CA

California Director Mark Herbert testified before the Assembly Committee on Health to voice support for proactive solutions to ensure all of California’s small businesses and self-employed entrepreneurs have access to quality, affordable healthcare. AB 2459 would significantly improve affordability for thousands of middle-income individuals and families, including many entrepreneurs and small business employees.

On April 18, Small Business Majority CEO John Arensmeyer testified before the California Senate Committee on Banking and Financial Institutions in support of SB 1235, which would create regulations for new sources of alternative lending in California. The testimony explained that such regulation is widely supported by small business owners, as it would protect them from predatory lending practices. 

Small Business Majority has written in support of AB 2459, which would extend tax credits to individuals struggling to access affordable healthcare. Providing tax credits to help individuals unable to afford monthly healthcare premiums would help many of California’s small businesses, their employees and self-employed entrepreneurs.

Small Business Majority writes in support of AB 3148, which would provide additional cost sharing assistance to help those eligible for assistance to better afford their copays and deductibles, which would directly benefit many of California’s small businesses, their employees and self-employed entrepreneurs. AB 3148 would significantly improve affordability for thousands of low- and moderate-income individuals and families, including many entrepreneurs and small business employees, by ensuring that no one is unable to use the insurance they have.

Small Business Majority has written in support of AB 2565, which would extend additional assistance to individuals who qualify for premium subsidies but still struggle to access affordable healthcare. The legislation would significantly improve affordability for thousands of low- and moderate-income individuals and families, including many entrepreneurs and small business employees, by ensuring that no one would spend more than 8% of their income on health insurance premiums.

Small Business Majority writes to urge the California Legislature to include funding for healthcare solutions in that will expand access to affordable coverage in the 2018-2019 State Budget. Some of the requests include: extending Medical access to all income-eligible undocumented adults and to consider enacting a California alternative to the ACA's individual mandate to maintain the robustness of the marketplaces.

Small Business Majority submitted a letter in support of SB 1235, which would become the first small business truth in lending law in the country. The bill would standardize disclosure of financing terms offered to small businesses to better inform borrowers about the financial implications of their loan offers, and it would serve as a model for other states to follow to better serve their small businesses.

Small Business Majority submitted a letter to the California Assembly in support of California's Homemade Food Operartions Act (AB 626), which will help legitimize and create a legal framework for microenterprise home kitchen operations in the state. It will improve public health safeguards around the existing informal food economy by legalizing small-scale home food operations and ensuring health and safety standards. Finally, the bill will enable home cooks—mostly women, immigrants, and people of color—to use their skills to generate income.

Mark Herbert, California Director for Small Business Majority, submitted a letter in support of the California Prompt Payment bill (AB 1552), which would require all public utilities to promptly pay vendors that submit valid invoices. Prompt payment measures such as this will help small businesses compete more effectively in bidding processes for contracts. The bill requires that public utilities will be required to pay vendor invoices within 30 days.

Small Business Majority writes to both the California State Assembly as well as California State Senate in support of AB 2965/S 974, which would expand MediCal coverage to undocumented immigrants. Extending this coverage would drastically decrease the number of remaining uninsured in the state, as roughly 1.8 million undocumented Californians are without healthcare coverage (more than half of the total uninsured).