For the legislative and political week July 25-29
Welcome to the July 25-29 edition of the NFIB California Main Street Minute from your NFIB small-business-advocacy team in Sacramento.
Topline
- The Legislature is in the final week of its summer vacation and will return August 1.
- That doesn’t mean NFIB members can rest easy for one more week. See below.
- NFIB members are having some success in beating back the worst elements of the Build Back Better Act. See National section below.
More Member Action Needed—And Fast
- By its own admission, the California Air Resources Board’s 2022 Climate Change Scoping Plan will be “a transformation on an unprecedented, economy-wide level.” If the devil is in the details, the plan could fill the Los Angeles Coliseum with Beelzebubs.
- We thank the NFIB members who have already testified and attended past CARB hearings on the plan, now we need even more to do so and immediately. CARB is holding five “listening sessions” before staff will issue its final report to the Board:
- July 28 at Laney College in Oakland
- August 3 at Fresno City College
- August 4 at East Los Angeles College in Monterey Park
- August 9 virtually by Zoom
- August 24 virtually for Native American Tribes.
- More details, and a registration link to the Zoom call, can be found here. NFIB California will be sending targeted Action Alerts to members in select areas.
- NFIB California has produced this one-page document of bulleted information highlighting the magnitude of what the Scoping Plan would do. It has a link to another one-page document published by energyideasca.com.
- Whatever the board decides is not subject to gubernatorial approval or veto or legislative remedy. It becomes a regulation at specified dates.
Minimum Wage
- A sigh of relief, but only brief.
- “A judge rules that a proposition to raise the California minimum wage to $18 an hour can’t go before voters until 2024, reports CalMatters. “The same judge gave backers of recalling Gov. Gavin Newsom more time to qualify, but in this case, he backed the Secretary of State, who said proponents missed a key deadline to qualify in time for this November.”
National
Highlights from NFIB Legislative Program Manager Caitlin Lanzara’s weekly report.
- On July 18, NFIB launched a multistate ad campaign, “My Small Business is Not a Tax Loophole,” and released a new video of NFIB members advocating against new taxes to fund the Build Back Better Act.
- The campaign is responding to Senate Democrats proposing a new 3.8% tax on business income, also known as the Small Business Surtax, and wrongly claiming the tax increase would close a “tax loophole” to help fund Medicare.
- NFIB members explained why the proposed new tax would hurt their business. In response to the campaign and continually increasing inflation data, the Senate is proceeding with a healthcare-focused bill that does not contain the 11% (3.8%/35% income tax rate) tax increase on small businesses. However, like a bad house guest, this tax increase is sure to linger and return frequently. Watch the new video here.
- Thanks to the action of NFIB members, many other harmful small business policies were successfully removed from earlier versions of the Build Back Better Act. Read the article here.
- On July 19, NFIB Research Center released the Inflation Survey, showing 91% of small business owners report inflation has “substantially” or “moderately” impacted their business. Read the press release here. Read the article, “New Report: Inflation Remains Top Problem Threatening Small Business.”
- On July 20, NFIB sent a letter of opposition to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on H.R. 8152, the American Data Privacy and Protection Act, which would result in significant new regulatory burdens for small businesses. NFIB supports the Walberg amendment to expand the small employer exemption and help to alleviate many of the concerns described in this letter. The bill passed the committee but timing and prospects for floor consideration are uncertain.
Next Main Street Minute August 1.
