Welcome to the November 10-14 edition of the Main Street Minute from your small-business-advocacy team in Sacramento.  

Preparing for 2026 

NFIB California has gone to work shaping its 2026 State Member Ballot, the results from which will allow us to center our lobbying positions when the Legislature returns for business on January 5. 

Issues currently being discussed include: 

— Paying down or off the $20 billion unemployment insurance trust fund loan California has outstanding with the federal government 

— Reforming the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) along the lines of the reforms made to the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) 

Streamlining the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)  

— Protecting Proposition 13 from recurring efforts to lower the amount of votes need to raise property taxes 

— Overturning, or minimizing, the law requiring all businesses to have Workplace Violence Prevention Plans in place and viewable to anyone who asks to see them. 

Other top-of-mind issues include the low-carbon fuel standards (LCFS) regulation, the state’s electricity grid, and whether there should be a Small Business Bill of Rights passed. 

Also getting a start on next year’s elections is NFIB California’s PAC Committee, which will meet next month to begin laying the groundwork for candidate and ballot initiative endorsements. 

NFIB Making News 

“It will take a period of time and work on numerous issues to reverse this new normal of small business owners having jobs to offer but few qualified candidates for them,” said NFIB California State Director John Kabateck in a news release issued last Thursday (November 6), commenting on NFIB’s latest Jobs Report. 

“If California policymakers are looking for good places to start, they can begin with the five categories the Tax Foundation’s recently released 2026 State Tax Competitive Index ranked us on for a nationally embarrassing 48th overall rating.” 

Kabateck’s remarks ran in Golden State Today among other media. 

Small Businesses to the Rescue 

San Francisco’s Union Square is having a renaissance. It was only yesterday when, if you weren’t knocked down by a retail thief fleeing a Walgreens, you might have been whacked by one of the tumbleweeds blowing out of the many abandoned big-name stores. Guess who’s leading Union Square’s comeback? 

“The marquee retail district may have lost about half its stores in recent years, but it has welcomed a host of local merchants thanks to a suite of city initiatives helping small businesses move into San Francisco’s struggling downtown,” reports The San Francisco Standard. 

“Mayor Daniel Lurie’s PermitSF streamlines approvals, and SF Shines dispenses grants. The Downtown SF Vibrancy Loan Fund recently doubled its matching grants to $50,000 for every $100,000 borrowed by a small business, and SF New Deal helps pop-ups parlay their momentum to become permanent operations. The mayor’s ‘Heart of the City’ plan, unveiled in September, has raised more than $50 million in private-sector commitments to clean up downtown streets and support small businesses.” 

The Main Street Minute speculates that the “streamlined approvals” process will do more for Union Square’s revitalization than any of the grants offered. We make that claim based on our members’ interactions with another governmental agency with a bigger checkbook. Prior to the pandemic, only “seven percent of small employers participated in some SBA or SBA-sponsored program or activity over the last three years,” NFIB found the last time it asked. 

In other words, most small business owners will come up with the money to start and maintain their enterprises if government can just make the streets safe and regulations light. Given NFIB’s success this year in making the 20% Small Business Deduction permanent, the prognosis for Union Square looks good. 

National 

Highlights from Federal Government Relations Principal Louis Bertolotti’s weekly report  

— CNBC quoted Principal of Federal Government Relations Tyler Dever from NFIB’s letter to Congress in support of the CHOICE Arrangement Act: “The average cost of a healthcare premium for small business owners has risen over 120% since 2000. This significant increase has forced small businesses to make difficult choices, including limiting or eliminating health benefits to their employees. This is not an outcome small business owners desire, as it can put entrepreneurs at a disadvantage when they are competing against larger companies to fill jobs.”  

— Research Center Executive Director Holly Wade spoke with Next Avenue regarding how small businesses can use AI in their operations: “You can throw customer spending data into something like ChatGPT and say, ‘Is there any geographic data where people are spending more and my company should target promotions and advertising?’”  

— Election Day took place on Tuesday (November 4) in multiple states across the country. NFIB saw a big victory in Texas, where Proposition 9 passed by a 30-point margin. This constitutional amendment will result in historic inventory tax cuts, saving Lone Star State small businesses over $500 million. You can learn more about NFIB’s efforts on Prop 9.

Next Main Street Minute: November 17. All Main Streets Minutes can be found on the NFIB website here. Pull down the California tab in the upper-right-hand corner.