NFIB/North Carolina victories in the 2009 General Assembly included:

 

Creation of small business assistance fund

Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton championed the Small Business Assistance Fund, a low-interested loan program for small businesses. During a year of unprecedented budget deficits, legislators found $500,000 in the budget to begin a program to help the state’s economy recover from the current recession. The loans would be authorized by the North Carolina Rural Center Small Business Assistance Fund.

 

Defeat of mandatory 7-day paid sick leave

We worked hard to make sure that small businesses were not burdened with another mandate requiring employers to provide each employee with 7 days of paid leave.

 

Postponement of E-Verify mandate

While E-Verify is a protection for business owners, it was crucial that we defeat a proposed mandate. Small businesses are not equipped with the technology or staffs to carry out the requirements of employee verification. This will be revisited in 2010.

 

Defeat of proposed state minimum wage increase

Some in the General Assembly wanted to raise the state minimum wage above the federal level. We were able to stop an additional increase in the state minimum wage, helping small business owners in this time of unprecedented financial crisis and high unemployment.

 

Defeat of tax on services

Even though the state increased the sales tax and placed a surcharge on personal and corporate income, we were able to defeat the proposal to place a sales tax on dozens of services which small businesses offer across the state.

 

Defeat of legislation helping labor unions

We worked with other business associations to stop legislation concerning collective bargaining and payroll deductions for employees of associations.