With the Legislature back at work for the 2017-2018 legislative session, NFIB California released a new “The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly” bill list which identifies new and developing policy issues in the State Capitol affecting small business. Bills included in this list represent those which will have the greatest impact, either negative or positive, to the 3.5 million small businesses across California.
The California Legislature wasted no time introducing hundreds of new bills affecting a wide range of public policy issues, many of which will have a direct impact on small business owners across this state. With over 600 bills already introduced in just the first two months of the two-year session, small business owners have the daunting challenge of tracking significant public policy issues moving through the State Capitol. At the same time, small businesses are facing very different challenges than big businesses on a daily basis, and our The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly bill list serves as the pulse on these unique issues affecting small business owners in California.
Currently, the list includes 21 bills total (9 good; 2 bad; and 10 ugly). This list reflects proposals from the 2017-2018 legislative session, and as new bills are introduced or morphed into substantively new bills, this list will be updated. You can always find the current version at http://www.nfib.com/ca/gbu.
Our 22,000 small business members have great concern that this legislature may pass additional mandates, regulations, and costs this year, which would negatively impact their ability to own, operate, and grow their business. However, we also have optimism that there will be several opportunities for bipartisan collaboration at the Capitol to tackle some of the most important issues for our members in the areas of legal, regulatory, and CEQA reform, for example. We will regularly update this bill list as we continue to advocate on behalf of our members in Sacramento on these critical small business issues.
Tom Scott is the State Executive Director for NFIB California, which represents 22,000 dues-paying small business members across the state.