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NFIB California Main Street Minute, December 11-15

NFIB California Main Street Minute, December 11-15

December 11, 2023

NFIB California Main Street Minute, December 11-15

Welcome to the December 11-15 edition of the Main Street Minute from your small-business-advocacy team in Sacramento. 
State Budget Awash in Red Ink 
  • Fittingly, on National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day (December 7) last week, the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) dropped a bomb of a different sort by releasing its latest California’s Fiscal Outlook report with this upcoming task for returning lawmakers, “we estimate the Legislature will need to solve a budget problem of $68 billion in the upcoming budget process.” 
  • “[Gov. Gavin] Newsom is scheduled to deliver a preliminary budget proposal in early January, giving us the first glimpse of how the state could fix its massive problem,” reports Politico. “But this year is just the beginning — the LAO predicts ongoing $30 billion annual deficits, even if lawmakers are able to wipe out this year’s $68 billion shortfall.” 
  • NFIB California will fight against any so-called solution that involves wringing more taxes out of small business owners. As NFIB and others warned when the state was awash in federal money from CARES and ARPA, in addition to having its own budget surplus, the Legislature was on a spending binge it could not sustain. Now that unsustainability has arrived and is even biting the beneficiaries of that profligate spending. Points out CalMatters: 

“One potential impact of the deficit is a paring down of the minimum wage increase for healthcare workers that starts in January and eventually reaches $25 an hour. Newsom signed the deal between unions and hospitals last month without a clear estimate of how much it would cost.

“It turns out the wage increase could drive up the cost of providing care for government agencies by at least $4 billion in 2024-25. Now, Newsom wants unspecified ‘major reforms’ to the law and is talking to Democratic leaders in the Legislature.” 

Retail Theft 
  • Maybe Prop. 47 is part of the problem after all. 
  • One big, refreshing change between the new Rivas speakership and the previous Rendon speakership is the recognition and elevation of retail theft as a real problem that can’t be avoided any longer.  
  • As reported in the November 13-17 Main Street Minute, “When new Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas announced on October 25 that he had formed a Select Committee on Retail Theft, small businesses were glad to hear the Legislature finally acknowledging the magnitude of a problem that is all around them and on the news every night.” 
  • Last Monday (December 4), The Sacramento Bee had a story about Rivas’s pick to chair the Assembly Public Safety Committee, Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, that included this welcomed paragraph: “It’s ‘provocative’ and ‘innovative’ bills that McCarty hopes to explore in the upcoming legislative session starting Jan. 3. After being appointed Nov. 21 by California Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, he said his priorities include retail theft, Proposition 47 reform, illegal drug use and gun violence …

“… Prop. 47 passed in 2014, with a majority of voters seeking to make some non-violent property crimes to misdemeanors. Law enforcement leaders have blamed Prop. 47 for the sensational incidents such as so-called smash and grab robberies … McCarty said there are flaws in Prop. 47’s implementation because people haven’t been held accountable.” 

  • Right now, everything is talk, but at least there’s talk instead of the cloistered silence of the previous Assembly leadership, which couldn’t bring itself to utter the words retail theft. 
  • Meanwhile, NFIB California participated in an event last Tuesday (December 5) put on by Californians Against Retail and Residential Theft (CARRT), of which NFIB is a member. Sen. Roger Niello and Assemblyman Josh Hoover were two of the featured speakers as the Folsom gathering. 
Third Biggest Judicial Hellhole in the Nation 
  • The American Tort Reform Foundation came out last week with its annual spotlight on the biggest Judicial Hellholes in the nation and to no one’s surprise, California made the list, but this year only came in third. 
  • “It’s nice to see California drop a few rungs on the Judicial Hellholes ladder,” said NFIB California State Director in this news release. “But it wasn’t because our Legislature tried. Business owners, especially small business owners, still are in the crosshairs of the most egregious PAGA, Prop. 65, ADA, and now Consumer Privacy Act lawsuits, which give trial attorneys full rein to sue Main Street employers.” 
Beware of the Big Event 
  • Small businesses do not always fare well when the big show comes to town.  

“David Cohen, CEO of the company that oversees the Grove on Mission Street, said the restaurant saw revenue dip 40% during the APEC conference, with about 1,300 fewer customers than a normal week. ‘We stayed open to be a part of this event to showcase the city, and we saw a huge sales drop,’ Cohen said. ‘It destroyed our financials.’” 

  • From The Nevada Independent “Was the Formula One weekend in Las Vegas worth all the trouble? Well, it probably depends on who you ask. … For locals, smaller venues and countless workers disrupted by a year of race-related operations, however, it’s been far more pain than profit. … 

According to a report from Nevada Public Radio, the disruptions associated with turning public roadways into a private racetrack have had a profound impact on businesses throughout the area. One gas station cut its number of employees from 12 to just five. The manager of a non-casino bar in the area said her employees have had their hours cut. A worker at another bar said she had noticed a similar drop-off in business at her place of employment.” 

  • On a recent visit to Las Vegas to recruit Nevada small business owners to the cause, NFIB Grassroots Manager Taylor Criddle heard many of the same laments from current members and prospects. “If I could sum up their complaints in one sentence it would be for those Formula 1 cars to keep driving across the state line and across the country and don’t hurry back.” 
Calendar 
  • December 8, filing deadline for state office. 
  • December 28, Certified list of candidates for the March 5 Primary Election released. 
  • January. 3, 2024, the Legislature reconvenes. 
  • February 5, counties begin mailing ballots. 
  • February, last day to register to vote in the March Primary. 
  • March 5, Primary Election Day. 
  • More deadlines here. 
National  Highlights from NFIB Legislative Program Manager Caitlin Lanzara’s weekly report 
  • This week, NFIB will likely Key Vote in support of H.R. 5378, the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act. This bipartisan package represents an important step towards increasing transparency and competition in our healthcare system and lowering costs for small business owners and their employees. The bill:  

Promotes healthcare price transparency and certainty and lowers costs for small business owners and patients.

Makes community pharmacists more competitive by exposing anticompetitive Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) practices.

Provides employers with more choice and control over their healthcare costs. 

  • On December 6, NFIB hosted a webinar titled, “The 2024 Small Business Landscape – Legal, Regulatory, and Economic Updates for the New Year with Elizabeth Milito and Holly Wade.” Watch it here. 
  • While my kids count down the days until Santa arrives (17), I’m counting down the days (24) until the Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reporting rule takes effect on January 1. NFIB BOI Fact Sheet. December’s NFIB Webinar (also covers the new NLRB Joint Employer rule, which takes effect 2/26/24.  
  • Just in time for the holidays, the Legal Center published a new guide on credit card chargebacks. The guide can be read here. 
Next Main Street Minute December 18. 
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