Reports by John Fleming, director of Economic Development, Yuba County reporting
from the California Association for Local Economic Development Conference in Anaheim




May 2, 2008, CALED Annual Conference, Day 2
 
The California Association for Local Economic Development’s (CALED) annual conference
 in Anaheim on Thursday featured breakfast speakers Noel Perry, founder of Next 10, and
Jack Stewart, President of the California Manufacturing and Technology Association.
 
ENERGY
Perry exposed some stereotypes regarding Californians’ use of energy. As a percentage of
GDP, California uses half as much energy as Texas for a savings of $25 billion. The energy
expended by businesses and residents was also significantly less than Florida or the U.S.
without California. In 2003 the state saved 15% through energy-saving programs or an aggregate
$56 billion in savings. Other telling statistics that California embraces the “green” revolution cite
44% of all solar patents and 37% of wind technology patents are registered with Californians.
More recently, in 2006, $884 million in energy venture capital was attracted to the State.

MANUFACTURING
Stewart focused on the growing disparity between a tightening labor supply and an educational
system in California that is not adequately addressing the needs of the State’s employers. He
pointed out that a high school graduate will earn $290,000 more over his career than a drop-out
on average, and as a result the government loses $169,000 in lost tax revenues ultimately reducing
its ability to respond to education, health, and safety issues.
 
POLITICAL VIEWS
Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi and Secretary Dale Bonner of the California Business,
Transportation, and Housing Agency addressed CALED attendees during its awards luncheon
on Thursday.

Garamendi proposed five fixes to the State’s current budget and labor woes which focused on getting
back to what has made the State of California successful in the past. These recommendations included:

• Creating the best educated workforce in the world
• Encouraging increased investment in California
• Cutting programs
• Streamlining government
• Raising taxes

Garamendi identified that (conservative governors Ronald Reagan and Pete Wilson both followed this approach)
while supporting and encouraging manufacturing, and realizing both political and real change within California’s
government and approach to creating a successful business environment.
 
OTHER
Mrs. California, Tracie Stafford, entrepreneur, and mother of four was on hand to help out with CALED’s
award ceremony.
 
CALED spent some time and effort this year at its annual conference in creating a “green” conference.
Rather than reams of presentation material and hand-outs for each workshop session as has been the
tradition, the attendee lists, presenter’s notes, and related material were stored on 1 Gigabyte flash drives,
sponsored by the California Community Economic Development Association (CCEDA), and handed out to
attendees on the second day of the conference. Also, a Green Zone Expo was held Thursday afternoon
with a handful of participating vendors including Hybrid Air Conditioning, Granite Construction, PermaCity,
and Advantage Green Distributors. 
 
Friday morning’s concluding CALED conference sessions include workshops on time management, economic
development financing for small business, and the results of a study on economic development incentives
conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California.
 
This has been John Fleming reporting live from CALED Annual Conference for The California Business Minute