Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Small Business Mitigation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Small‑business working group urges permit transfers, fee reviews and expanded outreach to immigrant merchants
Summary
A Small Business Commission working group presented 15 recommendations to the Board through the committee, urging easier transfer rules for tobacco retail permits, interagency outreach and language-access improvements, fee waivers for micro‑businesses, and expanded grant programs to help corner stores weather pandemic-era losses.
The Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee on Dec. 10 received a report from the Small Business Commission and Office of Small Business outlining 15 recommendations intended to reduce regulatory burdens on small grocers and corner stores.
Dominica Donovan, senior policy analyst at the Office of Small Business, said the working group — convened before the pandemic and including merchants, merchant associations and city agencies — proposed pragmatic changes such as allowing tobacco retail sales permits to be transferred to family members beyond children (one transfer only) to preserve legacy businesses. Donovan said the annual tobacco‑permit cost is $421, and that the city caps permits at 45 per supervisorial district.
Other recommendations included forming an interagency outreach and education working group (Department of Public Health, Office of Economic and Workforce Development, Office of Small Business) to improve language access and merchant outreach; evaluating the point‑of‑sale‑system fee (currently $75 plus $14 per terminal, capped at $773) for equity and considering waivers for microbusinesses; and a special hearing on the cigarette-litter abatement fee (now $1 per pack) to consider shifting more funds to public education and outreach. Donovan also recommended expanding storefront-improvement programs (SF Shines) and piloting a Healthy Retail Express option.
Supervisors asked for follow‑up: estimates of cumulative fees paid by small businesses and the feasibility of faster permitting for public‑right‑of‑way requests. Several merchant callers and Small Business Commission members voiced support and urged prioritizing cigarette-fee and deemed-approved‑uses reforms. The committee voted to file the hearing and to transmit the working‑group recommendations for further consideration and departmental follow up.
