SPRINGFIELD (Feb. 15, 2023) – Today, the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), Illinois and the nation’s leading small business advocacy association with thousands of members in the state, released the following statement by NFIB State Director Chris Davis in reaction to Gov. Pritzker’s combined budget and State of the State address:
“NFIB commends the Governor and General Assembly for balancing the State budget, eliminating short-term debt, building a Rainy Day Fund, and working with the business community to eliminate the more than $4 billion debt in the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund. We are hopeful that focusing on early childhood education and child care will restore and build our state’s workforce for the future.
“We are thrilled to hear Governor Pritzker finally acknowledge the severity of the workforce shortage that we have been announcing for the last 18 months. Illinois small businesses are losing sales, restricting hours of operations, and yes, even closing their doors permanently because they can’t find workers. Therefore, it is simply untenable for the General Assembly to consider additional employer mandates such as paid Family and Medical Leave. It simply isn’t realistic to say that an employer ‘can just hire a temporary worker’ when that temporary worker simply doesn’t exist in the job market today.
“Furthermore, the Governor needs to recognize that if there exists a need to create a portal to help small business entrepreneurs start and grow a business, then there are perhaps too many barriers, burdens, regulations, and permits in the State of Illinois. NFIB looks forward to the opportunity to remove and reduce these regulatory barriers to new small business growth, rather than creating a state program to navigate state bureaucracy.”
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For 80 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 nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member-driven. 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.
