Welcome to the April 27-May 1 edition of the Main Street Minute from your small-business-advocacy team in Sacramento.

RIP Universal Health Insurance

A seismic disruption to the lives of every Californian and to the financial solvency of the state itself has been avoided when legislative leaders last week declared Assembly Bill 1900 effectively dead, without using that word.

“It was always a long shot. But single-payer health care has met its Sacramento demise yet again,” reported Politico’s California Playbook. “Progressive Assemblymember Ash Kalra’s effort to create CalCare, California’s own form of universal health insurance, was so deep in the grave it didn’t even get referred to the Assembly Health Committee for a hearing that would’ve needed to happen today [April 21] ahead of a key deadline.”

It would take a series of rule waivers to resurrect AB 1900, which looks highly unlikely.

NFIB and its coalition partners were preparing to vigorously oppose AB 1900, as we did Kalra’s previous two attempts to abolish private health insurance and give the state sole power over every health-care decision an individual would make.

Small business owners have ranked the cost of health care their No. 1 issue for almost 40 consecutive years, so NFIB can speak with some authority that AB 1900 was not the way to go about making health care more affordable and accessible. More information on what can and should be done can read in this article on the NFIB website, Why Health Care Costs Have Skyrocketed and What Congress Can Do.

“Outside analysts projected Kalra’s most recent version of CalCare would cost about $731 billion, about $14 billion more than Californians currently spend on health care,” according to the Politico article.

“Assemblymember Mia Bonta, who chairs the Health Committee and has been a coauthor on previous single-payer bills, said the cost estimate was ‘a very bitter pill for all of us to swallow.’

“But as the state grapples with rising premiums, shrinking insurance coverage and a yawning budget deficit, Bonta said the timing wasn’t right. ‘I think it would have been a really tough time to have that conversation,’ she said.”

When asked on their 2024 state member ballot, “Should California abolish private insurance plans and replace them with a government-run ‘single-payer’ healthcare system,” 89% of NFIB members voted ‘No,’ 5% said ‘Yes,’ and 6% were undecided. On their 2018 ballot, our members were even more emphatic about instituting a single-payer system, rejecting the idea by 93%.

Given the state’s unemployment insurance debacle and high-speed-rail wreck, it’s best to move on from thinking California could ever manage such a regulatory and bureaucratic behemoth such as providing health care for all of its citizens all by itself.

November Ballot Update

The Local Taxpayer Protection Act has qualified for the November General Election ballot, the secretary of state announced last week. Driven by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, the initiative would cap new local real estate transfer taxes at the state statutory limit and restores the two-thirds vote threshold on all local special taxes. Stay tuned for more news about NFIB’s involvement in this important measure and effort!

“Almost three-quarters (73 percent) of business owners own the building or property where their business is located (not including their primary residence),” according to the latest NFIB Tax Survey of the membership.

Also qualifying for the November ballot was the California Middle-Class Homeownership and Family Home Construction Act of 2026, which would authorize up to $25 billion in bonds to provide eligible homebuyers with fixed-rate loans covering up to 17% of the price of a qualifying newly built or newly converted home.

Frozen Lasagna and California Taxation

“The short version of the complex and lengthy dispute is that Henry’s Catering treated the frozen items as exempt from taxes because cold food is generally exempt, while hot food is generally taxable. The Department of Tax and Fee Administration audited Henry’s Catering and concluded that the frozen food it was selling should have been taxed as hot food because it needs reheating before it’s eaten,” writes CalMatters’ Dan Walters.

“The frozen lasagna case is interesting unto itself, but also illustrates a rarely mentioned fact about not only sales taxes, but all forms of taxation — what is taxed and how much it is taxed are purely arbitrary decisions by legislators and bureaucrats, driven more by revenue outcomes than logic or consistency.”

Highlights from Nielsen Merksamer’s Weekly Report

April 23, the California Supreme Court overturned a California Coastal Commission decision to block a small housing project in San Luis Obispo County.

April 20, as part of Earth Week, the Governor announced the the state has given over $1 billion to deploy 11,600 clean trucks and buses across 2,000+ fleets.

Cal. Privacy Protection Agency Board Meeting – April 30 1:00 pm & May 1 9:00 am

(Sacramento & virtual). The agenda includes a Thursday presentation on “How Federal Agencies Use Private Data and How States Can Protect Americans,” followed on Friday by discussions of the European Union’s adequacy decision on EU–U.S. privacy oversight, a potential amendment to the agency’s conflict-of-interest code, and legislative and enforcement updates.

Calendar

— May 4 & 5: Small Business Leadership Day at the Capitol

— May 4: Last day for counties to begin mailing ballots for the June 2 Primary Election

— May 18: Last day to register for the June 2 Primary Election

— May 29: Last day for bills to pass their house of origin

— June 2: Primary Election for eight state constitutional offices, four Board of Equalization seats, all 52 congressional seats, all 80 assembly seats, and 20 (even-numbered districts) state senate seats. Governor’s proclamation here.

— June 2: All ballots returned by mail must be postmarked on or before June 2 and received by county elections offices no later than June 9

— June 15: Deadline (by midnight) to pass new state budget

— July 2-August 3: Legislature on Summer Recess

— August 31: Legislature adjourns its 2026 session

— September 30: Last day for governor to sign or veto bills sent to him.

National

Highlights from Federal Government Relations Principal Louis Bertolotti’s weekly report

— A press release from Speaker Mike Johnson (LA-04) praised NFIB President Brad Close’s recent op-ed in the Washington Times on the positive impacts of the 20% Small Business Deduction.

— NFIB issued a Statement for the Record ahead of a HELP Subcommittee Hearing. Principal of Federal Government Relations Tyler Dever said, “Without serious action, small businesses will continue to suffer under the heavy weight of rising health costs.”

— NFIB issued a Letter of Support for H.R. 1897, the ESA Amendments Act of 2025. This legislation would help reduce red tape, permitting burdens, and frivolous lawsuits regarding the Endangered Species Act.

— The Washington Post editorial board called for the repeal of the Corporate Transparency Act, highlighting NFIB’s support and our previous lawsuit on the issue.

Next Main Street Minute: May 4. All Main Street Minutes can be found on the NFIB website here. Pull down the California tab in the upper-right-hand corner.