Click here to read the The Leader November 2013
Reasons to Trot
By Carl Guardino, President and CEO, Silicon Valley Leadership Group
Okay, let’s talk Turkey.
The Turkey Trot, that is. Three weeks from today, the Silicon Valley Leadership Group Foundation is pleased to present our 9th Annual Applied Materials “Silicon Valley Turkey Trot.” If Woody Allen was right, and “90 percent of life is just showing up,” then we urge you to join the fun, fellowship and festivities with 28,000 of your closest friends this Thanksgiving morning. To register, simply click here.
Need convincing? Here are my top five reasons to trot:
5. The KLA-Tencor 5K run burns off 300-400 calories. That’s one slice of pie. Take on the Sharks Foundation 10K, and you have guilt-free enjoyment of pie and ice cream.
4. The Fairchild Semiconductor Fittest Firm Competition. Register under your company name and qualify for a free tent in our IBM festival area before and after the race.
3. The Perkins Coie CEO/Celebrity Challenge. Come see your CEO in running shorts! Not a pretty picture? Then dress in a costume for our San Jose Mercury News/Virgin America Costume Competition and win free flights or 49ers tickets.
2. Fun for kids of all ages! Our Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital Kids Fun Zone and our FIRST 5 Kids Fun Run (ages 2-7) are the perfect finish to the day.
1. Yes you CAN! Participate in our Synaptics Can-Do Challenge by bringing four canned goods for Second Harvest. Last year, we collected 16,610 pounds of food, equivalent to 12,776 healthy meals for the hungry.
Whatever your reason, join us this holiday season. Join us in person or even run remotely, but participate on November 28. Please register HERE.
Opportunities and Challenges of State Insurance Marketplaces
By Emily Lam, Senior Director, Health Care and Federal Issues, Silicon Valley Leadership Group
The state based health insurance marketplaces, a major piece of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), launched across the nation on October 1. Unfortunately, the main federal government website, healthcare.gov, and many state websites could not handle the amount of Web traffic and did not provide an easy user experience. After much confusion and consternation from users and a month full of bad press, the Obama administration and Congress are doing everything they can, including contracting with some of Silicon Valley’s best, to fix this problem.
At the same time, California’s health insurance marketplace, Covered California, successfully launched, handling millions of hits and accepting approximately 200,000 applications for the month of October. The Small Business Options Program (SHOP) portion of the exchange that sells group health insurance to businesses with less than 50 people also began selling plans on October 1, but companies will not have the ability to apply online until mid-November. We are working closely with Covered California to get that functionality up and running and will notify our members as soon as it does.
Successful implementation of the health insurance marketplaces is essential if our nation is going to rein-in rising health care costs. Ensuring everyone has health insurance will improve access to timely care and spread the costs across the population.
We are also working to promote a policy that would allow all subsidy eligible consumers the option to use Web based insurance brokers to shop for coverage through their portals. To help Covered California reach its goal of 1.2 million people by the end of 2014, the more venues available to sign-up, the better.
Once the initial technical bumps have been smoothed out, the new mechanism of a public online insurance marketplace will make it easier for people to understand, shop for and buy insurance. These new marketplaces, which include subsidies for low-income people, will provide affordable insurance for the first time to millions of people across the country. On the flip side, millions of Americans have received cancellation notices from their insurance companies because their existing policies do not meet the new ACA minimum standards. New plans often cost substantially more and policy makers will need to address this change.
Lastly, many Americans will keep their existing coverage or get something similar. Many of our member companies have been making small adjustments each year to make sure they are compliant with the new ACA rules and to buffer their employees from too many changes at one time. Moving forward, the health insurance landscape will continue to evolve as more parts of the ACA are implemented. We will continue to provide opportunities for our members to learn more and provide feedback to the state and federal government.
As a member of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, if you would like to engage directly in the work of our Health Committee, please contact me at Emily Lam.
Strengthening California’s Energy Leadership
By Tim McRae, Energy Director, Silicon Valley Leadership Group
Strong leadership on state commissions and boards is critical to growing California’s economy and jobs, which is why the Silicon Valley Leadership Group is deeply involved in the work of the California Public Utilities Commission, California Air Resources Board, California Energy Commission, and California Independent System Operator. Their work affects whether and when the state meets its nation-leading energy goals impacting all consumers.
As an example, the California legislature recently gave the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) the ability to levy a fixed charge of up to $10 every month on individual homeowners’ bills. The decision significantly impacts investor-owned utilities that will use the funds to pay for maintenance of the physical electricity grid infrastructure – the poles, wires and pipelines – that deliver gas and electricity to homes and businesses. Another aspect of this possible new charge is its impact on rooftop solar companies. They may not be able to deploy as many solar panels if the customer has to pay an electricity bill of any amount after solar panel installation. How CPUC Chairman Michael Peevey leads during the decision making process will be critical for everyone who uses electricity.
Another issue important to the state’s economy is the implementation of strategies to meet California’s greenhouse gas reduction goals. Though many state agencies will devise implementation strategies, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) will be responsible for ensuring all strategies aggregate to meet California’s goals and decide what policy mechanisms are necessary to achieve those reductions. It was CARB that decided to implement a cap and trade approach to cover emission reductions not achieved by other policies such as the Low Carbon Fuel Standard or the 33 percent Renewable Portfolio Standard. CARB leadership must drive California’s economy to achieve greenhouse gas reduction goals while allowing continued economic growth.
These issues illustrate why the leadership on the CPUC, CARB, California Energy Commission and the California Independent System Operator is incredibly important. Commissioners and board members are appointed by the Governor in staggered, multiyear terms. Once confirmed by the state Senate, these appointees wield enormous influence.
The Leadership Group believes it is imperative that leaders who are strong and open minded about impacts on all economic actors are appointed to these important governing groups. One spot we will focus on next year is the successor to the CPUC’s Peevey, whose term is up in December 2014. We will continue to weigh in on particular CPUC policies and on ensuring the right leaders are in place so that California’s economy can continue to grow.
As a Member of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, if you would like to engage directly in the work of our Energy Committee, please contact Tim McRae.