Speaker Menin on small business legislation
Menin introduces a bill she sponsored establishing a quadrennial commission to ease permitting, licensing, and inspections for small businesses, noting 5,000 closures last year. She also highlights legislation by Council Member Zhuang to cut bureaucratic red tape, sharing that some business owners wait years to open.
Okay, so moving along, for those residents who are small business owners, we've kept up our efforts to make life easier for them.
Today we're introducing a bill that I sponsored.
Quiet on the floor, please.
That aims to topple the barriers that prevent small businesses from succeeding.
This bill would establish a quadrennial commission whose recommendations would ease permitting and licensing and inspections, as well as reduce fines and fees.
We know that about 5,000 small businesses closed last year, so this is an urgent, urgent crisis.
In that vein, we're voting on legislation sponsored by Council Member Zhuang, which would help cut through the maze of bureaucratic red tape that aspiring business owners are forced to navigate.
As a former small business owner myself, I really understand that.
We talked to so many small business owners and heard from them, some of whom said it's taking them sometimes several years to be able to open their small business.
So that's not acceptable, and now the council is taking action to address that.