From your small-business-advocacy team in Sacramento
Welcome to the February 26-March 1 edition of the NFIB California Main Street Minute from your small-business-advocacy team in Sacramento.
More Bad Budget News
- Last Tuesday (February 20), the Legislature’s top analyst issued a Deficit Update that had more grim news about the condition of the California state budget:
- “Roughly, a $24 billion erosion in revenues corresponds to a $15 billion increase in the budget problem. This would expand the $58 billion estimated deficit to $73 billion under our updated revenue forecast.”
- NFIB will continue to fiercely oppose new tax proposals as a way out of this deficit. Politicians and bureaucrats created this mess, and small businesses should not be considered an ATM to get us out of this hole.
RIP Universal Health Care?
- Not so fast. You’d think a $73 billion state budget deficit would be the final nail in the coffin for Assemblyman Ash Kalra’s ‘Guaranteed Health Care for All’ proposal (Assembly Bill 2200). Although the full price tag remains to be submitted, his last attempt pegged the cost substantially northward of the entire state budget.
- According to a Thursday (February 21) report in the Los Angeles Times, “The bill [AB 2200] by Assemblyman Ash Kalra (D-San José) is based on his prior single-payer legislation, which failed to get enough votes to move forward in January 2022. A legislative analysis of that bill pegged the cost between $314 billion and $391 billion in state and federal funds — a sum that is larger than the entire state budget Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed for the 2024-25 fiscal year: $291.5 billion. The Legislature’s analysts have not yet determined a price tag for Kalra’s new bill.
- “We need to see how this is funded. It’s a good idea but it’s a tough, tough sell, especially in a budget climate that we are experiencing now,” Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas told the Times.
- Far from being a drawback, supporters think this might be the right time to go all in, as reported by Politico California.
- “On paper, it wouldn’t seem like the perfect moment for California Democrats to finally pass universal health care.
- “It’s an election year and the state is facing a multibillion-dollar budget deficit. Any single-payer scheme would need to go through a lengthy approval process with the federal government, and if former President Donald Trump is back in charge, it could all be for naught. Health care costs are soaring, but more Californians have health insurance than ever before.
- “But the political landscape in the Legislature has shifted since Assemblymember Ash Kalra’s last attempt. Its leadership ranks are now stacked with single-payer allies.
- “The legislative environment has proponents of the measure — called CalCare — feeling confident.”
- NFIB has previously beaten back this absurd, costly proposal and will continue to do so this legislative session.
Retail Theft
- Last Wednesday’s news conference (February 21) highlighted a variety of initiatives that could help small businesses rebound and thrive but given the clear and present danger retail theft continues to have, it took center stage.
- Reports the Contra Costa News, “’Retail theft is particularly devastating to NFIB’s small business members whose ability to absorb inventory losses is razor thin,’ said National Federation of Independent Business California State Director John Kabateck. ‘California’s business community and taxpayers deserve an end to this scourge and the time to get it done, is now.’”
- Eleven assemblymembers and senators attended the half-hour news conference, which can be seen in its entirety here. Kabateck’s remarks start at the 4:19-minute mark.
- The seven bills that would be helpful for small businesses are included in the latest NFIB California bill list under the first section, Good for Small Business Bills.
- Relatedly, from The San Francisco Standard:
Share Your Views on the Workers’ Compensation System
- How well do you think the workers’ compensation system is working? NFIB is encouraging our California members to take this brief, online survey.
- The survey is hosted by the Workers’ Compensation Action Network, one of our partner organizations in WCAN is an employer-insurer coalition that has been active in workers’ compensation issues in California for the past 20 years.
- More about this survey can be read here.
March 5 Primary Election Day Nears?
- Last Thursday (February 22), NFIB California’s political action committee made its final endorsements for the March 5 Primary Election. In all, 22 Republican and Democrat candidates were endorsed for the Senate and Assembly. Check out this story listing them all and the easy ways you can cast your ballot, if you haven’t already.
Speaking of Elections …
- “In other election news: A ballot measure to repeal the ‘death tax’ is dead. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association announced Tuesday [February 20] that it collected nearly 560,000 signatures by the deadline — far short of the nearly 875,000 needed to get the initiative on the November ballot. The measure targeted Prop. 19, approved by voters in 2020, that changed state law to require that property must be reassessed to market value when it is transferred between parents and children.
- “The association is also sponsoring a measure that would require voter approval for any state or local tax increases. But Newsom, Democratic legislators and unions are in court trying to knock it off the November ballot.”
Calendar
- March 5, Primary Election Day
- March 21-31 Legislature on Spring Recess
- May revise of the governor’s 2024-2025 proposed state budget. Date TBD
- May 24 deadline for bills to pass their house of origin (Assembly, Senate)
- June 15, midnight, constitutional deadline to pass 2024-2025 state budget
- June 27 deadline for ballot measure to qualify for November
- August 31 deadline for bills to have passed Legislature and sent to governor
- September 30 deadline for governor to sign bills into law
- November 5, General Election Day
National
Highlights from NFIB Legislative Program Manager Caitlin Lanzara’s weekly report
- On February 21, NFIB released the “Top 10 Policy Priorities for 2024,” which outlines the legislative issues that will impact small businesses nationwide in the coming year.
- On February 22, NFIB released the “Small Business Rundown” podcast’s 29th This episode features Small Business Legal Center Executive Director Elizabeth Milito, Research Center Executive Director Holly Wade, and Vice President of Federal Government Relations Jeff Brabant who answered some of small business owners’ most frequently asked questions. Listen here!
- On February 23, PoliticoPro quoted NFIB in an article titled, “Less freedom of association … health plans?”
- The article stated, “The National Federation of Independent Business wrote that the Biden administration is showing “hostility” toward small businesses’ attempts to provide workers with “affordable, flexible and predictable health benefits.”
This Main Street Minute can also be read on the NFIB California webpage here. Next Main Street Minute March 4.
