Last week saw a faster pace at the Capitol as we approached legislative crossover day, which is when House and Senate bills must pass out of their respective chambers to stay alive.
One major victory for Georgia small businesses took place this week in the House judiciary committee, which passed HB192, authored by Rep. Beth Beskin. The bill is one of NFIB’s top priorities this session. It offers important protections from personal liability to small-business owners and others who serve as corporate directors and officers in Georgia.
Despite the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association’s aggressive attempt to add anti-business amendments to the bill and to defeat the bill altogether, the bill passed out of committee. This was a major victory for us and happened in large part thanks to the many emails and phone calls from NFIB members responding to our action alert. We will continue to keep you updated as this bill continues to go through the legislative process.
SB133, authored by Sen. Larry Walker, passed out of the Senate. The bill modifies the corporate net worth tax so that corporations worth less than $100,000 will no longer be required to file and pay this tax. SB 133 will now move on to the House, and we will continue to follow it.
HB243, authored by Rep. Bill Werkheiser, will preempt local governments from passing predictive scheduling and pay mandates on businesses. The measure passed out of the House this week and is now in the Senate. This bill will give important protections to Georgia small businesses and is another one of our top priorities this session.
Lastly, NFIB testified against several anti-business bills this past week, including insurance mandates for hearing aids in the Senate Insurance Committee. There will always be a cost associated with mandates and that cost is passed down to Georgia’s small businesses.
We will continue to be vigilant in standing up for Georgia’s small businesses this session.
