SB 7 would add another burden to Latino small businesses

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OPINION – California’s Latino business community has endured more than its fair share of hardship these last few years. Just as they were starting to recover from the lingering financial impacts of the pandemic, the devastating fires in Los Angeles displaced families from their homes and workers from their jobs, and then immigration raids created disruption to our consumers and workforce.

California’s 900,000 Latino-owned businesses are the backbone of this state, yet doing business here is a constant battle between growing and operating a business and dealing with burdensome and expensive state regulations. As the President of the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, I’ve spent a career working with Latino business owners and hearing the stories of the challenges they face to open and operate a business in California. Our system already makes it challenging for businesses to succeed, and yet today, state policymakers are preparing to place another unnecessary burden on some of the very people working tirelessly to keep California’s economy running.

Senate Bill 7 is framed as a cutting-edge “AI” regulation, but could actually apply to everyday commonplace workplace tools like spreadsheets and HR software use. Businesses would need to inventory the tools they use to run their workplaces, pay experts to figure out if they’re covered, and, if they are, create new legal disclosures about how they make everyday workplace decisions, simply because an automated software or a digital tool is involved.

Our members should be focused on what matters – serving their communities, creating jobs, and supporting their employees and families. SB 7 would mean Latino entrepreneurs throughout the state would have to stop using some of the basic tools that make life easier or bring in additional help to write and share lengthy legal disclosures about basic processes.

There has to be a better way. At a time when entrepreneurs should be focused on rebuilding, innovating, and hiring, SB 7 threatens to make even the most basic aspects of running a business harder. The bottom line is that this bill is bad for Latino-owned businesses and must be vetoed.

SB 7 may sound harmless, even technical, to those outside the business community. But make no mistake: if it becomes law, it will add new costs, red tape, and legal uncertainty for each and every one of our members and the broader small business community.

California prides itself on being forward-thinking, but SB 7 is a huge step backward. Instead of embracing new technologies and innovation that could make workplaces safer, fairer, and more efficient, SB 7 discourages the use of tools that allow Latino small business owners to grow, compete, and innovate by burying us in expensive and unnecessary mandates.

Governor Newsom should veto SB 7 and not burden businesses with overly broad regulation on everyday tools. Latino entrepreneurs need support through economic uncertainty, not more regulation. Our community has faced enough this year. Smart laws should simplify business, not complicate it.

Julian Canete serves as the President & CEO of the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce.