worsen the business climate . The California Chamber of Commerce publishes an annual list of job-killer bills it says would hurt job creation . It might as well be called the bill-killer list — as of June only five of the 18 bills the chamber had included on its 2022 list were still alive , and in the last five years , only five of 131 bills the chamber targeted became law . PAGA remains a big concern of the chamber , says president and CEO Jennifer Barrera . “ One lawsuit under PAGA could literally take a small employer out of business . And a lot of these lawsuits are filed for technical violations where there was no actual harm or injury to the employee with regard to unpaid wages ,” she says .
She also sees positive signs . For all the untold suffering COVID-19 caused , it created more sensitivity to small businesses that she hadn ’ t seen previously at the state capitol . She points to the state ’ s COVID-19 sick leave mandate , which excluded businesses with fewer than 25 employees , and to state budget proposals being considered that would give some employers tax credits for the costs they incur under the sick leave policy .
Another business advocate also sees good things coming from Sacramento for the smallest businesses . Bianca Blomquist is the California policy director for Small Business Majority , an advocacy group whose network of 85,000 businesses have an average of four employees or less . She ’ s heartened by grants to micro-businesses that are coming through the state funding pipeline and by a 2019 law that relaxes regulations , allowing cities and counties to authorize “ microenterprise home kitchen operations ” in which an individual runs a restaurant out of their residence .
When her group asks small business owners how they feel about regulations , they most commonly report problems at the local , not state , level
— permitting , licensing , certifications and fees , she says . Blomquist doesn ’ t know the number in her group ’ s network who have left the state .
Positive signals or no , they weren ’ t enough to keep Puroast Coffee rooted in the home soil where it grew . For Kerry Sachs , the move to North Carolina was the right one , but he ’ s wistful . “ We wake up and say we ’ d love to drive over to Napa . We ’ d like to head up to Tahoe over the weekend , head over to the Bay Area ,” he says . “ We miss California . ... I grew up there . I still have a lot of family there . My wife and I raised our kids there . It ’ s just a spectacular place .”
Steven Yoder writes about business , real estate and criminal justice . His work has appeared in The Fiscal Times , Salon , The American Prospect and elsewhere . Online at www . stevenyoder . net and on Twitter @ syodertweet .
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August 2022 | comstocksmag . com 51