Small Business California Activities

Small Business California has been busy this week. Please see status of bills. See letter from Lori who is our lobbyist. We are representing you aggressively in Sacramento and in many of these committees were the only business to testify.A big thanks to Lori Kammerer for all her hard work on our behalf.

I hope if you have not done so already you will join Small Business California.


Scott Hauge
President
Small Business California
2311 Taraval Street
San Francisco, CA 94116
shauge@cal-insure.com
415-680-2188


“Congratulations to Small Business California on the passage of SB Cal’s AB 2081 (Allen) – CA Accredited Investor Exemption – CA Jobs Act 2012!

Many Thanks to SB Cal President Scott Hauge, SB Cal Board Member Lee Petillon, Assemblymember Michael Allen and his Legislative Director David Miller for ensuring passage of AB 2081! We cleared several hurdles placed before us by the Assembly Banking and Finance Committee as they claimed that AB 2081 was unnecessary, due to the enactment of the Federal Jobs Act.

The Committee’s recommendation was to hold the bill in Committee, effectively killing it, until the federal regulations are crafted and implemented. SB Cal’s arguments that AB 2081 was the enabling statute necessary to provide better protections and higher standards than what could potentially come out in the federal regulations, along with the potential delays in implementation, proved to be the winning argument.

Scott and Lee delivered thorough and effective testimony when the bill was heard on Monday, 4/23 and we had secured 10 out of 12 votes in favor of AB 2081. However, during the last week of policy committee deadlines, the roll call closed before most of the members had a chance to voice their vote in support. Thanks to our author who is the Assistant Majority Leader of the Assembly and Asm Chuck Calderon, the Assembly Majority Leader, both were able to secure the necessary rule waivers from the Speaker in order to allow for another hearing off the Assembly Floor so that members could cast their vote on this bill. The final vote was 7-1, despite missing several Aye votes from Assembly Members who were presenting their own bills in several other hearings in order to meet the Thursday, April 26th legislative deadline for bills to pass from their policy committee on Thursday, 4/26.

 We have successfully cleared our first hurdle and from here, we move to the Assembly Appropriations Committee. We will have to work just as hard, if not as aggressive in this fiscal committee. SB Cal has presented some very strong arguments and we will have to address the Asm Banking and Committee’s questions on the necessity of this bill in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. By enacting AB 2081 now, rather than waiting for federal regulations to be adopted (months or years from now), small businesses will have the ability to access capital from Accredited Investors and use this funding to jump start their businesses. >From the Assembly Appropriations Committee, AB 2081 will move to the Assembly Floor.”

Below is the status of the actions taken on the bills that SB Cal is tracking and the updated Legislative Tracking Report. This was an incredibly productive week for SB Cal as all bills that are fiscal had to clear their policy committees by Thurs 4/26.

Mon 4/23

SB 969 (Vargas) Pet Groomers – Oppose Letter on Record Mon 4/23 1:00 p.m. Sen Business, Professions and ED Rm 3191 (Passed 5-3) to Approps

SB 1099 (Wright) Scheduled Regs – Co-Sponsor Support Letter on Record Mon 4/23 1:30 p.m. Sen Environmental Quality Rm 112 (Passed 7-0) Approps

AB 2081 (Allen) CAIE CA Jobs Act 2012 – Sponsor Support Letter on Record Mon 4/23 4:00 p.m. Asm Banking & Finance Rm 444 (Reconsidered)

AB 2523 (Hueso) Infrastructure & Economic Development Bank – Mon 4/23 4:00 p.m. Asm Banking & Finance Rm 444 (Passed 8-3) Approps


Tues 4/24

AB 1504 (Morrell) Regulations – Support Letter on Record Tues 4/24 9:00 a.m. Asm Bus Professions & Consumer Protection Rm 447 (Failed 3-5)

AB 2305 (Huffman) Franchisees – Support Letter on Record Tues 4/24 9:00 a.m. Asm Bus Professions & Consumer Protection Rm 447 (Failed 4-3)

Wed 4/25
SB 1234 (De Leon) Retirement Savings Plans – Oppose Letter on Record Wed 4/25 9:30 a.m. Sen Labor & Industrial Relations Rm 2040 (Pass 4-1) Approps

SB 1431 De Leon) Stop Loss Insurance – Concern – Wed 4/25 1:30 p.m. Sen Health Rm 4203 (Pass 5-3) Approps

Thurs 4/26

AB 2081 (Allen) CAIE CA Jobs Act 2012 – Sponsor Support Letter on Record Mon 4/23 4:00 p.m. Asm Banking & Finance Rm 126 (Passed 7-1) Approps


(Note: On Wed, SB Cal Supported SB 1196 (Hernandez) - Claims Data Disclosure in Sen Health Rm 4203 (Passed 9-0) Approps)