eye on business
Standing Up for Small Business
Kris Johnson , AWB President
A woman who runs a Vancouver business phone company said she pays 30 percent less for workers ’ compensation insurance in Oregon than she does in Washington .
In Tacoma , the manager of a metal fabricating company said she is still waiting for the “ affordable ” part of the Affordable Care Act to arrive .
And in Pullman , a bicycle shop owner described how would-be customers come into his shop , take a bike for a test drive and then buy it online from a competitor who doesn ’ t charge sales tax .
These are just a few of the stories we have heard since our Government Affairs team hit the road in May on a 15-city small business outreach tour . As of this writing , the tour is only one-third complete , but we ’ ve already heard from dozens of small-business owners about the challenges they face running a business today in Washington state .
For many of you , the challenges will sound familiar : Minimum wage . The cost of health care . Local , state and federal regulations . Access to skilled workers .
But it ’ s important we hear about them now , and with plenty of detail . That ’ s because we know we are facing a long , challenging 2017 legislative session . The more detail we can provide to lawmakers , the more success we will have promoting a small-business agenda .
It ’ s not enough to just tell lawmakers that small-business owners deal with too much regulation . We need to give them specifics , such as the business owner who hired someone solely to keep track of the different Business & Occupation taxes across multiple jurisdictions .
Or the cabinet designer who hired a human resources consultant to create an employee handbook that , due to over-regulation , consists primarily of information that ’ s not necessary or applicable for his business or his employees .
Why are we doing this now ? Because small business is the backbone of Washington ’ s economy and this is a critical moment in our history . The central Puget Sound region is experiencing rapid growth , but growth is slowing in many parts of the state , and some rural corners of Washington are still waiting for the recovery to arrive .
At the same time , voters will likely be deciding this fall whether to raise the state ’ s minimum wage and whether to enact a carbon tax that will drive up the cost of energy . Both of these issues stand to impact small-business owners .
Also on the ballot : governor , all of the state House of Representatives , half of the state Senate and three state Supreme Court justices .
And we ’ re bracing for a long , difficult legislative session in which lawmakers wrestle with the final pieces of the
McCleary school funding court decision .
Amid this array of issues competing for attention and dollars , it ’ s critical that small business has a voice . We know that small businesses helped drive the country out of the Great Recession , accounting for more job growth than big businesses .
Small businesses continue to play a huge role in the state and national economy , accounting for half of America ’ s workforce and almost half of the nation ’ s GDP . Two-thirds of all new jobs are created by small businesses , according the U . S . Small Business Administration .
Small businesses represent the vast majority of AWB ’ s membership , with roughly 6,000 of our members employing 100 or fewer people .
And let ’ s not forget , even our biggest members started out as small businesses .
8 association of washington business