What is California thinking by adding to its small-business owners’ woes?
SACRAMENTO, Calif., July 1, 2020—On the day California hit motorists with its annual increase in the gas tax and on the eve its state Senate is looking to pass a greatly expanded family leave law socking small-business owners with new costs, NFIB’s month Jobs Report showed, to little surprise, a worsening economy.
“You have to ask if California’s policymakers think the whole COVID-19 crisis is just a minor, ephemeral distraction that shouldn’t stop their regulatory agenda from proceeding at its breakneck pace,” said John Kabateck, California state director for NFIB, the nation’s leading small-business association. “As our Jobs Report cries out, every effort should be made to make re-opening small businesses and fostering their ability to stay open Priority No. 1, but instead we get things like Senate Bill 1383, which expands leave time for employees who may never get it if they don’t have jobs to return to. State leaders talk a good game about the need to help small business, but then pass bills like SB 1383, which is opposed by over more than 100 business organizations. Just because you can force new mandates on small employers doesn’t make it right.”
More about SB 1383 can be read in this editorial.
Today’s Jobs Report showed the small business labor market has further weakened in June. Firms reduced employment by 0.28 workers per firm over the past month, weaker than the decrease of 0.17 workers per firm in May. Unchanged from last month, 6% reported increasing employment an average of 2.6 workers per firm and 22% (up one point) reported reducing employment an average of 4.6 workers per firm (seasonally adjusted).
Commented NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg, “As states change reopening rules and dates, sometimes easing restrictions, small businesses are feeling various levels of uncertainty as to what comes next. With recent COVID-19 spikes in some cases, many state governments are reversing prior decisions and reducing the potential for small business to earn needed revenue.”
Click here to read NFIB’s national news release on the Jobs Report.
Keep up with the latest on California small-business at www.nfib.com/california or by following NFIB on Twitter @NFIB_CA or on Facebook @NFIB.CA.
Contact: John Kabateck, California State Director, [email protected],
or Tony Malandra, Senior Media Manager, [email protected]
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For more than 77 years, NFIB has been advocating on behalf of America’s small and independent business owners, both in Washington, D.C., and in all 50 state capitals. NFIB is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member-driven association. Since its founding in 1943, NFIB has been exclusively dedicated to small and independent businesses and remains so today. For more information, please visit nfib.com.
NFIB
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