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Robert Moutrie was named vice president for advocacy in October 2025 in recognition of his outstanding work on behalf of California Chamber of Commerce members. Since January 2024, he had been serving as a senior policy advocate. He joined the CalChamber team in March 2019 as a policy advocate. Moutrie leads CalChamber advocacy on workplace safety, legal reform, tourism, insurance, immigration and unemployment insurance. As CalChamber's expert on occupational safety issues, Moutrie also is an expert on Cal/OSHA’s regulatory process, and works closely with Cal/OSHA staff to make California’s regulations more feasible for businesses. He has represented employers’ concerns with Cal/OSHA during the drafting of the state’s emergency and nonemergency wildfire smoke regulations, COVID-19 emergency and nonemergency regulations, and indoor heat regulation. Moutrie earned a B.A. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley, and a J.D. with honors from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. See full bio.

CalChamber Helping Shape Workplace Violence Prevention Rule

As state regulators work on drafting a workplace violence prevention standard, the California Chamber of Commerce remains a leading voice for making the rule...

CalChamber Continues Push to Make Rule Workable

In comments submitted recently to Cal/OSHA, a coalition led by the California Chamber of Commerce continues its ongoing effort to make sure the workplace...

Cost Driver Creating New Reasons to Sue for Consumer-Friendly Pricing Passes Assembly

Legislation identified by the California Chamber of Commerce as a Cost Driver that will hurt existing consumer-friendly pricing practices passed the Assembly this week. The...

Business Stops Bill Allowing Private Attorneys Into Tax Enforcement

A broad business coalition had an early victory in the California State Senate on April 23, when the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee voted...

Workplace Violence Rule: CalChamber Urges Changes

Cal/OSHA held the first open discussion of its workplace violence safety regulation for general industry at an all-day advisory committee meeting on January 24. A...

Cal/OSHA Standards Board Adopts Indoor Heat Illness Prevention Rule

Last week, the Cal/OSHA Standards Board adopted the long-awaited regulations to protect employees working indoors from heat illness. The California Legislature had directed the California...

Job Killer Raising UI Taxes Misses Key Deadline, Dies

A California Chamber of Commerce job killer bill that would have hiked unemployment insurance (UI) taxes failed to meet a key deadline last week...

Senate Committee OKs Job Killer Bill Increasing UI Taxes to Pay Striking Workers

A California Chamber of Commerce job killer bill that will increase unemployment insurance (UI) taxes to subsidize striking workers passed a Senate committee this...

Indoor Heat Rule Moves to Next Step After Unusual Cal/OSHA Board Vote

The proposed regulation to prevent heat illness in indoor workplaces awaits an uncertain fate at the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) following a tempestuous...

UI Proposal Repeat Named First Job Killer of 2024

A bill that seeks to provide striking workers with unemployment insurance (UI) benefits has been tagged a job killer by the California Chamber of...

Cal/OSHA Releases Model Workplace Violence Prevention Plan

This week, Cal/OSHA finally released its much-anticipated model workplace violence prevention plan. Since the passage of last year’s landmark workplace violence prevention law — SB...

Cal/OSHA Passes Aggressive Update to Lead Regulation

On February 15, the Cal/OSHA Standards Board passed a sweeping update to California’s lead regulation despite heavy concerns of feasibility and inaccurate cost estimates...

Author Reintroduces Legislation Providing Unemployment Benefits to Striking Workers

A bill that would provide unemployment insurance (UI) benefits for striking workers was introduced in the California Legislature this week by Senator Anthony Portantino. This...

Unemployment Insurance Tax Rates Up in 2024

For California’s employers, the new year brings new unemployment insurance (UI) tax increases. Governor Gavin Newsom’s annual budget proposal, released January 10, foresees belt tightening...

CalChamber Tags UI Bill SB 799 as a Job Killer

The California Chamber of Commerce has tagged SB 799 (Portantino; D-Burbank) as a job killer, citing the proposal’s requirement for employers to subsidize striking...

Workplace Violence Bill Is Unworkable for Small Employers

A California Chamber of Commerce-opposed bill that increases business costs and establishes a one-size-fits-all workplace violence regulation on all California employers was sent to...

SB 553 Impact Touches Every Industry in California

With this week’s amendments and the upcoming hearing in the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee, it’s worth taking another look at SB 553 (Cortese;...