Letters announcing small business’ support or opposition to bills sent to House and Senate leadership
With a month remaining before the scheduled March 8 adjournment of the 2018 session of the Washington State Legislature, NFIB made public today letters it has sent to the leadership in both the House and the Senate detailing the bills it will either oppose or support on behalf of small business.
A more immediate deadline approaches next week, February 14, when bills must have passed their house of origin. In the House letter to Speaker Frank Chopp and House Minority Leader Dan Kristiansen, NFIB listed six bills it will support and six it will oppose. In the Senate letter to Majority Leader Sharon Nelson and Minority Leader Mark Schoesler, NFIB named an equal amount of bills, but only three have small business’ support.
“This is crunch time in the Legislature,” said Patrick Connor, NFIB’s Washington state director, “and it’s time for every organization to declare where it stands.”
In the House letter to Chopp and Kristiansen, NFIB singled out the ‘Ban the Box’ bill for particular emphasis. “We have discussed amendments with the sponsor to either exempt very small businesses, those with 15 or fewer employees, or exempt specific positions where the employer can demonstrate a bona fide business reason that a criminal conviction would disqualify an applicant from obtaining necessary licensing or bonding, or where other legal or contractual obligations would not permit them to perform the work for which they are applying. Without amendment, NFIB must oppose the bill.”
A Senate version of ‘Ban the Box’ also came in for NFIB’s opposition. Additional comment in the Senate letter was also made on bills regarding equal pay, wage theft, and off-duty conduct.
