Happy Thanksgiving. Welcome to the November 25-29 edition of the Main Street Minute from your small-business-advocacy team in Sacramento.

NFIB California Makes National Splash

• News accounts across the nation and all throughout California carried NFIB’s reaction to the defeat of Proposition 32, the minimum-wage initiative.
  

• Reported the Miami Herald in a story amplified by online news giant MSN, “California has made history by defeating Proposition 32, which sought to raise the state minimum wage from $16 to $18. This represents the first state in nearly three decades to reject a statewide minimum-wage increase. Over 50% of voters rejected the measure.
  
  • “John Kabateck, the California state director of the National Federation of Independent Business, said voters ‘correctly saw Prop 32 as another broadside on the ever-shrinking budgets of working-class families.’”
    

• A Fox News story, amplified by Yahoo News, quoted Kabateck as saying, “At the end of the day, this really came down to affordability for Californians already struggling. People realized a higher minimum wage was not going to make their bad situation that much better.”
  

• Politico added its national impact to the story, quoting Kabateck, ”Opposition to Prop 32 united families and businesses in common cause.”
  

• Closer to home, ABC 10 in Sacramento interviewed Kabateck for its story, and the Los Angeles Times led off its story with Kabateck calling the rejection of Proposition 32, “a pretty poignant sign of the times in a state like California. It is certainly sending a message that Californians across the political spectrum are fed up with higher costs and greater uncertainty on Main Street.”
  

• As reported in last week’s Main Street Minute, of all the business groups, the media know how important the issue is to small business, and many reporters made NFIB California their first call for comment. Additionally, State Director John Kabateck debated Yes on 32’s biggest backer, Joe Sanberg, four times on radio stations with dozens of affiliates throughout the state. NFIB also paid for radio and digital ads urging a ‘No’ vote on Prop. 32.
  

• By the way, the base minimum-wage rate rises to $16.50 an hour on January 1, 2025, except for fast-food workers and certain health-care employees, whose minimum wage rates increased $20 and $25 respectively this year. Forty cities also have higher minimum-wage rates that the state.

Governor Unveils Jobs Blueprint

• Last Thursday (November 21) in Fresno, Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled his California Jobs First Economic Blueprint, or, more accurately, the news release announcing it was coming. “The complete Economic Blueprint will be released early next year, along with $120 million to support ‘ready-to-go’ job-creating projects statewide within the next three years.”
  

• A “More details on next step here” link at the bottom of the news release was not working as of Friday. When it’s made live, NFIB will examine it for any small-business-related elements. But one of the blueprint’s four goals, to “Anchor: Foundational local sectors that are critical for attracting and supporting industry and community activities” gives us suspicion that paying down the state’s unemployment insurance loan from the federal government is unlikely to be included.
  

• According to the state’s Employment Development Department (EDD), “California has had an outstanding federal loan balance for two consecutive years. As a result, California employers will see an increase in their FUTA taxes in January 2025 for wages paid to their workers in 2024. California began borrowing from the federal government starting June 3, 2020, in order to maintain solvency of our UI fund due to the impact of the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis. Per the May 2024 UI Fund Forecast, California’s expected year-end loan balance is estimated to be $22 billion at the end of 2025.”
  

• A Google search of “how many states paid off their ui loans” leads off with, “As of late 2022, most states, with the exception of California, New York, and Connecticut, had paid off their federal unemployment insurance (UI) loans taken during the pandemic, meaning that over 30 states had repaid their debts; California still had the largest outstanding balance compared to other states.”
  

Are California’s Finances in Fine Fettle?

• Also last week (November 20), the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office released its 2025-2026 Budget: California’s Fiscal Outlook report showing that, “Despite softness in the state’s labor market and consumer spending, earnings of high-income Californians have surged in recent months. Income tax collections have seen a similar bounce. This recovery in income tax revenues is being driven by the recent stock market rally, which calls into question its sustainability in the absence of improvements to the state’s broader economy.”
  

• Looking ahead, however, the analyst’s report says, “While the budget picture is fair for the upcoming year, our outlook suggests that the state faces double-digit operating deficits in the years to come. By historical standards, spending growth in this year’s outlook is high. Our estimate of annual, total spending growth across the forecast period—from 2025-26 to 2028-29—is 5.8 percent compared to an average of 3.5 percent in other recent outlooks.”
  

Calendar

• November 30, National Shop Small Business Saturday Campaign.
   
• December 2, a new Legislature for the 2025-2026 session convenes for organizational purposes and to collect a per diem before adjourning for the rest of the month.
  
• December 2, a special session of the Legislature convenes concurrent to it regular session to address expected policies from the Trump administration.
  
• December 6, county election officials must report final official results to Secretary of State.
   
• December 13, Secretary of State certifies the November General Election outcome. All votes will have been counted.
   
• January 6, the 2025-2026 session of the California State Legislature opens for regular business.
     

News Release

• Last Wednesday (November 20), NFIB California sent out a news release with local comment on the 2024 Small Businesses’ Contribution to the Community report released by NFIB’s Research Center.
  

National  

Highlights from NFIB Federal Government Relations Principal Josselin Castillo’s weekly report

• NFIB sent a letter to congressional leaders to request that Congress prioritize legislation in the lame-duck period that will provide immediate relief to small businesses nationwide.
  

• NFIB sent a press release highlighting our highly successful event with The Hill and other small business leaders, tax experts, and policymakers to delve into the impact of the Small Business Deduction and the potential consequences of its expiration.  The Hill recaps the event.
  

• VIDEO: On FOX Business, Larry Kudlow says President Trump should “extend the Small Business Deduction.”
  

• NFIB released its 2024 Small Businesses’ Contribution to the Community report, which provided insight into how and why small businesses contribute to their communities.
   

Next Main Street Minute December 2.