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SACRAMENTO – Gov. Edmund G. Brown, Jr. issued an official proclamation declaring the month of May as “California Small Business Month.”
“This month, we reaffirm our commitment to helping California’s small businesses thrive and prosper,” said Gov. Brown. “The Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, along with key agencies of state government, works to facilitate economic growth through collaboration with small businesses. Supporting small-scale private- sector job creators is among our most promising strategies to enhance California’s human capital, expand job opportunities and increase our competitive advantage in the global marketplace.”
As part of Small Business Month, California Small Business Advocate Barbara Vohryzek on Thursday spoke to a wide array of business owners, city leaders, and small business advocates at San Francisco’s Small Business Week event.
Vohryzek recognized the contributions and importance of California’s 3.5 million small business owners, the largest amount of any state.
“As the single biggest business sector of our state, California’s small businesses have been the foundation of our state’s continuing – and accelerating – recovery,” said Vohryzek. “As California’s Small Business Advocate I am proud to serve and support these dynamic business owners across the Golden State.”
Brown’s proclamation highlights the importance of the state’s 3.5 million small businesses which comprise 99 percent of all firms and employ 52 percent of the workforce.
GO-Biz works closely with small business owners to provide resources and technical assistance, help them navigate the State’s regulatory and procurement processes.
The Small Business Advocate has held a series of “GO-Biz Brown Bag It!” events across the state on issues crucial to California small businesses including implementing the Affordable Care Act, access to training funds, GO-Biz support services and more.
For more information visit: www.business.ca.gov .
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SACRAMENTO – The unified California golf industry formally released findings last week from The California Golf Economy: Economic & Environmental Impact Report. Industry leaders gathered at Del Paso CC (Sacramento, Calif.) to share the 52-page report with media and governmental leaders.
Commissioned by Golf 20/20 for the California Alliance for Golf (and prepared by SRI International) the study documents the golf industry's financial impact upon the state – $13.1 billion of overall economic activity that supports more than 128,000 jobs, $4.1 billion of wage income, and more than $346.6 million in charitable giving annually.
The study also details the golf industry's environmental record with respect to water conservation, energy efficiency, and prudent environmental stewardship.
"Golf is more than a game; it is a business providing economic vitality for myriad California communities, jobs for thousands of residents, healthy outdoor recreation for families, necessary green space, and millions of dollars in charity to various local community causes," said California State Senator Ted Gaines (R-El Dorado Hills).
According to the 2013 study, with 921 unique golf facilities within the state, golf in California is an industry that generates more direct economic activity than movie theaters, fitness/recreational sports, greenhouse/nursery crops, and amusement/theme parks.
It brings visitors to the state, spurs new construction, generates retail sales, and creates demand for a myriad of goods and services ancillary to the industry.
Almost unique among participatory sports, golf gives back through direct charitable activities and supports hundreds of non-profit organizations dedicated to youth, seniors, individuals with disabilities plus educational initiatives and other community-based endeavors.
“The golf industry adds $13 billion to the California economy, provides jobs for thousands, charity to many, and outdoor recreation for persons of all ages,” commented California State Senator Steve Knight (R-Santa Clarita).
In addition to the economic impact of golf, the SRI study provides keen insight into the golf industry’s use of water.
The study reveals that golf consumes less than 1.2 percent of the total water used to irrigate crops, accounts for less than 1 percent of the total fresh water consumed in the state, and generates significantly higher economic returns per acre-foot of water than most other water-intensive industries.
The CAG General Membership Meeting and News Conference included representation from the following allied golf organizations: Northern California Golf Association (NCGA), Southern California Golf Association (SCGA), Northern California PGA Section (NCPGA), Southern California PGA Section (SCPGA), California Golf Course Superintendents Association (CGSAA), Pacific Women’s Golf Association (PWGA), Women’s Southern California Golf Association (WSCGA), Women’s Golf Association of Northern California (WGANC), Women’s Public Links Golf Association of Southern California (WPLGA), Golden State Chapter of the Club Manager’s Association (CCMA), California Turfgrass & Landscape Foundation, (CTLF), Southern California Municipal Golf Association (SCMGA), California Golf Course Owners Association (CGCOA), San Francisco Public Golf Alliance (SFPGA) and the Northern California Golf Representatives Association (NCGRA).
Also in attendance were representatives of leading golf management companies including: American Golf Corporation, Club Corp, CourseCo, Empire Golf, Greenway Golf, Kemper Sports, Poppy Holding Inc., ValleyCrest, and a contingent of media representatives.
“After weathering the deepest recession since the 1930s and dealing with some of the over saturation caused by the boom of the 90’s, we’re headed back up again,” said California Alliance for Golf President and Southern California PGA Section CEO Tom Addis III. “It is apparent that our industry agrees, and continues to care about the future of the game, well-evidenced by the representation we had at our recent general membership meeting and news conference.”
To obtain a copy of The California Golf Economy: Economic & Environmental Impact Report and/or its executive summary visit The California Alliance for Golf Web site: http://www.cagolf.org/governmentrelations/golf-economic-study.html .
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SACRAMENTO – State Controller John Chiang on Wednesday released his report covering California's cash balance, receipts and disbursements in April 2013.
Total revenues equaled $15.03 billion, narrowly missing estimates by $119.9 million (-0.8 percent).
Through the first 10 months of the fiscal year, total revenues exceeded the governor's January projections by $4.6 billion (+6.1 percent). Personal income taxes led the gains by exceeding expectations by $4.4 billion (+8.5 percent).
“We've reached an important milestone in California's economic recovery. For the first time in nearly six years, we closed out a month without borrowing from internal state funds to pay our bills,” said Chiang. “But, there remains significant debt that must be shed before we can claim victory and these unanticipated revenues provide us with an important opportunity to take further steps toward long-term fiscal stability.”
During the past six years, the state was forced to borrow at unprecedented levels from its own internal special funds and from Wall Street in order to meet its payment obligations.
More aggressive cash management tools were also deployed, including the withholding of some payments and the use of IOUs for only the second time since the Great Depression.
June 2007 was the last time the state was able to pay its bills without leveraging its internal funds.
The state ended the last fiscal year with a cash deficit of $9.6 billion, and by April 30, 2013, that cash deficit narrowed to $5.8 billion. That deficit is being covered by $10 billion in external borrowing, which the state will begin repaying later this month.
Personal income taxes for April came in $275 million below (-2.2 percent) monthly estimates outlined in the governor’s budget. This was largely due to fewer returns filed and more refunds paid out than expected in the month of April.
Corporate taxes for April were $6.6 million above (0.5 percent) monthly estimates. Sales tax receipts were $113.4 million above (26.6 percent) estimates.
Track how April personal income tax receipts flowed by visiting the Controller’s revenue tracker, http://www.sco.ca.gov/april_2013_personal_income_tax_tracker.html .
For more news, please follow the Controller on Twitter at @CAController, and on Facebook at California State Controller's Office.
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SACRAMENTO – A bill to provide $2 billion in new revenues for public education and state parks passed through its first policy committee Monday with unanimous Democratic member support.
The bill, SB 241, would impose a 9.5 percent industry severance tax on large oil companies for the extraction of oil from California’s jurisdiction.
The Senate Governance and Finance Committee passed the bill out with a 5-2 vote and it was supported by student, education, tax and environmental groups, as well as economists. The bill next goes to Appropriations.
“It’s time for California to profit from its limited natural resources and reinvest in our core services,” said the bill’s author Senator Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa). “We’ve cut to the bone to balance the budget for the last several years; meanwhile oil companies reap billions of dollars in profits every year. Big Oil’s free ride needs to end and the industry must pay its fair share for the resources that belong to every Californian.”
California is the fourth largest oil producing state in the nation and the only top ten producer that does not impose an oil severance tax. In Alaska, the tax ranges from 25-50 percent, in Texas it’s 4.75 percent and in Kansas, 8 percent.
For years, California has balanced its budget by cutting government spending. As a result, in 2011-12, state spending had fallen to its lowest level since 1972-73. Tuition at the University of California and California State Universities increased 310 percent and 283 percent, respectively, in the last decade. Assistance to the aged, blind and disabled was reduced to 1983 levels. The public education sector alone lost 40,000 jobs in the last five years.
SB 241, also known as the California Education and Resources Reinvestment Act (CERRA), would potentially secure billions of dollars during the estimated course of current oil production in California. If fracking in the Monterey shale region is allowed, those estimates would increase significantly to $1.7 trillion. Revenues would be divided with 93 percent of the new revenues to fund the public education system and the remaining 7 percent going to state parks.
“The CMED team is proud to support Sen. Evans’ effort to pass an oil extraction tax,” said Kevin Singer, communications director for the publicly led California Modernization & Economic Development (CMED) Act which is seeking to qualify a similar policy initiative. “It’s good to know someone is fighting for students in Sacramento, which has failed for too long to do the fiscally responsible thing and end the giveaway of oil and gas in California.”
Opponents of the measure have claimed that the imposition of a severance tax on the oil industry will result in job losses and the industry pulling out of production in California.
However, proponents point to the new jobs that would be created in California’s education and natural resource systems with the new state revenues.
When Alaska increased their severance tax to 25 percent in 2007, their labor department reported direct oil employment increased to an all-time high adding 12,500 jobs.
“SB 241 will help restore the more than $20.8 billion in cuts to education funding that have cut essential school services for our students, increased class sizes, and cost students the services of some 20,000 teachers, nurses, counselors, and other school professionals,” said CTA President Dean E. Vogel. “As of result of these cuts, California provides 28 percent less per pupil than the average state. With SB 241’s passage, we can take further steps toward providing all students with the excellent education they deserve.”
According to a recent report by the Campaign for the Future of Higher Education, in order to return the quality and fees (of higher education) to 2000-01 funding levels, it would cost taxpayers $6.405 billion.
Although opponents of an oil severance tax have claimed for years that the oil companies will pass any taxes on to consumers, research proves otherwise. According to a study by the Rand Corp., which investigated the impacts of a 6 percent oil severance tax, the tax cannot be passed onto consumers and it will not affect production.
Today, most economists agree that the world market sets the price of oil, and that underlying taxes whether from Texas, Kuwait or California, cannot be passed through at the pump. Just as gasoline prices in California followed the world oil price upward during spikes in 2007 and 2008, local gasoline prices will continue to be set by global market forces, and not local production costs.
“Gasoline prices in California are driven by world oil prices and the availability of refinery capacity within the state, not by the cost of locally produced crude oil,” said James Bushnell, associate professor in the Department of Economics at the University of California, Davis, and Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. “California currently imports more than 60 percent of the petroleum it uses, and these imports determine the value of all oil produced and consumed in the state. A severance tax on local oil production would impact the profitability of oil producers but should have little to no impact on the price of gasoline.”
“California’s oil resources have made trillions of dollars in profits for the oil industry,” continued Evans. “Imagine what mere billions could do for Californians.”
Evans represents the Second Senatorial District, including all or portions of the Counties of Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Marin (caretaker), Napa, Solano and Sonoma. Senator Evans Chairs the Senate Committee on Judiciary.