Josh Smith and Drew Zinser Join Orange County Business Council Board of Directors
IRVINE, CA (July 22, 2026) — Orange County elected officials, including members of the Orange County Board of Supervisors and the California Legislature, shared updates and discussed issues impacting the nation’s sixth-most-populous county at Orange County Business Council’s (OCBC) 2026 Legislative Day. The event was held on July 21 before an audience of more than 250 local business and community leaders at the Hyatt Regency in Irvine.
Modeled after OCBC’s Sacramento Advocacy trips, the program featured moderated discussions with elected officials, followed by question-and-answer sessions, as well as networking opportunities. Speakers heard directly from business and community leaders about topics such as economic development, workforce, housing and infrastructure.
“Orange County’s economic success depends on thoughtful collaboration between the public and private sectors,” said Jeff Ball, president and CEO of Orange County Business Council. “Providing opportunities for the business community to hear directly from policymakers and engage in meaningful dialogue helps ensure we are advancing policies that strengthen our regional economy.”
Legislative Day speakers included California State Senators Tom Umberg and Tony Strickland; State Assemblymembers Laurie Davies and Diane Dixon and Orange County Supervisors Katrina Foley (Vice Chair), Vicente Sarmiento, Donald Wagner and Janet Nguyen.
Conversations included housing affordability and workforce development, reform of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), infrastructure and transportation investment, energy affordability and reliability, the revitalization of Dana Point Harbor, lessons learned from the GKN Aerospace chemical tank incident in Garden Grove and other issues impacting the region.
Title sponsor for the event was Edison International; breakfast sponsor was Automobile Club of Southern California; and silver sponsors included The Boeing Company, California American Water, California State University, Fullerton, Chevron, Google and University of California, Irvine.
About Orange County Business Council
For more than 30 years, Orange County Business Council (OCBC) has represented and promoted the region’s business community, working with government and academia to advance Orange County’s Economic Development. OCBC advances pro-business solutions by supporting a competitive Workforce and collaborating with developers, builders, labor and policymakers to expand and diversify Housing options across the region. In addition, we champion investment and policy frameworks that enable innovative, resilient Infrastructure. OCBC’s member-investors span a wide range of industries across the region, including biomedical, construction, education, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, nonprofit, real estate, technology, public agencies, tourism, transportation and utilities. For more information, visit OCBC.org.
Media Contact
Paul Simonds
Senior Vice President & Chief Operating Officer
psimonds@ocbc.org
