Congressional Fly-Outs: Hawaii and California

This week ICSC’s Office of Global Public Policy held “Fly-Out” meetings with Hawaii and California Members of Congress in their home states.

This year’s focus on local meetings is a response to the current political environment in Washington, DC, which has constrained significant movement on legislative priorities. We also believe that by using the 2020 election year when federal officials are focused on interactions back at home, we can increase long-term relationship building, highlight the breadth and scope of the industry, and include more ICSC members in the advocacy process.

Issues discussed at the meetings included fixing the Qualified Improvement Property (QIP) glitch, opposing legislation that would tax carried interest as ordinary income, restoring Section 118 income tax exemptions, changes to beneficial ownership reporting requirements and ADA lawsuit reform.

California members met with Representatives Judy Chu, Katie Porter, Harley Rouda, Lou Correa, Pete Aguilar, Jimmy Gomez and Tony Cardenas. Meeting attendees included Warren Siu, William Brinkloe, Brian Huben, Larry Casey, ICSC Grassroots Director Michael Garrison, Brad Umansky, Mike Reed, Justin Bird, Tony Guglielmo, Sean Bailey, Bob Rodger, Paul Rice, Mike Fortunato, Eric Loomis, Keith Walker, Patsy Ma and Pablo Velasco.

In Hawaii, State Chair Kelli Wilinski, Government Relations Chair Charles Fasi and ICSC Director for Western Division State & Local Government Relations Pete Jacobson met with Representative Ed Case, Kainoa Penaroza, chief of staff for Representative Tulsi Gabbard, and Dal Hahn, senior policy advisor for Senator Brian Schatz.

Additional Fly-Out meetings will be scheduled across the country throughout the year during the weeks when Members of Congress do not have votes scheduled in Washington, DC. For more information or to participate in a meeting in your state, please contact Global Public Policy at gpp@icsc.com.