The need to ramp up the pace of hiring in OC’s high-tech industries was a core theme during Chapman University’s 2020 Economic Forecast and is a focus of UCI Beall Applied Innovation’s new and expanded Cove facility at UCI Research Park—stories on both are featured on this week’s front page.
Good news on that front—especially for OC’s vital medical device industry—came last week from Washington, D.C., notes Carl Zeiss Meditec’s Jim Mazzo.
Congress approved a full repeal of the medical device tax—a 2.3% tax on gross sales for a range of medical devices and products that became law as part of the 2010 Affordable Care Act and went into effect in 2013. The tax produced some $5 billion during the three years it was collected.
On a week that saw the words “partisan divide” often mentioned in national political stories, the tax decision reached across both aisles: the House vote was 297 to 120, and the Senate’s vote was 79 to 20. President Donald Trump indicated he’ll sign the legislation.
Officials with the Advanced Medical Technology Association, whose local members include Edwards Lifesciences and Axonics Modulation Technologies, among others, hailed the decision, and said the industry can focus now on “creating good-paying, high-tech jobs in communities across the country.”
“This is excellent news for all medical device companies big and small,” said Mazzo, who also serves as chair for local business accelerator OCTANe, and who helped push for the tax repeal along with Edwards CEO Mike Mussallem and Masimo Corp. CEO Joe Kiani.
The tax was said to hurt small and midsize device and technology companies more than larger firms, because it was based on sales rather than profits, and had unintended consequences for startups already burdened by debt.
An early holiday gift for local (and non-local) foodies: Chef Amar Santana’s and business partner Ahmed Labbate’s long-awaited The Hall Global Eatery at South Coast Plaza opens on Jan. 2.
Our executive dining columnist Christopher Trela recently got a sneak peak of the food hall: it is highly impressive, he says.
His full rundown of The Hall will run in our next edition, the Jan. 6 paper that also profiles the Businesspeople of the Year.
A sign of Santana’s growing stature in national food circles: During a recent trip to Nashville, Tenn., and a pair of their better restaurants, GMs and both spots asked, when learning I was from OC, if I’d been to Santana’s Vaca and Broadway.
Hal Landon Jr. began playing Ebenezer Scrooge at South Coast Repertory performances of “A Christmas Carol” in 1980.
This year, his 40th in the role, will be his last, but the show will go on, said Julia Argyros, whose family’s been a backer of SCR for even longer, dating back to the 1970s.
The family announced a $5 million gift to the theater a week ago (see Philanthropy column, page 25).
“The best way to pay tribute to Hal Landon Jr., and the other wonderful artists who have entertained us for all four decades, is to ensure that this incredible tradition continues,” Argyros said.
