Thank You!; Take Action on Taxes; Senate FY 2018 Approps

Thank You! The CAMEO staff wishes you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving. It is our honor to work with you on behalf of independent entrepreneurs and microbusinesses in California. Don’t forget to visit your favorite small businesses on Saturday for the the eighth Small Business Saturday and post a photo of your visit on our Facebook page. Last year on Small Business Saturday, an estimated 112 million Americans spent a combined $15.4 billion at independent neighborhood retailers and restaurants. In this Must Know…

• Tax Reform – Time for Action Is Now
• Senate Appropriations Numbers
• Read our op-ed published in The Hill – “Tax reform for the growing gig economy.” – for a good summary of the proposals we would like to see.
• The Goodies – This week’s highlight is that Secure Choice the state’s new retirement program for private sector workers, will be holding two regulation workshops to preview the draft proposal and get comments from interested parties on December 5 in Sacramento (801 Capitol Mall, Room 150) and December 7 in Los Angeles (Ronald Reagan State Building, Auditorium, 300 South Spring Street) from 10:00am-12:00pm. You may also participate by phone: (888) 278-0296; Participant Code: 6531748.

Tax Reform – Time for Action Is Now

The Senate will debate its tax reform bill the week of November 27. Now is the time to contact Senator Dianne Feinstein and Senator Kamala Harris in their district office, while they are home for Thanksgiving. As of now, our priorities are not being included in the tax reform conversation, despite advocacy efforts on our part. If you want fair tax reform that unleashes the job-creating potential and entrepreneurial spirit of the self-employed and small businesses, then call today. It will only take two minutes. Thanks to AEO for pulling together a sample script.

Hello. My name is ____________ and I am a constituent located in ____________. I am urging Senator ____________ to support tax reform that ensures that our nation’s small and microbusinesses can continue to grow and create jobs, specifically:

• Deduction for pass-through entities
• Inclusion of the provisions in H.R. 3717, the “Small Business Owners’ Tax Simplification Act of 2017”
• Expansion of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA) to include low-revenue entrepreneurs and small businesses
• Retention of the New Markets Tax Credit and of S. 293, the “Investing in Opportunity Act”

Tax reform is important to my organization because (give personal example). Again, I urge Senator _____________ to support these priorities in the Senate’s tax reform bill, and ensure their inclusion in the final version of this legislation. Thank you for your support of our nation’s small business community.

Senate Appropriations Numbers

Late last night, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services & General Government (FSGG) released their FY2018 draft appropriations bill and explanation. FSGG is the subcommittee of jurisdiction for the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI) at Treasury. The next step is for the entire Appropriations Committee to vote on the appropriations number, so these are not the final numbers. We’re pleased to see that the SBDC funding meets our goal and is higher than it was in FY 2018. We’re pleased that the CDFI Fund is much higher than the House number of $190M, but would love to see it at the FY 2017 level of $250M. The WBC funding is at the FY 2017 level, but we’d like to see it increased and would like to see the Microloan program remain at it’s FY 2017 level of $44M. While the Senate numbers are bet than the House numbers, let’s all get some good nourishment and rest this holiday so we can come back and advocate for our programs in the next few weeks.

Program	Senate FSGG Amount	CAMEO Request
Treasury CDFI Fund	$248M	$250M
Treasury BGP	$500M	$1B
SBA Microloan – Lending	$36M	$44M
SBA Microloan – Technical Assistance	$31M	$31M
SBA PRIME	Discretionary	$10M
SBA WBC	$18M	$21.75M
SBA SBDCs	$130M	$130M

The House released their FY 2018 appropriations numbers in July.

The Goodies

New opportunities for training, conference information, funding, scholarships, and other information that have crossed our desks since the last Must Know. I have posted a running tab of current Industry Goodies on the CAMEO website that lists items that were in past emails. Check it out to make sure you’re not missing anything, like grants whose deadlines are still alive! Secure Choice Public Workshops: We have been working with the staff of Secure Choice, the state’s new retirement program for private sector workers, to help develop the regulations so the program works efficiently for employers and employees. Secure Choice will be holding two regulation workshops to preview the draft proposal and get comments from interested parties on December 5 in Sacramento (801 Capitol Mall, Room 150) and December 7 in Los Angeles (Ronald Reagan State Building, Auditorium, 300 South Spring Street) from 10:00am-12:00pm. You may also participate by phone: (888) 278-0296; Participant Code: 6531748. For Your Clients: The California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Small Business Majority Access are presenting an access to capital webinar in Spanish on December 14 at 10:00am PT // 1:00pm ET. Click the links for registration and information in Spanish. For Your Client – Healthcare: Covered California open enrollment for 2018 began November 1 and is open through January 31, 2018. Covered California is the only insurance marketplace in California where eligible consumers can receive financial assistance to help pay for their health insurance. 8 in 10 Californians enrolled in Covered California receive financial assistance with most people being able to find premiums less than $100 per month. Although open enrollment lasts until January 31, 2018, you must enroll by December 15, 2017, in order to have your coverage begin on January 1, 2018. Funding Opportunity (Loan Guarantee): Funds are available now through USDA Rural Development’s B&I Loan Guarantee Program to help you support rural businesses with a variety of projects including start-up, expansion, refinancing, and disaster recovery. For Your Client: Do you know a small business owner with an amazing success story to tell? If so, submit your nomination today for the 2018 National Small Business Week Awards. All nominations must be mailed or hand delivered to the nearest SBA Office no later than 3:00 pm ET on January 9, 2018. Consult the Awards Guidelines for details. For Your Client: The Specialty Food Association is offering your CAMEO members’ clients a 25% discount to attend its educational workshop, The Basics, being held at the Mission Bay Conference Center prior to the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco on January 20, 2018, 8:00am–5:00pm. The Basics offers actionable insights on the specialty food industry through sharing valuable business advice from successful industry veterans. It’s a must-attend event for anyone who is learning about the specialty food business, new to Fancy Food Shows, or looking for some fresh insights to enhance their success in the industry. With this offer, the price for The Basics is reduced from $199 to just $149 for CAMEO partners. Contact us to get the code for your clients. New Report: A study examining disparities in small business lending conducted by the Woodstock Institute found that Fresno minority businesses are losing out in capital and turning to merchant cash advances. (Yikes!) Access Capital, a CAMEO member, is trying to refinance some of those loans.]]>