Idaho’s small businesses commend him on a huge accomplishment, cautions on other issues
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Suzanne Budge, Idaho State Director, [email protected]
or Tony Malandra, Senior Media Manager, [email protected]
BOISE, Idaho, Jan. 2, 2020—Gov. Brad Little will kick off the political year with his second state-of-the-state speech, Monday, January 6, and if 2020 promises to be anything like 2019, Idaho’s small-business owners will be beyond delighted and grateful.
“The average Idahoan may not be aware or fully appreciative what Governor Little did with his regulatory reform accomplishments but every single one of us stands to benefit from having an improved economic climate that is inviting to the people who want to start a business here and hire Idahoans who will now have more jobs to choose from,” said Suzanne Budge, Idaho state director for NFIB, the state’s voice of small business. “It is not at all a stretch to say he is right now the most pro-small-business governor in the nation. The Legislature started the ball rolling when it eliminated all 8,000 pages of state agency rules at the end of the 2019 session. But Governor Little didn’t miss a beat to use the opportunity to direct his agencies to eliminate obsolete and outdated rules and to add back only the bare-bones rules needed to run the state.”
As good as the news is, Budge said it remains to be seen if voters or the Legislature can resist watering down the jet fuel poured into the state’s economic engine by streamlining the state’s rules.
Four items high on small businesses’ wish list include:
- Quick legislative review and approval of only those agency rules needed
- Occupational licensing reform to remove barriers to entry.
- Defeat of the minimum-wage ballot initiative
- An early committee-vote grave for a Local Options Tax.
“The minimum-wage initiative is out of the governor’s control, but he might use his position as chief salesman of the state to remind people how very few businesses pay the minimum wage – most salaries far exceed it – and that the only people really affected by it, and negatively so, are the least-skilled and teens and young adults looking for their first job opportunities,” said Budge.
“As for licensing reform, perhaps our lawmakers can borrow an idea from Arizona, which last year became the first state to accept occupational licenses acquired outside the state as being good to use in Arizona,” she added.
“And, as we have done every time in the past and will every time in the future, we will vigorously oppose allowing cities and counties to establish their own sales taxes. We might be alone in this fight,” said Budge, “but small-business owners don’t need the headache and can’t afford the time and software to comply with hundreds of different city and county sales tax rates.”
For further comment on these and other issues, please call or email Suzanne Budge at 208-850-3065, [email protected]
Keep up with the latest on Idaho small business at www.nfib.com/idaho or by following NFIB on Twitter @NFIB_ID
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For more than 75 years, NFIB has been advocating on behalf of America’s small and independent business owners, both in Washington, D.C., and in all 50 state capitals. NFIB is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member-driven association. Since our founding in 1943, NFIB has been exclusively dedicated to small and independent businesses and remains so today. For more information, please visit nfib.com.
National Federation of Independent Business/Idaho
802 W. Bannock, Ste. 301
Boise, ID 83702
208-345-6632
www.nfib.com/idaho
Twitter: NFIB_ID
