Two State Lawmakers Named Outstanding Legislators

Date: July 05, 2014

OLYMPIA, Wash., July 7, 2014—In May, the state’s largest small-business association gave its coveted Guardian of Small Business award to 69 legislators. Today, it singled out Sen. Janéa Holmquist and Rep. J.T. Wilcox as the only two lawmakers to receive its Outstanding Legislator honor.
“These two stellar representatives never contented themselves with just voting for the small-business agenda and calling it a day, they took direct action to either push a pro-Main Street bill through to passage or worked to kill a harmful measure early and surely,” said Patrick Connor, Washington state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, which named Holmquist and Wilcox its Outstanding Legislators. 
Of particular note, Connor said, Sen. Holmquist directed the planning, drafting, testimony-scheduling and vote-getting on the most recent workers’ compensation reform package, as well as bills on teen-training wages, and small-business B&O tax-fairness amendments to last November’s special session Boeing bills.
For his part, Wilcox worked closely with NFIB and others to bring scores of small-business owners and their employees to testify at the Capitol against bills to make permanent a series of tax increases that had pummeled Main Street during the recession, including a 20 percent surcharge on the business and occupation tax rate paid by more than 144,000 service firms. His #AreYouOnTheList social media effort helped to spotlight the vast reach of these onerous taxes on the service sector.
The criteria used for selecting Holmquist and Wilcox as the two Outstanding Legislators of the 63rd Legislature include achieving Guardian of Small Business status; being the principal player and/or sponsor of an NFIB priority bill; taking a leadership role in getting a bill out of committee or defeating a bill in committee; and for lining up votes for or against a bill on the chamber floor.
Holmquist represents all or parts of Grant, Kittitas, Lincoln, and Yakima counties. Wilcox represents parts of Pierce and Thurston counties. NFIB has 340,000 small-business members nationwide, including 8,250 in Washington state.
Click here for a separate press release with more information on Senator Holmquist and here for one on Rep. Wilcox. See photos below. An online media kit for reporters and editors in need of quick, single pages of bulleted information about such things as what a small business is, the five distinctions from a big business, and the power of the small-business vote 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/Washington
711 Capitol Way South, Suite 505
Olympia, WA 98501
Twitter: @NFIB_WA

Related Content: Small Business News | Washington

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