With lawmakers preparing to act on bills left open before the summer recess, concerns continue about additional mandates on businesses trying to stay open amid the new surge in coronavirus cases.
Many places have been able to reopen, but the economic rebound has been less certain for small businesses struggling to hire workers, John Kabateck, California state director with the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) told the Northern California Record.
“If there ever was a year when every Sacramento policymaker should be on red alert to be treating their California constituents, and in particular Main Street, with genuine respect it would be this year,” Kabateck said. “Your average small employer has been getting administrative whiplash trying to handle all the complex laws coming at them as a result of Covid. From the governor on down, all of our policymakers ought to be walking the talk, passing policy that gives Main Street employers steps forward and not backward.
“And if there’s a takeaway here, it’s first do no harm: low taxes, responsible regulations, and stemming the tide on frivolous lawsuits would be big steps in the direction of recovery.”
Concerns are growing that failing to pay down the state’s $23 billion in unemployment insurance debt will become a tax on businesses.
“They can still do the responsible thing and pay down more of our debt,” Kabateck said. “And they clearly have an opportunity to provide some even modest liability protection for smaller employers, which we have attempted two years in a row now, to no avail.”
The small business community is also supporting AB 1033, from Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, D-San Ramon, which would streamline a small employer family leave mediation pilot program. The measure would require prior notice and mediation before an employee files suit under the California Family Rights Act (CFRA).
“Small businesses continue to suffer from the pandemic and we believe AB 1033 will actually help employers take advantage of the program by fixing the way that mediation was intended as it relates to the Family Rights Act,” Kabateck said.
The Senate Appropriations Committee unanimously passed AB 1033 on Thursday.
“I think we're in a culture right now where Californians are keeping a very close eye on all policymakers to do the right thing,” Kabateck said. “And pass legislation that helps create jobs and gets small businesses and the economy moving forward and doesn't put a giant roadblock or send more people fleeing or shutting their doors.”
Stanford University’s Hoover Institution recently reported that the number of business headquarters leaving California doubled in 2021.
Small businesses remain concerned about the damaging impact of AB 654, which would expand a similar measure, AB 685, that took effect this year.
“We have concerns about that one, as do many others, because it unfairly presumes and puts a black mark on a business when in fact an employee could have contracted Covid anywhere,” Kabateck said. “And to allow the Department of Public Health to publish a website that automatically presumes that business guilty before proven innocent is the wrong approach.”