ALEC on CBS 8 San Diego: More California Companies Expanding in Other States
Last week, ALEC Vice President of Policy Lee Schalk appeared on CBS 8 San Diego to discuss the trend of businesses leaving California.
“I think it’s very telling that California, from 2020 to 2021, they lost 261,000 people on net, while bordering Arizona gained almost 100,000, Texas gained 310,000, and Florida 211,000,” Schalk said.
Governor Gavin Newsom, in response to Roe vs. Wade being overturned, encouraged companies that have left the state to make their way back.
“That’s something that could be compelling if they agree with him, but I think something that he is losing out on right now are those businesses that are concerned with their bottom line,” Schalk said. “I think for those businesses that are concerned with that, and for the financial well being of their workers, I don’t think it’s enough to keep them in the Golden State.”
“It’s a broader trend that we’ve been tracking for the last 15 years,” Lee Schalk, Vice President of Policy at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), told The Epoch Times. ALEC tracks state economic trends in their annual report, “Rich States Poor States.”
“You won’t see companies moving to states like New York, California, and New Jersey,” Schalk said. “They’ll be moving out of those states into neighboring states, where the policies are a little bit better, or they’ll be making the big move to places like Texas, Florida, North Carolina.”
“It’s the beauty of the 50 laboratories of our democracy,” Schalk said. “We’re able to quickly see what’s working and what’s not working across all issue areas. Unfortunately, I don’t see the high tax and high spend states changing their ways.”