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

SBIR/ Governor

A few days ago I wrote to you about a continuing resolution of the Small Business Innovative Research program and the Small Business Transfer program [SB 990]. I know this doesn't have an impact on most of you but to those receiving funds from these programs it is extremely important.

I would like to give you an update as I think you will find it fascinating how Washington works.

Last email I said the House was going to amend the 990 from a one year authorization to a four month authorization. This passed on a voice vote. It then went back to the Senate where there was some discussion of making it a one month authorization.

While this was going on there was the issue of the Patriot Act, which as I understand it, needed to be passed by the end of the month. So 990 got stripped of the language with the Continuing Resolution and became the Patriot Act. We are now down to one week with no vehicle at this point to do a Continuing Resolution.

If this sounds familiar an SBIR bill introduced last year got stripped and became the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell bill which was signed by the President

You can’t make this stuff up.

Jerry Brown has been in office almost 4 months. I am curious how the small business community of California feels about the job he is doing. What are your thoughts.


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

FW: S164 Withholding on Government contracts/ SBIR Continuing Resolution

Senator Scott Brown has introduced the Withholding Tax Relief Act of 2011. This will repeal Section 511 of the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005 which mandates that federal, state and local governments withhold 3% from payments for goods and services.

This tax withholding requirement affects all government contracts as well as payment to any person for a good or product provided to a government entity. As I mentioned in a prior email this will take effect December 21,2012.

Withholding of 3% has no relationship to a company’s taxable income and is in effect a loan to the government hurting small businesses cash flow.

Interestingly enough the cost of implementing the law will exceed the revenues anticipated according to a study released by the Department of Defense. According to DOD it will cost $17 billion over 5 years. The Joint Committee on Taxation now estimates the revenue generated is $7 billion over 5 years with only $1.1 billion in additional revenue and remainder due to the float.

Small Business California asks Senators Feinstein and Boxer to support this bill. We ask people receiving this email to contact the Senators office to ask them to support this.

You can do so by emailing Brian McKeon at Brian_McKeon@boxer.senate.gov and TC Ostrander at TC@feinstein.senate.gov

It is expected that Tuesday the House will be taking up a Continuing Resolution for funding of SBIR/Sttr/Cpp programs. S990 passed in the Senate on a voice vote last week.

Funding for the program runs out the end of this month and the Senate bill would continue funding for a year.

In my conversations with Kevin Wheeler in the Senate Small Business Committee and Lori Pepper from Congresswoman Pelosi’s office ‘it appears this will be amended by House Republicans to three or four months instead of a year.

This is a great program not just for small business but for the country and should have had full authorization years ago but it has been tied up by politics and not just Republicans but Nydia Velazquez when she was Chair of the House Small Business Committee.

California small businesses receive more of these contracts than any other state.



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

May Budget Revise/ AB 153 Internet Tax

Governor Brown unveiled his May revised budget.

Please see below highlights. Note that Enterprise Zones will be continued but only for new jobs created.

The projected revenues are up $6.6 billion leaving a deficit of $9.6 billion and as the budget requires $1.2 reserve the money needed for the budget is $10.8 billion.

Redevelopment continues to be eliminated See below.

Small Business California supports Nancy Skinners ab 153 which would require out of state Internet companies to collect the sales tax. In conversation with Liz Mooney this morning in Ms. Skinner's office she advises that this is still on suspense and it is expected it will come out of suspense the end of May.

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

*************************************************************

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: Governor's Press Office

Monday, May 16, 2011 (916) 445-4571

Governor Brown Unveils Revised Budget

SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. today unveiled a revised state budget that reduces by nearly $3 billion the amount of taxes needed to balance the budget, spurs job creation through new tax incentives and pays off most of the $34.7 billion debt built up over the last decade.

“California’s economy is growing, but we still face a $10 billion structural deficit and a wall of debt for years to come,” said Brown. “California’s finances were plunged into turmoil by the Great Recession and a decade of short-term fixes and fiscal gimmicks. This is not the time to delay or evade. This is the time to put our finances in order.”

The revised budget also downsizes state government and protects education and public safety. Since taking office in January, Brown and the legislature have cut spending by $9 billion and have taken other steps to reduce the deficit.

Key Highlights of Governor Brown’s May Revision Budget

Reduce the amount of taxes required to balance the budget. Californians will pay $2 billion less in income taxes this year than proposed in the January budget.

Increase spending on K-12 education. For years, the state has shortchanged public education in order to balance the budget, forcing school districts to borrow in order to balance their budgets. The revised budget increases funds for public schools by $3 billion. Even with this new infusion of funds, California schools are still owed billions by the state.

Spur job creation through tax incentives. The revised budget restricts Enterprise Zone credits to create new jobs only; spurs investments in California jobs through mandatory single sales; encourages manufacturing jobs through reduced sales tax on equipment purchases; and revamps a hiring tax credit to encourage additional job creation.

Create a long-term strategy to address California’s Wall of Debt. California has accrued $35 billion in budgetary debt by borrowing from future generations. The May Revision lays out a plan to pay off at least $29 billion in looming state debt by 2015.

Cut state government. The revised budget eliminates 43 boards, commissions, task forces, offices and departments that represent an inefficient use of taxpayer dollars. As services are returned to the local level, the Departments of Mental Health and Alcohol and Drug Programs will be eliminated. The revised budget also proposes to merge the Healthy Families Program into the Medi-Cal program, reducing costs and creating a single health care program for low income families

Improve debt management. More than $11 billion in cash from bond sales is sitting in department accounts, where it costs taxpayers more than $700 million a year in debt service for projects that have yet to be completed, creating an unacceptable burden on taxpayers. The revised budget proposes expediting projects, moving cash out of accounts and into projects that create jobs and improve state infrastructure as taxpayers intended.

Restore honesty to the budget process. Last year’s budget underfunded the costs of both the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and Department of Mental Health by $465 million. The revised budget addresses the shortfalls in these departments and establishes controls to prevent future overspending.

Sell underutilized state properties. The revised budget proposes the sale of state-owned properties like the Los Angeles Coliseum, the Montclair Golf Course in Oakland, the Capital Area Development Authority in Sacramento and the Ramirez Canyon property in Southern California. These properties serve no state function and should be sold off to pay debt.

The May Revision can be found here: http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/


###

Governor Jerry Brown
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814

American Express New Policy Regarding Credits

I just received this from a small business owner who forwarded the message below.

For those of you accepting American Express cards this could be of interest to you. For those of you accepting other credit cards it would seem to me that it is just a matter of time until they will adopt the same policy.

--If you accept Amex cards pay special attention to your mail in the next week or so. I just received a letter from American Express updating our credit card processing agreement with them. It says that as of July 1, 2011 they will no longer refund the Discount (the credit card fee) when we issue a credit (refund) to a customer. If you don't like this you can elect to have your Discount Rate raised by 40 basis points (0.40%) instead. Does anyone else feel that this is a rip off. My suggestion is that when you get this letter call them up and let them know you are not happy and are considering not accepting their card. If they get away with this I can promise you that Visa, Mastercard and Discover will not be far behind.--

To all of you that are incorporated I suggest you review your records to make sure you are keeping proper documentation to protect your corporate veil in the event of a lawsuit.

Are your minutes up to date?

Are you keeping the corporate activities totally separate from your personal activities?

In the last few years I was a party to a lawsuit and my wife and I were named individually. The lawsuit was frivolous but our records were thoroughly reviewed. They also looked closely to see if there was an alter ego. You might want to consult a professional on this and make sure your records are up to date.

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

Many of you may not know that in 2005 the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act was passed and it included a provision that governmental entities withhold 3% on nearly all payments to contractors that work for these governmental agencies. This was to take effect January 2011.

In 2009 the American Recovery Act and Reinvestment Act delayed implementation a year. The IRS recently announced that they are going to further delay this until Dec 21st 2012.

The Office of Advocacy and many business organizations applauded this action but we continue to request that this unfair tax be eliminated as it will create cash flow problems for many small businesses contracting with the government.

Small Business California wants to extend our thanks to the Office of Advocacy and its Chief Council Winslow Sargeant. On a personal note thank you Winslow.

Today AB 400 will come before the Assembly Appropriations Committee. This would require businesses with less than 10 employees to provide up to 40 hours of paid sick leave to their employees and businesses with more than 10 employees to provide up to 72 hours.

Small Business California has been tracking this bill closely. It is expected that this will go into suspense because of the cost to the state for In Home Health Workers. When Assemblywoman Ma introduced this before the cost estimate to the state was $50 million.

Yesterday the California Insurance Guarantee Association [CIGA] Board of which I serve voted to approve an assessment for 2012 of 2.285 on all workers compensation policies. This is a reduction of the current rate of 2.559.

CIGA is the organization that pays for claims of admitted insolvent insurance companies. We have struggled over the last few years as about 26 workers compensation insurance have become insolvent. I am proud to say that with the help of a $750 million bond we never have missed a payment to an injured worker.

I am still looking for more examples of burdensome state regulations. Please send them to me. Small Business California is keeping track of your comments.

To see what we have already received go to www.smallbusinesscalifornia.org


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

June 6 Small Business Event/ Directors & Officers Liability

On June 6th from 8 to 4 Small Business California along with a number of other small business associations will be co sponsoring an event at the Sacramento Convention Center.

It will include Speaker John Perez and Senate Pro Tem Daryl Steinberg. They also will have a lunch where legislators will recognize small businesses in their districts.

The cost is $85. If you would like to attend I can send you full details by return email. I believe Governor Jerry Brown has been invited to speak at the luncheon.

I was surprised by the response that I got to the volunteers handbook for non profits. Given this interest I want to pass on another suggestion for those of you that are on the board of directors for non profits.

As you know if you are a board member or executive director you can be held personally liable for the actions of the nonprofit as you have a fiduciary responsibility to the nonprofit.

You should make sure that your By Laws have an indemnification provision and that you have directors and officers liability.

You should discuss this with the nonprofits attorney. Thank you John Pryor for reminding me of this.


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

SBDC Next Steps Event in Bakersfield & Other Matters

Please see information sent by Marty Keller the Small Business Advocate. I have deleted the attachment as I don’t send attachments on these emails but if you would like this information I will send to you.

Small Business California supports AB 29and testified at the Business and Professions committee.


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



Friends,

Our collaboration with the Small Business Development Centers called “Next Steps for Small Business” moves to Bakersfield on Thursday, May 26. Please see the attached flyer for complete information and the link to register. I look forward to meeting small business owners in the southern San Joaquin Valley region.



Yesterday, Assembly Speaker John Perez’ bill AB 29, which would establish the Governor’s Office of Economic Development—including the Office of the Small Business Advocate—in statute, passed out of the Committee on Jobs, Economic, Development, and the Economy on a bipartisan vote of 6-0. It goes next to the Assembly Committee on Appropriations.

May is Small Business Month, and is jammed-packed with many tributes to our small business owners and opportunities to support their efforts to grow their businesses during these challenging times. Be sure to consult the GOED calendar to see what’s happening across the state. If you have a small business event you’d like added to the calendar, please email the information to our awesome intern Daisy Luna at Daisy.Luna@gov.ca.gov.

As always, please forward this message to your network.

Be prosperous!


Marty Keller
Deputy Director, Small Business Advocate
California Governor's Office of Economic Development (GoED)
1130 K Street, Suite 101 - Sacramento, California 95814
Office: (916) 322-0673
Email: Marty.Keller@gov.ca.gov
www.business.ca.gov
Follow us on Twitter: @CAGoED

We, the People of the State of California, grateful to Almighty God for our
freedom, in order to secure and perpetuate its blessings, do establish this
Constitution.

Nonprofit Volunteers/ IT Theft

Many of you serve on nonprofit boards as do I. I have always been concerned about nonprofits having a formal policy for their volunteers. I therefore under the auspices of my company CAL Insurance have put together a Volunteers Handbook for nonprofits.

This includes an outline of what a nonprofit should provide its Volunteers
It also provides a very important letter explaining insurance coverages and a release of liability for workers compensation. Most nonprofits do not provide workers compensation coverage for their volunteers and I think there is an exposure to the nonprofit and maybe even the directors if f this is not clearly pointed out.

If you would like to receive a copy of this handbook please let me know.

Please see below what I think is an important survey indicating that nearly one third of Americans feel that businesses are not doing enough to them from workplace discrimination and identity theft. This presents some real liabilities for businesses.

You may not know that there is available in the insurance market place coverage for these liabilities as well as coverage for hackers and worms and IT theft on their IT systems.

Even if you don’t buy the insurance coverage you should be aware of the questions asked by the underwriters as it will give you some guidelines of what are the concerns of the underwriters and policies you can put in place to protect yourself. If you would like a sample application please let me know.


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


Survey: Businesses Not Doing Enough to Protect Against Discrimination; ID Theft
By admin | May 2, 2011


Nearly a third of Americans report that businesses are not doing enough to protect them from workplace discrimination and identity theft.

A recent survey by the Chubb Group of Insurance Cos. found that one in three people surveyed said, compared to a year ago, companies are less likely to protect employees from gender discrimination (30 percent) and other workplace discrimination (32 percent). One-third (32 percent) also believe that companies are less likely to protect consumers from the theft of personal information.

Discrimination Charges Soar

“A record-high number of discrimination charges have been filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission,” noted Catherine Padalino, vice president and employment practices liability product manager for Chubb. “The surge may be the result of a large number of employees who were laid off and have had difficulty finding new employment.”

Padalino says that when employers face employment discrimination charges they should conduct investigations of all charges and report them in a timely manner to their insurance company. “In addition, employers should continually review and adhere to anti-discrimination and anti-retaliation policies and procedures, keep abreast of changes in employment laws and seek outside counsel when facing discrimination charges or considering employee layoffs.”

Cyber Threats Grow

Despite corporate controls, the number of cyber breaches continues to grow, the survey says.

“The increased use of electronic health records, mobile devices, apps and social media offers cyber criminals new places to play,” said Tracey Vispoli, senior vice president and Chubb’s worldwide cyber security liability manager. “As cyber breaches expose more employees and consumers to identity theft, companies are wrestling with higher costs to contain and repair the financial and reputational damage.”
A company’s board of directors needs to understand the risk associated with the theft of employee and customer information, Vispoli advised.

“This is more than just an IT issue,” Vispoli says. “Although companies can help mitigate the risk by following best practices, they also need to have contingency plans in place before a data breach occurs.”

Chubb’s survey of 1,000 Americans was conducted by Opinion Research Corporation, an independent public opinion and market research firm, in April 2011.

Source: Chubb

Serving Small Business in LA/ Regulations

Yesterday I gave a presentation in LA to Marty Keller’s Small Business Advocates Advisory Committee.

While there we heard a presentation by the Mayor’s office [the Mayor attended the meeting] about the changes they are making to be more small business friendly. I found it refreshing to hear that LA has instituted a policy of recognizing small business as their customers.

They said they have instituted a policy of not saying no. When questioned their answers now are 'yes' and 'yes we will look into it'. They also have told their staff that they need to make 5 cold calls a week to understand how they can better serve small business.

For those of you in LA have you noticed a difference?

For those of you outside LA does your City or County have any process to address small business concerns?

I have asked and Marty has agreed to coordinate what Cities and Counties are doing and see if there can be some communication between these different entities. For Example SF has a Small Business Commission and apparently Sacramento has something.

They, in my mind, should be talking to each other and developing best practices. There used to be something in San Jose and San Diego. For those of you in those Cities does something like this still exist?

As I indicated in a previous email Small Business California is looking for examples of burdensome regulations.

We now have put the responses on our website. You can view those by going to www.smallbusinesscalifonia.org.

We need more examples. Please send those to me.

You might also want to think about the permit process in your area. Are you required to get multiple permits and file multiple forms to comply.

Wouldn’t it be great if a One Stop permit process could be developed that would streamline this whole process?


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

Please see below information on SBA budget. This is good news given the pressure to cut spending in Washington.

S.B.A. Spared in Congress 2011 Spending Deal

While many federal agencies will take a haircut in the spending bill negotiated recently between Senate Democrats and House Republicans — total nonmilitary discretionary spending will be cut by 7 to 8 percent from 2010 levels — the Small Business Administration has emerged from the negotiations largely intact.

The bill trims 0.2 percent from every nonmilitary discretionary account, including those that finance the S.B.A. But it also aims at specific programs with deeper cuts, and here the S.B.A. was effectively spared. In February, the House voted to cut $25 million, or about 6 percent, from the agency’s 2011 salaries and expenses budget, which pays for much of its small-business mission, including the counseling grants that the agency passes on to other organizations (such as Score and the small business development centers). In the end, however, House and Senate negotiators restored the appropriation to $433 million. The business loan guarantee programs are financed through a separate account, which also retained its 2010 funding of $236 million.

There is a bill in Sacramento SB 776 sponsored by the California Federation of Labor, the Building Trades and the California Manufacturing and Technology Association which requires that 50% of the Workforce Investment Act funds go directly to into workforce training . According to the California Workforce Association who opposes the bill this would force closure of about 30% of the career centers. Do any of you use the Career Centers? How effective are they? What do you think about this legislation.

It is required that 25% of state contracts go to small business. I have been asked if I would be interested in testifying on the cumulative economic impacts of small business in obtaining these contracts. Some background on this in 2004 the Schwarzenegger administration launched its Strategic Source initiative, and effort to leverage California purchasing power through large statewide contracts for items such as office products and other commodities The savings according to some sources was $160 million. Many of these contracts were taken away from small business. Please note 18% of the states contracts are Strategic Sourcing. What are your thoughts


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

California Regulations

There seems to be a lot of interest in doing a couple of conferences with small businesses on regulations.

While not finalized we are thinking of doing one in Southern California and one in Northern California.

The goal is put together a White Paper on this subject and present it to the Governor and Legislature.

I am going to add as section to our website listing burdensome regulations for small business. I would appreciate you sending to me what is burdensome for your business.

Please see below what is for me very difficult if not impossible for me in my business.

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


The DMV is now auditing agents and brokers for this information. It is a summary of a 53 page handbook and list the requirements of agents and brokers because we obtain drivers license information.

• What privacy policies has the organization established with respect to the collection, use, and retention of DMV information?

• Do you have a written information security program or policy? If yes, please provide a copy of the policy.

• Identify the locations, systems, and methods for storing, processing, transmitting, and disposing of DMV information

• Please describe your procedures in the event of a security breach.

• How are employees with access to DMV information trained in privacy protection?

• Do you maintain an Information Security Statement (DMV Form INF 1128) for each employee authorized to access DMV records (If yes, please provide us with copies of these statements).

• Do you have a list of inactive or terminated employees that had access? (If applicable, please provide us with a copy of this listing).

• How many computer terminals are capable of making inquiries? Where are they located? Are the terminals secured when unattended? Explain how they are secured.

• Your terminals that access DMV records should display a “warning banner” containing some variation of the following admonishment: “WARNING: Unauthorized access or misuse of data may result in adverse action and/or criminal prosecution.” Does this banner display?

• Do you keep a log of all inquiries made? If yes, provide log.

• Describe access controls on computer systems containing DMV information to prevent access by unauthorized staff or other individuals.

• How often are passwords required to be changed? How are password changes initiated?

The questionnaire further requires the agency to provide a copy of the agency’s Requesters Information Security Program or Policy, Information Security Statements for the past two years, a list of inactive or terminated employees, a list of current authorized users, a list of current user terminals, and an inquiry log for inquiries processed in April 2008.

Update on SB 653 City and County Income Tax

Yesterday after I sent the email on Senator Steinberg's City and County Income Tax proposal, I received the 27 pages of the revised bill.

It now has been changed to allow an income tax only on individuals and not businesses. It also says the tax is only on residents and not those working in a City and County that is not their residency.

It also caps the tax at 1%.

What would you think about Small Business California along with other business organizations holding conferences in Northern and Southern California on California regulations?

We would be working with a National organization that puts on this type of conference in states around the country and the goal would be to identify problem areas and figure out ways to streamline California regulations.

This National organization can identify best practices around the country and we can then present the results to the legislature and Governor.
Thoughts?

Would you attend?


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