For the legislative and political week November 15-19
Welcome to the November 15-19 edition of the NFIB California Main Street Minute from your NFIB small-business-advocacy team in Sacramento.
Thank You, Beth
- This week’s report begins with a big thank-you to NFIB California member Beth Booth, owner of Spaces Renewed in Oceanside (San Diego County), who stepped up to contribute her story to NFIB’s national Small Business Survival: “In Their Own Words” campaign, aimed at informing the public and Congress about the importance of not touching the Small Business Deduction in the tax code.
- In an NFIB news release sent nationally, Booth explains that her business has used the Small Business Deduction to hire local small businesses to assist with marketing and creative efforts: “All of these businesses depend on us,” she said. “Spaces Renewed is a great source of income for them … we’re dispersing it [savings from the deduction] into our local economy here. We aren’t keeping it; it’s going out into all of these other small businesses.” You can view the full video series here.
Vaccines
- The other big news of last week were vaccines.
- On November 9, NFIB joined the National Retail Federation and associations representing truckers, wholesale distributors, convenience stores, and others in filing a lawsuit against the Biden administration’s emergency temporary standard mandating vaccinations for employers of 100 or more workers or weekly testing for COVID-19 if they resist. A court has temporarily stayed the mandate.
- “In the challenge, NFIB argues that OSHA needed to use the typical notice-and-comment procedure for the mandate to gather public input, rather than depending on a rarely used, and ill-defined ‘emergency’ provision of the Occupational Health and Safety Act to immediately implement the mandate,” according to a news release issued by NFIB.
- Meanwhile, back in California, the state’s Cal OSHA is using its “typical notice-and-comment procedure” to solicit a response to its proposed “New COVID-19 Emergency Standards Amendments.”
- A coalition of 50 business associations, including NFIB, sent this four-page letter on November 8 to the acting chief of Cal OSHA detailing five concerns it has with what the state wants to do.
In the Media
- Sacramento radio powerhouse KFBK interviewed State Director John Kabateck about NFIB’s latest Small Business Economic Trends report, which can be read and listened to here.
- “Unfilled job openings, supply chain disruptions, inflation, a congress threatening more taxes add up to a bleak outlook for the nation’s and California’s leading job-creators,” Kabateck told The Epoch Times for a national story on supply-chain disruption.
Not Such a Gas
- From a November 11 news release from AAA, “The average price for self-serve regular gasoline in California is $4.65, which is three cents higher than last week and just two cents under the all-time record price of $4.67 reached on Oct. 9. 2012. The average national price is $3.42, which is unchanged from a week ago.
On the Federal Front
- Check out this deck of 15 slides assembled by Kevin Kuhlman, NFIB’s vice president of federal government relations, on the latest from Congress. Of particular interest are the four slides showing what the original House Build Back Better proposal called for in new mandates and taxes and what NFIB helped get removed in the newer version of the bill.
- Although there remain elements that trouble NFIB, its success in helping defeat so many bad ones really shows the value of membership and is worth sharing for those still on the fence about joining.
- President Biden plans to sign the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, today, November 15. Small business owners should know that the legislation does shorten the duration of the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC). A coalition of seven associations, including NFIB, sent this letter to Congress urging them not to shorten the ERTC. You can take action here if you want to lend your support.
- NFIB is hosting two webinars this week, the first is on Wednesday, November 17, and is titled, Tax Preparation for 2022 with JJ the CPA: PPP, EIDL, and ERC Considerations. On Friday, November 19, The Federal Covid-19 Vaccine Mandates – What You Need to Know About the New OSHA and Federal Contractor Vaccine Rules will be the subject. Register for either or both here.
Next Main Street Minute November 22.
