Urgent Request To Sign Onto Support Letter for AB 1230

Small Business California and Assembly member Quintana needs your help. Please see request of Assembly member Quintana to add your signature to letter below. Include your business name ,your title and the location of your business. Please also forward to others.  You can help small businesses around the state with this simple request. Note I need by 5PM today.
Scott Hauge  Small Business California

Hi All,

I wanted to thank you for your continued support of AB 1230, which will help small businesses across California become ADA compliant.

We need your assistance and are asking you to share the attached letter with as many small businesses as you can. We are asking small businesses to sign onto our coalition letter by tomorrow at 5pm. You can collect the information (Position on AB 1230, Business Contact Person, Business Name, City of Business) and pass it along to me or you can have them respond or CC me in an email and I will add them onto the list.

Thank you again for your continued support,


Freddie Quintana|Legislative Aide
Assemblymember Jimmy Gomez
Chair, Assembly Committee on Appropriations
Representing the 51^st Assembly District
State Capitol Rm. 2114
Phone (916) 319-2051
Website |Facebook |Twitter |Instagram


The Honorable Edmund G. Brown
Governor, State of California
California State Capitol
Sacramento, CA. 95814

Re: Enrolled Bill, AB 1230 (Gomez) – Request for Signature


Dear Governor Brown,

Small businesses across California, such as ours, need your help. For nearly half a decade, an ever-growing number of small businesses across the state have become the target of predatory Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance lawsuits. Lawmakers, business associations and disabled rights advocates agree – we need a solution that protects small businesses from predatory litigators, while ensuring compliance and increased access for disabled Californians.

Assembly Bill 1230, authored by Assembly member Jimmy Gomez, provides one of the most significant steps towards a solution that we have seen. AB 1230 creates the California Americans with Disabilities Small Business Capital Access Loan Program to assist small businesses in qualifying for loans to retrofit existing facilities to comply with the federal ADA law. That’s why we respectfully ask for your signature on this bill.

As a small business with less than $1 million of annual income and 15 or fewer full-time employees, we work hard every day to serve our communities and cover all our costs. Part of that includes making sure we are compliant with all federal, state and local laws and regulations. We have a strong connection to the communities we serve and unequivocally want to ensure our locations are able to accommodate everyone. However, as a “mom and pop” small business we have extreme difficultly qualifying for a loan specifically for an ADA compliance retrofit because of our lack of cash reserves, assets and relationships with lenders.

Currently, a handful of attorneys are exploiting our difficulty to qualify for these loans by filing predatory lawsuits seeking monetary compensation rather than actual compliance with the law. These lawsuits hurt our businesses and exploit a law intended to protect the civil rights of those with disabilities.
Lawmakers, business associations and disabled rights advocates agree that AB 1230 provides a solution that both expands access for disabled Californians and helps businesses become compliant and avoid the abusive practices of predatory attorneys.

We respectfully request your signature on AB 1230.

Sincerely,


(Signature, if possible)
(Individual Name)
(Business Name, City of Business)

cc:        Michael Martinez, Deputy Legislative Secretary
            Nancy McFadden, Executive Secretary to Governor Brown
            Camille Wagner, Legislative Affairs Secretary to Governor Brown