NFIB California Main Street Minute, July 22-26

Important webinar coming up August 8; NFIB weighs in on Prop. 33; The Little Hoover Commission's big nothing burger

Welcome to the July 22-26 edition of the Main Street Minute from your small-business-advocacy team in Sacramento.

You Need to Know This

Something very big has changed. Please circle August 8 on your calendar to learn about changes to the ‘Sue Your Boss’ law affecting every business owner in California.

What started out 20 years ago as an attempt to speed up the process employees could get their complaints against employers heard and adjudicated quickly instead turned into cash cow for lawyers that left little for the workers. More about the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) can be read in this one-page memorandum.

This year, an initiative headed for the November ballot sought to undo what lawyers had perverted upon the public. Seeing the writing on the wall, the legal industry agreed to some changes in the PAGA law in exchange for removing the ballot initiative.

NFIB State Director John Kabateck and Elizabeth Milito, executive director of NFIB’s Small Business Legal Center, will discuss how those changes will affect – and benefit – you and other small business owners. Thursday, August 8, 11 a.m. An invitation has been sent to all NFIB members in the state.

If you have not received your invitation, please email Grassroots Manager Taylor Criddle, [email protected].

NFIB Calls on Voters to Reject Propositions 32, 33

Today, July 22, NFIB will send out this news release announcing its opposition to Proposition 33, the November ballot initiative on rent control.

Last Monday (July 15), NFIB sent a news release explaining its reasons for opposing Proposition 32, the minimum wage ballot measure, and on July 10, NFIB announced its support for Proposition 36, The Homelessness, Drug Addiction, and Theft Reduction Act.

Two other measures NFIB was set to engage in have been removed from the ballot by a state Supreme Court decision (The Taxpayer Protection Act) and by a deal cut by the principals affected by the Private Attorneys General Act (see first story above.)

There are 10 initiatives altogether on the November ballot. A brief description of them can be read here.

The Legislature

One, Big Nothing Burger, Please–Hold the Substance Sauce

On June 14, last year, 66 bipartisan members of the Legislature signed a letter to the Little Hoover Commission asking it to take a look at retail theft.

“… We recognize the Commission’s long standing reputation as a trusted provider of independent research to the Legislature. That is why we request that the Commission shed light on this multi-faceted issue by investigating retail theft, shoplifting, and organized crime …”

More than a year later, in his July 11 “Letter from the Chair” that led off the commission’s report, Chairman Pedro Nava seemed to be forewarning people that not much lies ahead in the report, “We also offer suggestions on how to better tackle retail theft and its impacts through increased data collection and collaboration with research institutions.”

Yes! There’s the solution: increased data collection and collaboration with research institutions. That should stop retail thieves dead in their tracks.

On Page 14 of the 35-page report, under the section “THE AVERAGE VALUE OF REPORTED ITEMS SHOPLIFTED FROM CALIFORNIA INCREASED FROM $240 IN 1985 TO $876 in 2022 [capitalized in the report], it noted, “In 2022, retailers nationwide … experienced an estimated $112.1 billion in lost sales due to inventory shrink. Though there are yearly fluctuations, the reported primary causes of shrink – external and employee theft – have remained relatively stable in the recent past. The reasons for the recent increase in the average value of stolen goods are unclear. In interviews with Commission staff, researchers speculated that possible causes could include the increased portability of expensive goods, such as computers, or a more targeted approach to shoplifting. This appears to be an area in which more research is required.”

Here’s your order, legislators. One, Big Nothing Burger. It’s our Value Meal. Come visit us again at the Little Hoover Commission.

Speaking of Retail Theft …

Small business has its issues with Big Box retailers for very good reasons. However, it was impossible not to feel a little sympathy for Target after The Sacramento Bee’s Robin Epley tried to paint it as the perpetrator, not the victim, of retail theft.

“They [Target] need to stop calling the police if they don’t plan to utilize them, stop treating petty crimes as though they’re violent robberies, and stop persecuting and prosecuting poor and transient Sacramentans who are barely surviving, outside in a record heatwave.”

“My sympathy is for the people just trying to survive in a sweltering capitalist hellscape that’s often literally on fire.”

So, there you have it, you running dogs of capitalism, you’re the reason people are sprinting out of your store, bypassing the check-out stand, with armfuls of Duracell batteries, cosmetics, or laptops.

Wow! “Capitalist hellscape.” Would manufacturing East German Trabants be a better economic model under a better system to follow?

Calendar 

National

Highlights from NFIB Legislative Program Manager Caitlin Lanzara’s weekly report 

On July 17, America’s Small Business Network noted NFIB’s support of the Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Improvement Act in the U.S. House.

On July 16, Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg penned a new article in Forbes on small business owners’ uncertainty about the future of their business.

On July 15, NFIB sent a press release highlighting the small business wins from the recent U.S. Supreme Court term.

Next Main Street Minute, July 29.

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