07/02/2008
Small business can close their pocketbooks and breathe a sigh of relief. The Legislature has headed home.
Small business can count victories from the regular legislative session in regulatory reform, legal reform and repealing the Stelly tax plan. Lawmakers also voted themselves a pay raise. Gov. Bobby Jindal vetoed the increase, but some citizens are still circulating recall petitions in hopes of ejecting legislators who voted in favor of a pay increase.
Regulatory reform sent to the governor
House Bill 368, the Regulatory Flexibility Act, sponsored by Rep. Rick Nowlin (Natchitoches) awaits the governor's signature. This NFIB-sponsored bill is a common-sense approach to government regulations. It requires state agencies to notify small businesses of the costs associated with proposed new rules and regulations and lends badly-needed transparency to the regulatory process
Legal reform
Senate Bill 308 by Sen. Jack Donahue (Mandeville) establishes a uniform system for eliminating junk science and non-expert witnesses from the court room. This bill, which is awaiting Gov. Jindal's signature, would save businesses time and money by requiring that professional witnesses' qualifications are validated prior to trial, which would prevent either side from using the process as a delay tactic.
Insurance issues that moved through the process
Insurance issues from homeowners to automobile are still a major problem for everyone in Louisiana. With skyrocketing premiums since the 2005 hurricanes, officials have been working diligently to lure competition into the state and institute programs to help relieve the high prices.
SB 44 by Sen. Don Cravins, Jr. (Lafayette) establishes a third round of grants to lure home insurers to the state is expected to draw four to six takers. A major component of lowering insurance rates for Louisiana residents is more competition and this bill helps to increase competition by using $100 million for the incentive program.
HB 1312 by Rep. Erich Ponti (Baton Rouge) changes the automobile liability insurance minimums were increased to 15 for injury or death of one, 30 for injury or death of more than one and 25 for damages from the current 10-20-10, effective January 1, 2010
SB 149 by Sen. Cravins will prohibit insurers from trying to recoup court or regulatory fines through rates charged to customers.
SB 160 by Sen. Cravins requires zone homeowner deductibles up to 4 percent for named storms on homeowner policies over three years. Rather than spreading the risk across the state which has been occurring, those who live in hurricane prone zones will be impacted more rather than others.
SB 152 by Sen. Don Cravins, Jr. (Lafayette) would allow group life insurance policies to be extended to cover more family members. The bill would give access to those who want to exercise an option to cover more family members with fewer restrictions under group life insurance.
SB 588 by Sen. Don Cravins will set aside the money for homeowners to help pay premiums if there is at least $35 million left in the pool established last year to entice more companies to write policies in the state. This could mean a $20 to $30 break per customer.
HB 606 by Rep. Joe Lopinto (Metairie) would provide for discounts on automobile insurance for vehicles that have a GPS system, if it helps in the recovery of the vehicle.
Health insurance and mandates
There were 10 mandate bills filed at the beginning of session; two passed:
- HB 958 by Rep. Franklin Foil (Baton Rouge) requires health insurance coverage of the diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorders in individuals younger than 21. Specifically, it mandates coverage of applied behavioral analysis therapy, though it does exempt out employers with 50 or fewer employees.
- HB 318 by Rep. Chuck Kleckley (Lake Charles) requires insurance coverage of prosthetic devices and services.
Some mandate bills were amended so they wouldn't hurt small businesses, such as measures concerning marriage and family counseling and mammograms, while others were killed, such as those requiring coverage of fertility treatments and substance abuse treatment.
House Concurrent Resolution 131 by Reps. Chris Roy (Alexandria) and Chuck Kleckley (Lake Charles) urges the Department of Insurance to conduct a study on statutorily mandated health insurance benefits. It also asks for a survey to identify any long-term cost savings associated with a preventive care mandate as opposed to the long-term cost of the disease if the mandate did not exist.
Senate Bill 287 by Sen. Willie Mount (Lake Charles) is the Health Care Consumers Right to Know bill. It gives consumers access to provider-specific healthcare costs, quality and outcomes. NFIB supports this bill because it will lend transparency to healthcare charges and gives consumers more information so they can make more informed choice.
National initiatives: NRA and labor unions
SB 51 by Sen. Joe McPherson (Woodworth) would let anyone who lawfully possesses a firearm transport and store the firearm in a privately-owned motor vehicle in any parking lot, parking garage or other designated area. The National Rifle Association has been pushing this legislation nationwide.
HB 1387 by Rep. Patricia Smith (Baton Rouge) is a part of a national initiative by organized labor to essentially eliminate the independent contractor status. Originally, the bill targeted only those construction businesses that deliberately misclassify workers as independent contractors to avoid carrying workers' comp insurance and paying state taxes and unemployment taxes. However, in the beginning of the process, HB 1387 was amended to cover all businesses rather than just the construction industry. The bill was viewed to be far reaching in the Senate committee as it criminalized business owners and was killed in committee.
Taxes
Several good bills were filed this session to help balance the scales between taxpayers and the government:
- SB 87 by Sen. Buddy Shaw (Shreveport) restores tax brackets to pre-Stelly levels. That would be most helpful to those in the $25,000-$100,000 a year income range.
- SB 288 by Sen. Robert Kostelka (Monroe) prohibits the employment of private counsel by the tax commission on a contingency fee basis. Contingency fee contracts place the counsels own interest over the interest of the taxpayer.
- SB 329 SB 329 by Sen. Robert Adley (Benton) forces local sales tax collectors to uniformly interpret the tax codes and give taxpayer enforcement procedures.
Workers compensation insurance issues
HB 554 by Rep. Patricia Smith (Baton Rouge) expands the penalties for business intentionally not carrying workers' comp insurance. Louisiana law lets judges' fine employers as much as $10,000 for failing to carry workers' comp insurance. Under HB 554, judges could go further and close businesses that don't obtain the insurance within 90 days of being cited.
HB 547 by Erich Ponti (Baton Rouge) requires collecting filing fees at time of filing a claim rather than collection at final judgment, but allows for a waiver to be granted if the party is deemed indigent. However, if the filing fee is not paid timely, the pleading is deemed to have no force.
Unemployment
HB 1165 by Rep. Avon Honey (Baton Rouge) increases the weekly unemployment benefit payments by 10 percent and reduces the amount of money employers pay into the state unemployment insurance trust fund by the same amount, as long as the fund stays at $1.4 billion. Currently, the fund has $1.43 billion.
Workforce
HB 1104 by Speaker Jim Tucker (Terrytown) reforms how we educate workers, making our workforce training programs more employer- and market-driven. The funding will be focused on those areas where workers are needed.
Ethics
SB 499 by Sen. A.G. Crowe (Slidell) changes the definition of a lobbyist so that it wouldn't include practically everyone who talks to a legislator about a bill. The definition of a lobbyist was expanded in the ethics session to the point that it would require grassroots activists such as NFIB members who contact their legislators via e-mail, phone or any other way to pay a fee and register as a lobbyist.
Constitutional amendments
Of 46 constitutional amendment bills filed this session, seven passed and will be voted on Nov. 4:
- Disposition of blighted property
- Successor for a legislator ordered to active military duty
- Term limits for executive branch boards and commissions
- Special assessment level to new property purchased to replace property
- Contribution to post employment benefit funds for public employees
- Extraordinary session be made public 5 calendar days after made public
- Severance tax allocations to parishes
- First from $850,000 to $1.85 million effective July 1, 2009
- Then from $1.85 million to $2.85 million effective July 1, 2010
Budget
The state's $29.9 billion state operating budget consisted of $15 billion in federal dollars, $9 billion in state general funds and $4.7 billion state construction budget.
Selected expenditures:
$414 million for roads
$302 coastal restoration
$127 million economic development
$87 million ports
$75 million major repairs to colleges and universities
$60 million for unfunded accrued liability payments
New phone number
NFIB/Louisiana State Director Renee Baker has a new cell phone: 225-287-0117
Federal update
On June 25, NFIB sent a letter to all members of the House of Representatives expressing its concerns with House Resolution 6275, "The Alternative Minimum Tax Relief Act."
While NFIB strongly supports relief from and repeal of the alternative minimum tax, we are very concerned about the provision in this specific act requiring credit card reporting for all merchant transactions. This is a new reporting requirement with many unanswered questions and unintended negative consequences.
The credit card processor will be required to collect taxpayer identification numbers (TINs) from all business owners. Failure to collect these numbers will lead to 28 percent withholding on the payments. Credit card processors do not currently collect these numbers, so a mechanism must be put in place to do so. If that system is not adequately established, a 28 percent withholding penalty could have an especially harsh impact on small business owners who face regular cash flow problems.
All letters to Capitol Hill can be found on the Issues Page under their respective issue categories.
Useful links 
Louisiana State LegislatureLouisiana Department of Economic Development -- Small Business ResourcesLouisiana Small Business Development Centers Louisiana Small Business Employee TrainingSmall Business Administration -- Louisiana
