I attended a press conference in the State Capitol that for once brought good news to small business owners in California. Assembly Speaker John Perez, along with Assembly Members Bob Blumenfield and Tom Daly announced legislation that will cut the red tape in Secretary of State’s Office for those wanting to start a business.
It was recently discovered that California businesses were facing extraordinarily long delays in filing documents with the Secretary of State. In fact, the processing time had grown to as high as 85 days due to budget cuts and other problems. This meant that businesses could face up to a two-month delay before they could sign contracts, hire employees and open their doors for business. This kind of delay is the last thing that California businesses need right now.
Assembly Bill 113 will ease this delay and assist the Secretary of State in expediting these processes. The goal is that processing of business filings should be done within five days, similar to what it takes in other states like Texas and New York. Up and down the state, I hear the same thing from our members and other entrepreneurs – they want government to provide customer service that helps them comply with regulations in a timely manner. If they are expected to follow the rules, then government needs to do the same. This bill is a good step in the right direction of California becoming more business friendly.
Without a fix to this problem, future neighborhood bookstores, auto shops, dry cleaners, and farms will take months and months – instead of mere weeks as in many other states – to get started, support the economy and our communities, and create jobs for our people.
We appreciate the Speaker’s leadership in introducing AB 113, which will provide a much-needed fix to this big problem. Let’s not forget – every big business once began as a small business…in California, that means Hewlett Packard, Facebook, the Gap, and Carl’s Jr., to name a few. And who knows which one of our entrepreneurs waiting now will be the next big thing? Thankfully, the wait time will be shorter and they will get back to what they do best – creating jobs and building the California economy.