Governor Snyder Signs Local Preemption Legislation – Small Business Celebrates
The state’s leading small business organization,
the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), applauded Governor
Snyder’s signature on legislation that would prohibit local governments from
passing their own laws requiring a higher minimum wage, paid leave and a number
of other employer mandates.
House
Bill 4052 (now Public Act 105 of 2015) – The Local Government Labor Regulatory Limitation Act, sponsored by
Rep. Earl Poleski was passed by the Michigan legislature after a number changes
were made to try and address concerns raised by local government and others
opposed to the bill.
The
new law capped a long battle between advocates and opponents that included
protesters disrupting a House Committee hearing and claims that the bill was an
attack on local control.
“We
have worked hard as a state to transform our image as a place to do business
with important tax, regulatory and labor policy changes, but that hard work is
put into jeopardy when local governments attempt to create their own islands of
regulation,” said NFIB State Director Charlie Owens. “Local governments have
enough challenges providing the basic services that their citizens expect and
it is irresponsible of them to expand into policy areas that are more
efficiently and appropriately the jurisdiction of the state and/or federal
government.”
Michigan
joins fifteen other states that have passed preemption legislation dealing with
local minimum wage laws. Owens cited the recent example of the move by the
California city of Los Angeles to require a local minimum wage of $15 an hour
as reason enough for Michigan to end run local governments on the issue.
“It
is clear that various national front groups backed by organized labor are
behind these efforts and they had Michigan on their list of states where they
hoped to run similar local city campaigns,” said Owens. “Small business cannot
afford local micromanagement of employer benefit policies heaped on top of
already existing state and federal laws.”
