Hearing the Concerns of Small Business

Senator Patty Murray's staff recently visited three GSBA small businesses to hear about their successes and concerns. Richard de Sam Lazaro, Senator Murray's Seattle Metropolitan Director, and Scott Cheney, Policy Director of Workforce & Economic Development in the Senate's HELP Committee, reached out to GSBA to make the connection.

During the day they visited Repair Revolution in SoDo, SugarPill on Capitol Hill, and Hilliard's Beer in Ballard to hear about the diverse situations faced by each of these businesses.

Karyn Schwartz of SugarPill talked about the big changes occuring in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, and the particular impact on small independent businesses which are too often being squeezed out by rent increases, loss of small retail and commercial space, and the everyday disruptions of rampant construction in every direction. She asked that small businesses like SugarPill receive an even playing field - that elected officials pay just as much attention to the majority of establishments that dominate our city's streetscape as they do to a small number of very large corporations and special interests. All levels of government should be actively supporting  "We shouldn't have to be bigger, places that are human sized should be celebrated."

At Hilliard's Beer, Ryan Hilliard and Adam Merkl talked about a very different set of issues - the West Coast port slowdown over a labor dispute. Hilliard's has begun distribution in Sweden and their shipments have been delayed.

GSBA is regularly contacted by our elected representatives asking to meet with some of our members and hear their concerns. If you would ever be interested in connecting with local, state and national policymakers, contact Matt Landers, our Public Policy & Communications Manager.

Announcing the GSBA Small Business Council

Last month, fourteen small business leaders, led by Board Chair, Martha Davis, gathered at Utina Wardroom to kick off the GSBA Small Business Council. Everyone touts the important role small businesses play in keeping that economic engine turning, yet small business have always faced huge challenges not often faced by large corporations. These challenges are compounded further by the growing complexity of new city regulations which small businesses must address under initiatives passed in the city of Seattle in the last few years. This is not about the politics of the initiatives and it is not about being for or against a new regulation or law. Rather, the challenge is how, as a small business, often without an HR or finance department, can one develop the capacity to comply with new rules, regulations and mandates.  

To address these new challenges as well to ensure our small business members are getting the support they need to market their business and gain the skills they need to succeed, GSBA has created a dedicated Council made up of small business leaders. GSBA’s Small Business Council will provide GSBA with the insight into the issues faced by small businesses as well as the opportunities that GSBA should be providing to our small business members that would be most helpful. The Small Business Council will meet bi-monthly and welcomes your input on issues you face as a small business owner.

Challenges already identified by the Small Business Council include:

• Attracting new clients
• Need for business attorney
• Financial literacy
• Lack of finances
• Retail specific issues
• Handling Growth
• Lack of Time
• Talking through a problem with a colleague
• Identifying your correct demographic
• Managing growth
• Resources for infrastructure
• Saying no
• Finding a building to lease
• Finding and retaining good staff
• Social media training

 To address these and other pressing issues, GSBA is proud to announce the founding members of the GSBA Small Business Council:

Eli Allision, Repair Revolution

Martha Davis, City Lights Sign Company

Joe Fugere, Tutta Bella

Susan Fuller, Attorney At Law

Lendy Hensley, City Catering

Bobbie Lyons, Genworth

Christiana Maia, Trilogy Chiropractic

Dani Cone, Fuel, High Five Pie, Cone & Steiner

Diane Coyne, Picket Fence Real Estate

John Rubino, Green Rubino

Sally Schultz, Sally Schultz Co, Commercial Mortgage

Karyn Schwartz, SugarPill

Greg Serum, Your Man Friday

Paul Villa, Lobby Bar

Local Finance for a City of Neighborhoods

by Casey Dilloway, co-founder of Community Sourced Capital

Whenever I have friends in town, I tell them that Seattle is a city of neighborhoods--at least that’s what someone told me when I moved here 15 years ago. Beacon Hill. Capitol Hill. First Hill. Chinatown. Arguing over the boundary between Green Lake and Phinney Ridge is a classic conversation for seasoned Seattleites.

For many small businesses, the Shop Local movement exemplifies our city’s commitment to place, whether it involves eating, shopping, or manufacturing. Inspirational businesses like Urban Bee Company even tag the source of their honey with the specific backyard in West Seattle where it was harvested.

This Pioneer Square lunch spot borrowed $6,700 from 65
people to finance refrigeration upgrades. Over 90%
of the lenders live within the greater Seattle area.

What if our dedication to all things local extended to the capital systems that finance our favorite neighborhood businesses? I stumbled upon “local finance” a few years ago after reading the book Locavesting with my classmates at the Bainbridge Graduate Institute (now Pinchot). We wondered, “What if money was local, too?”

Localizing money would strengthen local business, create more jobs for our neighbors and grow our local tax base… just to name a few benefits.

My classmates and I decided to test the potential of local finance by creating Community Sourced Capital, a social purpose corporation that helps people lend small amounts of money to businesses they know. In doing so, we also built a way for businesses to access loans that are usually too small for a bank to provide. We’ve helped 20 businesses borrow $300,000 from over 2,000 lenders, and a third of that $300,000 has already been paid back. What’s the coolest part? The vast majority of our lenders live within a few miles of the businesses they fund.

But local finance is about more than the physical proximity of a company’s capital. It’s also about strengthening relationships between citizens and businesses in order to create shared wealth for our neighbors and neighborhoods.

Together, we can create a place where small businesses thrive, where economic opportunity is abundant, and where the neighborhoods we love are shaped--and financed--by the people who know them best.

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Casey Dilloway is a GSBA member and a co-founder of Community Sourced Capital. He lives on Capitol Hill with his partner Shane. Read more about CSC at communitysourcedcapital.com.

New Year, New Business

By US Small Business Administration Regional Adminstrator Calvin W. Goings

This is the season of New Year’s Resolutions.  Whether it’s deciding to join a gym or cut back on sweets, chances are you’re making some resolutions for 2014.

This year though, think outside the box.  I encourage you to ask yourself: do you have a great idea for a product or service?  Or, have you always wanted to start your own business? 

Small businesses create two out of every three net new private sector jobs, and half of working Americans either own or work for a small business. Would you like to be one of these entrepreneurs?

2014 is a great time to start. And, a business plan is the first step. As you come up with a plan, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) stands ready to help.  SBA has many resources to assist you, and you can start by going to our website www.sba.gov to learn about the products and services we have to offer.

On our website you’ll learn about our core programs, or what we like to call our 3 Cs: counseling, contracting and capital.

We know that business counseling helps small businesses succeed, which is why SBA has a strong counseling and training network to help small business owners and entrepreneurs gain access to these resources.  I encourage you, as you think about starting or growing your business, to drop by the Seattle District Office who has staff ready and willing to be of assistance. Or visit a Small Business Development Center, Women’s Business Center, SCORE volunteer or the Veterans Outreach Business Center who all have helpful staff who can guide you, as you begin your journey toward entrepreneurship.

Contracting is the second ‘C’.  At SBA, we connect small businesses with the federal government’s supply chain. As you might imagine, the federal government is the largest purchaser of goods and services in the world – from paperclips to jet airplanes and everything in between, at the SBA we’re tasked to ensure that small businesses get at least 23% of federal contracts, nearly $90B a year! Your small business could be one of them.

At SBA we want to make sure that every entrepreneur or small business owner who wants to start or grow their business can achieve their dream, which usually entails looking for financing.  This past fiscal year, SBA has supported more than $29 billion in lending to small businesses and entrepreneurs nationwide, including over $1billion across the Pacific Northwest and almost $700 million in the Seattle District.  And for the current fiscal year, we have set fees on SBA-supported loan, for $150,000 and under, to zero. This makes loans cheaper for the borrower—another way SBA is helping to serve small business owners, as they look for ways to access capital.

That’s just some of what SBA has to offer our nation’s entrepreneurs. 

The American tradition of entrepreneurship has helped grow our country for the long term, creating jobs and strengthening the economy.   Let’s keep that tradition going.

This new year is a great time to start a new business—and SBA is here to help.

Seattle Job Assistance / Criminal Background Check Legislation

On June 10, the the Seattle City Council passed the job assistance / criminal background check legislation.  GSBA played a significant role in making the original bill a better piece of legislation and helped address business issues around procedures for implementation and enforcement, while supporting the concept of "banning the box" and giving second chances to deserving ex-offender applicants.  Here is a summary of our accomplishments, what the legislation does and our remaining concerns.

Business Coalition Accomplishments:

• Eliminated an applicant or employee’s private right of action against an employer for its failure to hire the applicant or terminate the employee;
• Removed requirement to provide special accommodations to ex-offender employees, similar to accommodations provided to persons with disabilities or medical conditions. For example, if an employee has a pending charge or probation or parole violation that results in incarceration, the employer would not be required to hold his or her position open until released from prison;
• Revised timing of conducting criminal background checks from after a provisional offer of employment to any time after the initial screening of applications; and
• Eliminated the ability for independent 3rd parties to bring charges of violations against an employer.

What the Legislation Does:

• Bans the box; an employer is prohibited from asking whether an individual has a criminal  arrest or conviction record on an application and from advertising a position with language that precludes ex-offenders from applying (i.e., “felons need not apply”);
• The legislation applies to any employer whose applicant and/or employee will work at least 50% within the City of Seattle;
• Allows an employer to conduct a criminal background check after its initial review of applications;
• Allows an employer to reject an ex-offender applicant or terminate an employee with pending charges or a criminal record where the employer has a “legitimate business reason;”
• Requires an employer taking an adverse action against an ex-offender applicant or employee to provide an opportunity for the applicant or employee to explain his or her situation and why an adverse action should not be taken and to hold the position open for a minimum of two days;
• Allows an aggrieved applicant or employee to bring a complaint to the Seattle Office of Civil Rights (SOCR);
• The SOCR has the ability to conduct an investigation, make a finding as to whether the employer violated the ordinance and resolve the matter with the employer;
• The SOCR can refer its findings to a hearing officer if the complaint is not resolved;
• A hearing officer upon finding a violation of the ordinance may issue fines up to $750 for the second violation and up to $1,000 for subsequent violations and award SOCR’s attorney fees against the employer.
• A panel of stakeholders will be appointed to participate in the rulemaking process and to provide feedback on the implementation of the ordinance for at least the first six months.
• The effective date of the legislation is November 1, 2013.

The Business Coalition’s Issues with the Final Legislation:

• The standard / burden of proof for showing a “legitimate business reason” is overburdensome and virtually impossible to achieve with an employer having to show it has a ‘good faith belief” that one of the following events will absolutely occur in the future:
• That the conduct underlying the charges or convictions “will have a negative impact on the employee’s or applicant’s fitness or ability to perform the position sought or held”; or
• the applicant or employee “will harm or cause injury to people, property or business assets;” and
• In determining whether there is a “legitimate business reason” for rejecting an applicant or terminating an employee, an employer must consider the seriousness of the charge or conviction, the number and types of convictions or pending charges, the date of the charges or convictions, verifiable information on rehabilitation, the duties of the position and the place and manner in which the position will be performed.
• The enforcement provisions give broad sweeping investigation powers to the SOCR, which can be time consuming and expensive, particularly where a hearing officer can assess attorney fees against an employer.
• Business’s compromise position was to allow an award of attorney fees after 3 or more violations and to allow an award of attorney fees against the Agency (SOCR) if it acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner (on the 3rd or subsequent violation of an employer).  If the attorney fee provision is abused, CM Harrell has promised to revisit that issue.
•  Washington is an at-will employment state, but this new Seattle ordinance limits an employer's ability to hire and fire at will. The ordinance provides new protections to persons with criminal arrest and/or conviction records that are not afforded to other applicants or employers.

Mona Smith, Attorney at Law and GSBA Board Member, has been invited by SOCR to serve on the Stakeholder Panel to develop appropriate administrative rules, technical assistance and outreach to implement the Jobs Assistance Legislation (CB 117796). This panel will monitor the implementation and enforcement of the legislation and make recommendations to the City Council. We want to thank Mona for leading GSBA's efforts on this issue and for her continued involvement in the rule-making and implementation process.

Help Available for Seattle’s Paid Sick/Safe Time Ordinance

The Seattle Office for Civil Rights (SOCR) has posted a new and expanded Frequently Asked Questions document to its Paid Sick and Safe Time web site. The FAQ provides answers to questions that employers and employees have been asking since the ordinance was implemented on September 1, 2012.

SOCR also offers direct technical assistance to employers who write or phone with questions about how to implement the Ordinance. Have a question about PSST? Call 206-684-4500 or e-mail psstquestions@seattle.gov.

Visit the Paid Sick and Safe Time web site for links to:

• a brochure
• aposter for employers to put up in a lunchroom or on a bulletin board;
• the full version of the Ordinance;
• the Administrative Rules, which clarify a number of details about the Ordinance;
• a downloadable PowerPoint presentation.

California Law is 1st in Nation to Collect Data on LGBT-Owned Businesses

 

CONTACT: Bonnie Osborn 916-212-9110
bonnieosborn@comcast.net

Bill to Count Gay-Owned State Vendors Signed into Law

AB 1960 Believed 1st State Law in Nation to Collect Data on LGBT-Owned Businesses

Oct. 1, SACRAMENTO— AB 1960, which directs the California Department of General Services to collect voluntarily submitted information on gay-owned businesses contracting with the state of California, was signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown on Sunday, Sept. 30.

The bill, introduced by Assemblymember Roger Dickinson (D-Sacramento) and co-authored by the Sacramento Rainbow Chamber of Commerce, would require that information about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) owned business enterprises be included along with information already being collected about minority, women and disadvantaged business enterprises as reported by the California Department of General Services.

“AB 1960 helps break down discriminatory barriers facing LGBT business owners by recognizing the size and value of their contribution to our economy,” said Assemblymember Dickinson. “With the Governor’s signature, California is now the first state to have a law dedicated to the advancement of LGBT-owned businesses.”

California law prohibits contracting preferences or quotas for minority, women and disadvantaged business enterprises; however, data about those enterprises is collected for statistical and reporting purposes on a voluntary basis. The inclusion of information about LGBT-owned enterprises will yield valuable data, said Sacramento Rainbow Chamber of Commerce President Dr. Darrick Lawson.

“There has been no official data available about the number of LGBT-owned businesses in our state,” Lawson said. “Collection and reporting of information on gay-owned businesses will be of tremendous value to organizations like ours that serve small businesses, to marketers, and to business-to-business companies that want to target the LGBT market. For the first time in history, we’ll have at least a partial picture of the economic contributions of LGBT-owned businesses statewide.”

The Sacramento Rainbow Chamber of Commerce approached Assemblymember Dickinson about drafting AB 1960 with the encouragement and support of the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC), which is the exclusive certification body for LGBT business enterprises and the direct link between corporate purchasers and LGBT suppliers. The measure received numerous letters of support from organizations nationwide and corporations such as American Airlines and Toyota Financial Services that include LGBT-owned businesses in their supplier diversity programs.

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Established in 2001, the Sacramento Rainbow Chamber of Commerce serves gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender business owners and professionals and allies in the Greater Sacramento region. The Chamber works to build a prosperous and inclusive business community and to support issues that promote business development and equal rights for all people. The Chamber and its non-profit affiliate, the Rainbow Chamber Foundation, have contributed more than $36,000 to charitable causes, including youth scholarships and programs for at-risk lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth. For more information, visit www.rainbowchamber.com.