JUNEAU, Alaska, June 3, 2014—America’s voice of small business today named 35 Alaska lawmakers as Guardians of Small Business, a nationally recognized honor awarded to state legislators and congressional representatives whose votes match their rhetoric on issues of vital importance to Main Street, mom-and-pop enterprises.
“Small businesses are not smaller versions of bigger businesses,” said Denny DeWitt, Alaska state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, “they have different difficulties in remaining solvent, and it’s to Alaska’s credit that more than half of our legislators understand and appreciate that.”
Eleven state senators were graded on eight key votes and 24 state representatives were marked on 10 issues. The 35 honored today all voted 100 percent with small business. A list of winners is available here, and a brief description of the bills can be read here.
According to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy, “Small businesses significantly impact Alaska’s economy. They represent 96.5 percent of all employers and employ 53.1 percent of the private-sector labor force. Small businesses are crucial to the fiscal condition of the state and numbered 69,177 in 2010 … Most of Alaska’s small businesses are very small as 76.4 percent of all businesses have no employees, and most employers have fewer than 20 employees.”
ATTENTION EDITORS: A media kit designed for quick information on the size of a small business, its distinction from a big business, its electoral influence and other information can be found here.
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For more than 70 years, the National Federation of Independent Business has been the Voice of Small Business, taking the message from Main Street to the halls of Congress and all 50 state legislatures. NFIB annually surveys its members on state and federal issues vital to their survival as America’s economic engine and biggest creator of jobs. NFIB’s educational mission is to remind policymakers that small businesses are not smaller versions of bigger businesses; they have very different challenges and priorities.
National Federation of Independent Business/Alaska
P.O. Box 34761
Juneau, AK 99801
907-723-6667
