In an October 16 email sent to them, NFIB California thanked its small-business-owning members for their help in getting Gov. Gavin Newsom to veto Senate Bill 512 before his October 12 deadline to act on legislation.

“This is a huge win for small business,” said the email. “SB 512 would have allowed local elected officials to codify ‘workarounds’ by lowering the two-thirds voting threshold for approval of special taxes, undermining Prop 13. Governor Newsom heard you loud and clear, and vetoed Senate Bill 512!”

According to the bill’s language, passage “would authorize the voters of any district that has authority to impose a transactions and use tax for transportation purposes to impose a retail transactions and use tax by an initiative measure.”

NFIB and its coalition partners’ letter of opposition to the State Assembly can be read here. The coalition’s ‘Request for Veto’ letter to the governor can be read here. The governor’s veto message was terse, “this bill is unnecessary.”

The Power of the Small Business Voice

— In Gallup’s latest, annual U.S. Confidence in Institutions report, small business came in 1st among the 17 institutions measured, with 68% of Americans having a ‘Great deal’ or ‘Quite a lot’ of confidence in Main Street business owners. Organized Labor came in 9th with a combined 28% and Big Business 15th with 16%.

— Likewise, in a 2024 survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, 86% of Americans ranked small business first in having a positive effect on the way things are going in the country. Labor unions came in fourth with 55% and large corporations last with 29%.

Those two facts, along with others, can be found on this one-page document, The Power of the Small Business Voice.