FBA takes positions on bills

FBA is monitoring the 2,124 bills state lawmakers introduced this year (not to mention hundreds of measures introduced in 2023 and still alive in the Legislature) and has taken positions on three priority bills for family businesses so far.

FBA is opposed to SB 1116, which would force employers to pay unemployment insurance (UI) payments to striking workers, raise taxes on employers, overturn more than 70 years of precedent, and put California’s UI program at risk of violating federal law. This bill is a repeat of last year’s SB 799, which was vetoed by the Governor because of the debt it would add to California’s UI Fund – which is an even more pressing concern with this year’s budget concerns.

The Association is cosponsoring AB 2371 with FBA Member AMAROK, a commercial security company. This bill would enable property owners and businesses to install and employ electric security fences in a timely manner, while still allowing local government authorities to regulate or prohibit installations that do not comply with all requirements under State law.

Finally, FBA supports AB 2011, which would make the Civil Rights Department’s small employer family leave mediation program permanent, benefitting both workers and small employers.

That leaves just 2,121 more to keep an eye on!

FBA Chairman shares insights with Family Enterprise USA

Ken Monroe, the longtime president of Holt of California and for several years the chairman of FBA, recently sat down for a video interview with Pat Soldano, president of Family Enterprise USA, the advocacy group representing family businesses in Washington, DC.

Monroe shares stories of his three-family company, how family businesses give back to the community, and the challenges of doing business in California. The You Tube video is available here.

Court ruling just another reason to support PAGA reform

A recent ruling by the California Supreme Court is just one more reason why family businesses are working to pass the California Fair Pay and Employer Accountability Act in November. Doing so will be by far the best shot at reforming how the state deals with Labor Code violations and ensuring that both employees and employers benefit.

At issue is the Private Attorneys General Act, or PAGA, signed into law by Gov. Gray Davis as he was about to be recalled as a thank-you gift to trial lawyers and unions for their support. This law deputizes employees to file lawsuits against employers on behalf of the state for even minor and inconsequential violations of the 800-page Labor Code – and allows trial lawyers to receive huge sums that are far greater than the alleged victims receive.

In a recent settlement, attorneys made $21 million while the employees received $108 each. Family businesses and nonprofits have become major targets for predatory lawsuits that are often minor technical violations.

Attorney Bruce Scheidt, a shareholder with Kronick Moskovitz Tiedemann & Girard in Sacramento – a proud sponsor of the Family Business Association – says the Supreme Court decided that trial courts do not have inherent authority to dismiss or narrow PAGA lawsuits on manageability grounds, overturning a lower court ruling.

“This major ruling will continue to permit plaintiffs’ lawyers to use the threat of a PAGA lawsuit to bring broad and unrelated wage-and-hour claims to put pressure on employers to settle companion class action lawsuits, which are governed by manageability requirements that require plaintiffs to prove an employer consistently imposed a uniform policy or de facto practice that dominates over individualized issues,” Scheidt wrote.

“The high court refused to adopt the same manageability requirements on PAGA claims, holding that trial courts have ‘numerous tools’ to manage PAGA claims, such as limiting the presentation of evidence at trial and encouraging plaintiffs to be ‘prudent in their approach to PAGA claims,’ and that trial courts have discretion to reduce civil penalties that ‘may help to lessen the manageability concerns inherent with these [PAGA] actions.’ However, these tools are not a substitute for a trial court’s ability to dismiss a PAGA lawsuit where the plaintiffs cannot prove a uniform policy or practice of violating the Labor Code.”

It is expected that the Fair Pay Act would substantially reduce the number of lawsuits by eliminating the financial incentive to plaintiffs lawyers who use PAGA to extort millions of dollars from employers. The initiative would benefit employees and employers by:

  • Replacing PAGA’s bounty hunter provision with an alternative enforcement mechanism through the state’s Labor Commissioner: Only the Labor Commissioner could file an enforcement action to collect penalties under PAGA, and workers would not be able to hire a private attorney.
  • Requiring the Legislature to provide funding for enforcement.
  • Allowing employers to correct identified Labor Code violations without penalties.
  • Ensuring that 100% of penalties for uncorrected violations go to workers.
  • And doubling penalties if employers willfully violate the law.

You can learn more about the initiative and how you can support it here.

5 FBA members featured in business magazine

Comstock’s Magazine, a leading business publication covering the greater Sacramento area, recently included articles about five FBA members in its annual family business issue. You can learn more about

  • Ceronix, an Auburn-based company that pivoted to become a leader in the replacement market for gaming machines;
  • the Fruit Bowl, a 76-year-old produce stand that attracts customers from all over the greater Stockton area;
  • Morrow Surveying, which has provided high-quality land surveying and mapping services throughout California and western Nevada;
  • Pyro Spectaculars, which produces stunning fireworks displays for the Macy’s Fourth of July show, Super Bowls and more;
  • and Ramos Oil, which has been delivering bulk fuel to farms, ranches, construction companies and more since 1951.

In addition, you can also read FBA Chairman Ken Monroe’s column on the difficulties of running a family business.

Two family businesses join FBA

Two more family businesses recently joined FBA – the only organization working solely on behalf of family businesses at the California state capitol. The new businesses are:

  • Jackson Properties. The Sacramento-based company was founded in 1974 and specializes in construction, commercial building, and facility management.
  • Bosley Electric Company, a full-service commercial electrical contractor founced in 1991 and serving the greater Sacramento region and northern Nevada.

Thank you to both family businesses for joining the FBA family!

FBA Names Senator Seyarto as its Legislator of the Year

The Family Business Association of California this week awarded Sen. Kelly Seyarto, R-Murrieta, with its Legislator of the Year award for his leadership in efforts to restore the ability of parents to pass along homes and business properties to their children without incurring potentially massive property tax bills.

FBA Executive Director Robert Rivinius, right, and FBA legislative advocate Dennis Albiani, center, present the Legislator of the Year Award to Sen. Kelly Seyarto.

“Due to rapid inflation in property values, immediately reassessing family ranches, businesses and homes to current market values often forces the younger generations to sell their family homes and businesses to pay the higher property taxes,” said FBA Executive Director Robert Rivinius.

“Family businesses are the foundation of the state’s economy and our communities, and the state should not be making it harder for family businesses to continue from one generation to the next. Senator Seyarto deserves our thanks for taking the lead in this effort to protect family businesses.”

Seyarto introduced a measure this year that would have asked voters to reinstate voter-approved protections that allowed the inheritors to maintain their parents’ or in some cases grandparents’ property valuations and tax levels.

These protections were narrowed or repealed altogether by Proposition 19 in 2020.

Because Prop. 19 took effect just three months after the measure was enacted, many taxpayers were caught unaware and forced to sell their homes and other property. Many affected taxpayers only became aware of Prop. 19’s changes while grieving the death of a parent or grandparent that resulted in an inheritance of property.

Opposed by powerful public employee unions, the measure, SCA 4, failed passage in the Senate Governance and Finance Committee in May.

“I am honored to receive this recognition from the Family Business Association,” said Senator Seyarto. “SCA 4 had one purpose, to restore protections for taxpayers and to keep the intrusive reach of the government away from their family inheritance.

“As we know, Prop 19 resurrected the death tax at a time when we should be making it easier for Californians to inherit property without asking them to absorb the burden of additional taxes. Upward economic mobility cannot be achieved unless we let people own what they create through decades of hard work. I want to thank the FBA for their advocacy and support for California’s families.”

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About Senator Seyarto:

Seyarto is a native Californian who served as a firefighter for 35 years, retiring in 2015 as a battalion chief. He was first elected to the Murrieta City Council in 1997 and served through 2006 when he chose not to seek another term to spend more time with his family. After he retired from the fire service, he was again elected to the City Council in 2016 and served as mayor. He was elected to the Assembly in 2020 and then to the Senate in 2022. He and his wife, Denise, have lived in Murrieta since 1991.

About the Family Business Association:

Founded in 2012, the Family Business Association of California is the only organization working exclusively at the Capitol to educate lawmakers and regulators about the importance of family businesses to the state’s economy and to their communities and to advocate positions on legislation and regulations. FBA has also taken the lead to defeat numerous proposals that would have made it much more difficult to keep businesses family-owned from generation to generation. For more information about FBA, visit www.myfba.org.