June
17, 2015 (Lansing) – The state’s leading small business organization,
the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), applauded the
final passage of legislation that would prohibit local governments from passing
their own laws requiring a higher minimum wage, paid leave and a number of other
employer mandates.
House
Bill 4052 – The Local Government Labor Regulatory Limitation Act, sponsored by Rep.
Earl Poleski was finally passed by the Michigan Senate after bouncing back and
forth between the two chambers with a number of tweaks and changes to try and
address concerns raised by local government and others opposed to the bill. The
bill is now on its way to the Governor’s desk where it is expected to be signed
into law.
The
final Senate passage capped a long battle between advocates and opponents that
included protesters disrupting a House Committee hearing and claims that the
bill was an attack on local control.
“We have worked hard as a state to transform our image as a
place to do business with important tax, regulatory and labor policy changes,
but that hard work is put into jeopardy when local governments attempt to
create their own islands of regulation,” said NFIB State Director Charlie Owens. “Local governments have enough challenges
providing the basic services that their citizens expect and it is irresponsible
of them to expand into policy areas that are more efficiently and appropriately
the jurisdiction of the state and/or federal government.”
Owens
cited the recent example of the move by the California city of Los Angeles to
require a local minimum wage of $15 an hour as reason enough for Michigan to
end run local governments on the issue. “It is clear that various national
front groups backed by organized labor are behind these efforts and they had
Michigan on their list of states where they hoped to run similar local city
campaigns,” said Owens. “Small business cannot afford local micromanagement of
employer benefit policies heaped on top of already existing state and federal
laws.”
Go HERE to learn more about this issue
