About

The San Francisco Small Business Advocates was formed in 2000 by a group of dedicated small business owners and community leaders …"to promote and protect the interests and needs of small business, by supporting public policy, candidates, and legislation which will create and sustain a vibrant small business community in San Francisco, California, and throughout the United States."

These individuals all feel small business is under-represented in city and state government and that small business is left out of important decision-making discussions that ultimately determine the costs and viability of conducting business in the City and County of San Francisco. By working to elect members of government who understand our concerns and who will enact legislation to help businesses remain viable, we believe the future of small business in San Francisco will be more secure.

It is the desire of The Advocates to increase our membership, in order to increase our influence politically. It is our goal to build a stronger, more efficient small business base in San Francisco, armed with greater knowledge and better capabilities to cope with the myriad changes we face daily, in trying to operate a sound business in an unstable and ever-changing environment.

Here are a few of our accomplishments over the past two years:

* $10 million from the California Public Utilities Commission for San Francisco and Berkeley small businesses to assist in energy conservation
* Wrote Amicus Brief for the United States Supreme Court in the Hoffman Plastics case
* Along with the San Francisco Small Business Network we raised $80,000 to assist small businesses in New York affected by September 11
* Worked with Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer to co-sponsor the small business economic stimulus package
* Worked with the San Francisco Department of the Environment in developing a Small Business Energy Conservation Program
* The only small business group to endorse candidates in the 2000 Board of Supervisors election
* Worked with Supervisor Chris Daly to get legislation passed to require all proposed legislation impacting small business to be sent to the San Francisco Small Business Commission for review prior to implementation
* Held quarterly meetings with most supervisors to promote the interest of small business
* Along with the San Francisco Small Business Network we hosted a reception for board members of the National Small Business Association
* Working with the Small Business Network and Council of District merchants, Prop D was passed creating the first Charter Small Business Commission in the United States
* Got legislation passed to require the Board of Supervisors to send legislation, which affects small business to the Small Business Commission
* Got the California Public Utilities Commission to provide $8 million to the San Francisco Department of the Environment for small business energy conservation
* Coordinated a partnership between the Public Entity Risk Institute, Small Business Commission, Independent Living Center and Small Business Network, which provides information about how to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and raised $100,000
for them
* In partnership with the Small Business Network, we raised $84,000 for small business disaster victims in the September 11 attack. We were recognized by Governor George Pataki for
our efforts
* We meet quarterly with members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors
* We represented small business in meetings with Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi and Governor Davis to get workers compensation reform passed
* Act as a contact for the media on small business issues
* Led the fight to stop a tax increase on small business proposed by the Board of Supervisors. This tax would have cost millions of dollars to small business sole proprietors, partnerships and subchapter corporations
* With a Cal Insurance commissioned study we showed the economic impact of small business on San Francisco's economy. There are 108,000 small businesses in San Francisco representing 52% of private sector employment. The study further showed small businesses combined payroll is $15.4 billion