MyVoice - March/April 2010

MYVoice

How NFIB is working for you in Washington, D.C.

Proposed Greenhouse Gas Rules Could Create Costly Headaches for Small Business

The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a massive set of new rules that could have far-reaching effects on thousands of small businesses.

Last year, the EPA declared various greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, to be pollutants under the Clean Air Act. Further, the EPA declared that these gases endanger the health and welfare of current and future generations by contributing to global climate change.

The proposed rules allow the EPA unprecedented authority to regulate vehicle emissions, as well as those emanating from sources such as manufacturing plants, foundries, pulp and paper mills and other businesses.

The proposal would require reporting and mitigation efforts from businesses that emit more than 25,000 tons of GHGs per year. Because the EPA didn’t perform a required assessment of the small business impact, it’s unclear how many small businesses will be covered by this proposed rule. Moreover, the EPA could change the rules after six years by lowering the thresholds to cover many more small businesses. The significant costs associated with reporting and mitigating GHG emissions under the proposed rule would be passed along in the form of higher prices.

The EPA set target dates of 2010 for GHG monitoring and 2011 for reporting. We argued that doesn’t provide enough time for businesses to review and comply with the new requirements. Our comments noted that documents associated with this rule are nearly 1,500 pages long. Few, if any, small business owners have either the time or expertise necessary to plod through that many pages of complex information to determine if their businesses are even subject to the rule.  
If a business doesn’t quickly learn whether the firm must report and how to properly monitor GHGs, that business could fall behind on 2010 monitoring and face penalties of up to $32,500 a day and possible jail time. Because each day of a violation would be considered a separate offense, penalties could quickly reach hundreds of thousands of dollars.

We asked the EPA to minimize the chances of a small business being punished under a final rule by:

• Moving the dates for monitoring and reporting to 2011 and 2012, respectively, to allow more time to educate businesses;
• Developing a list of the types of businesses that might be subject to reporting requirements;
• Developing a calculator or some other shorthand method for calculating emissions; and
• Creating a compliance guide published at the same time as EPA’s final rule.

 

NFIB Key Votes Bill to End TARP

We stood up for fiscal discipline by key voting in support of an amendment by Sen. John Thune (S.D.) to end the Troubled Asset Relief Program. In addition to ending the program, it would require the federal government to reduce the federal debt with any returned TARP funds.  Unfortunately, the amendment failed on a procedural motion, but we were encouraged that a bipartisan majority of 53 senators were willing to stand up for taxpayers.

The $700 billion TARP program was passed in 2008 and was intended to prevent the insolvency of major
U.S. financial institutions by cleaning up their balance sheets. While the full $700 billion has not been allocated yet, almost $370 billion has been disbursed, and the Treasury Department has already expanded the program beyond its original purpose.

“Ending TARP and paying down the federal debt with returned TARP funds would signal to small businesses that Congress is beginning to get its fiscal house in order,” said Susan Eckerly, NFIB senior vice president. “It would also signal that the federal government does not intend to continue the unprecedented level of government ownership in private American businesses. Both signs would be welcomed by small businesses.”

We will continue to push Congress to cut spending, reduce the ballooning federal deficit and pay down the national debt.

 

New Anti-Discrimination Law Now in Effect

A new federal anti-discrimination law prohibits employers from using an employee or potential employee’s genetic information when making decisions to hire, fire or promote. The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act defines genetic information as knowledge gathered from an employee’s family medical history and/or genetic testing. This means employers must be vigilant about securing the confidentiality of any medical information known about an employee in order to avoid potential liability.

“The real-world implications of GINA on employers are still uncertain. For now, the best way for employers to protect themselves from liability under GINA and most federal anti-discrimination laws is to document the nondiscriminatory reasons for employment decisions,” said Karen Harned, executive director, NFIB Small Business Legal Center.
Federal law requires that employers post the “Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law” poster in the workplace. A new version reflects current federal employment discrimination law and information about the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act. The revised poster also includes updates from the Department of Labor.

To comply with the law, print and post the EEOC’s   November 2009 version of the “EEO is the Law” poster.

 

NFIB Fighting Mandatory aid Sick Leave in Congress

With all the recent attention paid to the healthcare reform debates, some important issues were pushed to the back of the legislative line.

However, they haven’t gone away, and we expect many of them to be taken up again. One good example is mandatory paid sick leave.

This proposal was introduced in the last Congress by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (Mass.) in the Senate, and in a companion House bill introduced by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.). DeLauro reintroduced H.R. 2460, the “Healthy Families Act,” in the current Congress.

Backers of the law got a boost with the anxiety over the H1N1 (swine flu) virus, arguing that this was one more reason to pass federal legislation. The bill would require employers with 15 or more employees to provide all employees who work at least 30 hours per week with seven days of paid sick leave each year. In addition, employers must keep paper records of the number of paid sick days—which may be taken with little or no notice—given to each employee.

“We will continue to oppose this legislation, which would take away the flexibility small business owners need to run their businesses,” said Susan Eckerly, NFIB senior vice president, federal public policy. “It’s burdensome, unnecessary and interferes with a business owner’s right to shape the type of benefit plan that best suits the needs of the employees and employer.”