Blow Up the Boxes–For Real This Time
Only weeks after the state budget was signed the governor and legislative leaders are scheduled to meet today to determine whether to call a special legislative session to deal with – the budget, again! With the economy in a tail spin this budget is already out of balance by about $5-billion—if it ever were in balance in the first place when it was signed. Nobody believes it was. And huge future budget deficits are looming.
With a deficit hole and a deteriorating economy — and on top of all that a federal judge demanding money that the state doesn’t have be spent on prison medical facilities — what are the political leaders going to do?
Governor, I have a suggestion for you to help with California’s fiscal difficulties both now and in the long term. The idea is not original – in fact, I borrowed it from you. Blow Up the Boxes!
A Small Business Perspective on A.B. 32
The California Air Resources Board is rapidly moving forward to develop its implementation plan for AB 32, but I’m afraid they’re not choosing the most cost-effective path. As a voice of the small business community, I am greatly concerned that CARB’s plan is going to pile more and more costs on small business.
With this tough economy, a financial industry crisis and a growing state fiscal problem, we need to make sure that the climate change program does not make the situation worse. There are too many layers of costs that we’re already struggling to meet, we can hardly afford to empty our wallets on the new efficiency measures and upfront investments that CARB is calling for us to make.
Small businesses drive our state’s economy, so we want CARB to recognize the importance of finding an implementation plan that helps us survive. Thus far, we have not had a seat at the table and our concerns go unanswered. If small businesses get suffocated along the way, our state in 2020 will have a low carbon footprint by driving business out of the state.
Suing Small Business – CALA/NFIB Survey
California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse and the National Federation of Independent Business in California teamed up for Lawsuit Abuse Awareness Week (October 6-10) and have released a survey of over 800 small business people. The results are somewhat stunning. If you thought the stock market recently has been frightening just take a look at the results of the survey. The survey is posted on CALA.com.
Some of the highlights are as follows:
? 98% of California’s small business owners believe that the number of lawsuits filed against businesses in California has hurt the state’s economy.
? More than 4 in 5 think that the number of liability lawsuits is increasing.
? More than 98% believe the number of lawsuits filed against businesses in California has a negative impact on business growth and prosperity.