From your small-business-advocacy team in Sacramento
Welcome to the December 4-8 edition of the Main Street Minute from your small-business-advocacy team in Sacramento.
Broke Again
- California is hearing that all too familiar refrain again—the budget blues. December started off with this cheery news from the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office:
— “With the recent receipt of various postponed tax payments, the impact of recent economic weakness and last year’s financial market distress on state revenues has become clearer. The postponed payments came in much weaker than anticipated. As a result, we now estimate 2022-23 revenues to be $26 billion below Budget Act projections. Historical experience suggests this weakness is likely to carry into this fiscal year and next. Overall, our updated revenue outlook anticipates collections to come in $58 billion below Budget Act projections across 2022-23 to 2024-25.”
- An upside? Progressives will have less to spend but more incentive to squeeze additional tax revenue out of the Californians who pay the freight for those who pay nothing at all.
NFIB California Podcast
- The latest NFIB California Podcast features James Beckwith, president and CEO of Five Star Bank, who discusses post-pandemic business lessons, why the March failures of Silicon Valley Bank, First Republic, and Signature banks did not take the whole banking industry down, and why his Sacramento-based bank is making inroads into the San Francisco market.
No Mistletoe!
- That is the most emphatic piece of advice given in this NFIB web story on the Office Holiday Party Do’s and Don’ts.
Pigskin Payouts
- Aside from the much ballyhooed mud wrestling match between governors Gavin Newsom and Ron DeSantis and Friday’s dismal downer from the Legislative Analyst’s Office on the condition of state revenues, the only item of note last week was State Controller Malia Cohen’s release Tuesday (November 28) of the latest salary data for K-12 employees.
- The top wage earner in this category was the superintendent of the Ontario-Montclair school district at $447,641 a year. A more interesting read on the Government Compensation in California webpage is the Top List section of really big moolah-makers.
- Forget math and science, the top two state-employed, wage-earners were guys who teach students how to put a tight spiral on a football: the head coach at the University of California Los Angeles, $5.7 million a year, and the head coach at the University of California Berkeley, $4.1 million a year. (USC and Stanford are private institutions not subject to public scrutiny).
Calendar
- December 8, filing deadline for state office.
- December 28, Certified list of candidates for the March 5 Primary Election released.
- January. 3, 2024, the Legislature reconvenes.
- February 5, counties begin mailing ballots.
- February, last day to register to vote in the March Primary.
- March 5, Primary Election Day.
- More deadlines here.
National
Highlights from NFIB Legislative Program Manager Caitlin Lanzara’s weekly report
- On December 1, NFIB issued a Key Vote letter to the House of Representatives in support of Senator Kennedy’s Congressional Review Act resolution disapproving of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s small business reporting regulation and it passed 221-202. This regulation would increase the paperwork burden for small business owners applying for credit and place a significant regulatory burden on small community banks and credit unions, those most likely to service small businesses. Read NFIB’s press release here.
- On November 30, NFIB sent a letter to Leadership urging Congress to immediately act to delay the implementation of beneficial ownership information reporting under the Corporate Transparency Act.
— For more information, read the WSJ article, “The Coming Deluge for Small Business,” the feds and business aren’t ready for new reporting rules on Jan. 1. Small businesses are often hit hardest by regulation, and the latest federal dragnet is no exception. Under a statute aimed at reducing money laundering, millions of small businesses may soon be snared by onerous reporting requirements and fines for noncompliance.
— Read NFIB’s explainer here.
- This Wednesday (December 6), NFIB will host a webinar titled, “The 2024 Small Business Landscape – Legal, Regulatory, and Economic Updates for the New Year with Elizabeth Milito and Holly Wade.” Register here.
Next Main Street Minute December 11.
