As part of concerted legislative efforts to support California small businesses, Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia (D-Coachella) is proud to join Senator Andreas Borgeas (R-Fresno) and Senator Anna Caballero (D-Salinas) on Senate Bill 74, the Keep California Working Act. This measure would invest $2.6 billion in grants towards small businesses and employees experiencing financial losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This global health crisis has devastated our small business community like never before. As the Legislature continues to prioritize pandemic response, we must significantly increase investments for small business relief,” said Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia. “Business owners and employees struggling to stay afloat across our state need our immediate support, and I am grateful to collaborate with Senators Borgeas and Caballero to make additional small business grant funding available.”
Senator Borgeas stated, “California’s businesses and employees have made tremendous sacrifices to protect the health of our communities. If the Governor is going to mandate businesses close, then they deserve a more aggressive investment in relief efforts. I am proud this measure already has broad bipartisan, bicameral support in the Legislature, and I look forward to working across the aisle with my colleagues to help local businesses.”
SB 74 has support from a bipartisan coalition of legislators and includes an urgency clause that will allow it to take effect immediately upon approval.
SB 74 would establish the Keep California Working Grant Program and require California’s Small Business Advocate to administer the grant program and award grants to small businesses and nonprofit organizations that have experienced economic hardship resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. SB 74 would also appropriate $2.6 billion dollars to the Office of Small Business Advocate for the grant program. The bill is proposed as an urgency statute.
