For the legislative and political week October 10-14
Welcome to the October 10-14 edition of the NFIB California Main Street Minute from your NFIB small-business-advocacy team in Sacramento.
Topline
- Governor to call special session on oil industry profits
- NFIB shifts into campaign gear
Governor to Call Special Session
- Gov. Gavin Newsom announced last week that he plans to call a special session to address what he termed “one of the greatest fleecings for consumers in world history.”
- Oil industry profits are the target of his ire. According to CalMatters, “Gas prices in California have soared in recent weeks to an average of $6.39 per gallon, as of Friday, according to AAA, near the highest they’ve ever been. That compares to a national average of $3.89 per gallon.”
- But wait. Is it all the fault of the oil industry? In the same CalMatters article, Kevin Slagle, a spokesman for the Wester Petroleum Association minces no words, “If this was anything other than a political stunt, the governor wouldn’t wait two months and would call the special session now, before the election. This industry is ready right now to work on real solutions to energy costs and reliability if that is what the Governor is truly interested in.”
- The special session would start concurrently with a post-election, new Legislature scheduled to convene on December 5.
- Is there a better way? Yes, say Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher and Vince Fong, vice-chair of the Assembly Budget Committee, in this letter to Governor Newsom and the speaker of the Assembly and president pro tem of the State Senate.
- “We respectfully are requesting you to reconsider your denial of our attempts to suspend the state’s gas tax, which is now adding 54 cents to every gallon of gas.
- “It was especially disturbing to learn yesterday that Democrats are considering a Special Legislative Session with the goal of increasing taxes. Republicans call on you to immediately retract this proposed effort. The only reason why a Special Legislative Session would be warranted would be to suspend the gas tax, reduce the fees and regulations that make California gas so much more expensive, and allow permits to increase production to lower gas prices.”
Back to the Legislature
- The Good, Bad, and Ugly bill summary of the 2021-2022 session of the California State Legislature has been updated. This one page of bulleted information is designed to give everyone a flavor of the best and worst from Sacramento.
- Some of those bills, along with many others, can be found in this updated 2021-2022 Victories from the California State Legislature story.
NFIB Shifts into Campaign Gear
- The NFIB CA PAC publicly announced the endorsements of three more legislative candidates last week. That brought to 16 the number of news releases sent out endorsing candidates for the State Assembly and State Senate. There are nine more to come. All can be found on the nfib.com/ca webpage.
- Also, a news release from NFIB CA PAC will go out this morning (September 10) opposing Proposition 30.
—“Prop. 30 is an assault on the American system of free and fair markets,” said John Kabateck, California state director for the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), speaking for the NFIB CA PAC, which voted to oppose Prop. 30. “Few things are more irritating to small-business owners than a big company attempting to game the system for its own benefit at the expense of others, namely Main Street job creators, who play by the rules.
— “If Prop. 30 becomes law, thousands of small businesses that rely on their ability to deliver their goods will be forced to pay for new vehicles that meet upcoming state emissions requirements while one company, Lyft, makes off with a king’s ransom.
— “Also, who’s to say the so-called rich will choose to remain in our state for yet another tax increase on them. And when their tax revenues vanish, guess who will have to make up for the lost money for our schools, roads, and hospitals? The rest of us.”
- NFIB California Leadership Council Chairman Sunder Ramani is also hitting the campaign trail. He attended an event for NFIB CA PAC-endorsed Suzette Valladares, who has a strong bond with NFIB, including as a guest on one of the NFIB California podcasts last year. [Photo below]
- NFIB’s Federal Pac last week launched paid media campaign of digital advertising supporting the reelection of U.S. Rep. Michelle Steele in California’s 45th Congressional District.
NFIB California in the News
- “Workers should have an opportunity to care for themselves and their families, but once again this is a classic example of big labor and progressive leaders going over the top and leveraging Covid to fatten that leave basket,” State Director John Kabateck told Bloomberg Tax.
NFIB National
Highlights of the week from NFIB Legislative Program Manager Caitlin Lanzara
- On October 5, NFIB published an article on “Panel Explains the Fight to Stop Big Tech’s Anti-Competitive Attacks on Small Business.” Read it here.
— “Presently Google controls 90% of all online searches, and in 15 of 23 major product categories Amazon accounts for 70% of online transactions,” explained Mitch Relfe, NFIB’s Manager of Government Relations. “This dominance mandates that virtually all small businesses must rely on these companies in some capacity for access to consumers. They truly are the modern gatekeepers over the internet. Unfortunately, monopoly status is leading to increased anti-competitive behavior by Big Tech.”
— Take Action here: Tell Congress that as a small business owner, you support reining in Big Tech companies and ensuring a fair and level playing field for small business users.
- On October 3, NFIB sent letters in support of S. 4674 and H.R. 8874, the Credit Card Competition Act of 2022, which would bring much-needed competition to the credit card processing market by allowing small businesses the freedom to choose between multiple processing networks.
— Read NFIB’s article here.
— Read the NFIB’s press release here.
— Take Action here: Tell Congress to rein in credit card swipe fees and allow small business owners the ability to choose between credit card networks.
- Last Tuesday (October 4), NFIB released its latest Jobs Report.
- Also on Tuesday, NFIB posted this one-minute video on its Guardian of Small Business Award.
Next Main Street Minute October 17.
