2009 Small Business California Accomplishments

 

GENERAL

 

•        Completed our fifth annual survey of California small business issues.  There were over 600 responses and every county in California was represented in the survey.

•        Small Business California testified May 2009 before the House Small Business Committee.

•        Represented small business interest in the National Health debate.  Small Business California represents small business on the Board of the Pacific Business Group on Health.

•        Added the Plumbing  Heating and Cooling Contractors of California as an affiliate member of Small Business California.

•        Represented small business on the task force at the Workers Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau dealing with calculations of experience modifications.

•        Strongly opposed the sale of State Fund which would dramatically have impacted the rates of small business State Fund policy holders.

•        Provided strong support to the development of Clinic By The Bay in San Francisco.  This is a Volunteers in Medicine Clinic which nationally has 74 clinics in 24 states.

•        In August sponsored a fundraiser recognizing San Francisco small business leaders and their accomplishments, over a quarter of a century.

•        Supported interim funding of SBA 7a and 504 loans.  Put in place coalition of 34 associations for funding until end of fiscal year.  Worked closely with NAGGL (7a) and NADCO (504) (S2869 and H.R. 4302).

•        Received the environmental Business of the Year award from the Pacific Conservation League.

 

 LEGISLATIVE

       Sponsored Senate Bill 313 that will increase employer compliance in securing the purchase of a workers’ compensation policy and will ultimately lower employer assessments for law-abiding employers who are competing with the underground economy.

•        Secured the enactment of SB 313 (Desaulnier) that will provide the Director of the Department of Industrial Relations with the formula and methodology to calculate penalties and collect unpaid premiums from employers who have failed to provide a workers’ compensation insurance policy for their employees.

•        Supported and testified in favor of Assembly Bill 483 (Buchanan) to require the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau to establish and maintain a free, public web site to allow individuals to obtain workers’ compensation coverage information about a specific employer.

•        Endorsed the following bills:   SB 1 (Steinberg, Alquist) federal healthcare assistance for children; SB 156 (Wright) Workers’ Comp Explanation of Benefits; SB 196 (Corbett) Health Care Provider Contracts; SB 356 (Wright) Economic Impact of Proposed Regulations on Small Businesses; AB 23 (Jones, Fletcher, Alquist) Cal-COBRA Premium Assistance; AB 96 (Ruskin, Ch 69, Statutes of 2009) Gasoline: Underground Storage Tanks; AB 125 (De Leon) Retirement:  CA Employee Savings Program; AB 141 (Tran) Employment Working Hours; AB 562 (Cook) Health Care Coverage:  Report of Claim Information; AB 758 (Skinner, Bass, Torrico) Energy Audit; AB 1111 (Blakeslee) CA Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing  Authority; AB 2330 (Stats of 2006) Small Business Regulatory Impact Study Request for Public Records.

•        SB-Cal sent several letters to and met with the members of the Senate and Assembly Budget Committees and their staff to keep intact the Net Operating Loss Carry Over Tax ability for small businesses, along with a request to retain the funding for the Health Families Program.  Both programs were left either intact or their funding preserved. 

•        Opposed AB 1000 (MA) that pertained to sick days and if enacted, would have drastically increased small business’ health care costs with no offsets.

•        Opposed  AB 1139 (Perez) as it would have increased income taxes on those small businesses operating in the state’s enterprise zones.

•        Asked Senator Leno to send an inquiry to the BOE to verify and outline the inconsistency of the application of the Government and Tax Codes on small business construction contractors who are being taxed twice as compared to their big business counterparts when bidding for public and private construction projects. 

•        Secured the development of a Return-to-Work Guidebook that will provide information to employers about the new laws pertaining to FEHA and ADA compliance.

•        Sponsored SB 869 authored by Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas.  This bill established the first-ever matching identification program to coordinate the claims reporting and data by the EDD, Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau, the CA Department of Insurance and the Department of Industrial Relations’ Division of Workers’ Compensation and Division of Labor Standards and Enforcement in their efforts to locate employers who have chosen to operate in the underground economy and bring them into compliance. 

•        Hank Ryan has been providing testimony and working with the California Air Resources Board (CARB), the agency having jurisdiction over the development and implementation of AB 32 regulations, to develop its Scoping Plan that will serve as the road map outlining the phases of each new regulation. 

•        Small Business California has advocated for the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, supporting the interests of independently owned technology companies against competition from large firms seeking to push small business out of the $2 billion a year Federal program.  The debate included battles over the changes to the SBA definition of a small business.

•        Helped to secure the support of Senators Feinstein and Boxer to secure passage of Senate bill S. 1233.  The Senate Bill preserves the spirit of the original SBIR program while SB-California is working with the Speaker’s Office on House bill H.R. 5819 which contains most of the changes that will negatively impact small business.

•        Small Business California-sponsored AB 615 is on the two-year track in order to thoroughly develop the expansion of the otherwise very short and unclear definition of existing law “first aid” injuries in the Labor Code when compared to the very specific 14-point list of non-first aid injuries included in Cal-OSHA’s definition. 

•        Small Business California’s-sponsored AB 801 two-year bill.  This bill was made a two-year bill so that the California Department of Insurance could work with labor in securing their sign off in allowing the Department of Insurance to join the Commission on Health and Safety and Workers’ Compensation and the Division of Workers’ Compensation in accessing and retrieving claims information from the Workers’ Compensation Information System for CDI’s fraud detection purposes.

•        At Senator Mark Leno’s request, Small Business California has been meeting with the Senator and his staff to provide recommendations to improve the state’s business climate for small employers on the following issues:

o   Water Company de-coupling to mitigate lost sales through water efficiency programs.  This issue could potentially open the door for On Bill Financing programs for water users. 

o   Issues affecting small business agriculture are recommended to encourage methane to energy opportunities, i.e. incentives for no till farming and other initiatives.

o   Incentives for increased usage of wireless sensors/internet dashboards to monitor small business equipment usage - important to facilitate smart meters for valid energy efficiency savings. 

o   All investor owned utilities are now addressing On Bill Financing and are or will be offering financing directly to their customers.  Only one publicly owned utility (Palo Alto) is in the process of developing OBF.  Legislation that would address remaining barriers would be important to help deliver On Bill Financing to customers of the other POUs.

 

2009 Small Business California Energy Policy Achievements

EPA Grant Milestones

• Engage with CA Green Business Programs to increase support
• Develop guidelines and templates for NSBA Green Business Council
• Organize and distribute utility energy efficiency displays at northern CA Dept of Alcohol Beverage Control offices
• Provide support for Palo Alto municipal utility On Bill Financing program development
• Advocate at the CPUC for revolving fund use of stimulus funds to support energy efficiency financing
• Continue support work with SDG&E for ongoing On Bill Financing program
• Provide briefing about On Bill Financing for U.S. Senate Small Business Committee staff

Energy Foundation Grant Milestones

• Develop and execute the “C of C Green Sheet” for distribution to CA Chambers
• Visit and meet with California Chamber officials at over 40 offices in central valley and southern California

Bay Air Quality Management District Grant

• Create vehicle use profiles for 4 Bay Area businesses
• Work with Ecology Action to create design for employer supported alternative vehicle financing
• Publish Op Ed articles in SF Examiner and NSBA Advocate featuring electric vehicles for businesses

 

Transportation Alternative Financing

Establish a waiver of the tax on the (effectively) 0% loan for purchasing alternative fuel vehicle and would enable an internal loan from employer to employee in order to generate tax revenues.  The value of building out this opportunity for the broadest range of employers to offer would maximize the incentive levels available for low to zero emissions vehicle programs to help bridge the gap of the expected higher costs for BEV (Electric Hybrid Vehicle) and PHEV (Plug In Hybrid Electric Vehicle)

The automotive industry leaders would help build out this opportunity as these are funds already utilized in an alternative way that can leverage increased low/zero emissions auto sales with no impact on the deficit.

Here are the elements that need to be considered to help frame this out:

• From a source such as BAAQMD or PG&E, we will request funds for a survey to determine the % of firms with owned fleets versus employee owned vehicles and how the different sizes and types of businesses match to this opportunity.
• CA Air Districts seem to be the best match to address one cost area, the employer cost of funds.  Vehicle fees are an area where the SD Air District has suggested they would consider supporting the cost of funds in return for the air credits the new vehicles would deliver.
• Another cost are is the value of the no cost loan to the employee in terms of federal tax liability.  Here is language offered by Chuck Trempler of Ecology Action: The current Applicable Federal Rate (http://evans-legal.com/dan/afr.html) is 0.81%, so the amount of imputed interest on $6,000 less than $50 in year one and even less after that.  For someone in the 28% bracket, the tax would be $14 + FICA/Social Security of about $4.
• The area we discussed for 2010 CA legislation that may offer an exemption for the state income tax liability is smaller still. 
• Finally, there is a need for both educational and  administrative support to set up simple systems that employers can use to facilitate this program.  Funds would be needed for this and the above sources or others would seem to be likely choices although the value of direct support from the auto manufacturers/ dealers would certainly help in terms of developing bipartisan support.