The NFIB Missouri Leadership Council met earlier this month at Old Kinderhook Resort in Camdenton.
“This was a great opportunity for L.C. members to come together and learn more about some of the issues that are having a big impact on small business,” NFIB State Director Brad Jones said.
The two-day meeting began with a discussion of the recently passed Wayfair legislation. Missouri was one of the last states to address the issue of taxing out-of-state sellers. Chuck Pierce of the Missouri Society of Certified Public Accountants explained the intricacies of the bill and reminded the L.C. that the legislation also contains a small tax cut.
Kevin Kuhlman, NFIB vice president of Federal Government Relations, gave the group a brief overview of some of the legislation we are watching in Washington. He talked about the recently passed infrastructure legislation and what fate it may face in the House.
Karen Harned, executive director of the NFIB Small Business Legal Center, briefed the group on what NFIB has been doing to represent small businesses in the nation’s courts. Harned said the legal center has been working with several states, including Missouri, on cases involving federal interference with state tax laws. She also discussed several of the successes the legal center has had in the area of property rights.
“The Leadership Council has been very supportive of the work done by the legal center and believes their mission is very important to all small business owners,” Jones said.
Reps. Bruce DeGroot and Curtis Trent recapped the passage of this year’s COVID liability bill. They also discussed some of the other tort law reforms they may be looking at in the future.
The Missouri pollical landscape has been fluid, to say the least. Sharon Sussin, NFIB’s national political director, and Jim Ellis, Jim Ellis, founder of Ellis Insight and senior political analyst for the Business-Industry Political Action Committee (BIPAC), gave the group an overview of what small business can expect from the 2022 elections.
The Missouri Senate race will certainly be one of the most-watched since the primary looks to have no less than five people running on the Republican side. Representative Trent also gave the Council an overview of what he saw as key races in the Missouri legislature.
The Leadership Council will meet again in Jefferson City in early 2022.
