Welcome to the June 9-13 edition of the Main Street Minute from your small-business-advocacy team in Sacramento.

Big Victory for Small Business

Thank you to all the NFIB members who responded to your Action Alert on Senate Bill 310, which would have undermined the recent Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) reforms NFIB labored long and hard to achieve by gifting trial attorneys a new means of leveraging wage-and-hour cases against employers of every size for inflated settlements.

Your help stopped SB 310 from passing its June 6 house-of-origin deadline for measures to make it out of one chamber (Senate or Assembly) over to the next chamber, forcing its sponsor, Sen. Scott Wiener, to request it be moved to the inactive file.

“California’s small business owners cannot afford more litigation abuse. NFIB strongly urges a NO vote on SB 310 (Wiener),” wrote NFIB California Policy Director Tim Taylor in a letter to all Democratic members of the Senate. NFIB also teamed up with 86 other business groups for a joint Floor Alert to members of the Senate.

In the end, we believe that it was our members who made the difference, because no one commands the attention of elected officials better than small business owners whom they know to be the most respected members of every community. And, because we’ve seen it work time and time again.

More Good News

The following NFIB-supported bills passed their houses of origin: Sen. Roger Niello’s SB 84, giving business owners 120 days to correct violations; Sen. Kelly Seyarto’s SB 70, improving the Small Business Procurement and Contract Act; Sen. Anna Caballero’s SB 690 on the processing of personal information; and Assemblymember Jessica Caloza’s AB 265, establishing the Small Business Recovery Fund Act.

Victories in Defeat

Nine of the 26 measures NFIB tucked under its ‘Bad for Small Business Bills’ list either failed in a committee or missed last Friday’s deadline.

Now, for the Bad News

Making it out of the Assembly or Senate and into the opposite chamber were 17 bills not at all helpful for small businesses, including the ominous sounding Workplace Know Your Rights Act (SB 294).

Measures making it easier to bring civil action against an employer (AB 692), making gift certificates more easily redeemable for cash (SB 22), expanding the definition of family relationship for the purposes of paid leave (SB 590), and constricting independent contractors once again (SB 809) are just a few of proposals lurking in a dark alley waiting for a Main Street entrepreneur to wander by.

Only one thing is certain—when alerted, small business owners are the best cavalry you can have ride to the rescue.

Next Up: The State Budget

How do you plug a $12 billion hole? We should know this week. Lawmakers have until Sunday, June 15, to pass a spending plan for the 2025-2026 Fiscal Year or start losing their pay.

Unscheduled Legislative Recess Coming Soon

“Few places in the U.S., if any, are more at risk of catastrophic flood than Sacramento,” the San Francisco Chronicle reports. “The flood plains of Sacramento are a geologic world away from the more cinematic California of coastal crags and lofty peaks. Yet that sometimes overlooked region could be home to one of California’s great disasters waiting to happen, according to a February report from First Street, a prominent climate risk prediction firm.”

On that cheerful news, the following section is tentative.

Calendar

— June 15: Budget bill must be passed by midnight.

— July 4: Independence Day. Legislature not in session.

— July 18: August 17 Summer recess.

— August 26: NFIB California’s Leadership Day at the Capitol

— September 12, 2025-January 5, 2026: Interim recess of the 2025-2026 session of the California State Legislature.

— October 15: Last day for governor to sign or veto bills passed before September 12.

National

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

— The Senate returned from its Memorial Day recess to begin consideration of HR 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the House-passed reconciliation package. Senate Majority Leader Thune (R-SD) aims to have a modified bill on the floor the week of June 23, 2025, with the goal of getting a final bill to President Trump’s desk by July 4, 2025.

— The House advanced tax reconciliation package would make permanent and increase the 20% small business deduction to 23%. The bill is now being considered in the U.S. Senate. Key Vote Letter.

— NFIB released a fact sheet outlining how the One Big Beautiful Bill Act benefits small businesses.

Next Main Street Minute:  June 16. All Main Streets Minutes can be found on the NFIB website here. Pull down the California tab in the upper-right-hand corner.