The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors on Oct. 21 approved continuing and expanding the Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operations (MEKO/MICOs) pilot program and asked staff to return with options to make the program more accessible to low‑income operators.

Department of Environmental Health staff reported that the county’s pilot has supported hundreds of applicants and allowed entrepreneurs to operate legally from home kitchens. Several speakers — many of them women, immigrants and operators in the pilot — told the board the program allowed them to earn income using their existing home kitchens and to continue caring for family members; multiple commenters asked the county to subsidize permit fees and to collect better data on participant demographics so the program can be evaluated from an equity perspective.

Supervisors discussed legal constraints on fee setting: state constitutional restrictions (Proposition 26) constrain fee recovery and limit the county’s ability to cross‑subsidize fees without providing general‑fund support or obtaining external grants. The board approved continuation of the pilot and directed staff to return with options for expanded data collection to support equity analysis and to evaluate funding or subsidy options — including grant searches or targeted general‑fund support — that could lower permit costs for low‑income operators during initial years.

The action passed unanimously. County staff said a public registry and map of MICOs is available on the Department of Environmental Health website and that county procurement planning will consider using MICOs as potential vendors for county events.