For the legislative and political week of September 13-17
Welcome to the September 13-17 edition of the NFIB California Main Street Minute from your NFIB small-business-advocacy team in Sacramento.
Vaccine Bills Defeated
- It took until the last few days of the 2021 session but language that was meant to be included in Assembly Bill 1102 was stopped by NFIB and its business coalition partners, effectively freezing the bill for the year.
- It didn’t have to be, the business coalition NFIB was part of had agreed to support AB 1102 as an acceptable alternative to Assembly Bill 455, but when other groups pushed for greater leave time, NFIB and others withdrew their support and, as a result, the clock on getting amendments incorporated into legislation expired.
- The stopping of ABs 1102 and 455 are huge victories for NFIB and its small-business members, especially after President Biden’s announcement of his own initiative last Thursday. This story has more detail on the proposed state and federal vaccine mandates.
- As a reminder, ABs 1102 and 455, in their current form online, deal with completely different subjects. It was the proposed amendments NFIB and its partners helped stop from being inserted into them, and a perfect example of why small business needs and has a voice in Sacramento.
Done!
- The 2021 half of the two-year session of the California State Legislature came to an end Friday, September 10. Lawmakers will reconvene for the second half on Jan. 3, 2022.
The Small Business Agenda
- As promised in the last two Main Street Minutes, click here for how NFIB’s agenda fared this year. There were 35 bills we either fought for and won, fought against and lost, helped pass or defeat in committee, or blocked bad draft proposals.
- It’s a semi-final list, because the governor still must act on some bills, and other bills will be brought back in 2022. From our list, we’ve produced this Good, Bad, and Ugly web story and printable one-page document for our LC and Sales teammates to give their elevator pitch if the occasion arises.
Meet Congresswoman Young Kim
- Wednesday, Sept. 15, starting at 11 a.m., you can hear the very latest on what Congress is up to at a free Business Roundtable hosted by California U.S. Rep. Young Kim.
- Topics will include President Biden’s proposed vaccine mandate, the Pro Act, tax Increases, the federal budget reconciliation, and the Paycheck Protection Program. You don’t need to live in her district, this roundtable is open to any small-business owner. Register here.
Federally,
- Last Thursday, (September 9), President Biden issued the Path Out of the Pandemic, President Biden’s COVID-19 Action Plan. The document lays out a six-pronged approach to combat COVID-19 variants. Among the initiatives, it instructs the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to issue an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) requiring businesses with 100 or more employees to ensure their workforce is fully vaccinated or require workers to take weekly COVID-19 tests.
- OSHA has not issued an ETS at this point. NFIB will continue to update its members once it does.
- You can read here NFIB senior vice president Kevin Kuhlman’s response to the Biden plan, and what eventually happened to two California vaccine measures.
- Did you miss NFIB’s latest webinar last Thursday, Small Business Reset and Recovery Series Part #1? No worries, you can check it out here.
Next Main Street Minute September 20.
