General Election of 2024 in final month. Special session update
Welcome to the October 7-11 edition of the NFIB California Main Street Minute from your small-business advocacy team in Sacramento.
Election in High Gear
- We’re into the last month of the 2024 campaign. This is the week voters will receive their General Election mail ballots from their county registrars.
- NFIB State Director John Kabateck had a busy past two weeks speaking to groups and the media about Proposition 32, which would raise California’s minimum wage rate.
- In one interview with NPR-affiliate KQED in San Francisco last Tuesday (October 1), a cool and collected Kabateck bested a nasty and borderline unhinged Joe Sanberg (“Trumpian Lies!”), Prop. 32’s leader, by showing what superior reasoning and command of the facts can overcome. For those wanting to get right to the exchange, they can pick it up at the 16-minute mark of the 56-minute segment.
- On September 25, Yahoo News published a story from Patch quoting Kabateck about the initiative. In between, Kabateck addressed many small civic groups on the ballot initiative, which both they and the media are most interested to get NFIB’s opinion on.
- Momentum shifting?
- “A significant change compared to the early August poll reveals that support for Proposition 32, a measure to initially increase the state minimum wage, dipped below 50%,” reports the Los Angeles Times on a poll just put out by the newspaper in collaboration with the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Affairs. “Two months ago, 52% of voters said they would vote to raise the minimum wage, but as of late September, only 46% were in favor of doing so.”
Speaking of Those Poll Results
- On two other ballot initiatives NFIB is either supporting (Prop. 36) or opposing (Prop. 33), the Times/IGA poll found:
- “A solid majority of likely California voters support Proposition 36, the November ballot measure that would impose stricter penalties for retail theft and crimes involving fentanyl.”
- “Support has … become lukewarm on Proposition 33, which would expand the local government’s authority to enact rent control. In early August, 40% of voters said they would vote in favor, but in late September that number went down to 37%.”
- Attention Sacramento-area members: For those want to keep up the drumbeat on Prop. 36, Assemblymember Josh Hoover is holding a Yes on 36 rally on Wednesday (October 9) at Miller’s Ace Hardware, 8077 Madison Ave., Citrus Heights, beginning at 9 a.m.
- Some key election dates and NFIB’s legislative endorsements and ballot initiative recommendations can be found in this story on the NFIB California web page.
The Legislature
- Reporter Hanna Kang of the Southern California Newspaper Group (L.A. Daily News, Orange County Register, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Long Beach Press Telegram, etc.) is the first out of the box with a ‘new laws’ story, which generally surface in all the media in December as part of their ‘new laws taking effect’ stories.
- Refreshing it was to see a law NFIB lobbied for listed among all the other non-small-business items in Kang’s story, which gives us a chance to once again thank Assemblymember Diane Dixon for her authoring of Assembly Bill 2337.
— “Workers’ compensation forms that require a signature, including a notary’s signature, are now allowed to be signed electronically.
— “Dixon, who’s behind the legislation, said the use of e-signatures was originally a measure to encourage safety during the COVID-19 pandemic.
— “’Now it will be used as a commonplace measure and will make workers’ compensation appeals proceedings quicker and more efficient,’ she said.”
- By the end of his September 30 deadline to sign or veto legislation, 1,206 bills had been put on the governor’s desk in 2024. He signed 1,017 into law and vetoed 189. From the 5,562 bills* listed on the Legislature’s website for the entire 2023-2024 session, NFIB narrowed to 106 the ones most important to small businesses during the two years. (*this number is subject to change and can be found here.)
- NFIB will highlight the small business victories from the 2023-2024 session and some of the big disappointments in future Main Street Minutes.
Oh, Yes, About the Special Session
- It’s tough to avoid being flippant about it, but to think Governor Newsom and the Legislature are going to ride to the rescue on high gas prices in the ways they want to go about it does challenge seriousness. More serious is the collective breath the entire citizenry of California will be holding to see if Assembly Bill X2-1 only exacerbates the problem.
- Among too many other things, the measure would require oil refineries to store more oil in reserve for those times when the refineries have to suspend operations to make repairs on their equipment. Storage that hasn’t been built and the capital for which is not expected to come to a state that wants to ban all gas-powered vehicles by 2035.
- Senate President Mike McGuire at first stood firm against his chamber participating in any special session, until he didn’t. He later said he’d call a special if the Assembly came up with something his members could vote on. Well, it did, passing ABX2-1 last week (October 1).
- McGuire’s Senate will now hold its own hearings today (October 7) and tomorrow (October 8) with a floor vote also scheduled this week on Friday (October 11).
Calendar
- October 21, Last day to register to vote
- November 5, General Election Day
- November 30, National Shop Small Business Saturday Campaign
- December 2, a new Legislature for the 2025-2026 session convenes for organizational purposes and to collect a per diem before adjourning for the rest of the month.
- January 6, the 2025-2026 session of the California State Legislature opens for regular business.
National
Highlights from NFIB Federal Government Relations Principal Josselin Castillo’s weekly report
- NFIB’s Research Center released the September Jobs Report, which shows that 34% (seasonally adjusted) of small business owners reported job openings they could not fill in September, down six points from August and the lowest reading since January 2021.
- ICYMI: Jeffrey Wakeen, Harrisburg small business owner & NFIB member, penned an op-ed in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He explains the importance of the Small Business Deduction and why Congress should make it permanent before it expires in 2025.
- NFIB released Episode 45 of the Small Business Rundown podcast, featuring Small Business Legal Center Executive Director Beth Milito and guest speaker attorney Caleb Kruckenberg, on the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) beneficial ownership reporting requirements for small businesses and their lawsuit challenging the rule.
This Main Street Minute can also be read on the NFIB California webpage here. Next Main Street Minute October 14.
