Small Business California Updates

We are in the last week of our annual survey.  As of today we have 515 responses.  We will close the survey March 3.
Thank you to all of you that have completed and for those that haven’t please take a few moments to do so.
Below is the live link to the survey: 
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SBCAL2015

Friday February 27 is the last day to introduce legislation in the first year of a two year session.

Small Business California will continue to review bills but here is an initial list of bills we will be supporting:

AB 184 Garcia.  This bill establishes the Small Business Technical Assistance Center within the California Infrastructure  and Economic Development Bank.  For the first time  in over a decade, California will have a link to key federal small business assistance centers including those that focus on services, women, veterans and prospective government contractors, as well as all service offices of the SBDCs.

AB 185 Garcia.  This bill would establish a New Markets tax credit for small businesses with up to 250 employees. This was vetoed by the Governor last year.

AB312 Jones. This bill would eliminate the 100% requirement that a product be Made in the USA to use the Made in USA or Made in America label.  It replaces the 100% requirement all or virtually all made in USA.

AB437 Atkins. This bill would allow for the monetization of tax credits for Research and Development where small businesses do not have enough taxes to take full advantage of the tax credit.  It allows 10-15% of the unused portion of the credit.

SB 178 Leno.  This bill would require a warrant before a  government  agency can search electronic equipment.  There are provisions allowing a search under certain circumstances.  This bill was vetoed last year by the Governor.

SB 197 Block.  This bill would allow  licensed lender to pay referral fees to unlicensed individuals and remove a competitive advantage that alternative lenders have as they are not licensed lenders.  The fees would only be paid once the loan is made and it requires the loan to be for at least a year and be underwritten by the lender.  This is sponsored by our friends at CAMEO.

For the full language of bills go to www.leginfo.ca.gov.

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