Issue Position: Quit Driving Jobs Out of California by Making Life Difficult for California Businesses

Issue Position

The Secretary of State's office is the first place you go when opening a new business and the last place you go when the lights are turned off and the doors are closed. The sight isn't pretty. The registration process for businesses in California is one of the worst in the country. In fact, many California businesses register in nearby Nevada or in Texas while they wait for the California registration to come through, just so they can open a bank account.

California has lost more jobs than any other state since the beginning of the recession, and is one of the toughest states in which to start or grow a small business. Governor Jerry Brown and the other career politicians in Sacramento are doing nothing to stop it. Trying to start -- and run -- a business in California is a nightmare of misguided information and various websites and 800 numbers, instead of a streamlined easy-to-use process. This needs to change.

Pete's Plan:

- Make all business registration available online.

- 48-hour maximum turnaround for business registration without a premium charge.

- Fight to reduce the ridiculous $800/year Business Franchise Tax (aka "LLC Fee"), making it at least competitive with other states.

- Develop a "GoldMine BizPortal" that easily connects new businesses with support services, the Board of Equalization, Employment Development Department, and Franchise Tax Board.

- Ask a few short survey questions on NEW business registration/dissolution forms to find out why businesses are starting/leaving California.

- Issue a biannual "Coming & Going Report," outlining why businesses are starting in California -- or leaving. Let's stop hiding the facts.

- Maintain an ongoing "CA BizTracker" of business start-ups and failures on the SOS homepage.

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