California waiving millions of dollars in state business fees in new COVID stimulus
Hundreds of thousands of small businesses from restaurants to nail salons will not have to pay licensing fees until 2023, under California’s $7.6 billion stimulus measure signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom Tuesday.
Many of their professional employees also can skip state licensing fees.
About 59,000 restaurants and bars won’t have to pay annual fees to renew their Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control licenses, which can range from $455 to $1,235.
Some 53,000 beauty establishments such as barber shops will have their renewal fees waived, saving $40 every two years for the owners and of $50 every two years for the employees.
The fee waivers will cost the state about $70 million.
For those in beauty establishments, the fee waiver will be automatic. The Board of Barbering and Cosmetology will issue new licenses before existing ones expire, it said on its website.
For restaurants, the ABC on its website said it will soon provide guidelines for them to follow when requesting a waiver.
Both the ABC and the Board of Barbering and Cosmetology said refunds will not be given for anyone who have already paid.
The fee waivers come as the pandemic has hammered restaurants and beauty establishments. About 30% of those surveyed by the California Restaurant Association in August said they will close their restaurant permanently or downsize by closing some locations.
In October, California restaurants filed claims against the state and local governments, saying they collected fees despite establishments not being able to open.
State leaders said they believe the fee waiver and the overall stimulus package, which includes $2 billion in grants for small businesses, will help them recover as the pandemic drags on.
“These bills help Californians pay their bills, and provide bread-and-butter relief to the small businesses that make our communities great, and who in turn, are the cornerstone of our economy. Stores we rely upon, restaurants we love, and services our families have turned to for years,” Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, said in a statement. “This is what we can do right now to help them, but it isn’t the end of our efforts. Not by a long shot.”
More information about the waiver is available at the ABC website, as well as at the Board of Barbering and Cosmetology website.
This story was originally published February 23, 2021 at 1:11 PM with the headline "California waiving millions of dollars in state business fees in new COVID stimulus."
