LOS ANGELES — At just 7 years old Sandro Salinas began honing his culinary skills under the guidance of his mother and grandmother. Growing up in Mexico he absorbed his family’s traditional techniques and recipes that had been passed down through generations.

What You Need To Know

  • Senate Bill 1103 the commercial tenant protection act was introduced by Sen. Caroline Menjivar 

  • The bill protects micro-enterprises, restaurants with 10 employees or less and non-profits with 20 employees or less

  • The bill requires landlords to provide leases in the language in which it was negotiated

  • It gives business owners more time if the landlord is going to terminate their lease or increase rent

He says “my grandmother used to ask me, ‘Mijo, can you go with me to the mercado? Can you go with me to blend the sauces?’ and I used to go with her, to clean the seeds, everything that I was able to do since I was little.” He uses the techniques he used in his business called “D LA Tostada.”

While he uses the kitchen to make food for a local coffee shop and catering, he could not open his own restaurant in the space, encountering several hurdles when it comes to the lease he signed two years ago. His lease was in English, not Spanish, which is his native language. He says if there was a version in Spanish, it would have helped him.

It’s one of the reasons he supports Senate Bill 1103, the commercial tenant protection act introduced by Sen. Caroline Menjivar. The bill protects micro-enterprises, restaurants with 10 employees or fewer and non-profits with 20 employees or less.

The bill requires landlords to provide leases in the language in which the tenant negotiated it, it also gives business owners more time if the landlord is going to terminate their lease or increase rent, it also creates basic transparency standards when it comes to fees in addition to rent.

The bill was co-sponsored by Inclusive Action for the City, an economic justice organization. Doug Smith is the senior director of policy and legal strategy and says, “that’s why SB 1103 focuses on small business anti-displacement specifically because we believe that investing in small business is a way to invest and protect entire communities.”

Daniel Yukelson is the executive director of the apartment association of greater Los Angeles. He’s against the bill and says it makes business more difficult in California.

He adds that “this is just another nanny state piece of legislation that is going to trip up commercial landlords and possibly get them into trouble by some minor infraction.” He says business shouldn’t have to be babysat by our state government but Salinas says it’s not babysitting, it’s supporting small business and the community as a whole.