Home » California Small Business Policy Update: July 20–24

California Small Business Policy Update: July 20–24

SoHoSoCal
July 20, 2026
9:56 am

Legislature in summer recess. Coastal Commission curbed. NFIB CA PAC update

Welcome to the July 20-24 edition of the Main Street Minute from your small-business-advocacy team in Sacramento

The Legislature

The Legislature is still in summer recess, but the work of NFIB knows no breaks. See below.

As reported in last week’s Main Street Minute, NFIB has narrowed to 11 the most consequential pieces of legislation from its list of more than 70. The status of the 11 bills can be read in this story, NFIB California 2026 Summer Recess Legislative Report.

Lawmakers return from their monthlong vacation August 3 and have until August 31 – less than a month — to finish their work. NFIB is bracing for a flurry of activity prior to the close of the two-year session.

We are asking members to keep an eye out for Action Alerts sent your way.

Coast-to-Coast Lobbying

“Congress has got to repeal this law.”

The message was delivered on the East Coast during NFIB’s June 9-11 Fly-In event and delivered again last week in Sacramento, where Lisa Shimkat, regional administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration, invited NFIB California State Director John Kabateck to discuss the small business agenda with a group of area small business owners in the manufacturing sector.

Highest on the agenda that Kabateck has lobbied for in both cities is repeal of the Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reporting requirements affecting 32 million Americans.

As NFIB President Brad Close explained in a recent radio interview, “This [BOI] was specifically enacted into law by Congress. It only applies to businesses with 20 or fewer employees. So, this is targeted solely at small business. President Trump did the hard work, he exempted 32 million Americans from a reporting requirement law that would require small business owners to report all of their ownership information into a brand-new government database housed at the Treasury Department. But he needs Congress to help him. The next president that comes in could open this up again. So, Congress has got to repeal this law so that small business owners do not have to put all of their personal data, all the data of some of their managers and employees in there as well or face fines and jail time just for a paperwork violation.”

Shimkat told Kabateck that she and her deputies definitely have this on their radar and sharing with President Trump all they’re hearing. Kabateck also brought up the mandate and additional compliance costs associated with a heat proposal put forth by Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA).

Shimkat thanked Kabateck for his participation at the Sacramento event and said she appreciates all NFIB does in Washington, D.C.

Coastal Commission Curbed

Kabateck later stopped by an event hosted by the Pacific Legal Foundation, which was celebrating its victory in the Shear Development Co. v. California Coastal Commission case.

According to this story on PLF’s website, a classic case of government overreach was stopped. “Represented at no charge by Pacific Legal Foundation, Shear Development asked the California Supreme Court to reverse the agency’s unlawful permit denial, confine the Commission to its proper role under the Coastal Act, and affirm that courts, not agencies, should resolve questions of statutory interpretation.

“In a unanimous ruling issued April 23, 2026, the court did just that. The court held that the Commission had unlawfully overridden the county-approved building permit, limiting the Commission’s authority to second-guess local governments across the state’s coastal zone. The victory vindicated Shear’s right to build homes, forcing the Commission to stick to LCPs as written and building a firm legal foundation for all citizens to fight back whenever the agency tries to rewrite regulations at will.”

NFIB alum Luke Wake is a senior attorney at the Pacific Legal Foundation.

Interested in Joining?

NFIB is proud to be an inaugural member of the Public Policy Institute of California Business Council. Through this partnership, NFIB helps ensure that the perspectives of California’s small business community are part of an ongoing dialogue with one of the state’s leading independent, nonpartisan public policy research organizations.

The PPIC Business Council brings together leaders from across California to engage directly with PPIC researchers and leadership on the state’s most pressing policy challenges. These conversations help inform PPIC’s objective, fact-based research while giving Business Council members early access to emerging policy discussions, research insights, and opportunities to contribute practical, real-world perspectives.

For NFIB, participation in the Business Council is another way to elevate the voices of California’s small businesses and help foster sound public policy grounded in credible research and informed dialogue.

To learn more about PPIC or the PPIC Business Council, please contact NFIB California State Director John Kabateck at john.kabateck@nfib.org or (916) 448-9904, or Ava Gambero, Senior Development Associate at PPIC, at gambero@ppic.org or (415) 291-4429.

NFIB CA PAC Chewing Over Ballot Initiatives

With 14 initiatives on the November ballot, NFIB CA PAC, the political action committee of NFIB California, has a lot to consider. Using the secretary of state’s first-sentence descriptions, slightly edited, here are the ones of higher interest to the PAC:

Providing permanent funding for schools and healthcare by extending existing tax on high incomes
Imposing one-time tax on certain individuals and trusts
Requiring audits of programs funded by new state special taxes
Prohibiting new state personal property taxes and certain retroactive state taxes
Limiting local taxes
Modifying environmental review for certain projects.

Small businesses’ involvement in campaigns is no small thing. Speaking from the direction given by our members, NFIB’s support for ballot initiatives is highly sought and its opposition to them dreaded in equal degrees. In 2024, NFIB’s opposition to the minimum-wage initiative (Proposition 32) was the main reason for its defeat. State Director John Kabateck debated the author of the initiative four times on radio shows broadcast statewide.

NFIB was also instrumental in helping pass the initiative curbing retail theft (Proposition 36). Studies have shown that the voice of small business is more highly regarded by big margins than those of big businesses and big labor unions.

The Regulatory World

Highlights from Nielsen Merksamer’s weekly report

July 16, the Governor announced 13 automakers will offer instant rebates to Californians buying or leasing their first zero-emission vehicle ($3,500 for a new vehicle and $1,750 for a used vehicle). Participating automakers include: Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Lucid, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Rivian, Subaru, Tesla, Toyota and Volvo.
July 13, the California Attorney General, along with 11 other attorneys general, filed a motion to halt the Warner Brothers and Paramount merger until litigation on the matter is resolved.
Board of Environmental Safety Meeting –July 23 9:30 am (Sacramento & virtual)
The agenda includes an update on the Environmental Justice Advisory Council, a status report on hazardous waste facility permit decisions, the Department of Toxic Substances Control Director’s priorities and hazardous waste management program metrics report, and fiscal year 2026/27 fee rates.
Cal. Air Resources Board Meeting – July 23 1:00 pm (Sacramento & virtual) The agenda includes consideration of the 2026 State Implementation Plan Revisions for the California Extreme Ozone Nonattainment Areas, members of the AB 32 Environmental Justice Advisory Committee, and an update on the implementation of the Community Air Protection Program.

What Others Are Reporting

The Orange County Register

Newsom applies stricter rules for state injury fund

“Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed immediate reforms to a state fund that paid as much as $1,700 weekly to people claiming that such common ailments as allergies, asthma and erectile dysfunction hampered their ability to work.

“The new law tightens eligibility requirements for the Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund, which was established after World War II to help injured veterans land jobs. It morphed into a program that gave people receiving workers’ compensation extra money for prior ailments exacerbated by their new injuries. It is funded by an annual tax on employers.

“Newsom sought the reforms in a trailer bill to his budget package after declaring that the SIBTF was unfettered and out of control, without the safeguards of the traditional workers’ compensation system. Unsustainable, the fund’s liabilities were expected to hit $30 billion by 2029 amid skyrocketing applications.”

The San Francisco Standard
Oakland could soon have the highest minimum wage in the country
The $30-per-hour wave is coming. Alameda County is ground zero.

Source: NFIB California Main Street Minute, July 20-24