The state already has a website called CalGOLD - and if you type in, say, "haircut," you'll see a list of nearly a dozen state agencies you'd need to deal with to start up your new barber shop. Republican State Senator Anthony Cannella's bill would require a website to link directly to each of the forms needed for permits and licensing. The state could charge a "reasonable fee" for that service.
Cannella: "If I want to start a business and I have to contact 20 agencies and get their applications, that's a very lengthy amount of time that I'm using to try to do that. If I could, however, pay a nominal fee of, say, $15, and get all those applications in one website and print those out and have them filled out and ready to go in an hour, I as a business owner would be willing to pay a little bit."
A similar bill died last because it didn't set up a fee - and the website would have cost the state money. This year's measure has bipartisan support.
In other "One-Stop Shop" news: Another GOP-sponsored bill seeks to create a similar one-stop shop website for tax forms instead of the current setup with three state agencies: the Franchise Tax Board, Board of Equalization and Employment Development Department. That bill, by Senator Tom Harman, passed its first committee vote Wednesday.