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The larger the pool of premium payers, the more negotiating clout that pool has to reduce costs. It is that simple. Yet state laws erect barriers to this natural flow of problem to solution. We will continue the dual drive to allow for the pooling of small groups, while at the same time fighting any new proposal to add another mandate to existing plans, which do nothing but drive up costs and put health insurance further out of reach for small business owners.
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We succeeded in stopping a prevailing wage law this year, but only after persuading the governor to veto the legislation. This long-held goal of Big Labor will be back for a return engagement in 2010. We will re-double our effort to kill it in the committee stage, before it reaches the governor’s desk. Prevailing wages shut small business out of the competition for public works contracts and drive up public construction costs, especially in rural areas, meaning more tax dollars would be needed to pay for projects.
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House Bill 1210 would have required any employer of 15 or more employees to provide paid sick leave. In spite of the fact that almost all small business owners accommodate employees’ leave request, some legislators are looking to make it law, driving up labor costs at a time when the focus should be on job creation. Fortunately, the bill’s sponsor withdrew HB 1210 in part because of the grassroots efforts by our members in opposing this legislation. The proposal, however, is expected to make a return engagement in 2010.
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The lawyer lobby is one of the most powerful in Denver, and it does not take defeat easily. Although we were able to help check them this year, they will without a doubt be back in 2010, attempting to blow the caps off of non-economic damages awards and to make it easier to file frivolous lawsuits against employers. There is no greater harm to a small business than the threat of a lawsuit. We will continue our fierce opposition and resistance to the trial attorneys’ agenda.
