California’s business climate has become too burdensome for small businesses to bear.
When I served as a San Bernardino County Supervisor, I saw firsthand the severe impact California’s endless regulation and bureaucracy had on small businesses. By making it more difficult to start or run a business in California, the State Legislature is restricting economic growth, harming job creation, and forcing entrepreneurs out of the state.
While the list of issues that plague small businesses is long, if you ask any mom-and-pop business owner in San Bernardino what concerns them most, you are likely to hear about abuses of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
The Americans with Disabilities Act was passed to ensure access for all residents to the businesses and services they need. There is no question that this is a good and worthy cause. Unfortunately, California has distorted these protections to empower trial attorneys seeking quick paydays from small businesses that can’t afford to fight back. These attorneys look for potential targets and send threatening letters to business owners, who often settle the claim rather than fight a costly court battle.
This past year, Senator Roger Niello proposed a meaningful solution—giving businesses with 50 or fewer employees a 120-day grace period to correct alleged violations before a lawsuit could be filed. His proposal, Senate Bill 84, would have been a simple yet dramatic improvement to ensure that well-meaning small businesses could follow the law without being squeezed for settlements. No stripping of rights, no loopholes to deny access—just a fair opportunity for businesses to fix a problem before being hauled into court.
Unfortunately, SB 84 did not make it out of the State Legislature— and perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised. Personal injury firms spent over $15 million on political contributions from 2017 to 2023, according to the American Tort Reform Association. They oppose any bill that threatens their lawsuit pipeline.
Let’s hope that in 2026, California legislators stop letting special interests dictate the fate of ADA reform so we can bring some relief to small businesses.
Janice Rutherford Lim is a former San Bernardino County Supervisor.