Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic Development and the Economy Hearing

I attended the hearing yesterday of the JEDE committee and got a good sense of what Go Biz is doing for small business.  A lot of information was imparted  and  I want to keep this email short so I just picked out a couple of things I thought you would be interested in.

The state gave the SBDCs $2 million and the SBA gave them $2 million and this was used to obtain over $200 million in capital  for  small businesses around the state . The state and SBA have done the same this year and they are about halfway through the year and have generated $94 million this year.

The business  portal opened in July last year. This provides information on business navigation,  a  service desk, permit assistance, Financial assistance and quick start guide. It also has information on International Trade and a California Tax Center.  Go to www.businessportal.ca.gov.

There was also mention of GoBiz trying to help with California regulations. Not a lot of information here but something to watch.

Panorea Avdis has done a great  job as Director and is making every effort to have Go Biz reach out to  businesses around the state. Jesse Torres, the Small Business Advocate, is also working hard to reach out to small businesses and he has set up quarterly meetings with a large number of stakeholders including Small Business California. He has had two meetings  so far and it is a good opportunity to hear about what he is doing and hear from small business leaders about issues that affect California small businesses. He also indicated he had done about 40 meetings  with small businesses around the state. He has been in his position less than a year. If you have an issue contact him at Jesses.Torres@Gov.CA.Gov

Small Business California’s crowd funding AB2178 does not have a date for its first committee stop { Assembly  Business and Professions } but we are adding more and more associations to our growing list of supporters. We now have about 25 associations signing onto a support letter. We have not only small business associations but a few large business associations. If you want a copy of letter let me know.


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