Measure BB - Business Liscense Tax Reform

On July 21, 2026, the City Council adopted the resolution linked below ordering an Ordinance amending the City of Emeryville’s business license taxes be submitted to the voters on Tuesday, November 3, 2026.

The last day for filing direct arguments for or against the measure shall be August 12, 2026, at 5:00 PM and all such arguments shall be filed with the Emeryville City Clerk, 1333 Park Avenue, Emeryville, California and shall not exceed 300 words in length. The City Clerk, upon receipt of arguments and after the filing deadline, shall immediately transmit copies to any known opposing parties who may then submit rebuttals by August 17, 2026, at 5:00 PM.

Arguments received prior to the deadline shall be confidential until the filing deadline.

Resolution 26-65(PDF, 18MB)

City Services/Business License Reform Measure. “To protect City of Emeryville services/ensure smaller businesses pay less than larger businesses, shall the measure be adopted to: • keep parks/playgrounds safe; • repair potholes/maintain streets; • maintain 9-1-1 response; • improve crime prevention; • maintain senior/youth services; • general government use; by updating/simplifying Emeryville’s 42 year old business license rates up to 0.4% of gross receipts (described in the ordinance) until ended by voters, providing $12,400,000 annually, requiring independent oversight?”

City Attorney's Impartial Analysis of Measure BB

This measure was placed on the ballot by the City Council. It requires a majority vote for passage.

The City currently imposes a business license tax under Chapter 1 of Title 3 of the Emeryville Municipal Code on any person engaging in business in the City. The existing business license tax ordinance contains 56 business categories. Most of these categories impose a tax at a flat rate, or at a rate measured by the number of employees, days of operation, vehicles, or other measure of assets used by the business. A catch-all tax of 0.1% of gross receipts applies to any business not in a particular category.

This measure would amend Chapter 1 of Title 3 to revise the business categories and to change the measure of most taxes to gross receipts. The new categories would be General Commerce/Retail, Services, Professional and Advanced, Contractor, Real Property Rental, Utility, and Unclassified. General Commerce/Retail and Utility would pay an annual tax of 0.1% of gross receipts. Services, Contractor, and Unclassified would pay an annual tax of 0.3% of gross receipts. Real Property Rental and Professional and Advanced would pay an annual tax of 0.4% of gross receipts. The tax rates for cannabis businesses and card rooms, which are significantly higher, would not be changed. The tax rates for massage parlors would also be unchanged.

Small businesses with annual gross receipts of $100,000 or less would only pay $25. This threshold would be adjusted annually based on the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for the San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward area. Except for new businesses, gross receipts from the preceding year would continue to be used to measure the tax for the current year. The tax for new businesses would initially be based on estimated gross receipts and would be trued up at the end of the year.

The tax or a business with gross receipts that are less than its operating costs in the City would measure its tax by using those costs as its gross receipts.

The maximum annual business tax cap would be increased from $300,000 to $800,000, with this amount adjusted annually by the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for the San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward area.

No business tax would apply to any business exempt from tax under the constitution or laws of the United States or the State of California.

The business tax rates adopted by the measure would apply beginning January 1, 2027, and the tax for calendar year 2027 would be calculated based on gross receipts from calendar year 2026.

The revenue from this tax would continue to be deposited into the City’s General Fund where it could be used for any legitimate municipal purpose.

s/ JOHN I. KENNEDY City Attorney