Increases Access to Capital and Leverages Funding for California Small Businesses
SACRAMENTO – Today, Assemblymembers V. Manuel Pérez (D-Coachella) and Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles), co-chairs of the Assembly Jobs and Economic Recovery Task Force, joined Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles) to announce a legislative plan to help spur small businesses recovery.
Speaker Pérez convened the Assembly Jobs & Recovery Task Force earlier this year to focus on job creation and retention. Economists are predicting small businesses that contract with states and localities are likely to face severe cutbacks if more state and local jobs are lost, and Speaker Pérez thanked the leaders of the Assembly Jobs and Economic Recovery Task Force, Assemblymember Mike Feuer, Majority Policy Leader, and Assemblymember V. Manuel Pérez, Chair of the Assembly’s Committee on Jobs, Economic Development and the Economy, for their leadership in finding ways to save and create jobs and help small businesses keep their doors open.
“Small and medium sized businesses, as our primary job creators, are poised to lead us out of this recession,” said Assemblymember V. Manuel Pérez. “We must focus our efforts on empowering them to grow and prosper. Among the issues we’ve been looking at, in hearings and through the work of the Jobs and Recovery Task Force, are facilitating access to lines of credit and loans and the accompanying technical assistance.”
Small business recovery is a priority also reflected in legislative Democrats’ California Jobs Budget, which includes $300 million for targeted private sector job creation, including funding for small business to use in leveraging hundreds of millions of dollars in potential new financing. The funding proposed by Democratic leaders would expand the Small Business Loan Guarantee Program and the CalCAP program, two state access-to-capital programs. Each dollar invested in these programs leverages five to ten times that dollar in loans to California small businesses. Another proposal includes making microloans more widely available to start-up companies, as well as technical assistance and training to small businesses seeking help with contract procurement, business plan development, marketing and related needs.
“California’s small businesses are important job creators and comprise 95% of our state’s economy,” Speaker John Pérez said. “We have made supporting these economic engines a major priority through our budget efforts and smart, targeted legislative initiatives like the ones proposed by the Assembly Jobs and Recovery Task Force. We will be moving quickly, and publicly, in the next few weeks to make these valuable proposals a reality for small businesses in California and boost this crucial sector of our economy.”
In the coming weeks, the Assembly Jobs and Recovery Task Force will announce its additional efforts to help support small businesses in California by cutting red tape, integrating education and workforce training services, and developing the green economy.
In addition to V.M. Pérez and Feuer, members of the Task Force include Assemblymembers Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael), Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) and Felipe Fuentes (D-Sylmar).
