2009 NFIB/Minnesota Victories
Defeated a bill to create a new 9 percent top income tax rate and helped defeat a 30 percent surtax on businesses earning more than 15 percent interest per year.
NFIB helped defeat a large income tax hike and an unworkable 30 percent surtax that would fall on businesses that earned more than 15 percent in interest per year on open accounts or loans. Businesses that are regulated by IRS regulation “Z” would be affected by the surtax. The new 9-percent income tax rate would have given Minnesota the third highest top rate in the nation. The unworkable surtax would have had all sorts of negative side-affects on the Minnesota economy.
Defeated seven new mandates that would have increased the health care premiums for small businesses by nearly 10 percent.
NFIB helped defeat seven new mandated health insurance coverages during the 2009 session. Had they passed, they would have cost a small business close to 10 percent of total premium, not including the expensive autism mandate. The autism mandate alone would have raised premiums by 21 percent per year – the largest increase allowed under law. Autism is typically treated for several years in a row, and affected businesses would likely have experience these increases for multiple years. Businesses that have an autistic child on their insurance plan would likely drop coverage.
Protected private property rights, by helping win the most stringent eminent domain reform law in the country.
NFIB fought to protect small business property rights by helping pass one of the most stringent eminent domain reform laws in the country. NFIB also helped secure mandatory attorney’s fees (typically $10,000 to $50,000) for property owners in eminent domain cases where the property owner receives 40 percent or more than the condemning authority’s final offer.
Defeated legislation to raise the state’s minimum wage to $7.75 per hour with automatic annual increases and eliminated the training wage for teenage workers.
NFIB helped defeat a proposal to raise the state’s minimum wage to $7.75 per hour with automatic increases and to eliminate the training wage for teenagers. The automatic escalator provision would put Minnesota’s minimum wage law on auto pilot and the wage would increase each year along with changes in the Consumer Price Index.
Past NFIB/Minnesota Vctories:
Protected small-business property rights by helping pass eminent domain restrictions
NFIB/Minnesota co-led a coalition that passed significant restrictions on the use of eminent domain, which will prevent local governments from removing small businesses from their property purely for economic development. Under the new law, properties can only be taken if it can be proven there is a significant amount of blight or contamination.
Helped secure attorney's fees (typically $10,000-50,000) in eminent domain cases where property owners receive substantially higher purchase prices than the condemning party's offer
NFIB co-led a coalition that enacted a mandatory attorney fee and court cost provision for any eminent domain victim who receives 40 percent or more than the condemning authority's final offer, which could save between $10,000 to $50,000 in a typical case. Additionally, a property owner can also request fees from the courts if they receive between 20 percent and 40 percent more than the condemning authority's final offer.
Enacted major joint and several liability reform which could save business owners tens of thousands of dollars
NFIB/Minnesota gave strong support to the grassroots effort to pass legislation that significantly revised our joint and several liability law, commonly known as "deep pocket rule." Under the revised law, a party now must be at least 51 percent at fault before they can be forced to pay for the whole award. Additionally, in Minnesota any defendant who is less at fault than the plaintiff cannot be sued.
Helped achieve state conformity to the federal tax code for health savings accounts, bringing additional savings to members who use the plans
In the 2005 session the state fully conformed to the federal HSA law and employer-paid premiums for HSAs are now fully deductible on state and federal taxes. Prior to the 2005 session, state tax deductibility was not allowed. This provision will increase the benefit and appeal of these new plans.
VICTORY: 2003 -- Major Tort Reform Passes, Revision of Joint and Several Liability
After many years of trying, the revision of the Joint and Several Liability law finally passed in Minnesota. This change will shield small business from big liability and potentially large damage awards that could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Under the new law, only parties that are 51 percent at fault or more can be stuck paying all the damages if the other co-defendants are insolvent. Under the old law, a party who was as a little as 16 percent at fault could be forced to pay all the damages, which could cause great financial strain or even bankruptcy for a small business.
Additionally, a positive feature of the old law was retained in the new statute, which deals with aggregation of fault. Under Minnesota law, any defendant who is less at fault than the plaintiff is not eligible to be sued. This is a unique provision that exists in only three other states and is an additional benefit to defendants who have very little fault. When you consider our new 51 percent threshold and our aggregation of fault provision, Minnesota law provides significant protections for parties from being sued for large amounts of damages.
NFIB/Minnesota was tireless advocate for tort reform. We have advocated reform on this law for close to 15 years and actively lobbied the legislature and sent out numerous alerts to our members.
VICTORY: In the 2001 session a major property tax reform/reduction strongly supported by NFIB/Minnesota was signed into law, reducing and simplifying Minnesota's convoluted property tax system. Business property's share of total property taxes paid has been reduced from 30 percent to approximately 24.5 percent.
VICTORY: NFIB Minnesota continues to be a strong voice for balancing the budget and resolving Minnesota's projected $3.2 billion budget deficit without a tax increase. Last session we strongly opposed efforts to raise taxes as part of the budget balancing solution - an increase would be a major step backward.
HOT BUTTON: NFIB is one of the leading voices at the Minnesota State Capital for comprehensive tort reform. NFIB will push for enactment of the employer reference legislation and revision of the state's Joint and Several Liability statute, (Deep Pocket Rule) which can force someone who only shares a small amount of fault to pay for the whole award.
VICTORY: In 1999 the largest tax cut in state history, strongly supported by NFIB passed. The measure will cut income taxes a record $1.4 billion dollars. The top rate of 8.5 percent was reduced to 8 percent, the middle rate of 8 percent was reduced to 7.25 percent and the bottom rate of 6 percent was reduced to 5.5 percent. The average reduction was 9 percent, and a family of four earning $50,000 received a 17.8 percent reduction.
In the 2000 session another large tax rebate of $635 million was enacted. Additionally, income taxes were reduced slightly and the average reduction was 2.8 percent.
HOT BUTTON: With yet another large multi-billion dollar projected budget surplus NFIB is strongly pushing for additional income tax cuts and business property tax reductions. A $924 million surplus is projected for June 2001 and another $2.1 billion for 2002-03.
VICTORY: Last session the Equal Access to Justice law was expanded to cover more small businesses and a greater amount of their court costs. The new law increases reimbursable attorney's fees to $125 per hour and expands other reimbursable costs to include costs of studies, analysis, engineering reports, tests and projects, none of which were previously covered. Additionally, the definition of small business was expanded to include companies as large as 500 employees and $7 million in annual revenues. A prevailing small business would have to meet both criteria.
