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Thursday, August 11, 2022BizFile Online Offers Centralized Resource for Businesses
CalChamber President and CEO Jennifer Barrera joined California Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, Ph.D. and other officials at a hybrid news conference on August 4 to highlight the BizFile Online portal providing online secure services for California businesses.Located at https://bizfileonline.sos.ca.gov/, the web center pulls together in one location links to the many services businesses new and old need to conduct operations in California, including filing required statements or lien notices, searching
Thursday, August 11, 2022Free 2022 Midyear Employment Law White Paper
As we move into the latter half of 2022, California employment law continues to move along — and employers should make sure they’re complying with the new regulations, court rulings, local ordinances and other employment law developments that have occurred thus far in 2022. Luckily, one of CalChamber’s employment law experts has highlighted the significant updates and changes in our free 2022 Midyear Employment Law Update white paper, which includes information on:All COVID-19-related developments, such
Thursday, July 28, 2022Employee Retention Credit Update Webinar
Businesses have faced many financial hardships during the pandemic. Fortunately, there are tax incentives available to mitigate this. The most significant is the Employee Retention Credit (ERC), a refundable payroll credit. Business taxpayers that experienced a suspension (full or partial) of operations or a reduction in gross receipts can claim this credit which can be up to $26,000 per employee. We will also cover the related Paid Sick Leave Refundable Credit, and Paid Family Leave Refundable Credit.
Tuesday, June 28, 2022Santa Maria Valley Chamber Partners with California Paid Family Leave Grant to Get Money into the Hands of Small Business
The Santa Maria Valley Chamber is pleased to announce its partnership with California Paid Family Leave Grant (CPFLG). CPFLG allows eligible small businesses in California with 1-100 employees with at least one (1) employee utilizing California’s Paid Family Leave program to apply for grants up to $2,000 per employee to offset the increased costs associated with the employee out on leave. California’s Paid Family Leave program allows California workers to take paid leave to bond with a new child (through
Friday, May 20, 2022California can be Safer When Alcoholic Beverage Servers and Managers are Trained
Alcohol servers and managers at over 56,000 businesses must be trained by August 31, 2022, it’s the law California has one of the largest alcohol markets in the United States with over 56,000 businesses in California that sell alcohol on-site. These businesses have a sizable impact on the California economy. Beginning July 1, 2022, the Responsible Beverage Service Training Act will go into effect. The law requires that anyone who serves alcohol, manages servers, delivers alcohol, takes orders, or
Monday, May 09, 2022Review Expense Reimbursement Policies for Relevance to Remote Work
The unexpected and rapid growth of remote workers since 2020 has changed the workplace permanently. Amid the chaos, employers needed to think about increased use of home internet, more personal cell phone usage, home office enhancements and other expenditures necessary to work from home successfully. Remote work is not going away.Under California Labor Code Section 2802, employees are entitled to be reimbursed by their employers “for all necessary expenditures or losses incurred by the employee in direct
Monday, April 18, 2022Restaurants Care: Resilience Fund
A Relief Fund with Heart! 2022 Application Open April 15 - 30 Restaurants Care is proud to once again partner with SoCalGas, PG&E, SDG&E to offer $3,000 grants to independent restaurants at the heart of our communities. We’re investing in two things that keep a restaurant running—kitchens and crews. Grants will be awarded to restaurants for kitchen equipment upgrades or retention bonuses. And we’re not stopping there. Wells Fargo is powering one year of small business support services. Restaurants will
Wednesday, January 26, 2022USDA: Community Facilities Direct Loan & Grant Program Info. Session
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development (RD), Fresno State Office of Community & Economic Development (OCED), and USDA Office of Partnerships & Public Engagement (OPPE) are partnering to host a Community Facilities Direct Loan & Grant Program Info. Session on Tuesday, February 15 from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. The Community Facilities Direct Loan & Grant program provides affordable funding to develop essential community facilities in rural areas. An essential community facility is
Monday, January 24, 2022EconAlliance 2022 Ag Forum - Agriculture: The Future in Focus
February 3, 2022 Radisson Hotel Santa Maria (Indoor Mask Requirement) 8:15 a.m. Check-In/Coffee & Snack 9:00 a.m. Program 12:30 p.m. - Networking Lunch Program Featured Speaker: Walt Duflock VP Innovation, Western Growers Also includes: County Ag Update Ag Tech: Innovation Snapshots Anticipating Opportunity/Responding to Change: Stories from the Field 2022 Recognition: Ag Sector HR and Safety Leads Register here: www.EconAlliance.org/Upcoming-Events
Monday, January 17, 2022eCommerce as an SEO Strategy
If you have spent any time on Amazon you are already familiar with verbose descriptions of each item for sale, product reviews from verified purchases, and the ability to search by product name, product description and category. These elements are some of the secret sauce that has made Amazon so successful. They provide their shoppers plenty of information to make a confident purchase decision and at the same time this data is structured in a way that Google can gobble the information up. Google is not a
Wednesday, January 12, 2022On National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, Attorney General Bonta Highlights Resources to Support Survivors of Human Trafficking
OAKLAND – As part of National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, California Attorney General Rob Bonta today highlighted resources available to businesses and members of the public to help combat human trafficking and support survivors. California law requires certain businesses and establishments to post notices that provide information and resources for survivors and the public regarding human trafficking. The Attorney General urges businesses and members of the public across the state to use these
Monday, January 10, 2022CalChamber: COVID-19 Workplace Safety Rules Update
Below is a condensed summary of the CalChamber podcast, which can be found here. To hear the full discussion of each topic, visit the time stamps noted in the article below. New Isolation, Quarantine Guidelines Time Discussed: 01:35 On December 27, 2021 the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new COVID-19 guidelines on quarantine and isolation periods for asymptomatic cases. Moutrie explains that the timelines have been shortened for asymptomatic cases only and in cases where
Monday, January 10, 2022SEO you shouldn’t trust
SEO advice and services have been offered since Search Engines started crawling the internet. I still see Marketing Agencies offering SEO services that employ tricks that lost relevance almost 2 decades ago. These SEOs offering low-cost SEO are selling nothing but Snake Oil. My hope is to educate you on what to look for so you can protect yourself. Think of your SEO Agency like a personal trainer, a trainer thinks about everything at every level, not just the machines you use in your workout, but also
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Monday, January 03, 2022SCO/City of Santa Maria Small Biz Webinar (January 12, 2022)
Free Small Business Webinar! Hosted by: State Controller Betty T. Yee and the City of Santa Maria Hear from federal, state, and local agencies about programs available to small businesses. January 12, 2022 10:00 - 11:30 am Register at: bit.ly/3sfa9O1
Monday, December 06, 2021CISA Releases Capacity Enhancement Guides to Enhance Mobile Device Cybersecurity for Consumers and Organizations
CISA has released actionable Capacity Enhancement Guides (CEGs) to help users and organizations improve mobile device cybersecurity. •The CEG: Mobile Device Cybersecurity Checklist for Consumers provides steps for consumers, including using strong authentication and enabling automatic operating system updates. •The CEG: Mobile Device Cybersecurity Checklist for Organizations provides steps to help organizations secure mobile access to enterprise resources. CISA encourages users and administrators to
Monday, December 06, 2021New 2022 California Employment Laws White Paper Available to Download
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to be a primary focus in 2021, the California Legislature crafted and sent several hundred bills to Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk. As 2021 winds to a close, what better way to prepare for 2022 than by familiarizing yourself with employment law changes happening when January hits? For instance, a new law builds on 2020’s changes to the California Family Rights Act (CFRA), clarifying that employees can take CFRA leave to care for parents-in-law with serious health
Thursday, November 04, 2021OSHA: COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing ETS
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued an emergency temporary standard (ETS)to minimize the risk of COVID-19 transmission in the workplace. The ETS establishes binding requirements to protect unvaccinated employees of large employers (100 or more employees from the risk of contracting COVID-19 in the workplace. COVID-19 was not known to exist until January 2020, and since then nearly 745,000 people, many of them workers, have died from the disease in the U.S. alone. At the
Tuesday, November 02, 2021Order Your 2022 Employment Notices Today!
It’s that time of year again to order your required 2022 Employment Notices! We are providing a substantial discount to our Chamber members on these required notices, including the California & Federal Employment Poster, which is required by law to be displayed in your business. A note regarding remote employees: If companies have employees that work 100% from home and never report to a headquarters or other location, hard copies of mandatory employment notices should be mailed to the employees' homes,
Wednesday, October 20, 2021Community Broadband Needs Assessment: Entities
For the past few years, EconAlliance has served as Santa Barbara County liaison to the tri-county Broadband Consortium Pacific Coast (Consortium), working cooperatively with the Consortium first to enhance broadband in Northern Santa Barbara County. In early 2020, EconAlliance conceptualized the “Northern Santa Barbara County Fiber Ring” and has since been actively seeking funding to accelerate development of the Fiber Ring. Part of this effort involves building awareness of grant and other funding
Tuesday, October 19, 2021ABC is offering fee waivers for eligible licensees
On February 23, 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a package of immediate actions that provided needed relief to individuals, families and businesses suffering the most significant economic hardship from the COVID-19 Recession. Read the full February 23 news release. With the COVID-19 Renewal Fee Relief legislation, the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control is authorized to provide renewal fee waivers for two years to approximately 59,000 businesses heavily impacted by health and safety restrictions
Wednesday, October 13, 2021Santa Maria Valley Chamber is offering 20% Discount on Required California Harassment Prevention Training
As of January 1st, 2021 California employers with five or more employees must now provide harassment prevention training to all employees. All new hires must be trained, and existing employees must receive training every two years. That’s two hours of training to California supervisors (and to out-of-state supervisors of California employees), and one hour of training to nonsupervisory employees in California. Training must take place within six months of hire or promotion and every two years thereafter.
Monday, October 04, 2021Going Remote: Considerations Employers Should Make When Transitioning to a New Work Model
In our new world created by the COVID pandemic, many small businesses are considering whether to continue to allow at least some employees to work full-time remote, or adopt a hybrid version. Under the hybrid version, employees may be allowed to work from home either a fixed number of days per week, or certain days designated by the company. Most companies are identifying days that all employees need to be in the office, for company meetings and other in person discussions. If you are evaluating
Friday, October 01, 2021Santa Maria Police Department Provides Tips for Businesses to Help Prevent Burglaries
Is your businesses well protected from a possible break-in? Do you know what steps to take if your business is broken in to? Many businesses think their business is secure, but in reality there are some easy steps to help keep your business safe that often get overlooked. We recently talked with Santa Maria Police Department Lt. Terry A. Flaa, who gave use some tips on how businesses can make sure they are being proactive in preventing burglaries.What is the most common way people break into local
Monday, September 13, 2021California Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Round 9 Now Open
Round 9 of the California Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant opened on September 9, 2021. This program will support small businesses and nonprofits impacted by COVID-19 and the related health and safety restrictions.Who will be considered for Round 9? 1. Existing waitlisted small businesses and/or nonprofit organizations from previous rounds. These applicants do not need to reapply. 2. Existing eligible small businesses and/or nonprofit organizations that were not selected in previous rounds (Rounds 1,
Thursday, September 09, 2021CalChamber: Have You Registered with CalSavers Yet?
Eligible California employers with at least five employees may now register for the CalSavers Retirement Savings Program (CalSavers), and must do so by June 30, 2022. CalSavers is a retirement savings program for private sector employees whose employers don’t offer a retirement program. More specifically, it gives employees the opportunity to defer their wages, through payroll deductions by the employer, to a state-managed individual retirement account (IRA) program. California employers that are not
Monday, August 23, 2021Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant: New Funding Round to Open in September
New applicants for California’s Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Program will be able to apply in the funding round opening on September 9 and continuing through September 30.The program provides grants of $5,000 to $25,000 to small businesses hurt by the pandemic. Businesses are eligible based on annual revenue as documented in their most recent tax return.New funding rounds were made possible by an additional $1.5 billion in funding authorized in a relief package signed by the Governor. Total
