Final Rule for Notification of Employee Rights

Please see the new requirements for businesses below (or click on the link provided). NLRB is going to require employers to post this notice and put it on the internet (or intranet cite). It will be required to be posted by Nov 14 2011. There are exemptions, but it is so confusing that I would still recommend that all small businesses post this November 14th. I talked to someone at NLRB to sort out which type of small businesses would be exempt from this requirement. According to NLRB, even through my insurance agency, I would not be exempt because the majority of the insurance policies that I sell originate out-of-state. He even went so far as to say if I buy office products from out-of-state manufacturers for my business, it may hit the threshold to require my posting. Keep in mind it doesn’t matter if I buy them from a California company. If you are a labor attorney I welcome your thoughts.

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

https://www.nlrb.gov/news-media/fact-sheets/final-rule-notification-employee-rights

Final Rule for Notification of Employee Rights

Background:

The National Labor Relations Board has issued a Final Rule requiring most private-sector employers to notify employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act by posting a notice. The rule is scheduled to be posted in the Federal Register on August 30, 2011, and will take effect 75 days later.

Employers should begin posting the notice on November 14, 2011. Copies of the notice will be available on the NLRB website and from NLRB regional offices by November 1.

Similar postings of workplace rights are required under other federal workplace laws. The 11-by-17-inch notice is similar in content and design to a notice of NLRA rights that must be posted by federal contractors under a Department of Labor rule.

The notice of rights will be provided at no charge by NLRB regional offices or can be downloaded from the Board website and printed in color or black-and-white. Translated versions will be available, and must be posted at workplaces where at least 20% of employees are not proficient in English.

Employers must also post the notice on an intranet or an internet site if personnel rules and policies are customarily posted there.


Questions and Answers:

Does my company have to post the notice?

The posting requirement applies to all private-sector employers (including labor unions) subject to the National Labor Relations Act, which excludes agricultural, railroad and airline employers. In response to comments received after the proposed rule was announced, the Board has agreed to exempt the U.S. Postal Service for the time being because of that organization’s unique rules under the Act.

When will the notice posting be required?

The final rule takes effect 75 days after it is posted in the Federal Register, or on November 14, 2011.

There is no union in my workplace; will I still have to post the notice?

Yes. Because NLRA rights apply to union and non-union workplaces, all employers subject to the Board’s jurisdiction (aside from the USPS) will be required to post the notice.

I am a federal contractor. Will I have to post the notice?

The Board’s notice posting rule will apply to federal contractors, who already are required by the Department of Labor to post a similar notice of employee rights. A contractor will be regarded as complying with the Board’s notice posting rule if it posts the Department of Labor’s notice.

I operate a small business. Will I have to post the Board’s notice?

The rule applies to all employers subject to the Board’s jurisdiction, other than the U.S. Postal Service. The Board has chosen not to assert its jurisdiction over very small employers whose annual volume of business is not large enough to have a more than a slight effect on interstate commerce. The jurisdictional standards are summarized in the rule.

How will I get the notice?

The Board will provide copies of the notice on request at no cost to the employer beginning on or before November 1, 2011. These can be obtained by contacting the NLRB at its headquarters or its regional, sub-regional, or resident offices. Employers can also download the notice from the Board’s website and print it out in color or black-and-white on one 11-by-17-inch paper or two 8-by-11-inch papers taped together. Finally, employers can satisfy the rule by purchasing and posting a set of workplace posters from a commercial supplier.

What if I communicate with employees electronically?

In addition to the physical posting, the rule requires every covered employer to post the notice on an internet or intranet site if personnel rules and policies are customarily posted there. Employers are not required to distribute the posting by email, Twitter or other electronic means.

Many of my employees speak a language other than English. Will I still have to post the notice?

Yes. The notice must be posted in English and in another language if at least 20% of employees are not proficient in English and speak the other language. The Board will provide translations of the notice, and of the required link to the Board’s website, in the appropriate languages.

Will I have to maintain records or submit reports under the Board’s rule?

No, the rule has no record-keeping or reporting requirements.

How will the Board enforce the rule?

Failure to post the notice may be treated as an unfair labor practice under the National Labor Relations Act. The Board investigates allegations of unfair labor practices made by employees, unions, employers, or other persons, but does not initiate enforcement action on its own.

What will be the consequences for failing to post the notice?

The Board expects that, in most cases, employers who fail to post the notice are unaware of the rule and will comply when requested by a Board agent. In such cases, the unfair labor practice case will typically be closed without further action. The Board also may extend the 6-month statute of limitations for filing a charge involving other unfair labor practice allegations against the employer. If an employer knowingly and willfully fails to post the notice, the failure may be considered evidence of unlawful motive in an unfair labor practice case involving other alleged violations of the NLRA.

Can an employer be fined for failing to post the notice?

No, the Board does not have the authority to levy fines.

Was there a public comment period? What was the response?

The Board received more than 7,000 public comments after posting a notice of the proposed rule in the Federal Register. A detailed description of the comments and the Board’s response to them, including responsive modifications to the rule, may be found in the Preamble to the Final Rule.

UPDATE: Stakeholder Recommendations for Small Business

Earlier in the week I said that Mike Rossi , the Governors Senior Advisor on economic development, was looking for ideas from small business on what California could do to strengthen California small businesses. Please see below for the list that was compiled by Toni Symonds from the JEDE committee. Please note this is not an all inclusive list and some recommendations were not included. Also there was not necessarily a consensus. The time did not allow Toni to go through that process. Some of you will see the recommendations that you sent to me. Click the image below to enlarge and click again to zoom in. Thank you


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

Peter Lee Named as ED of Exchange/ Out of State Internet Tax Collections

It was announced this morning that Peter Lee has been named as Executive Director of the California Health Benefit Exchange. I think this is good news for California small businesses because he has a wealth of health policy experience. He was Executive Director of the Pacific Business Group on health running Pac Advantage.

I know Peter well as he was involved in my being appointed to the Board of Pacific Business Group on Health. This organization has around 50 large companies that have over 3 million employees covered by their health plans..
Peter has over 25 years experience in health policy.
Peter currently serves as Deputy Director for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation at the Centers for M3edicare and Medicaid Services in Washington DC.

Small Business California is going to be very active in trying to maintain the collection of sales tax by out of state internet companies when they make sales in California. As I think you all know this was part of the Governors budget. Amazon is currently in the process of trying to get a measure on the June ballot to repeal this. I am going to be writing pieces on why this will help small business brick and mortar stores and why it will help small businesses by eliminating paperwork in the maintenance of receipts and paying the use tax.
If you are a businesses that is impacted please let me know and what this means to you.


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

When should you be REQUIRED to do a seismic upgrade? Take the survey.

Please find survey from the Earthquake Engineering Institute. They have asked Small Business California to circulate a survey to small businesses around the state. They are also working with the Building Owners and Managers Associations in LA and SF. They are trying to determine when seismic retrofits should be required. The survey should take about 10 minutes.

****

When should you be REQUIRED to do a seismic upgrade? Take the survey.

The Earthquake Engineering Research Institute is studying code change proposals and seeks your input. Their short survey about building alterations and triggered upgrades is at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FN3BGTK.

Say you're doing a tenant improvement or a mechanical upgrade. Should the building code also require a seismic evaluation -- and possibly a retrofit -- even if your project wouldn't touch the structural system? You can contribute to the code change process by taking a survey developed by structural engineers funded by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (www.eeri.org). The 2010 CBC triggers upgrades in a few cases already, but some are asking whether the code should be more proactive about seismic mitigation. What role should the code play in a city's mitigation plan? Would code-triggered upgrades reduce risk or would they just discourage modernization projects? Should a seismic trigger be related to project cost? Should certain building types be exempted -- or targeted?

Take the survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FN3BGTK. For more about the study, contact David Bonowitz, S.E. at dbonowitz@att.net.

David Bonowitz, S.E.
605A Baker Street
San Francisco, CA 94117
415-771-3227
dbonowitz@att.net

****

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For those of you that have been on this email tree for awhile you know of my involvement with Volunteers In Medicine and Clinic by the Bay in SF.
For those of you new to the email Volunteers in Medicine is a National program setting up free clinics around the country using retired physicians, nurses and lay volunteers. They take no government money and have 85 clinics around the country in 25 states. They serve about 100000 people in these clinics and have around 350000 patient visits. I am the Vice Chair of Volunteers in Medicine www.volunteersinmedicine.org

In California there are three Volunteer in Medicine Clinics. They are located in El Cajon, Indio and San Francisco. I am the cofounder of Clinic by the Bay in San Francisco along with Janet Reilly. We opened the clinic September 30th 2010. We are open 8 hours a week and are now serving about 120 patient visits a months. I am excited to tell you that September 8 we will be expanding to twelve hours a week. Our goal is that within 3 to 5 years we will be open full time.

For those of you in the Bay Area you might know John Legnitto. John works for Recology and serves as Chairman of the Board of the SF Chamber. I am pleased to tell you he just last week he was voted in as a member of our Board.

I am involved in a number volunteer activities but there is none that gives me more pleasure than Volunteers in Medicine and Clinic by the Bay www.clinicbythebay.org


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

Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic Development and the Economy (JEDE)

Last Thursday (8/18/2011), the Small Business Advisory committee to the Assembly Committee on Jobs Economic Development and the Economy[JEDE] met with Mike Rossi, the newly appointed Senior Jobs Advisor for the Governor. Ginnie Mistal who serves on the Board of Small Business California was also in attendance. Mr. Rossi asked for recommendations on how the state can help small businesses. What are your ideas?

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Double-Whammy Hits Small Business Sector

I have worked with Dr. Bornstein on the issue regarding toxic small business loans as a result of decreased home values and the impact on small business credit. Please note that California is the epicenter of this problem. This article is in the American Banker website and additional information on Dr. Bornstein is listed below.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Double-Whammy Hits Small Business Sector

By Kate Berry

August 18, 2011 1:56 pm EDT


The tepid demand for credit from small businesses may be more directly related to the mortgage boom and bust than it appears.

Obviously, the continued slump in the housing market is one reason for a weak economic recovery that has sapped overall demand for goods and services, and hence small businesses' growth prospects. But many business owners also took out toxic mortgages on their homes during the bubble years. Now in default or foreclosure, they cannot access credit just as their firms' sales are tanking

Now "the value of small businesses' collateral has gone down, often by substantial amounts," Dennis says. "You add to that weak sales, and it's dampened their enthusiasm to hire or expand."

Samuel D. Bornstein, an accounting professor at Kean University School of Business, has conducted surveys suggesting that over half of alternative-A mortgages in California alone went to small-business owners.

Such high exposure to bad home loans could delay the recovery of small business hiring — and of the rest of the economy — for years.

"There's an unrecognized link between small businesses, toxic mortgages and the housing crisis," says Bornstein, who has been studying small business failures since 2000.

"Small business owners are always looking to quench their need for cash and the mortgage companies were targeting them, letting them refinance into risky loans."

In 2008 and 2009, Bornstein conducted three surveys of small business owners. He found that they were eager to tap the equity in their homes to fund their operations, but then struggled when home prices dropped and access to credit shriveled.

According to Bornstein's surveys, 75% of toxic mortgages to small business owners were issued in the four states with high levels of foreclosure: California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona. In California alone, 52% of bad home loans went to small business owners.

Historically, small businesses that employ 1 to 20 people have been the first to recover from economic downturns, but that hasn't happened this time around.

In a study this year, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that jobs fell 10% from December 2007 to December 2009 at businesses with less than 50 employees, compared with a 7.5% decline in jobs at larger firms. That pattern was noticeably different from the 2001 recession, according to the New York Fed.

Now Bornstein and other industry experts are sounding an alarm about alternative-A mortgages that are resetting this year and next, saying those resets will disproportionately impact small business owners and, by extension, the overall economy.

Alt-A loans typically did not require any documentation of a borrower's income. Such loans allowed a borrower to make interest-only payments for between three to five years, and many contained "pay option" features in which the principal balance on the mortgage increases every month.

Though interest rates are at record lows, borrowers still face big increases in their monthly mortgage payments because the principal balances have gone up dramatically.

"Another wave of defaults looms on the horizon," Bornstein says.

Rick Sharga, a senior vice president at the data firm RealtyTrac Inc., has estimated that $200 billion of alt-A adjustable-rate mortgages will start resetting this year. Many of the properties have lost between 30% to 50% of their value, making it a near-certainty that some borrowers will stop making their mortgage payments because they owe far more on their loan than the home is now worth.

Many banks have long recognized the problems with alt-A loans: since 2009, Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. have been modifying such loans in record numbers.

But giving borrowers "interest-only modifications" is equally as unsustainable as the original "interest only" loans, because they simply put off foreclosures for another day.

The undocumented nature of most Alt-A loans makes it difficult to assess the full exposure of small businesses, but Bornstein's surveys have made him pessimistic about the resets' impact on the broader recovery.

"The financial distress of small businesses will have a multiplying effect on job losses and foreclosures," he says.

More articles at www.americanbanker.com

Samuel D. Bornstein
Professor of Accounting and Taxation
Kean University, School of Business, Union, NJ
Partner-Bornstein & Song, CPAs & Consultants, Oakhurst, NJ
bornsteinsong@aol.com
Tel: (732) 493 - 4799
Fax: (732) 493 - 3399

Independent Contractor

The classification of independent contractor status is a major issue for small businesses. Robert W. Woods wrote a piece about this and it can be access with the link provided below. He also has additional links at the end of the article that can be very useful. One that I think is particularly important is the article entitled "10 Mistakes to Avoid On Independent Contractors". If you are audited by the IRS or EDD and have misclassified people it can get very expensive with the penalties that are charged.

IRS Narrows Independent Contractor Relief - Forbes

http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2011/08/16/irs-narrows-independent-contractor-relief/

37 Additional Community Banks Across The Country Receive $418 Million to Help Small Businesses Access Capital, Create New Jobs

Please see below message from the Treasury. Do you think this makes much of a difference to small businesses in the communities where these banks are located? I am sure most of you saw Warren Buffet's piece on increasing tax on the wealthy. He seems to define wealthy as those making over $1 million a year. What do you think?



U.S. Treasury Department
Office of Public Affairs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 17, 2011
CONTACT: Treasury Public Affairs (202) 622-2960

THIRTY-SEVEN ADDITIONAL COMMUNITY BANKS ACROSS THE COUNTRY RECEIVE $418 MILLION TO HELP SMALL BUSINESSES ACCESS CAPITAL, CREATE NEW JOBS
Total of 80 Banks Have Now Received More than $1.0 Billion in Funding through
Small Business Lending Fund

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced that an additional 37 community banks across the country received a total of $418 million as part of the next wave of funding provided through the Small Business Lending Fund (SBLF). The SBLF, which was established as part of the Small Business Jobs Act that President Obama signed into law, encourages community banks to increase their lending to small businesses, helping those companies expand their operations and create new jobs.

Including today’s announcement, 80 community banks have now received more than $1.0 billion in SBLF funding. Additional SBLF funding announcements will be made on a rolling basis in the weeks ahead.

“These funds will provide critical support to Main Street community banks so they can expand their lending to small businesses,” said Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Neal S. Wolin. “This program helps entrepreneurs in communities across the country access the capital they need to grow their operations, invest in new equipment, and hire additional workers.”

Small businesses play a critical role in the U.S. economy and are central to growth and job creation. Small businesses employ roughly one-half of all Americans and account for about 60 percent of gross job creation. But small business owners faced disproportionate challenges in the aftermath of the recession and credit crisis, including difficulty accessing capital.

The SBLF helps small businesses meet this challenge by providing capital to community banks that hold under $10 billion in assets. The dividend rate a community bank pays on SBLF funding is reduced as that bank increases its lending to small businesses – providing a strong incentive for new lending to small businesses so they can expand and create jobs. For more details on the SBLF program, please visit, link and link.

The SBLF is one part of the Obama Administration’s comprehensive agenda to help small businesses access the capital they need to invest and hire. The State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI), which is also a key part of the Small Business Jobs Act, allocates $1.5 billion to new and existing state programs that will leverage private financing to spur $15 billion in new lending to small businesses and small manufacturers.

The Obama Administration has also supported 17 direct tax breaks that provide tax relief of more than $50 billion for small businesses. These tax breaks were designed to support job creation and retention, entrepreneurship, investment, and growth. The Administration has also worked with Congress to extend and expand existing Small Business Administration loan programs that helped put more than $42 billion in the hands of small businesses and deliver other important benefits to help small businesses expand and hire.

The 37 banks that received SBLF funding as part of today’s announcement include:

• Oak Valley Bancorp (Oakdale, California) -- $13.5 million
• Silvergate Capital Corporation (La Jolla, California) -- $12.4 million
• Summit State Bank (Santa Rosa, California) -- $13.8 million
• BNC Financial Group, Inc. (New Canaan, Connecticut) -- $11.0 million
• SBT Bancorp, Inc. (Simsbury, Connecticut) -- $9.0 million
• Community Bank Delaware (Lewes, Delaware) -- $4.5 million
• Bank of Central Florida (Lakeland, Florida) -- $7.0 million
• Jefferson Bank of Florida (Oldsmar, Florida) -- $3.4 million
• Community Illinois Corporation (Rock Falls, Illinois) -- $4.5 million
• Tri-County Financial Group, Inc. (Mendota, Illinois) -- $20.0 million
• First Savings Financial Group, Inc. (Clarksville, Indiana) -- $17.1 million
• Equity Bancshares, Inc. (Wichita, Kansas) -- $16.4 million
• UBT Bancshares, Inc. (Marysville, Kansas) -- $16.5 million
• First NBC Bank Holding Company (New Orleans, Louisiana) -- $37.9 million
• Island Bancorp, Inc. (Edgartown, Massachusetts) -- $4.0 million
• Mercantile Capital Corporation (Boston, Massachusetts) -- $7.0 million
• New England Bancorp, Inc. (Hyannis, Massachusetts) -- $4.0 million
• Rockport National Bancorp, Inc. (Rockport, Massachusetts) -- $3.0 million
• Monument Bank (Bethesda, Maryland) -- $11.4 million
• Crestmark Bancorp, Inc. (Troy, Michigan) -- $8.3 million
• Select Bancorp, Inc. (Greenville, North Carolina) -- $7.6 million
• Community Partners Bancorp (Middletown, New Jersey) -- $12.0 million
• Kinderhook Bank Corp. (Kinderhook, New York) -- $7.0 million
• AmeriServ Financial, Inc. (Johnstown, Pennsylvania) -- $21.0 million
• DNB Financial Corporation (Dowingtown, Pennsylvania) -- $13.0 million
• Jonestown Bank and Trust Company (Jonestown, Pennsylvania) -- $4.0 million
• Valley Green Bank (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) -- $5.0 million
• Carroll Financial Services, Inc. (Huntingdon, Tennessee) -- $3.0 million
• Evolve Bancorp, Inc. (Cordova, Tennessee) -- $4.7 million
• Independent Holdings, Inc. (Memphis, Tennessee) -- $34.9 million
• SmartFinancial, Inc. (Pigeon Forge, Tennessee) -- $12.0 million
• McLaughlin Bancshares, Inc. (Ralls, Texas) -- $6.6 million
• Third Coast Bank SSB (Humble, Texas) -- $8.7 million
• Heritage Bankshares, Inc. (Norfolk, Virginia) -- $7.8 million
• WashingtonFirst Bankshares, Inc. (Reston, Virginia) -- $17.8 million
• Peoples Bancorp (Lynden, Washington) -- $18.0 million
• Puget Sound Bank (Bellevue, Washington) -- $9.9 million

Use Tax/ Hackers

Most of you I think have received request from the Board of Equalization to review your receipts for three years and report and pay the use tax for purchases from out of state Internet companies.

Along with the amount owed you are required to pay all interest and penalty charges. You also were registered with the BOE if your receipts were over $100000 and you did not have a resellers license. This is called the “Qualified Purchaser Program”[ QPP]

Senator George Runner on the BOE Board wrote an Op Ed piece called ”A Qualified Mess” pointing out the problems with QPP. He also surveyed small businesses and as a result the BOE has agreed to make changes to QPP including eliminating the automatic registration of businesses and allowing the businesses to leave the program if they don’t owe tax or their income falls below $100000.


Hackers Take $1 Billion a Year as Banks Blame Their Clients

By Greg Farrell and Michael A. Riley - Aug 4, 2011 – Bloomberg.com

Valiena Allison got a call from her bank on a busy morning two years ago about a wire transfer from her company’s account. She told the managers she hadn’t approved the transfer. The problem was, her computer had.

As Allison, chief executive officer of Sterling Heights, Michigan-based Experi-Metal Inc., was to learn, her company computer was approving other transfers as she spoke. During hours of frantic phone calls with her bank, Allison, 45, was unable to stop this cybercrime in progress as transfer followed transfer. By day’s end, $5.2 million was gone.

She turned to her bank, a branch of Comerica Inc. (CMA), to help recover the money for her metal-products firm. It got all but $561,000 of the funds. Then came the surprise: the bank said the loss was Experi-Metal’s problem because it had allowed Allison’s computer to be infected by the hackers.

“At the end of the day, the fraud department at Comerica said: ‘What’s wrong with you? How could you let this happen?’” Allison said.

In increments of a few thousand dollars to a few million per theft, cybercrooks are stealing as much as $1 billion a year from small and mid-sized bank accounts in the U.S. and Europe like Experi-Metal, according to Don Jackson, a security expert at Dell SecureWorks. And account holders are the big losers.

Remainder of story at this link:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-04/hackers-take-1-billion-a-year-from-company-accounts-banks-won-t-indemnify.html.


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

The National Debt/ Reporting tax fraud/ California State Agencies

I have received a couple of calls from reporters asking me how small business feels about the National debt and increasing the debt limit.

I am curious in the scheme of things how important is the National debt to your small business versus other issues like the cost of health insurance, access to capital, regulations, taxation and the cost of gasoline. I look forward to hearing from you.

I received a copy of an email sent by EDD. It was entitled “Tired of Other Businesses Not Paying Their Share”. It went on to say that you can report anonymously payroll fraud by calling toll free an EDD hotline number 1 800-528-1783.

It concludes by saying “Help us level the playing field for California Business”.
Has anyone ever called this number? Did they follow through.

In my conversations with small business people I am told that the people are very nice but the caller is told EDD does not have the money to do anything. I hope I am wrong here because the underground economy is a problem for a lot of small businesses.

If you decide to call let me know your experience.

I sent the list of state agencies out awhile back but many of you were not on this email list. See below the state agencies in California.


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



These are all California State Agencies !!!!!!!!

California Academic Performance Index (API) * California Access for Infants and Mothers * California Acupuncture Board * California Administrative Office of the Courts * California Adoptions Branch * California African American Museum * California Agricultural Export Program * California Agricultural Labor Relations Board * California Agricultural Statistics Service * California Air Resources Board (CARB) * California Allocation Board * California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority * California Animal Health and Food Safety Services * California Anti-Terrorism Information Center * California Apprenticeship Council * California Arbitration Certification Program * California Architects Board * California Area VI Developmental Disabilities Board * California Arts Council * California Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus * California Assembly Democratic Caucus * California Assembly Republican Caucus * California Athletic Commission * California Attorney General * California Bay Conservation and Development Commission * California Bay-Delta Authority * California Bay-Delta Office * California Biodiversity Council * California Board for Geologists and Geophysicists * California Board for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors * California Board of Accountancy * California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology * California Board of Behavioral Sciences * California Board of Chiropractic Examiners * California Board of Equalization (BOE) * California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection * California Board of Guide Dogs for the Blind * California Board of Occupational Therapy * California Board of Optometry * California Board of Pharmacy * California Board of Podiatric Medicine * California Board of Prison Terms * California Board of Psychology * California Board of Registered Nursing * California Board of Trustees * California Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians * California Braille and Talking Book Library * California Building Standards Commission * California Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education * California Bureau of Automotive Repair * California Bureau of Electronic and Appliance Repair * California Bureau of Home Furnishings and Thermal Insulation * California Bureau of Naturopathic Medicine * California Bureau of Security and Investigative Services * California Bureau of State Audits * California Business Agency * California Business Investment Services (CalBIS) * California Business Permit Information (CalGOLD) * California Business Portal * California Business, Transportation and Housing Agency * California Cal Grants * California CalJOBS * California Cal-Learn Program * California CalVet Home Loan Program * California Career Resource Network * California Cemetery and Funeral Bureau * California Center for Analytical Chemistry * California Center for Distributed Learning * California Center for Teaching Careers (Teach California) * California Chancellors Office * California Charter Schools * California Children and Families Commission * California Children and Family Services Division * California Citizens Compensation Commission * California Civil Rights Bureau * California Coastal Commission * California Coastal Conservancy * California Code of Regulations * California Collaborative Projects with UC Davis * California Commission for Jobs and Economic Growth * California Commission on Aging * California Commission on Health and Safety and Workers Compensation * California Commission on Judicial Performance * California Commission on State Mandates * California Commission on Status of Women * California Commission on Teacher Credentialing * California Commission on the Status of Women * California Committee on Dental Auxiliaries * California Community Colleges Chancellors Office, Junior Colleges * California Community Colleges Chancellors Office * California Complaint Mediation Program * California Conservation Corps * California Constitution Revision Commission * California Consumer Hotline * California Consumer Information Center * California Consumer Information * California Consumer Services Division * California Consumers and Families Agency * California Contractors State License Board * California Corrections Standards Authority * California Council for the Humanities * California Council on Criminal Justice * California Council on Developmental Disabilities * California Court Reporters Board * California Courts of Appeal * California Crime and Violence Prevention Center * California Criminal Justice Statistics Center * California Criminalist Institute Forensic Library * California CSGnet Network Management * California Cultural and Historical Endowment * California Cultural Resources Division * California Curriculum and Instructional Leadership Branch * California Data Exchange Center * California Data Management Division * California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission * California Delta Protection Commission * California Democratic Caucus * California Demographic Research Unit * California Dental Auxiliaries * California Department of Aging * California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs * California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control Appeals Board * California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control * California Department of Boating and Waterways (Cal Boating) * California Department of Child Support Services (CDCSS) * California Department of Community Services and Development * California Department of Conservation * California Department of Consumer Affairs * California Department of Corporations * California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation * California Department of Developmental Services * California Department of Education * California Department of Fair Employment and Housing * California Department of Finance * California Department of Financial Institutions * California Department of Fish and Game * California Department of Food and Agriculture * California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF) * California Department of General Services * California Department of General Services, Office of State Publishing * California Department of Health Care Services * California Department of Housing and Community Development * California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) * California Department of Insurance * California Department of Justice Firearms Division * California Department of Justice Opinion Unit * California Department of Justice, Consumer Information, Public Inquiry Unit * California Department of Justice * California Department of Managed Health Care * California Department of Mental Health * California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) * California Department of Personnel Administration * California Department of Pesticide Regulation * California Department of Public Health * California Department of Real Estate * California Department of Rehabilitation * California Department of Social Services Adoptions Branch * California Department of Social Services * California Department of Technology Services Training Center (DTSTC) * California Department of Technology Services (DTS) * California Department of Toxic Substances Control * California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) * California Department of Veterans Affairs (CalVets) * California Department of Water Resources * California Departmento de Vehiculos Motorizados * California Digital Library * California Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise Certification Program * California Division of Apprenticeship Standards * California Division of Codes and Standards * California Division of Communicable Disease Control * California Division of Engineering * California Division of Environmental and Occupational Disease Control * California Division of Gambling Control * California Division of Housing Policy Development * California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement * California Division of Labor Statistics and Research * California Division of Land and Right of Way * California Division of Land Resource Protection * California Division of Law Enforcement General Library * California Division of Measurement Standards * California Division of Mines and Geology * California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) * California Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources * California Division of Planning and Local Assistance * California Division of Recycling * California Division of Safety of Dams * California Division of the State Architect * California Division of Tourism * California Division of Workers Compensation Medical Unit * California Division of Workers Compensation * California Economic Assistance, Business and Community Resources * California Economic Strategy Panel * California Education and Training Agency * California Education Audit Appeals Panel * California Educational Facilities Authority * California Elections Division * California Electricity Oversight Board * California Emergency Management Agency * California Emergency Medical Services Authority * California Employment Development Department (EDD) * California Employment Information State Jobs * California Employment Training Panel * California Energy Commission * California Environment and Natural Resources Agency * California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA) * California Environmental Resources Evaluation System (CERES) * California Executive Office * California Export Laboratory Services * California Exposition and State Fair (Cal Expo) * California Fair Political Practices Commission * California Fairs and Expositions Division * California Film Commission * California Fire and Resource Assessment Program * California Firearms Division * California Fiscal Services * California Fish and Game Commission * California Fisheries Program Branch * California Floodplain Management * California Foster Youth Help * California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) * California Fraud Division * California Gambling Control Commission * California Geographic Information Systems Council (GIS) * California Geological Survey * California Government Claims and Victim Compensation Board * California Governors Committee for Employment of Disabled Persons * California Governors Mentoring Partnership * California Governors Office of Emergency Services * California Governors Office of Homeland Security * California Governors Office of Planning and Research * California Governors Office * California Grant and Enterprise Zone Programs HCD Loan * California Health and Human Services Agency * California Health and Safety Agency * California Healthy Families Program * California Hearing Aid Dispensers Bureau * California High-Speed Rail Authority * California Highway Patrol (CHP) * California History and Culture Agency * California Horse Racing Board * California Housing Finance Agency * California Indoor Air Quality Program * California Industrial Development Financing Advisory Commission * California Industrial Welfare Commission * California InFoPeople * California Information Center for the Environment * California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (I-Bank) * California Inspection Services * California Institute for County Government * California Institute for Education Reform * California Integrated Waste Management Board * California Interagency Ecological Program * California Job Service * California Junta Estatal de Personal * California Labor and Employment Agency * California Labor and Workforce Development Agency * California Labor Market Information Division * California Land Use Planning Information Network (LUPIN) * California Lands Commission * California Landscape Architects Technical Committee * California Latino Legislative Caucus * California Law Enforcement Branch * California Law Enforcement General Library * California Law Revision Commission * California Legislative Analyst's Office * California Legislative Black Caucus * California Legislative Counsel * California Legislative Division * California Legislative Information * California Legislative Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Caucus * California Legislature Internet Caucus * California Library De velopment Services * California License and Revenue Branch * California Major Risk Medical Insurance Program * California Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board * California Maritime Academy * California Marketing Services * California Measurement Standards * California Medical Assistance Commission * California Medical Care Services * California Military Department * California Mining and Geology Board * California Museum for History, Women, and the Arts * California Museum Resource Center * California National Guard * California Native American Heritage Commission * California Natural Community Conservation Planning Program * California New Motor Vehicle Board * California Nursing Home Administrator Program * California Occupational Safety and Health Appeals Board * California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board * California Ocean Resources Management Program * California Office of Administrative Hearings * California Office of Administrative Law * California Office of AIDS * California Office of Binational Border Health * California Office of Child Abuse Prevention * California Office of Deaf Access * California Office of Emergency Services (OES) * California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment * California Office of Fiscal Services * California Office of Fleet Administration * California Office of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Implementation (CalOHI) * California Office of Historic Preservation * California Office of Homeland Security * California Office of Human Resources * California Office of Legal Services * California Office of Legislation * California Office of Lieutenant Governor * California Office of Military and Aerospace Support * California Office of Mine Reclamation * California Office of Natural Resource Education * California Office of Privacy Protection * California Office of Public School Construction * California Office of Real Estate Appraisers * California Office of Risk and Insurance Management * California Office of Services to the Blind * California Office of Spill Prevention and Response * California Office of State Publishing (OSP) * California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development * California Office of Systems Integration * California Office of the Inspector General * California Office of the Ombudsman * California Office of the Patient Advocate * California Office of the President * California Office of the Secretary for Education * California Office of the State Fire Marshal * California Office of the State Public Defender * California Office of Traffic Safety * California Office of Vital Records * California Online Directory * California Operations Control Office * California Opinion Unit * California Outreach and Technical Assistance Network (OTAN) * California Park and Recreation Commission * California Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) * California Performance Review (CPR) * California Permit Information for Business (CalGOLD) * California Physical Therapy Board * California Physician Assistant Committee * California Plant Health and Pest Prevention Services * California Policy and Evaluation Division * California Political Reform Division * California Pollution Control Financing Authority * California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo * California Postsecondary Education Commission * California Prevention Services * California Primary Care and Family Health * California Prison Industry Authority * California Procurement Division * California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) * California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) * California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) * California Real Estate Services Division * California Refugee Programs Branch * California Regional Water Quality Control Boards * California Registered Veterinary Technician Committee * California Registrar of Charitable Trusts * California Republican Caucus * California Research and Development Division * California Research Bureau * California Resources Agency * California Respiratory Care Board * California Rivers Assessment * California Rural Health Policy Council * California Safe Schools * California San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission * California San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy * California San Joaquin River Conservancy * California School to Career * California Science Center * California Scripps Institution of Oceanography * California Secretary of State Business Portal * California Secretary of State * California Seismic Safety Commission * California Self Insurance Plans (SIP) * California Senate Office of Research * California Small Business and Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise Certification Program * California Small Business Development Center Program * California Smart Growth Caucus * California Smog Check Information Center * California Spatial Information Library * California Special Education Division * California Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Board * California Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) * California Standards and Assessment Division * California State Administrative Manual (SAM) * California State Allocation Board * California State and Consumer Services Agency * California State Architect * California State Archives * California State Assembly * California State Association of Counties (CSAC) * California State Board of Education * California State Board of Food and Agriculture *California Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) * California State Children's Trust Fund * California State Compensation Insurance Fund * California State Contracts Register Program * California State Contracts Register * California State Controller * California State Council on Developmental Disabilities (SCDD) * California State Disability Insurance (SDI) * California State Fair (Cal Expo) * California State Jobs Employment Information * California State Lands Commission * California State Legislative Portal * California State Legislature * California State Library Catalog * California State Library Services Bureau * California State Library * California State Lottery * California State Mediation and Conciliation Service * California State Mining and Geology Board * California State Park and Recreation Commission * California State Parks * California State Personnel Board * California State Polytechnic University, Pomona * California State Railroad Museum * California State Science Fair * California State Senate * California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science (COSMOS) * California State Summer School for the Arts * California State Superintendent of Public Instruction * California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) * California State Treasurer * California State University Center for Distributed Learning * California State University, Bakersfield * California State University, Channel Islands * California State University, Chico * California State University, Dominguez Hills * California State University, East Bay * California State University, Fresno * California State University, Fullerton * California State University, Long Beach * California State University, Los Angeles * California State University, Monterey Bay * California State University, Northridge * California State University, Sacramento * California State University, San Bernardino * California State University, San Marcos * California State University, Stanislaus * California State University (CSU) * California State Water Project Analysis Office * California State Water Project * California State Water Resources Control Board * California Structural Pest Control Board * California Student Aid Commission * California Superintendent of Public Instruction * California Superior Courts * California Tahoe Conservancy * California Task Force on Culturally and Linguistically Competent Physicians and Dentists * California Tax Information Center * California Technology and Administration Branch Finance * California Telecommunications Division * California Telephone Medical Advice Services (TAMS) * California Transportation Commission * California Travel and Transportation Agency * California Unclaimed Property Program * California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board * California Unemployment Insurance Program * California Uniform Construction Cost Accounting Commission * California Veterans Board * California Veterans Memorial * California Veterinary Medical Board and Registered Veterinary Technician Examining Committee * California Veterinary Medical Board * California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board * California Volunteers * California Voter Registration * California Water Commission * California Water Environment Association (COWPEA) * California Water Resources Control Board * California Welfare to Work Division * California Wetlands Information System * California Wildlife and Habitat Data Analysis Branch * California Wildlife Conservation Board * California Wildlife Programs Branch * California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) * California Workers Compensation Appeals Board * California Workforce and Labor Development Agency * California Workforce Investment Board * California Youth Authority (CYA) * Central Valley Flood Protection Board * Center for California Studies * Colorado River Board of California * Counting California * Dental Board of California * Health Insurance Plan of California (PacAdvantage) * Humboldt State University * Jobs with the State of California * Judicial Council of California * Learn California * Library of California * Lieutenant Governors Commission for One California * Little Hoover Commission (on California State Government Organization and Economy) * Medical Board of California * Medi-Cal * Osteopathic Medical Board of California * Physical Therapy Board of California * Regents of the University of California * San Diego State University * San Francisco State University * San Jose State University * Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy * State Bar of California * Supreme Court of California * Teach California * University of California * University of California, Berkeley * University of California, Davis * University of California, Hastings College of the Law * University of California, Irvine * University of California, Los Angeles * University of California, Merced * University of California, Riverside * University of California, San Diego * University of California, San Francisco * University of California, Santa Barbara * University of California, Santa Cruz * Veterans Home of California

We all know that the only places they can cut is Police and Fire....

It doesn't matter whether you are a Democrat, a Republican or Independent. This list has to shock you. Over the years, our politicians have created this enormous pork barrel of agencies that employ over 350,000 people directly and countless more via contracts with the State. All of these people get salaries, medical coverage and pensions at our expense and amost all are unionized. Take a good, close look. Unbelievable? No. Believe it!

Hank Ryan is the Executive Director and energy guru of Small Business California. He asked me to send the letter below to our Small Business California family. Please take a moment and send to me the your energy bill.

------------------------------------------------

Beginning this fall, all businesses in California will be switched to a "time of use" rate.

SB-Cal is supporting proposed legislation, SB843, in California that could help small businesses save significantly where they use large amounts of electricity during weekdays. Examples include manufacturing, small grocery stores or even convenience stores.

We are asking for businesses in California that would be both willing to share an electric bill and that are already on a "time of use" rate like "A6" in PG&E's territory (GS-1, GS-2 in SCE's territory, ALTOU in SDG&E's territory), to help determine the amount of savings SB 843 could help deliver back to the business.

The legislation allows consumers to "buy" part of a larger solar installation that is located elsewhere. The cost of electricity for the energy from the solar power is 11 cents per kilowatt hour. When businesses use energy during the summer peak times (generally 1-5pm), they pay up to 30 cents per kilowatt hour.

Therefore, those businesses would see a "bill credit" for the energy that the solar power provides during those peak time hours.

We would like to be able to demonstrate what value this might provide to a small business in California.

Please let us know if you would be willing to share your energy bill for the month of June if your business is on a "time of use" rate.

Thanks!
Hank Ryan


I was listening to NPR Scott Simons this morning and he talked about a poll that was recently done.

The question asked was assuming there is a God do you approve of his/her performance? 52% said they did.

This compares favorably with 46% approval of President Obama and 33% of Congress.

It compares unfavorably with Oprah Winfrey's approval rating of 60%.

Scott went on to say that he would like the question asked of God what his/her approval rating was of the people he created?


I frequently rail against elected officials. I also frequently ask people running for office how they would vote when their constituency/supporters support something that they feel is bad public policy.

Taking this the next step what I am asking is would they vote against their constituency/supporters when they thought it was not in the best interest of our country, state, county or city.

Keep in mind in doing so they could lose their elected office or be recalled.

It is easy for us to criticize when we really have no skin in the game. As we look at the battle in Washington we say that it is all politics. The blame lies with Republicans or Democrats. What do we really expect it to be, given the impact it will have on the elected officials' jobs?

Are we not somewhat to blame?

Thoughts?

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

Hiring of Unemployed/ Lee Petillion

Legislation has been introduced in Washington prohibiting employers from not hiring people who are not employed. Apparently there are a number of employers that are putting on their job information sheets that people should only apply if they are employed. New Jersey is the only state in the country at this time that prohibits this. As small business people how do you feel about this?

Lee Petillion has been elected to the Board of Small Business California. Lee is an attorney at Petillion Hiraide and Loomis with offices in LA and South Bay. He specializes in corporate financing for early and growth stages companies. He will be heading up the access to capital committee for Small Business California.

We are excited about having Lee on our Board as he has a great background in access to capital for small business. He also has experience in writing legislation to help small business and with his help Small Business California will be introducing legislation next year to help access capital.


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

FLASH: Getting Back To Basics

I don’t usually send information this lengthy but workers compensation is a big issue for employers. See below.

Combined loss ratios in workers compensation are running close to 130% and for most businesses they are beginning to see small premium increases. My guess is at some point these will escalate fairly dramatically. We also are going to be watching what develops as a result of court cases that could increase cost.

The increase in permanent disability benefits has been a concern for employers and they do need to be adjusted. It is good to hear from our good friend Christine Baker that she wants to see cost reductions along with changes on the PD benefit.

As all of you I think know Small Business California has worked closely with Christine in her tenure as ED of the Commission on Health Safety and Workers Compensation and were an early supporter of her for the Director of DIR.

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


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Friday, July 22, 2011
FLASH REPORT!
DIR's Baker Says Cost Savings Will Accompany Any PD Increase

Share:
Employers have nothing to fear from an anticipated increase in permanent disability benefits for injured workers, but ancillary players in California's workers' comp system -- insurance carriers, attorneys and other vendors -- better look out.

Christine Baker, acting director of the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR), says the administration is ready to increase PD benefits but only after if finds cuts elsewhere in the system to pay for the increase.

"PD benefits were cut substantially but our system is still the fifth costliest system in the country. Somebody is getting all that money, but it's not the injured workers,"

Baker told a group of employers yesterday at the California Coalition on Workers' Compensation's annual meeting in Anaheim. "We believe we need to restore the balance in the system...that labor/management balance between the costs and the benefits."

She pointed out that PD benefits account for less than one-fifth of the total benefits paid,so an increase could easily be off-set by cost-savings elsewhere in the system.

"The very large fluctuations in the costs to employers and the benefits available to injured workers over the last 15 years are the result of many interest groups in a system originally designed to serve the two key stakeholders -- employers and injured workers," Baker pointed out. She noted that applicant attorneys, insurance carriers and medical providers should and will have a voice in the negotiations, but maintained that their voices are secondary.

"Applicant attorneys represent injured workers the same way that insurance carriers represent employers. So in the same way that insurance carriers should have a role so should the applicant attorneys. But the two key stakeholders are labor and management."

The message resonated with the employer dominated crowd, which is clearly on edge over potential changes in benefits as well as expected increase in premiums to account for past cost increases.

Baker maintains that there are different ways to address the PD issue.
If the administration can find enough cost-savings then a solution could be enacted through the PD schedule. "If we can't find enough things to off-set the costs then we have to do it legislatively," says Baker.

"That will be a tradeoff. Sure one could add dollars there, but can we find a dollar savings? I'm not sure. We don't want to have a tidal wave of costs coming in to the system without a measure of savings."

Operational Savings

One of the first areas mentioned for likely cost savings is eliminating the high direct and indirect cost of medical liens.

Baker pointed out that the backlog of liens is the system is delaying resolution of cases and adding unnecessarily to the overall cost of claims. She says the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board doesn't necessarily need more judges to hear cases, just a better way to triage cases.

"In Los Angeles, 85% of the work load is liens. The answer there is not more judges, it's eliminating the unnecessary liens," she says, maintaining that the long-term solution is to reduce the disputes that lead to liens.

"There has to be a better way to resolve fee schedule disputes than asking a workers' comp judge to decipher procedure codes and conversion factors...Authorization of treatment was in dispute in 7 out of 10 medical liens surveyed. Clarifying the extent of [Medical Provider Network] control could reduce the number of those disputes."

DIR and the WCAB are also preparing to cut down on the amount of paperwork associated with liens through electronic filing and cracking down on the filing of amended liens. Baker likened the amount of paperwork from amended liens alone to a tidal wave crashing down on the district offices. She promised that new procedures will be coming shortly from the WCAB to enact these changes.

Operational Changes Planned

Baker also promised to streamline DIR's internal operations while continuing beneficial programs, such as its crackdown on the underground economy. She indicated that there will also be changes in how anti-fraud dollars are spent.

"I'm not so sure it's so efficient to have enforcement dollars going to the DAs and labor standards enforcement. We will be reviewing this together with the [Department of Insurance] and the Fraud Assessment Commission," Baker said.

She later clarified to Workers' Comp Executive that she is not necessarily looking at eliminating anti-fraud funds for the District Attorney's but for a greater emphasis on the bigger fraud cases.

She notes that the data matching program between DIR and the Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau, which will be undergoing some refinements, allows the department to quickly and cheaply identify uninsured employers. DAs, she maintains, should be using the funds to go after the higher fruit on the tree.

One planned change to the data matching program will be to limit the employer samples to those with at least 5 employees. Baker noted that currently the approach of using employer lists from Employment Development Department and WCIRB that cover all employers is producing too many false positives.

It turns out that many of the employers initially identified as being uninsured are actually owner operators and thus exempt from coverage, so setting the bar at five employees or more is intended to better focus their efforts on the truly uninsured.


Filed by Brad Cain from the happiest place on earth

Amazon Ballot Measure

Small Business California has been a strong supporter of requiring Amazon to collect sales tax. We feel that our brick and mortar stores deserve to be on a level playing field with out of state Internet companies. It is a simple fairness issue.

Amazon is in the process of circulating a petition to put this on the ballot. See below the wording of this. It will take about 505,000 signatures to put this on the ballot June 2012.

I don’t know if we can prevent this from getting on the ballot as Amazon has a lot of money to pay for signatures. I do think however we should be talking to our employees, customers and friends about this asking them not to sign.

Even if we fail we will have laid the groundwork to defeat the measure when it comes up on the ballot. What do you think?

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



The Attorney General of California has prepared the following title and summary of the chief purpose and points of the proposed measure:


REFERENDUM TO OVERTURN LAW REQUIRING INTERNET RETAILERS TO COLLECT SAME SALES OR USE TAXES AS OTHER RETAILERS.

If signed by the required number of registered voters and filed with the Secretary of State, this petition will place on the statewide ballot a challenge to an existing state law. The law must be approved by voters at the next statewide election to remain in effect. The law expands the definition of retailers
considered “engaged in business” in California to include certain Internet retailers selling toCalifornia consumers, so that out-of-state Internet retailers also collect existing sales or use taxes. (11-0019)

The results of our survey are a follows.
When small businesses were asked about what they are thinking about the future of their business.
1. 32 said they would move out of state
2. 63 said they wouldn’t move
3. 32 said they would move if they could but my type of business can’t
4. 20 said they plan on moving


San Francisco is implementing a new registration fee for Point of Sale Stations. As I understand it this was authorized by the state for local jurisdictions. Are any of you seeing this from your Cities or Counties.
If you have not seen this it might be coming. See letter from SF below. Click on the letter to enlarge the document.

For those of you in SF were you aware of this?


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

Doing Business In California

We hear consistently California is a difficult place to do business. I would like to know your answers to the following questions about your business.

I would appreciate your answering the following questions.

1 I would move out of state if I could
2. I wouldn't move
3. I would move if I could but my type of business can’t
4. I plan on moving.

Comments

Small Business California may do a press release on this so I would appreciate as many responses as possible. All responses will be confidential.


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

Moving On to the Next Big Thing

Many of you know Marty. Please note he is leaving but I thought you would find his accomplishments interesting.

Marty we wish you well.

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

------------------------------------------------------------

From: Marty Keller [mailto:Marty.Keller@OPR.CA.GOV]

Subject: Moving On to the Next Big Thing

Dear friends and colleagues,

It is with a sense of accomplishment and gratitude that I write to let you know of my decision to resign as the state’s Small Business Advocate effective July 31, 2011.

I am leaving this great job in order to work directly for small business owners. Come the beginning of August, I will be embarking on a different course of advocacy, one that will not be shackled by the restrictions of political appointment. I look forward to sharing the details of this new and exciting adventure in two weeks’ time. You can be sure I will be inviting you to join me.

In the meantime I want you to know how much it has been my privilege over the past four years to serve California’s 3.5 million small business owners as their principal advocate in state government. In this capacity I was happy to advocate on behalf of our state’s thousands of Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise (DVBE) owners as well.

For most of that time the office comprised just me and Michael Gonzalez as my deputy—and Michael has been gone for almost a year. The disparity between our meager resources and the sheer number of small businesses was extremely daunting, and became more so when the financial system collapsed in 2008. In order to accomplish anything of value we had to build and empower a “network of networks” to leverage the immense talents and insights of all those committed to the central contribution of small business to a strong, vibrant, and innovation-centric state economy.

And so from the beginning of my tenure I was able to rely on hundreds of business owners, association leaders, government officials, and technical support professionals, not just in California but across the country. Together we accomplished a number of useful and powerful results that, especially in light of the financial downturn and the current sluggish and fitful rebound, offer our state’s small businesses and DVBEs some tools for profitability and expansion.

• Governor’s Conferences on Small Business: We produced two highly successful Governor’s Conferences on Small Business & Entrepreneurship—the first in Los Angeles in November of 2008 and the second in Oakland in May of 2010. These conferences provided amazing connectivity to information and decision-making not only for those who attended but for the networks to which we all belong. That first conference produced a collaborative list of eleven recommendations to state officials for improving the small business climate; more than 2/3 of them have been implemented partially or completely.

• The Small Business Network: We created an information distribution network, one that regularly sends our items of interest to small business owners and supporters, which are in turn forwarded to greater numbers through network connectivity.

• Small Business Website: We created the state’s first small business website, initially through the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research, where OSBA statutorily resides, and then after April of 2010 through the Governor’s Office of Economic Development. We created a centralized small business/DVBE events calendar on the GOED web page.

• Interagency working group: We initiated an interagency working group which, meeting bi-weekly, provides every agency of state government with a small business mission the opportunity to share information and create collaborations to benefit small businesses.

• Small Business/DVBE Procurement Goals: I had the privilege of working with the state’s 250+ small business/DVBE advocates, thorough professionals dedicated to helping small businesses and disabled vet business owners do business with their particular state departments. During my four years the state has managed on average to place 25% of its procurement with small businesses, and has steadily increased its DVBE placement to just shy of the statutorily-mandated 3%.

• Outreach Programs: We partnered with the state’s remarkable Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) and Business Matchmaking to sponsor ten outreach events both last year and in the current year, to bring to the far reaches of the state the kind of information and networking offered at the Governor’s Conferences.

• Legislation: We worked on legislation to make it easier for small businesses to succeed in California. AB 31 by Sen. Curren Price expanded procurement opportunities, and last year’s budget brought significant money to our SBDCs and various small business loan programs. My greatest disappointment is the total refusal by the legislature to effect meaningful regulatory and tax reform.

• Small Business Ombudsman: While working on these big picture items, we also worked daily with individual small business owners, connecting them to resources or potential collaborators, collecting unpaid bills from the state, helping them deal with officious bureaucrats, and giving them advice on how to solve their particular problems.

All in all, I believe we made state government a better partner for small businesses than it was when I got here.

But we have still a long way to go.

Small businesses are still, by and large, patronized rather than vigorously supported by our state leadership. While legislators love to give speeches about the importance of small businesses to our economy, they continue to impose onerous and/or petty mandates, while blocking effective reforms. This neglect is no longer sustainable.

In closing, I want to thank every small business owner that I have been privileged to work with, and the leaders of the various small business advocacy organizations across the state, along with my colleagues in local, state, and federal governments. You have shown me universal kindness in our dealings together, and you have put up with all my shortcomings with great forbearance. I look forward to continued collaboration.

Although the economy is tough now, and signs continue to suggest a long slog to recovery, I remain confident that the next wave of prosperity will exceed the expectations of most of us. The explosion of creative ideas, universally supported by the amazing tools and low costs of the network, and proceeding from the new era of abundance that the elimination of bottlenecks that the Internet has facilitated, means that in the near future everyone will be a potential entrepreneur.

We are Californians. “Grateful to almighty God for our freedom,” as we say in the preamble to our constitution, we created our government “in order to secure and perpetuate freedom’s blessings.” It is now up to us to ensure that government does this job we set for it, and stops overstepping its bounds. See you in August.

Yours for an abundant and profitable future,


Marty Keller
Director, Office of Small Business Advocate

Consultants/Health Reimbursemetn Accounts in San Francisco

I have heard complaints from small business owners about consultants. As most of you know many consultants are not licensed and there really is no oversight of their activities. It has been suggested to me actually by a consultant that these people obtain some form of licensing provided by the state.

Have you had problems with consultants?

What were they doing for you?

Do you think there should be some form of state oversight?


For those of you in San Francisco Thursday at 10 in the GAO committee there will be a hearing on legislation by David Campos requiring businesses with 20 or more employees to pay I believe quarterly into their Health Reimbursement Account at the prescribed $1.36 per hour or $2.07. But it is estimated the cost for businesses affected is about $50 million. While the Economic Report is not yet completed we are being given indications this cost about 1000 jobs.

It will be in either room 250 or 278 at City Hall. It is expected labor will have a big turnout for this.

For those interested I encourage you to attend. If you have any questions please let me know.


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

Bank of America/ SB Cal seeking new Board member

I previously sent an email on Bank of America increasing their interest rate on late payments to nearly 30%. In the interest of fairness please find response by B of A to Kurt Chilcott a CDC lender who is a member of Small Business California.

Small Business California is looking for a new board member in the San Diego area. If you or someone you know is interested please let me know. The ideal board member would have a knowledge of the small business community in San Diego and a desire to shape small business policy in Sacramento and Washington.

Hope you had a great 4th.

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


On June 25, new guidelines for consumer cards went into effect; customers were notified of these changes in April. If a customer is late with a payment, an interest rate increase is possible. Please note that last word. The bank would first review the account to determine if it is appropriate to raise the rate on future transactions. If there is a penalty for late payments, the maximum the new rate could be is 29.99%, and the customer would be notified at least 45 days in advance. Again, this is for consumer cards, and please note that most other major issuers already had a penalty rate. We also constantly work with our customers to help them understand and manage their accounts, using such tools as free automatic alerts for payment due dates.

As for small business cards, Bank of America eliminated many punitive fees and practices last year:
o Unlike most other issuers, we no longer charge over-limit fees.
o We no longer increase APRs on existing balances.
o We allocate payments above the minimum payment to higher-rate balances first.
o We provide a minimum of 25 days from statement closing date to payment due date.

Also, here is the link to the release last month on our new Small Business Charge Cards: http://mediaroom.bankofamerica.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=234503&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1563962&highlight=

Kurt, thanks again for keeping us informed of talk out in the field. Hopefully this information will improve others’ understanding, and please let me know if I can provide anything else.

Enjoy the 4th!

Susan
Susan Povak | SVP/CSR National Program Manager | Community Affairs
Bank of America 100 Federal Street MA5-100-10-09 Boston MA 617.434.7333

Please see below changes in IRS Gas Mileage Rate and Sales Tax rates effective July 1. Thanks to our member Burr Pilger and Mayer for sending this.

The year is half over. Small Business California has been active this year in Sacramento and Washington. We have become a go to organization in Sacramento for legislators looking to pass legislation that helps small business.

Our lobbyist Lori Kammerer has testified on dozens of bills and usually is the only representative from the small business community.

We are sponsoring two bills [Buy California and Claims Administrator Reporting of Workers Compensation claims] and have gotten amendments on numerous bills. We also have been a major force in having out of state Internet companies collect sales tax on purchases.

Hank Ryan has continued to expand On Bill Financing in California and is working to expand small business use of energy efficiency vehicles. He frequently gives comments to the CPUC and over the last 6 months SB Cal has met with two CPUC Commissioners and many staff members.

In Washington we were a player in repeal of the 1099 requirement and getting a continuing resolution for the Small Business Innovative Research program.

We continue to be a resource for the media around the country. We provide comments regarding small business positions but more importantly we give them small business owners they can talk to. In the last couple of days our members have talked to the LA Times, SF Chronicle and the Sacramento Business Journal.

If you haven’t joined Small Business California I hope you will consider doing so. The cost is $150 for businesses with less than $1 million receipts and $300 for those $1 million or more.

You can join on line by going to: www.smallbusinesscalifornia.org

Have a great 4th of July weekend!

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


Beginning July 1, 2011, Two Changes Set to Take Place

IRS Increases Mileage Rate to 55.5 Cents Per Mile

Due to recent increases in the price of fuel, the IRS has revised the optional standard mileage rates for computing the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, medical, or moving expense purposes and for determining the reimbursed amount of these expenses that is deemed substantiated.

The revised standard mileage rates are:

• 55.5 cents per mile for business use of an automobile.
• 23.5 cents for use of an automobile as a medical or moving expense.
• For automobile use as a charitable contribution, the mileage rate is fixed by statute and will remain at 14 cents.

These revised rates will become effective for mileage allowances that are paid both (1) to an employee on or after July 1, 2011, and (2) for transportation expenses an employee pays or incurs on or after July 1, 2011.

State Reduces Sales Tax Beginning July 1, 2011

Sales tax rates in the State of California will be reduced on July 1, 2011, by 1% due to the expiration of the temporary extension put in place by then Governor Schwarzenegger. The new effective rate for San Francisco will be 8.5%. In Oakland, the new rate will be 8.75%.

For other jurisdictions, see the pdf published by the State Board of Equalization:

http://www.boe.ca.gov/sutax/pdf/Pending_Rates-07-11.pdf

If you have further questions, please contact your BPM advisor or email us at bpm@bpmcpa.com.

They weren't bluffing.... Fwd: Notice of Termination due to New California Law

Last night Amazon terminated all its Affiliates in California. This as a result of the budget bill requiring them to collect sales tax.

As I understand it there was an exemption for businesses with less than $500000 in revenues. Amazon seems to have ignored this and terminated everyone.

It also appears that the legislation will require Amazon to collect sales tax with or without the affiliates.

If anyone has information refuting my comments please let me know but barring that it appears to me that this is just plain mean spirited and hopefully there will be a backlash by the people of California against Amazon.

For those of you that are affiliates please note that many other retailers like Wal-Mart and Barnes and Noble are welcoming your business.

Scott Hauge
President
Small Business California
2311 Taraval Street
San Francisco, CA 94116
shauge@smallbusinesscalifornia.org
415-690-2188


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Amazon.com Associates Program
Date: Wed, Jun 29, 2011 at 9:40 PM
Subject: Notice of Termination due to New California


Hello,

Unfortunately, Governor Brown has signed into law the bill that we emailed you about earlier today. As a result of this, contracts with all California residents participating in the Amazon Associates Program are terminated effective today, June 29, 2011. Those California residents will no longer receive advertising fees for sales referred to Amazon.com, Endless.com, MYHABIT.COM or SmallParts.com.

Please be assured that all qualifying advertising fees earned before today will be processed and paid in full in accordance with the regular payment schedule.

You are receiving this email because our records indicate that you are a resident of California. If you are not currently a resident of California, or if you are relocating to another state in the near future, you can manage the details of your Associates account here. And if you relocate to another state in the near future please contact us for reinstatement into the Amazon Associates Program.

To avoid confusion, we would like to clarify that this development will only impact our ability to offer the Associates Program to California residents and will not affect your ability to purchase from Amazon.com, Endless.com, MYHABIT.COM or SmallParts.com.

We have enjoyed working with you and other California-based participants in the Amazon Associates Program and, if this situation is rectified, would very much welcome the opportunity to re-open our Associates Program to California residents.

As mentioned before, we are continuing to work on alternative ways to help California residents monetize their websites and we will be sure to contact you when these become available.

Regards,
The Amazon Associates Team

Message Category: Notice of Termination due to New California Law
© 2011 Amazon.com. All rights reserved. Amazon.com is a registered trademark of Amazon.com, Inc. Amazon.com, 410 Terry Avenue N., Seattle, WA 98109-5210, USA.

Sales Tax/ Health Cost

In reading the SF Chronicle this morning it appears that the collection of sales tax by out of state Internet companies is part of the Governors budget.

Keep your fingers crossed that this gets passed by the legislature and signed by the Governor. It is estimated it will raise about $200 million for the state and will level the playing field for brick and mortar stores in California.

In the Kaiser Daily Health Journal report today, there were two pieces on the cost of health care in the US.

From 2005 to 2009 health cost reached $2.5 trillion and rose 23%. That is $8100 for every man woman and child in the US and represents about 18% of GNP and rising.

It was also reported that 5% of the population is responsible for slightly over 47% of the cost.

The economic foundation of our country is being threatened by the rising cost of health care spending. Whether you agree or disagree with the health plan that was passed last year this country has got to find solutions to this threat and all of us have to part of the solution.


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

Pacific Business Group on Health Health Cost

I serve on the Board of the Pacific Group on Health. This organization is made up of about 50 major employers who have about 3.2 million and 29 employees [CAL Insurance is the 29 employees] that they are providing health coverage for.

The goals of the organization are:

1.Engaging Consumers in Health Care Decisions

2. Paying for Value

3.Redesigning Care Delivery

4. Advancing Value Based Policy

I learned something yesterday that should be shocking to you. In the best case scenario only 2.5% of the payments to health providers are based on pay for performance. The average is 1%.

What an indictment of the US health care system.

It clearly highlights that in the US we pay for procedures with almost no concern of the outcomes of those procedures. In fact if a provider makes mistakes we pay them more than providers that do things correctly. The classic example is acquiring a staph infection at a hospital.

One of the goals of PBGH is to increase the pay for performance to 20% by 2015.

Why am I telling small businesses around the state? The reason is that the cost of health care has been the number one issue for small businesses in each of our 7 Small Business California surveys.

We must be vocal in the debate over reducing health care cost. We must play an active role in questioning the insurance companies how their providers stack up and pushing them to do more. We must let our employees know that they have a role in their health decisions and they must constantly question their providers.

We cannot continue to see health costs rise from the current 17% to 18% [$2.5 Trillion] and yet see the outcomes in many cases at the bottom of the industrial world.

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

SBA Lending/Bof A

I talked to my friend Tony Wilkinson at the National Association of Government Lenders and he indicated that the 7a program is doing well but money may run out in late September just before the next fiscal year. It does appear however that money will be there next fiscal year.

Some interesting numbers. Lending overall to small business for the first quarter was down from $624 billion to $609 billion. What is really interesting is that 52% of the outstanding small business loans have a maturity of 1 year or less and about 24% are outstanding one to three years and 24% are three years or more.

Of that amount 7a and 504 loans are 60% to 70% of the loans. That is not the way the market should work with the so called lender of last resort has the majority of the market for loans 3years or more.

I don’t know if you saw that Bank of America is going to charge almost 30% interest if you are lat on a payment on a credit card.

If any of you tried to do this in our business with our customers it would be considered usury.


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

Small Business Shrinking Payroll

Please see article in NY Times this morning indicating that for the month of May more small businesses are shrinking their payroll than expanding.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/15/business/15jobs.html?_r=1&hp

What is happening in your business?

Are you optimistic about the future?

Are there any unique problems in your industry?

For example one the members of Small Business California who has a cabinet shop indicates in Northern California there are restrictions on the glue they can use but glue coming in from China is being used circumventing the restrictions.


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

California's business competitiveness

On Friday I will be talking to Steve [see below]. What are your comments?

Of course most small businesses can’t move but I still would like to hear from you about what are the problems of doing business in California and if you could move would you.

Yesterday Blue Shield announced they would be returning all profits above 2%. What do you think about this?

Is there anything a health insurance company could do that would make you feel that they are trying to solve the health insurance problem?

I was a little dismayed when I read in the Chronicle that Insurance Commissioner Jones speaking to the Blue Shield announcement said “ Why should insurance companies determine how much excess profit they should return” Implication any profits are excess.

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


-------------------------------------

From: Malanga, Steve [mailto:steve@city-journal.org]
Sent: Tuesday, June 07, 2011 1:17 PM
To: Scott Hauge
Subject: california's business competitiveness

Greetings. I am a writer for City Journal magazine working on a piece on the business competitiveness of California, based on some new research on job migration nationally. I was wondering if I could interview you about the key competitive issues that influence small businesses thinking of relocating out of California.

Thanks


Steve Malanga
Senior Editor, City Journal
Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute
(www.city-journal.org)

Paid Sick Leave AB 400/SB826/ Out of State Internet Collection of Sales Tax

Small Business California has been tracking closely Assemblywoman Ma’s paid sick leave [AB400]. Many of you have indicated you would like to help defeat this bill.

Small Business California held back its opposition believing that it would not move forward given the provision that it would cost the state about $50 million for In Home Health Services.

We just found out that AB 400 has been made a two year bill meaning it will not move forward this session. We of course will track this next year.

Small Business California is sponsoring SB 826 {826}. This bill would impose minimal fines on Claims Administrators who do not report claims information to the Workers Compensation Information System. This is important in developing workers compensation policy for the state.

It is estimated that between 15 and 25% of the Claims Administrators are either not filing this information or filing incomplete information.

I am pleased to report this bill has passed the Senate and will be going to the Assembly where it is expected to pass.

We think this is important as this will provide a mechanism to keep track of non-compliant Claims Administrator.

For those of you in SF please take a look at the SF Chronicle this morning. In the letters to the Editor page Small Business California has a letter to the Editor supporting the collection of the sales tax by out of state Internet companies.



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

Internet Tax

Small Business California has been a strong supporter of having out of state Internet companies collect the sales tax on products bought in California.

To us it is a simple fairness issue leveling the playing field between Internet sales and brick and mortar stores. It also will reduce the administrative burden of small businesses as they will not have to keep track of their purchases and pay the use tax. The Board of Equalization has audited hundreds of thousands of small businesses on this issue over the last couple of years.

There are three bills dealing with this issue. In the Assembly Skinner AB 153, Calderon AB 155 and in the Senate Hancock’s S 235.

Calderon’s bill passed the Assembly 47-16 yesterday and Hancock’s bill passed last month. It is not clear to me if Skinners bill has passed the Assembly but if not it is expected to do so.

It seems that some if not all of these bills will get through the Assembly and Senate and go to the Governor. It is not clear whether the Governor will sign any of them. Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed past legislation.

The time has come to implement the collection of the sales tax on out of state Internet companies. For too long our brick and mortar stores have been put at a 9% to 10% disadvantage when competing with these companies.

What makes this interesting to me is the coalition that has been put together. Small Business groups and businesses like the big box stores. Politics truly do make strange bedfellows.


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