A news release from the NY NFIB team
News Release:
As Legislature Hits Recess, NFIB Reminds Lawmakers That Big Challenges Lay Ahead For Small Biz
ALBANY (July 24, 2020) – After passing a flurry of legislation in the past week, members of the New York State Senate and Assembly will return to their districts with no clear indication of when either house may reconvene to the Capitol – in person or virtually.
NFIB, the state’s leading small business advocacy association representing thousands of small, independently owned businesses across New York State thanked members of the State Assembly for their bipartisan actions to pass a handful of measures long trapped in a legislative impasse.
“Legislation passed this week will improve communication and information sharing between the small business community and state agency regulators,” said NFIB’s New York State Director Greg Biryla. “Small steps are foundations for successful journeys; small businesses appreciate the bipartisan support for these common-sense, overdue regulatory reforms that improve the state’s business climate.”
The state Senate passed the three bills earlier in the legislative cycle – A.10769 (Stirpe) / S 6800-A (Metzger) A.10119 (Stirpe) / S.7350 (Kaplan), A.6747-a (Schimminger) / S.2839-a (Kaplan). NFIB urges Governor Cuomo’s support and signature when the legislation is delivered to his desk.
Biryla was quick to note that the severity and ubiquity of COVID-19’s economic disruption creates a fundamentally new set of challenges for Empire State small businesses that require a swift and stark departure from the state-government-status-quo.
“There is no constituency in the state that understands the unpredictability of COVID-19 as acutely as New York’s hundreds of thousands of small businesses,” added Biryla. “More than four months after New York’s first confirmed infection, we are still learning new information by the day regarding the virus’ transmission, lethality, containment, and prevention. One thing remains abundantly clear, the pandemic is an unrelenting and evolving force of tumult and ruin for Main Street commerce across every community and neighborhood in the state.”
- Eighty-seven percent (87%) of small businesses report a reduction in sales volume compared to pre-crisis level, 53% significantly so.[1]
- Ninety percent (90%) of small businesses have been negatively impacted by COVID 19.[2]
- New York State has lost 1,545,600 jobs (15.7%) between February and June 2020 trailing only Hawaii (16.6%).[3]
- More than 1,300 restaurants in New York State have permanently closed since March 1, 2020, the third-highest total for any state in the nation.[4]
- One-third, or close to 75,000, of the 230,000 small businesses in New York City may close permanently.[5]
NFIB identified the following key policy areas for lawmakers to prioritize upon the resumption of the legislative session:
Freeze Unemployment Insurance experience ratings and control premiums for small businesses forced to lay-off, furlough, or reduce staff due to the pandemic or related economic shutdown orders. Avoid surprise payroll tax hikes resulting from UI solvency fund loan assessments.
Protect against frivolous lawsuits targeting small businesses with fewer financial and legal resources by passing “good faith” liability protections for small businesses trying to reestablish their livelihoods in a distressed economy with unpredictable consumer demand.
Prevent workers’ compensation insurance cost increases. Under no circumstance should COVID-19 be classified as a “presumptive occupational illness”. Such proposals would add billions of costs to the state’s workers’ compensation system, and send New York’s highest-in-the-nation premiums even higher, crippling small businesses, non-profits, schools, and local governments.
Use anticipated federal aid to position local commerce for recovery and provide direct relief to businesses experiencing extreme hardship. At present, New York’s COVID-19 spread, infection rate, and health system capacity remain stable and controlled. This is primarily thanks to aggressive action from the state and public health agencies, and sacrifices made by hundreds of thousands of small businesses that closed shop to contain the spread, reduce transmission, and flatten the curve. Should Congress deliver federal relief for state and local governments, significant funding should be dedicated to grants and expense assistance for the most distressed small businesses that remain essentially closed or operating under drastic capacity restrictions, including but not limited to: restaurants, bars, entertainment and amusement venues, event and banquet centers, gyms, fitness facilities, and yoga studios, bowling alleys. Federal aid should also be dedicated – if necessary – to repay Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund loans to prevent surprise payroll tax assessments in the future for small businesses.
Deliver structural tax relief for small business owners who pay their taxes via personal income tax. In recent years, New York State has laudably reduced the corporate tax rate and eliminated it for select manufacturers. Unfortunately, many small businesses are unable to benefit from such reforms as only a small minority are organized as corporations or C-Corps. State funding currently dedicated to ineffective or inefficient economic development programs like Start-UP NY and the Empire State Film Tax Credit should be reallocated to pay for systemic tax reductions for local job creators.
Create tax credit and grant programs to assist small businesses with COVID-19 capital costs. The new normal for our daily lives and commerce will continue to require personal protective equipment (PPE) for the foreseeable future. Small businesses must procure face coverings, hand sanitizer, surface disinfectants, and barriers or screens to protect employees and customers. The costs add up and now expensive technical equipment like air purifiers and advanced HVAC filtration units are also being considered as useful and perhaps necessary tools to combat airborne spread. This evolution will likely continue and could become prohibitively expensive for true small businesses. New York State should prioritize relief and assistance funding to small businesses for these purposes.
“Any lawmaker professing to support the small businesses in their home communities needs to back up rhetoric with action. While many small businesses remain effectively shut down and others operate with severe limitations, it has largely been business-as-usual for big-box corporations and online mega-retailors,” said Biryla. “New York flipped the script on COVID and flattened the curve because of leadership and sacrifice. Now, the literal future of neighborhood commerce and local job creation depends on continued leadership from Governor Cuomo and deliberate action from state lawmakers. Businesses still closed deserve a plan and pathway forward. And those trying to will our communities back to life should be praised, not penalized with higher UI premiums, new workers’ comp costs, or operate under threat of frivolous lawsuits from settlement-seeking lawyers. Small businesses are problem solvers and are ready to lead New York State’s recovery if simply given the opportunity.”
1 COVID-19 Small Business Survey (9), NFIB Research Center, July 7, 2020: https://assets.nfib.com/nfibcom/Covid-19-9-Write-up-and-Questionnaire-7-7-2020-FINAL.pdf
2 COVID-19 Small Business Survey (6), NFIB Research Center, May 18, 2020: https://www.nfib.com/assets/Covid-19-6-Write-up-Q.pdf
3 COVID-19 Economic Crisis: By State, Michael Ettlinger, Jordan Hensley, University of New Hampshire Carsey School of Public Policy, June 23, 2020: https://carsey.unh.edu/COVID-19-Economic-Impact-By-State
4 With Indoor Dining Upended, Some Restaurants Call It Quits, Wall Street Journal, July 21, 2020, https://www.wsj.com/articles/with-indoor-dining-upended-some-restaurants-call-it-quits-11595323800?mod=hp_lead_pos11
5 A Call for Action and Collaboration, The Partnership for New York City, July 2020, https://pfnyc.org/research/a-call-for-action-and-collaboration/
