scholars and REU programs allow the students to gain hands-on research experience, learn from faculty mentors, attend industry tours, network with industry professionals and present their research projects at the poster showcase. Presentations will include students’ research methods, results of findings and interpretations of the project holistically.
FDA grants Orphan Drug Designation to ABM Therapeutics
SAN DIEGO — ABM Therapeutics (ABM) announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted Orphan Drug Designation to ABM-1310, a novel small molecule BRAF inhibitor developed by the company, for the treatment of patients with glioblastoma bearing BRAF V600 mutation. Orphan Drug Designation is bestowed by the FDA to the drugs used in the treatment of rare diseases. The designation intends to encourage and support the development of drugs that are vital to patients with rare medical conditions.
San Diego State University projects honored by NASA
SAN DIEGO — NASA’s Minority University Research and Education Project announced the winners of the MUREP Partnership Learning Annual Notification award. Two projects from San Diego State University are among the winners. They are: Better Space Parties with Algae-Enriched Guacamole; and Safety Verification with Data-driven Uncertainty.
Drata selected as KnowBe4’s exclusive GRC partner
SAN DIEGO — Drata, a continuous security and compliance automation platform, announced it has been selected by KnowBe4 as the company’s exclusive GRC partner. KnowBe4 is transitioning its KnowBe4 Compliance Manager (KCM) offering to a support-only model and endorses Drata as the preferred offering for migration. KnowBe4 is a leading provider of security awareness training and simulated phishing to help more than 60,000 organizations across the globe manage the ongoing problem of social engineering.
JPMorgan Chase commits $750,000 to the National Veteran
Small Business Coalition Education Foundation
SAN DIEGO — JPMorgan Chase has made a philanthropic commitment of $750,000 to the National Veteran Small Business Coalition Education Foundation (NVSBC-EF) focused on veteran entrepreneurship in federal contracting. The gift fuels the foundation’s expanding mentorship, counseling, training, and networking programs in key government contracting hubs across America, from San Diego to Norfolk, Va. Today 47,000 veterans own small businesses serving the federal marketplace, but only one in four have actually been awarded a federal contract.
Sapient’s CLIA Laboratory receives accreditation
SAN DIEGO — Sapient, a biomarker discovery organization providing bespoke services for metabolomics and lipidomics data generation and analysis, announced that its high complexity CLIA laboratory has been awarded accreditation from the College of American Pathologists. To achieve accreditation, Sapient passed a rigorous evaluation process that involved an in-depth inspection of its clinical laboratory facilities, equipment, processes, quality control measures, and personnel qualifications.
Cetera and Ycharts announce strategic partnership
SAN DIEGO — YCharts, a cloud-based investment research platform that enables wealth advisors and asset managers to make smarter investment decisions and to orchestrate better communications with their clients, has announced a strategic partnership with San Diego-based Cetera Financial Group. The partnership between Cetera and YCharts offers all Cetera affiliates access to YCharts’ industry-leading platform, enabling them to streamline investment research and client communications workflows, while saving valuable time.
West Coast Lumber acquires San Diego’s Stone Truss
SAN DIEGO — West Coast Lumber, the regional lumber and building materials supplier launched by Building Industry Partners in 2022, announces the acquisition of San Diego-based Stone Truss, a 30-year-old designer and manufacturer of roof and floor truss systems. WCL currently serves customers throughout Southern California via four locations in Agoura Hills, Bakersfield, Camarillo and San Diego. The acquisition marks WCL’s entry into the structural component manufacturing category and an evolution of its product offering.
Cetera announces acquisition of Powell Financial Partners
SAN DIEGO — San Diego-based Cetera Financial Group, a premier financial adviser Wealth Hub, announced that it recently acquired Powell Financial Partners, a Georgetown, Texas-based independent wealth management firm. Powell Financial Partners is led by father-daughter team Mickey Powell, CRPC, and Jennifer Powell, who are affiliated with Cetera Wealth Partners, a community that is part of Cetera Advisor Networks. The acquisition represents the latest evidence of Cetera’s strategic plan and effort to support advisors throughout their professional lifecycles.
Former FDA executive joins Wiliot as strategic advisor
SAN DIEGO — Wiliot, the Internet of Things pioneer whose visibility platform is enabling trillions of “things” to gain intelligence, announced that Frank Yiannas, the former deputy commissioner of Food Policy & Response of the Food & Drug Administration (FDA), has joined the company as a strategic advisor. With his appointment, Yiannas will help advise the food and retail markets on the ways in which the ambient IoT, and the real-time, item-level visibility it delivers, can help meet the FSMA Rule 204 obligation that requires the safe tracking of food products.
Lecture series to feature Nobel Laureate Dr. Gregg Semenza
SAN DIEGO — MediPines, the pioneering market leader in non-invasive pulmonary gas exchange technology, and maker of AGM100, will sponsor this year’s annual UCSD John B. West Distinguished Lecture event featuring Nobel Laureate Gregg L. Semenza, M.D. The lecture, titled “Hypoxia-Inducible Factors in Physiology and Medicine,” will take place on Aug. 7, 2023 at noon Pacific Time via livestream from UCSD.
