A Government Relations Committee, or GRC, is a standing committee of Chamber members that watches the decisions coming out of the City of Davis, Yolo County and the region, and makes sure the people making them hear what those decisions will do to a working business.

Most of what affects your business is decided long before anyone votes on it. A fee schedule gets drafted. A permit process gains a new step. A street gets scheduled for work in your busiest month. The committee's job is to catch those while they are still drafts, work out what they would cost a real Davis business, and put that in front of staff and elected officials in plain terms.

The committee is made up of Chamber members who run businesses here. That is the point. What we bring to a hearing is worth something because it comes from the people who have to live with the outcome.

Areas of Focus

What the committee works on

Business climate

Permits, fees, local taxes and the rules a business has to work inside. When a proposed change would add cost or delay, the committee looks at what it means in practice for a business already operating here.

Workforce and education

Hiring, training and the path from a Davis classroom to a Davis payroll. UC Davis, the school district and the community college all feed the same local labor pool.

Housing and community prosperity

Employees have to be able to live near the jobs. Housing supply, childcare and the cost of living all show up eventually as a hiring problem.

Infrastructure and transportation

Roads, parking, deliveries, construction timing, utilities and broadband. The practical question is always whether customers and staff can still get to your door.

Environment and sustainability

New state and local requirements tend to land on small businesses first and hardest. The committee looks at what compliance actually costs and what help exists.

Scope

Issues, not elections

The Chamber does not endorse candidates and does not take part in campaigns for office. The committee works on the conditions businesses operate in, which is a different job and a year-round one.

That line is worth being clear about, because it is what lets a committee like this be useful to every member. A business owner should be able to bring a permitting problem to the Chamber without it turning into a political question.

Not Alone

Working regionally

A good deal of what lands on a Davis business is decided at the county or regional level, and the chambers in Woodland, West Sacramento and the wider Sacramento region are working the same issues. Where something crosses a city line, a shared position carries a great deal further than one chamber's does on its own.

When the Chamber has taken a formal position, it is published on the Advocacy page, along with how to ask the board to weigh in on something.

Tell Us What You Are Running Into

Three questions

The committee can only carry what it knows about. If something is getting in the way of your business, tell us here. It takes a minute, it goes straight to the Chamber office, and none of it is published.

One business is a voice. Together it is an argument.

The committee is stronger the more of Davis business stands behind it. Membership is how you are counted.

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