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The Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber of Commerce will host the return of the in-person Legislative Summit on Wednesday, August 10, from 9 to 10:30 AM at Hilton Garden Inn. This event will include breakfast and is designed to brief business members on the latest legislative updates, business trends, economic development, and relevant issues that affect the Santa Barbara South Coast. Limited seating is available, register early.

Featured speakers include Congressman Salud Carbajal, and 1st District County Supervisor Das Williams.

We would like to thank the following sponsors:

Plains All American Pipeline

Central Coast Community Energy, Southern California Edison, The Ritz Carlton Baccara–Santa Barbara

CARP Growers, Chevron, Cottage Health-Goleta Cottage, Cox Communications, Edhat, Linkedin, Noozhawk,
Pacific Coast Business Times, and Southern California Gas.

Sponsorship opportunities are still available. Please contact Michele Schneider at Michele@sbscchamber.com.

Moving from the red tier back to the purple tier, amid swift changes to Governor Newsom’s color-coded policy, came as a shock Monday morning. This new development is another reminder that we are operating in a very fluid environment. While changes may happen rapidly, our team will continue to stay on top of the latest developments. We have a program in place that is set up to respond to these dynamic shifts while focusing on specific economic sectors. Roadmap to Recovery looks at 11 industry sectors to provide specific guidance and resources, with the initial rollout focusing on a 90-day strategy. Our leadership team, in partnership with committee and board members, are understanding what the latest tier requirements mean for each sector and will be sharing this information in the coming days. For now, we have provided the following initial insight.

Agri-Business – Due to missing a number of holiday sales our agri-businesses are looking to find ways to make up missed revenue in the next ninety days and to have more business generation in time for Valentine’s Day. This is also exacerbated by the limiting of gatherings and essentially the postponement of large events including weddings, banquets, and corporate

Arts/Culture – This sector has been missed altogether in the guidance provided by the state for safe reopening. Due to this oversight many entertainers, performing arts groups, theatres and concert halls have great uncertainty for when modified business can resume.

Business Services – Business services have uncertainty around the opportunity to hire back employees who were previously laid off in the next ninety days.

Childcare – There is a great level of uncertainty for childcare providers as it is still unknown whether the schools may or may not be open and that businesses may or may not be open. This also is influenced by the trends impacting the workforce due to these unknown variables.

Education – Our education system is experiencing the challenge of addressing unknown budgets from the State in the coming months.

Lodging/Hospitality – Our lodging partners pride themselves on providing a safe travel experience. To date we haven’t had a single case trace back to a hotel in Santa Barbara County. With this news we continue to welcome travelers who deem themselves healthy to travel.

Mental Health/Health Care – Our mental health care professionals and healthcare providers are concerned that with remote working situations, employers are not as easily able to read and address personal matters and coping skills. The health care system also has expressed concern of the increasing need of mental health services in the coming months due to impacts from the pandemic.

Non-Profits – Many non-profits are concerned about charitable contributions and generous giving as we approach the end of the year to meet the fundraising needs of their organizations.

Retail – Retailers usually look at the end of the year as a pivotal moment in their business models who are reliant and anticipate higher revenue generation during holiday months.

Technology/Manufacturing – Our large employers in the biomedical, technology, software, and manufacturing industries have made swift adaptations to keep their employees working, their products moving, and their manufacturing lines open under modified conditions. They are cautiously optimistic for steady incremental growth over the next ninety days and provide a much-needed stability in the local economy and jobs.

Wineries and Breweries – This industry has likely seen the most change in the last eight months and credits unprecedented collaboration between business and government agencies to assist in their adaptation. However, with limited capacity and the winter months ahead, their ninety-day challenge is to make enough revenue to survive.