FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: John Kabateck, California State Director, john@kabstrat.com
or Tony Malandra, Senior Media Manager, anthony.malandra@nfib.org

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Jan. 26, 2026) — NFIB, the nation’s leading small business association, filed an amicus brief in the case California Chamber of Commerce v. Bonta at the United States Court of Appeals for the 9^th Circuit. The case challenges California SB 399, California’s law restricting employers’ freedom to speak freely in the workplace.

“This law might be the best example of the nationally embarrassing regard California has of itself that what it codifies can supersede federal law and not just on a minor issue but one so foundational as the First Amendment proscribing ‘abridging the freedom of speech,’” said John Kabateck, State Director for NFIB in California. “It’s equal parts tragedy and comedy that striking SB 399 down would tell employers that, yes, they can safely communicate with the people they pay a wage to in a building they own or pay rent on.”

Beth Milito, Vice President and Executive Director of NFIB’s Small Business Legal Center added, “For more than 70 years, employers have had the right under federal law to meet with their employees to discuss labor-related issues that could affect their business and the workplace. California’s law not only violates the First Amendment; its vague definitions and arbitrary restrictions will negatively harm well-meaning small business owners. NFIB will continue to fight any attempts to restrict the free speech of small business owners in their own place of business.”

NFIB’s brief argues two main points: 1) California impermissibly regulates speech and any conduct regulated by SB 399 depends entirely on the content of the speech; and 2) the Supreme Court’s cases make clear that the government cannot exercise its authority in content- or viewpoint-discriminatory ways.

In 2022, NFIB joined a business coalition in challenging a similar law in Connecticut, and filed another similar lawsuit in Minnesota in 2024.

The NFIB Small Business Legal Center protects the rights of small business owners in the nation’s courts. NFIB is currently active in more than 40 cases in federal and state courts across the country and in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Keep up with the latest California small business news at www.nfib.com. Follow us on X @NFIB_CA and on Facebook @NFIB.CA.

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For over 80 years, NFIB has been advocating on behalf of America’s small and independent business owners, both in Washington, D.C., and in all 50 state capitals. NFIB is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member-driven association. Since our founding in 1943, NFIB has been exclusively dedicated to small and independent businesses and remains so today. For more information, please visit nfib.com.

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