The National Federation of Independent Business has presented state Sen. Paul Sanford of Huntsville and Rep. Paul Lee of Dothan with its coveted Guardian of Small Business Award. The presentation was made Tuesday at the annual NFIB Alabama Small Business Day at the Capitol event in Montgomery.
The Guardian of Small Business award is the most prestigious honor that NFIB bestows on legislators in recognition of their efforts to support small business issues. The NFIB Alabama Leadership Council, an advisory board comprised of NFIB members, voted to present the award to the legislator for supporting small-business issues in last year’s session of the General Assembly.
“Senator Sanford and Representative Lee have 100-percent NFIB voting records but earned this award for their work in passing legislation changing the process by which local governments can hire third-party auditing and collection firms to collect taxes. The old process was unfair to small businesses and made it unnecessarily difficult for them to comply with the law and challenge unfair assessments,” said Rosemary Elebash, state director of NFIB.
“Entrepreneurs across the state appreciate their efforts to create a level playing field for small businesses,” she said. “Senator Sanford and Representative Paul truly are Guardians of Small Business.”
Speakers at this year’s Small Business Day included Gov. Robert Bentley, state Attorney General Steve Marshall, Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries John McMillan, and state Sen. Rusty Glover of Mobile.
NFIB members received updates on a variety of issues and had the opportunity to ask questions of the elected officials. This year’s event was sponsored by the Alabama Forestry Association, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama, and Alabama Power.
NFIB is Alabama’s leading small-business association. To learn more, visit www.NFIB.com/AL and follow @NFIB_AL on Twitter.
