BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 184
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Date of Hearing: May 13, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
184 (Eduardo Garcia) - As Amended May 4, 2015
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|Committee: |and the Economy | | |
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill enacts the Small Business Technical Assistance Act of
2015, within the I-Bank under the direction of the Governor's
Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) to, among
other things, serve as the lead state entity for overseeing the
AB 184
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state's participation with the federal California Small Business
Development Center (SBDC) Program, the Women's Business Center
program, the Veteran Business Outreach Center program, the
Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE), and the Procurement
Technical Assistance Cooperative Agreement program.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Authorizes GO-Biz to use funding in the California Economic
Development Fund, without regard to fiscal year, to provide
funds for loans and matching funds.
2)Authorizes GO-Biz or any other state entity to contract with a
federal small business technical assistance center.
3)Requires annual reporting on any activities that are the
result of state funds being contributed to one or more of the
small business technical assistance centers, including, the
number of businesses assisted, number of jobs created and
retained as a result of assistance, estimated amount of tax
dollars generated, increase in sales reported as a result of
the assistance, the amount of capital infusion obtained by the
assistance, and the amount of total federal funds allocated to
each region. For general tracking purposes, these reports are
also required to provide information on the businesses
assisted including industry sector and size of the business
based on employment. Sunsets the reporting requirements on
January 1, 2020.
FISCAL EFFECT:
Ongoing administrative costs to Go-Biz of approximately $219,000
for two positions to oversee the state's participation with the
California SBDC Program.
COMMENTS:
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1)Purpose. According to the author, this bill recognizes SBDCs
and their role in promoting small businesses and designates
GO-Biz as the lead state entity for facilitating the state's
engagement with these centers. The bill also recognizes the
federal requirement that SBDCs must provide a financial match
in order to draw down federal funds and sets reporting
requirements for the use of any state moneys. According to
the author, while prior legislation proposed to codify the
federal SBDC program in state statute, this bill instead
establishes a state liaison for collaborating with the federal
program and establishes rules for state collaborative actions.
2)Background. The SBDC program is administered by the federal
Small Business Association (SBA). The SBDCs assist small
businesses with financing, government contracting, business
planning and management, marketing, international trade,
energy efficiency and sustainability, disaster preparedness,
and other business issues. Funding for the program is
provided through a federal SBA population-based grant.
The federal government sets aside approximately $12 million
for California SBDCs annually, which represents slightly more
than 11% of the national program. A dollar-for-dollar match
is required to receive federal funds. The 2013-14 Budget Act
included a one-time General Fund appropriation of $2 million
to support SBDCs with the federal match requirement.
3)Prior legislation. AB 2670 (Medina) of 2014 was substantially
similar to this bill and was held on the Suspense file in this
committee.
Analysis Prepared by:Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
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