Sacramento capitol dome. photo/thomas hawk
Don Sniegowski reports at BlueMaumau that California’s assembly voted Thursday morning to pass a bill that aims to strengthen good faith and fair dealing between franchisors and franchisees. The final tally was 41 ayes and 27 nays.
Senate Bill 610 has now been passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee, a full vote on the Senate floor, the Assembly Judiciary Committee, the Assembly Business, Professions and Consumer Protection Committee and now a full vote on the Assembly floor.
The International Franchise Association (IFA) and its allies, such as the California Chamber of Commerce, opposed the bill. The organization built websites, placed advertisements and organized mass rallies at the capitol. There were opinion pieces written in the local press opposing the bill.
But this time around, the franchisees did too.
To the observer, franchise owners seem to be learning exponentially, at least for the time being, outsmarting and outmatching the know-how and raw power of the deeply connected and pocketed IFA, a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying association formed over half a century ago by franchisors.
Kathryn Slater-Carter, who is part of a second-generation of family members that own a McDonald’s franchise in Northern California, points out her opponents’ might. “There were over 20 lobbyists and other opponents,” she observes. For the past few weeks Slater-Carter has marched up and down the halls of Sacramento to chat with Assembly members, meet staffers and even give a nod to workers in the state capitol. She describes that some 40 people who were vying for the attention of lawmakers had gathered around a monitor when it came time for the final vote count. “When the vote hit 41, enough for passage of the bill, you could hear a pin drop within that group,” says Slater-Carter.
Read more at Bluemaumau