BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                    AB 2900


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          Date of Hearing:  May 11, 2016


                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS


                               Lorena Gonzalez, Chair


          AB  
          2900 (Committee on Jobs, Economic Development, and the Economy)  
          - As Amended April 12, 2016


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          Urgency:  No  State Mandated Local Program:  NoReimbursable:  No


          SUMMARY:


          This bill requires, starting September 30, 2018, and any  
          following year in which state funds are awarded by a state  
          department to a federal small business technical assistance  








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          center, the awarding department to report certain outcomes to  
          the Legislature. Specifically, this bill:  


          1)Requires the report to include the following: the purpose of  
            the contract, the amount of state funds awarded and expended  
            during the report year, the amount of federal funds drawn down  
            as a result of the state contract, the number and types of  
            businesses assisted, the number of employees employed by those  
            businesses, and the number of jobs created and retained.



          2)Defines an "awarding department" as a department, board,  
            agency, or authority of the state, or an officer, agent, or  
            other authorized representative of such a state entity  
            awarding a contract for services, including technical  
            assistance to small businesses.



          3)Defines "federal small business technical assistance center"  
            as a Small Business Development Center, a Women's Business  
            Center, a Veteran Business Outreach Center, a Service Corps of  
            Retired Executives (SCORE) center, a Hollings Manufacturing  
            Extension Partnership center, or a Procurement Technical  
            Assistance Center operating in California under a federal  
            contract. The bill also codifies the federal definition of  
            each of these centers. 



          4)Authorizes, as an alternative to submitting the information in  
            a separate report, the awarding department may include the  
            same information in another annual report, as specified.



          5)Sunsets the provisions of this bill on January 1, 2022. 








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          FISCAL EFFECT:


          Administrative costs, ranging from minor to $40,000 per  
          contract, for each agency to report outcomes of state funds  
          provided to federal small business technical assistance centers.  
           Costs will depend on the existing ability of these federal  
          centers to track data. Departments and agencies that may be  
          subject to requirements of this bill include: High Speed Rail,  
          CalTrans, the Employment Development Department, Department of  
          General Services and GO-Biz. The total amount of contracts and  
          agencies subject to this reporting requirement is unknown.  
          Assuming one contract per agency, total costs across all  
          departments could be in the low hundreds of thousands. 





           COMMENTS:


          1)Purpose. According to the author, the federal small business  
            technical assistance centers are an important resource for  
            California entrepreneurs.  State agencies contract with these  
            centers to provide assistance in helping small businesses  
            become ready to compete for state contracts and comply with  
            new state laws.  This bill ensures consistent reporting across  
            agencies and greater transparency. 



          2)Prior legislation.



             a)   AB 2670 (E.Garcia) of 2014 designated the Governor's  
               Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) to  
               serve as the lead state entity for overseeing California's  








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               participation in the federal California Small Business  
               Development Center 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. This bill was held on this Committee's Suspense  
               file.



             b)   AB 184 (E. Garcia) of 2015 proposed to enact the Small  
               Business Technical Assistance Act of 2015, within the  
               I-Bank under the direction of GO-Biz to, among other  
               things, serve as the lead state entity for overseeing the  
               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. This bill was held on this  
               Committee's Suspense file.
          Analysis Prepared by:Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081