NFIB

Grassroots Action at Its Best: NFIB Members Like You Made the Difference!
07/01/2003

Year after year, small-business owners across our country rank the lack of affordable health care options as one of the most pressing issues facing their businesses. At the federal level and in all 50 states, NFIB has been working to find solutions to this problem.

In Texas, we are blessed to have good friends like Waco's Senator Kip Averitt. He decided it was time to do something about the lack of affordable small-business health care options in our state and he created a plan to address the need.

Working with Sen. Averitt, NFIB/Texas worked to generate the grassroots support necessary to pass the legislation. This important legislation could not have become law without the hard work of small-business owners across our state who made their voices heard -- grassroots voices made the difference!

To announce the filing of the legislation at the beginning of the session a press conference was held in the Lieutenant Governor Press Room. NFIB member Kurt Summers (Austin) joined Sen. Averitt and several other members of the Senate along with the NFIB lobby team in speaking with the Capitol press corps on the need for the bill.

When the legislation was heard in committee, NFIB members Wanda Rohm (San Antonio) and Henry Benning (El Paso) testified on the need for expanded options. Their testimony provided "real world" voices to the debate -- the voices of small-business owners like you.

To move the bill through the Senate and the House, NFIB members contacted legislators urging them to pass the legislation without delay. Faxes, letters, emails, and phone calls poured into the capitol making the need for the legislation evident and placing legislators on notice that they would be expected to deliver on their campaign promises for healthcare relief.

In the end, thanks to the work of NFIB members across our state, the voice of the small-business community was heard and SB 10 became law -- a victory for small-business.

There's no limit to what we accomplish when small-business works together. If you would like to be more active in our legislative efforts, email or call me and join our list of activists willing to engage in the fight to make Texas the best business climate in the world.

-- Jeff Clark, NFIB/Texas Executive State Director