State’s advocate vacancy is filled

Marty Keller moved into the office of the state small-business advocate Tuesday, filling a chair empty since the former advocate retired in November.

Keller said he looked forward to “making state government more accessible to small-business owners.”

The advocate, who was appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, is expected to participate in discussions of legislation and regulations that affect small businesses, to represent their interests before state agencies and to seek assistance from the small-business liaisons in those agencies.

The Sacramento resident knows his way around the Capitol. Since 2002, he had been executive director of the California Automotive Business Assn. trade group. Previously, he had served as chief of the Bureau of Automotive Repair in the state Department of Consumer Affairs. He also has been a consultant, the president of auto inspection service Greenslip Inc. and a sales executive in the financial printing industry.

The small-business advocate’s office, which was established in its current form by legislation enacted in 2000, is meant to give the state’s small businesses a stronger voice in Sacramento. Small companies account for more than 90% of California businesses and employ at least half of the state’s workers.

In recent years, the position has been vacant for months at a time. The last advocate, former utility executive Dennis Trinidad, was appointed in September 2005 and served little more than a year.

The $99,000-a-year job is part of the governor’s Office of Planning and Research. The advocate reports to Cynthia Bryant, the office’s director.

Two years ago, Assembly Democrats made an unsuccessful attempt to garner new funding for the advocate’s operation and to move it to the office of the secretary of the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency to increase its influence.

Scott Hauge, a small-business owner and president of the Small Business California trade group, said he was optimistic about the assistance Keller would be able to provide to the state’s estimated 3 million small businesses.

“He has a good combination of skills,” said Hauge, who also heads CAL Insurance & Associates Inc. in San Francisco. “He knows the private sector and he understands how the government works.”

To contact the advocate’s office, visit www.opr.ca.gov/about/sba.htmlor call (916) 322-2318.

Ladies Who Launch signing

The stylish founders of Ladies Who Launch, an international business networking and support group with a large chapter in Los Angeles, will be speaking and signing copies of their new book, “Ladies Who Launch: Embracing Entrepreneurship & Creativity as a Lifestyle,” at 7:30 p.m. May 24 at the Barnes & Noble bookstore at the Grove shopping center in the Fairfax district.

Beth Schoenfeldt and Victoria Colligan, along with coauthor Amy Swift who heads the L.A. chapter, will talk about how women start businesses in different ways, and for different reasons, than men. Their month-long small-business incubators are meant to supply the community and inspiration they believe women need to create a business.

Coming up: More books, a magazine, related products and the Young Ladies Who Launch program, which will bring entrepreneurial education to girls.

For more information, go to www.ladieswholaunch.com.

Bill calls for proof of workers’ comp

The state Senate is considering a bill to flush out the estimated 10,000 California employers on the rolls of the state Employment Development Department that are shirking their legal responsibility to carry workers’ compensation insurance.

Senate Bill 869, introduced by Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles), would authorize the department to provide names of employers in its database to the state Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau. If a cross-check finds uninsured companies, they would be contacted by letter and asked to verify coverage.

The letter gives an employer 10 days to provide verification, including proof of coverage arranged within that period. An employer that can’t provide proof would be subject to a fine of $1,000 per employee by the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement.

Fairness in federal contracts is sought

Fraud and unfairness in the $340-billion federal marketplace is a hot topic for California small businesses that lose bids for contracts to bigger competitors.

To combat the problem, the U.S. House of Representatives voted last week 409 to 13 to pass the Small Business Fairness in Contracting Act, H.R. 1873, the largest overhaul of the federal small-business procurement system in a decade.

“This is a major, and long overdue, step forward for entrepreneurs,” said Rep. Nydia M. Velazquez (D-N.Y.), chairwoman of the House Small Business Committee.

The measure, which goes next to the Senate, would increase the governmentwide small-business contract goal to 30% from 23% and include overseas contracts. It attempts to limit the practice of bundling contracts, which often makes them too big for a small business to handle.

It also includes measures to stop giant companies from holding contracts meant for small businesses. And it means to put teeth into small-business contracting rules that critics say are too often overlooked with little consequence.

Sarbanes-Oxley deadline request

Small public companies, those with revenue of $75 million or less, need another extension of the deadline by which they have to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act’s dreaded internal controls rules, according to the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

Committee Chairman John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) asked for as much as one additional year for small companies to comply with final changes expected to be announced next month.

He made the request in a letter sent last week to the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

As it stands, small public companies have to follow Sarbanes-Oxley rules for fiscal years that end Dec. 15 of this year or later. The rules call for reports on internal financial controls.

Sarbanes-Oxley was passed in 2004 in response to the Enron collapse and a raft of public company accounting scandals.

The final version of the Section 404 rules is expected to include changes made to counter the unexpected amount of time and money that complying with the rules is costing small companies.

For more information, visit www.sec.gov.

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