Welcome to the October 27-31 edition of the Main Street Minute from your small-business-advocacy team in Sacramento.

Legislation and Laws

As promised in previous Main Street Minutes, a complete wrap-up of the recently concluded 2025 session of the California State Legislature is now on the NFIB website, 2025 Session Report on the California Legislature.

The report starts out with some good news for small business, believe it or not.

One Reporter’s Take on the Session

Veteran capitol reporter George Skelton highlighted three big things to come out of the 2025 session for an article in the Los Angeles Times.

Housing

“Public pressure generated by unaffordable costs — both for homebuyers and renters — spurred the politicians into significant action to remove regulatory barriers and encourage much more development. The goal is to close the gap between short supply and high demand.

“The Legislature continued to peck away at the much-abused California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Opponents of projects have used the act to block construction for reasons other than environmental protection. Local NIMBYs — ‘Not in my backyard’ — have resisted neighborhood growth. Businesses have tried to avoid competition. Unions have practiced ‘greenmail’ by threatening lawsuits unless developers signed labor agreements.

Cap and Trade

“The state’s complex cap-and-trade program was extended beyond 2030 to 2045 … It’s funded by businesses buying permits to emit greenhouse gases and pays for lots of clean energy projects.

“But a questionable major piece of that legislation — demanded by Newsom — was a 20-year, $1-billion annual commitment of cap-and-trade money for California’s disappointing bullet train project.

“The project was sold to voters in 2008 as a high-speed rail line connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco. It’s $100 billion over budget and far behind its promised 2020 completion. No tracks have even been laid. The new infusion of cap-and-trade money will merely pay for the initial 171-mile section between Merced and Bakersfield, which the state vows to open by 2033. Hot darn!

Oil Drilling

“One gutsy thing Democratic legislators and the governor did — given that ‘oil,’ among the left, has become the new hated pejorative sidekick of ‘tobacco’ — was to permit production of 2,000 more wells annually in oil-rich Kern County.

“Credit the persistent Sen. Shannon Grove, a conservative Republican from Bakersfield who is adept at working across the aisle.

“’Kern County knows how to produce energy,’ she told colleagues during the Senate floor debate, citing not only oil but wind, solar and battery storage. ‘We are the experts. We are not the enemy.’”

FYI

Last Wednesday (October 22) the San Francisco Chronicle announced a new resource for its readers in this story, Newest map reveals who owns every property in California.

When a Main Street Minute editor punched in his address, he got the correct owner and a bit of additional information, “This property is likely owned through a trust because the owner name listed for this building includes ‘TR,’ which likely stands for ‘trust.’

“Trusts are an increasingly popular form of ownership. The Chronicle estimates that 31% of California properties are owned this way. It is common for at least the property owner’s family name to be included in a trust name. If not, however, it will be difficult to find information on the owner beyond what a search engine might turn up — public information about trusts isn’t easily available.”

Sound Advice

“Showing up isn’t just about having something perfect to say. It’s about being present when it matters,” writes NFIB California Leadership Council  Member Gary McKinsey in an article for LinkedIn, What Four Months Away from Writing Taught Me About Showing Up.

Calendar

— November 4: Statewide Special Election Day on Proposition 50. Click here for more information from the secretary of state.

— January 5, 2026: Legislature reconvenes

National

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

— The federal government remains shut down for an undetermined period of time, as Congress negotiates a funding agreement. NFIB has no position on this issue. Work continues, however. This week [October 20-24], our lobbying team held over 35 meetings with Hill offices, as we continue to advocate for the right of our members to own, operate, and grow their businesses.

— NFIB sent a letter to the U.S. Senate HELP Committee outlining how legislation under consideration by the Committee during its hearing entitled, “Labor Law Reform Part 2: New Solutions for Finding a Pro-Worker Way Forward,” would impact small businesses and their workforce.

Principal of Federal Government Relations Dylan Rosnick said, “NFIB appreciates the opportunity to describe how the legislation under consideration by this Committee would impact small businesses and their workforce. We look forward to working with you to find a pro-worker, pro-small business way forward.”

— The Energy Choice Act (H.R. 3699) surpassed 100 cosponsors this week, now backed by a bipartisan group of 112 members of Congress in the House and the Senate. Last month, NFIB released a letter of support for this bill, would ban energy bans at the state and local level. For example, it would preempt New York State’s All-Electric Buildings Act, which will prohibit all fossil fuel connections in new residential or commercial construction starting in January of 2026. You can learn more and take action here.

Next Main Street Minute: November 3. All Main Streets Minutes can be found on the NFIB website here. Pull down the California tab in the upper-right-hand corner.