The Small Business Administration said Monday that it has run through all of the $375 million Congress allocated to temporarily waive fees and boost guarantees on loans backed by the SBA’s lending programs. Businesses still hoping for a slice of the pie can get in line, cross their fingers and wait.
This article announces changes to how small business and Disabled Veterans Businesses are treated as it relates to state contracts. Also has a lot of nifty research information hidden amongst AHARNALD’s self congratulation. – Ed.
Bill Increases Small Business and Disabled Veteran Business Eligibility for State Contracts and Recovery Act Projects
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today signed AB 31 by Senator (former Assemblymember) Curren Price (D-Inglewood), expanding small business and disabled veteran business enterprise participation in state contracts and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) projects. Small businesses and disabled veteran business enterprises make up 98 percent of all California enterprises, employ over half of our workforce and are projected to create 99 percent of the state’s future jobs. A recent study commissioned by the Procurement Division of the Department of General Services found that these firms produce about 50 percent more overall California economic impact for each dollar spent than large enterprises. Continue reading “Governor Schwarzenegger Signs Legislation Increasing Opportunities for Small Businesses”
Study Provides Policy Makers With Tools to Encourage Small Business Growth In California
The Governor’s Office of the Small Business Advocate today released a study of the aggregate cost of state regulation to small businesses in California. The study was commissioned by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006 when he signed Assembly Bill 2330 by Assemblyman Juan Arambula (I-Fresno) and was completed by Sanjay Varshney Ph.D., the Dean of Business Administration at California State University, Sacramento, and Dennis Tootelian Ph.D., Director of the Center for Small Business at the same school.
Continue reading “Governor’s Office of the Small Business Advocate Releases Study Of Costs of State Regulation To Small Businesses In California”
The Small Business Economy
Although many positive signs have indicated that the economy is beginning to improve and recover, at the end of 2008 America was experiencing one of the largest quarterly drops in GDP since the Great Depression. … The recession began with plummeting home values, and the construction industry, composed primarily of small businesses, has been the hardest hit.
Also:
Advocacy Interns Expand Summer Staff
Special Insert: Small Business FAQ
For the full report Click Here
Trends
Real gross domestic product fell an annualized 1 percent in the second quarter of 2009. While this was the fourth consecutive quarter of declining output, the decline was significantly less than the previous quarter’s 6.4 percent drop, and it may be one of a handful of signs that the worst of the recession may be past. Real consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of real GDP, was down 1.2 percent annually, and real exports were off 7 percent. Other declines were more marked: real gross private fixed investment declined an annualized 20.5 percent, and real imports fell 15.1 percent. Measures of manufacturing output were mixed, with industrial production falling and the Institute for Supply Management’s purchasing manager’s index rising. Proprietors’ income fell 5.4 percent on an annualized basis during the quarter, and by 8 percent year to year.
Continue reading “Second Quarter 2009: Small Business and The Economy | SBA”
The Wall Street Journal recently ran an interview with the new head of SBA, Karen G. Mills. To get an idea where the SBA is headed, this is a good article to read.
A briefing about how the federal stimulus is impacting small businesses in California. Also discusses stimulus opportunities. From our friends at the Small Business Administration.
Business Matchmaking and SBDC team to help entrepreneurs access contracts.
LOS ANGELES — On Sept. 2 Los Angeles will be the fourth stop in a 15-city, California tour aimed at increasing small business readiness to access stimulus-funded contracts through President Obama’s Economic Recovery Plan.
The program, Stimulus Opportunities for Small Business, is free for participants and will be presented by California Small Business Development Centers and Los Angeles-based nonprofit Business Matchmaking, in cooperation with the Small Business Advocate in the governor’s office.
Continue reading “Statewide Small Business Stimulus Program Heads to L.A. | SBA”
Below is a summary of the study commissioned by the state Department of General Services. The study was just released, but is based on 2006-07 data, so a more appropriate title may have been “Small Business Used To Power California Economy”. The study contains no comment on how state I.O.U.s are going to affect these business powerhouses.
Small & Disabled Veteran Businesses Power California Economy
New study details billions of dollars of economic activity, and tens of thousands of new jobs, created by the state’s contracting efforts
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A new study details the financial impact of the state’s efforts to increase small and disabled veteran business enterprise participation in the state’s goods and services purchasing. The analysis of results from the 2006-07 fiscal year shows how small and disabled veteran businesses enterprises produce about 50 percent more overall California economic impact for each dollar spent than large enterprises. The report also offers a picture of how much this activity increased overall business tax revenues across California’s economy, and how it affected different sectors of the state’s economy.
“The State’s efforts to contract with smaller business created a powerful multiplier effect,” said Jim Butler, that state’s Chief Procurement Officer. “$4.2 billion in new economic activity of all kinds was produced in California by the state spending around $2.66 billion-and 25,617 jobs were created.”
Continue reading “Small & Disabled Veteran Businesses Power California Economy | Study, C.S.U.S.”
Our friend Marty Gronewald just forwarded us Well Fargo’s ARC loan application. He said none of the local branches had a clue about it but he was able to ferret out the information for us.
It is encouraging the have an application, but in the early paragraphs it says that the program is subject to the banks underwriting rules which would mean that they would never actually loan the money.
If you’d like to brave this adventure, click here to view the application. Right click on the ‘click here’ to save it to your computer. It’s a standard package, so you could send it to multiple lenders.
If anyone gets funded with this program, please let us know. We would love to spread the good news!
Dispatches From The Front 