Small Business Wins, Losses in the 2018 Legislature

The 2018 legislative session of the Mississippi Legislature ended March 28, 2018.

NFIB’S legislative agenda centered on continuing to reduce the costliness and time-consuming red tape of excessive regulations — from state agencies and local governments — that burden the ability of small business owners to own, operate and grow their business.

Another priority that NFIB keeps pressing lawmakers on is the need to exempt small businesses from the antiquated local personal property tax on business furniture, fixtures, and equipment.

Additional focus always centers on working toward a law to limit premises liability on business owners for third-party crimes committed on the premises; stopping costly health insurance mandates; making the punishment fit the crime against a business; defeating employment mandates that drive up costs; preserving fair competition; and being your voice at the Mississippi State Capitol — to lawmakers and to state agencies.

Here’s the final legislative status of bills impacting various small businesses, and, where applicable, our NFIB position.

GOOD for SMALL BUSINESS — PASSED:

Several key bills that were part of our 2018 NFIB Legislative Agenda succeeded in getting passed:

• REDUCING EXCESSIVE REGULATIONS:

• HB 1122: & SB 2610: Agricultural operations; exempt from local regulations under certain circumstances. (HB 1122 Passed House 115 to 0; Amended & Passed by Senate 45 to 6; House Concurred in Senate Amendment 117 to 0; Approved by Governor 3/16/18) (SB 2610 DIED on the Senate Calendar without a vote since the House had already passed HB 1122) (NFIB SUPPORTED)

• HB 1500 & SB 2570: Counties and municipalities; prohibit certain regulation of the use, disposition, sale or taxing of disposable plastic bags and certain other containers. (HB 1500 Passed House: 110 to 2; DIED in Senate Accountability, Efficiency & Transparency/“AET” Committee, since SB 2526 had already passed Senate and would be taken up in House) (SB 2570 Passed Senate 37 to 15; Passed House 113 to 0; Approved by Governor 3/19/18) (NFIB SUPPORTED)

• REGULATORY REFORMS:

• HB 1175 & SB 2526: Occupational licensing boards; require to review rules every 3 years and submit certain summary to Occupational Licensing Review (HB 1175 Passed House: 109 to 6; On Senate Floor for Consideration, having Passed Senate AET Committee) (SB 2526 Passed Senate 51 to 0; Amended & Passed House 96 to 23; Conference Report Adopted by Senate 52 to 0 & by House 117 to 1; Due from the Governor for Approval by 4/19/18) (NFIB SUPPORTED)

• LIMITING LIABILITY:

• HB 901 & SB 2918: Agri-tourism; delete repealer on statutes limiting liability and establishing requirements for professionals engaged in. (HB 901 Passed House 117 to 0; Died in Senate Agriculture Committee due to SB 2918 having already passed the House) (SB 2918 Passed Senate 52 to 0; Passed House 110 to 4; Approved by Governor 3/5/18) (NFIB SUPPORTED)

• TRANSPORTING TIMBER & CONTAINERIZED GOODS

• B. No. 2418: Motor vehicles; increase weight limit tolerance for harvest permit vehicles and vehicles loading and unloading at state ports thru July 1, 2022. This does NOT increase total weight restrictions, but does increase from 5% to now a10% tolerance on any tandem or axle weight of harvest permit vehicles; and the same increase of tolerance above the gross weight, tandem or axle weight of vehicles hauling prepackaged products unloaded or to be loaded at a state port, which are containerized — thus helping reduce the number of required loads and saving businesses money. (SB 2418 Passed Senate 37 to 11; Amended & Passed by House 76 to 34; Senate Concurred in House Amendments 40 to 12; Approved by Governor 3/27/18) (NFIB SUPPORTED)        

• HEALTH INSURANCE PREMIUMS:

• HB 1196: MCHIRPA; require Commissioner of Insurance to make certain approvals if the MS Comprehensive Health Insurance Risk Pool Association ceases operations. The effect of this bill is to give the Insurance Commissioner ultimate authority to make sure remaining Risk Pool funds (approximately $19 million) will be returned to the insured and not insurance companies. (HB 1196 Passed House 112 to 2; Passed Senate 51-0, Approved by Governor 3/19/18) (NFIB SUPPORTED)

GOOD FOR SMALL BUSINESS — DIED IN CONFERENCE COMMITTEE:

• PREMISES LIABILITY:

• SB 2473: Residential Landlord/Tenant Act; revise to give more protections to landlords.
• With the support of the Realtors who got their needed changes to the landlord/tenant law passed in SB 2473 (Awaiting Approval of Governor by 4/19/18), NFIB joined with the MS Association of Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Stores, the Realtors and with other business groups’ support, in an effort to amend this bill in the Conference Committee (3 Senators & 3 Representatives) with premises liability language that had previously passed the House in 2012.
• Gov. Tate Reeves and Speaker Philip Gunn fully supported our efforts; however, we were not able to get the needed support of a key Conference Committee member to ensure the bill would be taken up on the floor.Our business group had agreed not to do harm to the Realtors’ bill and put it in jeopardy, so we asked that our language be removed from the Senate-proposed Conference Report. (therefore, our Premises Liability Amendment DIED in Conference Committee)
• NFIB along with several business groups have made several attempts to get much needed Premises Liability legislation placed into statutory law.It’s the one main aspect of tort reform that was not accomplished back in 2004.Each time one key member of the House or Senate has kept this from happening.
• We’ve been promised by this lawmaker to work with us on a solution during the 2019 legislative session.

GOOD FOR SMALL BUSINESS — DIED ON THE FLOOR CALENDAR:

• PUNISHING THEFT:

• HB 190: Organized retail theft; provide a definition of. Corrects a loophole in current law to ensure a ring of shoplifters can receive a felony conviction for multiple offenses. (HB 190 DIED on the House Calendar without Consideration or a Vote) (NFIB SUPPORTED)

• HB 997: Shoplifting; revise penalties for. (HB 997 DIED on the House Calendar without Consideration or a Vote) (NFIB SUPPORTED)
                                                
• SB 2211: Cargo theft; create crime and provide penalties. Creates the criminal charge of cargo theft for stealing a trailer, etc. with cargo inside. (SB 2211 DIED on Senate Calendar without Consideration or a Vote) (NFIB SUPPORTED)         

GOOD FOR SMALL BUSINESS — DIED IN COMMITTEE:

• LOCAL PERSONAL PROPERTY TAX EXEMPTIONS:

            FURNITURE, FIXTURES & EQUIPMENT: (NFIB SUPPORTED)

• HB 101 — Exempts the first $20,000 of Assessed Value
• HB 115 — Phases out this tax over 5 years
• HB 217 — Exempts any item less than $100 in true value
• HB 290 — Phases out this tax over 10 years
• HB 1527 — Allows an Income tax credit similar to the current tax credit on inventory taxes, with a 3-year phase in: up to $10,000 credit the first year, $15,000 the second, and up to the amount of the personal property tax on furniture, fixtures & equipment; with a 5-year carry forward.
  • (NOTE: All of these House Bills have DIED in the House Ways & Means Committee without consideration)

            INVENTORY: (NFIB SUPPORTED)

• SB 2080 — Phases out this tax over 5 years for Small Businesses with less than $2 Million in annual net revenues. (DIED in the Senate Finance Committee without consideration)

• COMPROMISE/SETTLE TAX LIABILITIES:

• HB 346, HB 1484 & HB 1486 — Department of Revenue; authorize to compromise and settle tax liabilities with taxpayers. These bills would allow the DOR to do the same as the IRS can do to help finalize a “doubtful claim” tax debt. (All DIED in the House Ways & Means without action.) (NFIB SUPPORTED)

• INCOME TAX CREDIT — WELLNESS PROGRAM:

• HB 1542 & SB 2999 — Income tax; authorize a credit for employers who pay the cost of a qualified wellness program. (Each bill respectively DIED in the House Ways & Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee without action.) (NFIB SUPPORTED)

• JOBS INCOME TAX CREDIT:

• HB 175: Income tax; authorize a credit for taxpayers that employ persons convicted of certain nonviolent offenses. (HB 175 Passed House: 110 to 5; DIED in Senate Finance Committee without action) (NFIB SUPPORTED)

• LIMITING LIABILITY:

• HB 1238: Office of Consumer Protection; clarify exclusions of provisions regulating. (HB 1238 Passed House 58 to 54; 9 Absent/Not Voting) (DIED in Senate AET Committee without action) (NFIB SUPPORTED)
  • Background:In recent years, state AGs have brought a surge of lawsuits under state Consumer Protection laws against businesses.The theories underlying these lawsuits are often developed by contingency-fee lawyers and pitched to state AGs and occasionally other state or local officials.State Consumer Protection laws vaguely prohibit any conduct that might be viewed as “unfair” or “deceptive,” do not require a showing of actual deception or loss and authorize the AG to seek substantial civil penalties.Any business is a potential mark.These laws were not intended to provide an alternative means for AGs or other officials to regulate conduct that is already closely supervised by specific state and federal regulatory agencies.For that reason, about two-thirds of these state laws exempt from their scope conduct that is regulated, permitted, approved, or specifically authorized by state and/or federal agencies. HB 1238 sought such an exemption.
• SB 2853: Phantom damages; restrict admissibility of evidence of. (DIED in Senate Judiciary A Committee without consideration) (NFIB SUPPORTED)
  • this bill would have limited the admissibility into evidence and recovery by an injured party of medical expenses to only to:
    • “(a) The amounts actually paid by or paid on behalf of an injured party; and (b)Any other amounts that are required to be paid by or on behalf of an injured party, but shall not include the amounts billed by a health care provider for any such service, if such amounts are not required to be paid by or on behalf of the injured party.”
  • if this had passed, this would prevent injured parties from receiving the same benefit twice.

• REDUCING EXCESSIVE REGULATIONS:

• HB 1241: Employment laws; revise those that may be adopted by a local governmental body. Also, a floor amendment was approved on a voice vote to add an “equal pay” statute and remedy in state courts that tracks the language of the federal statute. (HB 1241 Passed House: 108 to 8; DIED in Senate Finance Committee without action) (NFIB SUPPORTED the ORIGINAL BILL, but currently has no firm position on the added “equal pay” provision based on prior Member Balloting)

• HB 1418: Agency Accountability Review Act of 2018; create. (HB 1418 Passed House: 116 to 1; DIED in Senate AET Committee without action) (NFIB SUPPORTED)
  • would reduce regulations by requiring all regulations adopted under the Administrative Procedures Act to automatically repeal on December 31 of the fifth year following the regulation’s initial adoption unless the regulation has been readopted at least 60 days before its scheduled repeal.

• REGULATORY REFORMS:

• HB 858: Administrative Procedures Act; reduce the effective period for temporary rules adopted under — from current 90 days to 60 days. (HB 858 Passed House: 113 to 0; DIED in Senate AET Committee without action) (NFIB SUPPORTED)

• WORKERS’ COMP INSURANCE

• HB 789: MS Workers’ Compensation Commission; return to a special fund agency from a general fund agency. (HB 789 PASSED House 117 to 0; DIED in Senate Appropriations without action) (NFIB SUPPORTED) 

OF CONCERN to SMALL BUSINESS — DIED ON CALENDAR:

• DEBT COLLECTION:

• SB 2608 – Income tax; public hospitals & private nonprofit hospitals may collect certain debts by setoff against debtor’s refund. The Senate Finance Committee limited the bill to only “public” hospitals, thus taking out the for-profit and non-profit entities. The bill DIED on the Senate Calendar without further action. (NFIB OPPOSED as Introduced since the bill allowed for-profit and non-profit hospitals to obtain debtor assets ahead of other judgement creditors with a greater priority of claims; however, NFIB worked with Sen. Doty, the bill’s sponsor, and the hospitals in an attempt to amend the bill to meet certain other small business and individual owner asset protections. Once those changes were made, NFIB removed its opposition.)

OF CONCERN to SMALL BUSINESS — DIED IN COMMITTEE:

• SALES TAX PERMITS:

• SB 2746: Sales tax; revise provisions regarding denial/revocation of the permit due to unpaid tax liability. As introduced, it had very overreaching language to allow the MS Department of Revenue (DOR) to prevent a new business from receiving a state sales tax permit if any officer, LLC member, partner, or director had a “finally determined tax liability” owed to them.
• NFIB believes Board members and partners/LLC members who are NOT in a day-to-day financial management position should not be included, and got directors removed from the list. NFIB got a provision added to give DOR authority to require a bond to cover possible tax liability based on past history in lieu of revoking a permit;and that tax liability of a prior business would track the partner, LLC member or principal officer only if the tax liability accrued when that person was exercising responsibility for fiscal management in the prior business and is also doing so in the new business seeking a permit.
• (NFIB OPPOSED as Introduced; however, once the MS Department of Revenue agreed to make several changes requested by NFIB, most of which we got in the version as passed the Senate, NFIB removed its opposition.)(SB 2746 PASSED Senate 47 to 4; DIED in House Ways & Means Committee without consideration)

BAD for SMALL BUSINESS — DIED IN COMMITTEE:

• HEALTH INSURANCE — MANDATE:

• HB 1198: Health insurance policies; require certain to provide infertility coverage. It has a $20,000 lifetime cap on coverage, and the mandate is NOT added to the state employee health plan. (HB 1198 PASSED House 82 to 27, 11 Absent/Not Voting; Double-referred to Senate Insurance and Appropriation Committees — DIED in Senate Insurance Committee without consideration) (NFIB OPPOSED but had suggested to the House the use of small business “mandated offering” language similar to what the Legislature had previously passed in recent autism and mental illness coverage laws in lieu of the pure mandate the House passed. Our proposed language would, if it had been added, have required our small businesses to only offer such additional coverage if they offered a health insurance plan to employees, but allowing the employer to also require the employee to pay for its costs — thus protecting choice for both the employer and employee. NFIB will continue its fight against any true mandate on small business which drives up our health insurance costs causing more to be uninsured due to the #1 problem of affordability.)

• NFIB opposed numerous bills that also DIED in Committee:
  • creating a state minimum wage
  • creating a state department of labor
  • prohibiting employers from obtaining a job seeker’s criminal history
  • removing the one-week waiting period for unemployment benefits
  • requiring businesses that accept credit cards to have cameras to record persons using cards.
  • other health insurance state mandates

NEED-TO-KNOW NEW LAWS IMPACTING YOU

• LEFT LANE DRIVING LIMITED

• HB 80: Motor vehicles; prohibit travel in outermost left lane except under certain conditions. (HB 80 Passed House 87 to 27; Passed Senate 42 to 8; Approved by Governor 3/15/18)
• The new law takes effect July 1, 2018, and mandates that “A vehicle shall NOT be driven in the outermost left lane of any roadway with two or more lanes allowing for movement of traffic in the same direction except when:
  • Overtaking and passing another vehicle proceeding in the same direction.
  • The right lane(s) of a roadway is closed to traffic while under construction or repair.
  • The right lane(s) of the roadway is in disrepair or in an otherwise impassable or unsafe condition; or
  • A vehicle is preparing to exit the roadway on the left.
• A vehicle shall not be driven continuously in the outermost left lane of a multi-lane roadway whenever it impedes the flow of other traffic.”
• The fine for this violation will range from $5 to $50 per incident.

• DRIVING WITHOUT LIABILITY INSURANCE A CRIMINAL OFFENSE

• HB 325: MS Vehicle Insurance Verification System; revise various laws regarding. (HB 325 Passed House as Amended 93 to 14; Passed Senate with a reverse repealer 49 to 2; Conference Report adopted (same as passed House) by House & Senate; Submitted to the Governor for Approval)
• This revision of current law now makes driving without mandatory liability coverage a criminal offense in lieu of a civil violation.

• FREEPORT WAREHOUSE TAX EXEMPTIONS EXPANDED

• SB 2097: Free port warehouse; revise property stored in that is eligible for exemption from ad valorem tax. (SB 2097 Passed Senate 50 to 0; Passed House 116 to 0; Approved by Governor 3/16/18)
• This new law effective January 1, 2018, adds an exemption from ad valorem tax, if approved by the local county and city governing authorities, for:
  • “All personal property in transit through this state which is … (d) consigned or transferred to a licensed free port warehouse, public or private, within the State of Mississippi, for storage pending transit to not more than one (1) other location in this state for production or processing into a component or part that is then transported to a final destination outside of the State of Mississippi,”

• MILITARY SERVICE MEMBER REEMPLOYMENTS RIGHTS EXTENDED

• SB 2459: Military servicemen; extend reemployment protections when activated by other states. (Senate Passed 52 to 0; House Passed 117 to 0; Approved by Governor 3/8/18)
  • This law will give the same reemployment rights already provided to our military in-state residents when activated by an in-state military unit to those in-state residents who are part of an out-of-state military unit and activated to duty.

• “ZAPPER” USE, MANUFACTURE, REPAIR OR POSSESSION ILLEGAL
  • SB 2754: Automated sales suppression devices; prohibit. (Senate Passed 52 to 0; House Passed as Amended 112 to 1; Senate Concurred in House Amendment; Approved by Governor 3/26/18)
  • An “automated sales suppression devise” or “zapper” basically sets up two sets of sales books for tax purposes — one showing actual sales for only the owner’s eyes, and another which intentionally eliminates numerous sales in order to fraudulently reduce the owner’s tax obligations for the taxing authorities.
  • The criminal penalty is a felony with up to 15 years in prison.

Contact your lobbyist Ron Aldridge with any questions about these or any issue of concern at [email protected] or call 601-201-1323.