Welcome to the September 15-19 edition of the Main Street Minute from your small-business-advocacy team in Sacramento.

Big Victory for Small Business

Compliments to NFIB’s federal advocacy team for a huge victory for small businesses. Scroll down to the first bullet under the ‘National’ section to find out more.

Help Stop a $335-million Increase in Health Insurance Premiums

NFIB members need no reminder about the high cost of health insurance. As measured by our quadrennial Small Business Problems & Priorities report, which ranks the 75 difficulties of running a Main Street enterprise, It’s been our No. 1 issue nationally for 39 consecutive years.

Elected officials also need no reminder about the Power of the Small Business Voice, which is why California Businesses for Affordable Health Care, which NFIB is a member of, is calling on small business owners to request Gov. Gavin Newsom’s veto of seven bills sent to him by the Legislature that will increase health-care premiums by $335 million.

Click here to reach the governor’s office to let him know your opinion.

The Legislature

They had to work an extra day past their scheduled September 12 adjournment, but legislators finally concluded their 2025 session.

They will not meet in a regular session again until Jan. 5, 2026. In the meantime, Gov. Gavin Newsom has a little over a month to sign, veto, or let become law without his signature bills sent to him from last week.

First, the good news

Three bills of benefit to small businesses passed and now await the governor’s decision. They are:

— Assembly Bill 265 (Caloza), establishing a Small Business Recovery Fund Act

— Assembly Bill 671 (Wicks), streamlining the approval process for local permits

— Senate Bill 72 (Caballero), addressing the future water needs of California.

As reported in previous Main Street Minutes, Senate Bill 690 (Caballero), which NFIB lobbied heavily for during its Leadership Day at the Capitol, was made a two-year bill. The measure would curb shakedown letters and lawsuits. Its fate will be known next year.

Also, as previously reported, two NFIB-backed measures aimed at reforming the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), Assembly Bill 609 (Wicks) and Senate Bill 607 (Wiener) were folded into the state budget and passed into law.

A fuller end-of-session report is forthcoming.

Now, for the bad news

In a Legislature under one-party control by huge margins, and within that party, leadership controlled by the progressive faction, it was expected a lot of legislation harmful for small businesses would emerge.

Nine measures in particular made it past last weekend’s finish line and now await the governor’s decision. Among the most troubling are:

— Assembly Bill 692 (Kalra), authorizing a person, local government, or worker-representative to bring a civil action against an employer on behalf of someone

— Senate Bill 261 (Wahab), allowing the public shaming of employers caught up in alleged labor law violations

— Senate Bill 294 (Reyes), establishing a Workplace Know Your Rights Act

— Senate Bill 512 (Perez), undermining Proposition 13 property tax protections

— Senate Bill 590 (Durazo), expanding paid leave benefits to anyone who could be considered the family equivalent of an employee.

Other subjects contained in bills sent to the governor include workplace surveillance tools, heat-related injuries, gift certificates, dispute resolution terms, the inclusion of sexual orientation in annual pay data reports, and vehicle ownership in relation to independent contracting.

More information in the forthcoming fuller report.

Lobbying the governor

From today to October 15, NFIB will be busy lobbying the governor to sign the above good-for-small-business bills and slam the veto stamp down on the bad ones.

Retail Theft Roundtable

NFIB was an early, loud, and persistent supporter of Proposition 36. “Small businesses are the most common and vulnerable victims of retail theft crimes and are the least able to defend themselves,” said State Director John Kabateck in announcing NFIB’s  endorsement of the ballot initiative.

“Proposition 36 addresses retail theft head-on by providing a way for law enforcement to go after criminals who are using the current law as a loophole to repeatedly commit smaller crimes that add up to devastating costs for small businesses and by protecting owners from criminals who are severely vandalizing mom-and-pop shops,” he said.

In one of the more memorable examples of political tone-deafness, Gov. Gavin Newsom and most the Legislature opposed Prop. 36, which went on to pass by 68% of the vote last November.

But is Proposition 36 working?

Californians Against Retail and Residential (CARRT), which NFIB is a member of and which spearheaded passage of Prop. 36, will be holding one of many planned roundtable discussions on it in San Diego on Monday, Sept. 22, between 10 a.m. and Noon at the North County Family Justice Center, 1050 Los Vallecitos Blvd., in San Marcos.

Participating in the discussions will be prosecutors, law enforcement, business leaders, and community stakeholders. Topics include what’s working—and what isn’t; best practices in enforcement and diversion; and developing collaborative, community-based solutions to reduce retail theft. More information is available from taraneh.sarebanha@sdcda.org of the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office.

More roundtables are being planned throughout the state.

NFIB News Release

September 9, California Comment on Latest Small Business Optimism Index

National

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

— BIG VICTORY! Under questioning from Rep. Roger Williams (TX-12) in a Financial Services Subcommittee hearing (minute 1:07:00), FinCEN Director Andrea Gacki announced, “It is our intention, along with the resolution and finalization of that [BOI] rule, to delete any information that was filed that is no longer required to be filed.”

In an NFIB press release, President and CEO Brad Close said, “FinCEN’s announcement… is a major win for Main Street.”

— NFIB filed an amicus brief in the case Enbridge v. Nessel. The case concerns Section 1446(b), which creates a procedural time limit of 30 days for defendants to remove a case from state to federal court.

Federal Newswire quoted Beth Milito: “NFIB urges the Court to recognize that there are equitable exceptions to the removal time limit so that important federal questions can be considered in federal court.”

— The NFIB Research Center released the August SBET survey, which found that the Small Business Optimism Index rose 0.5 points in August to 100.8, nearly three points above the 52-year average of 98. As Bloomberg reported: “While the NFIB said higher import duties may be starting to impact pricing, the net share of small businesses that raised prices dropped to 21%, the lowest reading of the year.”

Next Main Street Minute: September 22. All Main Streets Minutes can be found on the NFIB website here. Pull down the California tab in the upper-right-hand corner.