Here's at look at some of our victories in the 2011 legislative session:
- Won support for a back-to-school sales tax holiday. The holiday encourages spending and helps small businesses by waiving the sales tax on school supplies and clothes and shoes costing $100 or less on the first Saturday and Sunday in August.
- Passed unemployment insurance benefits reform. This legislation removed the indexing of weekly benefit benefits and established a minimum payment of $81 a week and a maximum payment of $451. It also limited payments to 25 weeks and disqualified workers let go because of absenteeism or misconduct.
- Helped extend the time a business has to respond to unemployment claims. Previously, employers had seven days from the date the notice of unemployment claim was mailed to respond. Often, employers who were out of town would return to find the deadline had already passed. NFIB fought to extend the deadline to 10 days and give employers the option of receiving notices via email.
- Challenged the federal health-care reform act. NFIB successfully opposed legislation that would have created health-care exchanges, which are a key component of the federal law.