Newsom Weighs Bill Licensing the Cash-Advance and Factoring Firms Bankrolling Bay Area Small Businesses

California lawmakers have handed Gov. Gavin Newsom a bill that would make the state the first in the country to require merchant cash advance providers, factoring companies and bank-partnered online lending platforms to hold a state lender license, a regime that reaches deep into the working-capital pipeline behind Bay Area storefronts and construction trades even as it carves out financing secured by real property.