Here’s a look at some of our legislative victories in this year’s session of the General Assembly:
PASSED $1 BILLION IN TAX RELIEF
NFIB was the only business organization to advocate for and pass approximately $1 billion in tax relief for Virginia’s taxpayers. This legislation gives small businesses in Virginia very similar tax benefits found in the Tax Reform and Jobs Act passed at the federal level, increases the standard deduction by 50% and provides a one-time tax refund of $110 per taxpayer to be paid in the fall of 2019.
REJECTED RIGHT-TO-WORK REPEAL
NFIB worked to get legislators to reject efforts by Big Labor to repeal Virginia’s Right-to-Work law.
DEFEATED MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE
NFIB led the fight to defeat a $15 minimum wage increase on the floor of the Virginia Senate.
BLOCKED MANDATORY PAID LEAVE
NFIB continued to stop as many as four different proposals that would require employers to provide paid time off for sick or maternity leave. One specific proposal would have created a new “paid leave insurance program” modeled on the unemployment insurance fund. Initial projections showed over $2.6 billion in employer and employee taxes being imposed to pay for what would be one the country’s most generous state-run programs.
PASSED BUILDING PERMIT REFORM
NFIB supported efforts to provide more certainty and transparency in the local building permit approval process. HB 1966 requires that when a local building official denies a building permit application, they must provide to the business a written explanation detailing the reasons why the application was denied. And the bill also provides that when the applicant submits a revised application addressing the reasons for denial, that the local building department shall be encouraged, but not required, to limit its review of the revised application to only those portions of the application that were denied.
