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August 26, 2024
NFIB California Main Street Minute, August 26-30
- Legislators have until Saturday (August 31) to pass bills on to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk, drawing to a close the 2023-2024 session of the California State Legislature.
- As a reminder, no bill is ever dead until the Legislature adjourns; some, however, can safely be said to be close to death.
- Future editions of the Main Street Minute will have fuller stories on the fate of the 109 bills NFIB identified as the most important to small businesses from 5,552 measures that surfaced in the two-year session.
- The final week will not lack plenty of action. A high priority of NFIB’s will be the defeat of Senate Bill 399, which would prohibit an employer from requiring his or her employees to attend an employer-sponsored meeting. Seven states now have laws against so-called “captive audience” meetings. “Business groups have already filed lawsuits in Minnesota and Connecticut, alleging the laws are preempted by the NLRA and violate employers’ constitutional free speech and equal protection rights,” reports the law firm Perkins Coie.
- Another proposal NFIB is working to defeat is Assembly Bill 2754, which would implicate every customer and transportation service provider in the supply chain as jointly liable for payment of wages, workers’ compensation, and reimbursement of business expenses.
- We wish the list of the two above bills would stop there, but Senate Bill 988 also has to be added. If passed into law, it would impose minimum requirements relating to contracts between a hiring party and a freelance workers. In other words, it’s another attempted assault on independent contractors.
- More progress reports on legislation to come in future Main Street Minutes.
- For those who couldn’t make NFIB’s August 8 webinar on changes to the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA), which affect every business, it is now on the NFIB California webpage.
- Elizabeth Milito, executive director of NFIB’s Small Business Legal Center, explains what the PAGA changes mean for small businesses in the 40-minute video. She is joined by NFIB California Policy Director Tim Taylor, who opens the webinar presentation with a brief history of “the bane of small businesses for two decades.” NFIB California State Director John Kabateck thanks NFIB members for staying with the fight for the reforms that have been a long time coming.
- August 31 deadline for bills to have passed the Legislature and sent to governor
- September 30 deadline for governor to sign bills into law
- October 7 County clerks begin mailing ballots to all Californians
- October 21 Last day to register to vote
- November 5, General Election Day
- November 30 National Shop Small Business Saturday Campaign
- On August 23, NFIB launched the federal Member Ballot, which includes questions on union enforcement of labor laws, health insurance, ergonomics, lawsuit protection, and paid family and medical leave. NFIB members can vote on their ballot at NFIB.com/VoteMyBallot.
- FTC’s Noncompete Ban Blocked by Federal Court A federal judge in Texas ruled on Tuesday and barred the FTC noncompete rule from taking effect. The rule was set to become effective September 4th. NFIB’s press release is here.
- SCOTUS Amicus Brief Filed in U.S. DOL Wage & Hour Dispute The Legal Center filed an amicus brief at the U.S. Supreme Court in the case E.M.D. Sales, Inc. v. Carrera concerning evidentiary standards for Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) exemptions. We are challenging an appellate court decision that placed an excessive evidence standard on employers to prove that employees are exempt from overtime. Our brief argues the heightened standard is not justified by the FLSA and will disadvantage small businesses that do not have the HR and legal resources of their larger counterparts to compile evidence and records proving an exemption.

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