Retail theft bills advance, Plastic bags back in the news, Legislative session winding down fast
Welcome to the August 12-16 edition of the NFIB California Main Street Minute from your small-business-advocacy team in Sacramento.
First, a Thank-You
- We’re leading off this Main Street Minute with a special thanks to member Larry Fuqua, owner of Everyday Fitness in Redding, who made time for NFIB’s nationally listened-to podcast, the Small Business Rundown, to explain the ramifications of California’s minimum-wage law and the adjustments he’s had to make. No one speaks with more authority on small business issues than a small business owner and listening to Fuqua tells the reason why. More about the podcast and a link to it can be found here.
The Legislature
- Lawmakers returned from their summer recess last week and began work in the last month available to them before session’s end. NFIB is lobbying for or against 40 bills in the final home stretch.
- Four retail theft bills supported by NFIB (Assembly Bills 1960, 1972, 2943, and 3209) have advanced and could reach the governor’s desk by next week. In equally good news, four measures NFIB has fought against appeared stalled or close to death. They are:
— Assembly Bill 2374, which makes a mess out of client company/contractor relationships regarding janitors
— Assembly Bill 2499, adding more unlawful employment practices in paid time off laws
— Assembly Bill 2738, eliminating a court’s discretion on how to award plaintiff fees
— Assembly Bill 2421, further hindering an employer’s right to communicate to an employee
— Senate Bill 729, another health-care mandate.
- The legislative mill will slow slightly next week when Assembly and Senate leaders attend the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Only a week to finish all that needs to be done awaits them when they return.
- It will be like carrying a tray of finely poured martinis through a roomful of whirling Dervishes for NFIB from today through the August 31 deadline for bills to be sent to the governor and for the official end of the 2023-2024 session of the California State Legislature.
Plastic Bags Back in the News
- “California banned single-use plastic grocery bags in 2016, becoming the first state to take this major environmental step,” editorialized the Los Angeles Times last week (August 5). “But it’s not quite the environmental win it may seem. While the ban eliminated one ubiquitous source of plastic waste, it inadvertently opened the door for an even more pernicious one — those thicker convenience totes for sale at the checkout that were designed to be reused and recycled. News flash: They aren’t being reused in any meaningful way, and they can’t be recycled. Indeed, the total amount of trash from plastic bags that California sends to landfills has never been higher.”
- The ban traces its lineage back to the passage of Senate Bill 270 in 2014, which survived a ballot initiative challenge (Proposition 67) to it in 2016. “SB 270 is a de facto multi-million-dollar tax on California’s small businesses and shoppers,” commented NFIB State Director John Kabateck at the time. “Voters should be thrilled to have the opportunity to reverse it.”
- Alas, it was not to be, but then, the environmental promise SB 270 held out was not to be, either. This year, Assembly Bill 2236 and Senate Bill 1053 are promising to fix the whole thing.
- “This legislation [AB 2236, SB 1053] is supported by the California Grocers Association, which wouldn’t champion something that wasn’t going to work for its customers,” said the Times editorial. Maybe, maybe not. NFIB is monitoring both measures for, as the Times also put it, the “unintended consequences” – much nicer words than ‘the devil in the details.’
National
Highlights from NFIB Legislative Program Manager Caitlin Lanzara’s weekly report
- On August 1, NFIB Vice President of Federal Government Relations Jeff Brabant published an op-ed in The Washington Times urging Congress to repeal the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) and end the beneficial ownership reporting requirements for small businesses, the op-ed stated:
— “This regulation will crush small businesses, either with costs or criminal penalties. The National Federation of Independent Business has found that 83% of small businesses don’t even know the rule exists. That puts them at risk of massive fines or even jail time. They shouldn’t have to fear that, nor should they have to comply with such a burdensome mandate in the first place.” For more information see NFIB’s press release.
- The on-demand recording from the Legal Center’s August webinar Securing Your Small Business: Privacy and Data Security, presented by Scott Augenbaum, is available here.
- The Legal Center filed a brief supporting a coalition of industry and red state attorneys general petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the DC Court of Appeal’s decision rejecting the industry’s challenge to California’s Advanced Clean Cars program. The case, Diamond Alternative Energy v. EPA, is about California’s attempt to mandate electric vehicle sales while Americans who do not drive EVs pick up the tab. NFIB’s brief is here.
Next Main Street Minute August 19.
