Washington already has a reputation as one of the more highly regulated states in the nation, and rather than make it less so, a new Legislature is looking to make it more so in 2025 with such proposals as:

• Increasing the B&O tax
• Extending unemployment benefits to striking workers
• Revoking small business exemptions in the Paid Family & Medical Leave Act, forcing all employers to pay a share of the payroll tax and hold jobs for workers on leave, regardless of business size.

Add to the above, Washington’s recent and shameful designation as one of the nation’s top Judicial Hellholes by the American Tort Reform Foundation, and it’s clear that a lot of work needs to be done to counter the job-choking, economy-strangling ways of Olympia.

No one speaks with more authority about the conditions of their communities than the small business owners who are the central threads running through all of them—and no group of people are more respected by lawmakers and more sincerely listened to than Main Street entrepreneurs.

So, how about joining NFIB Washington’s Advocacy Program? Examples of the things advocate members do are:

• testify at legislative hearings involving small-business issues

• host lawmakers for a tour of your business operations

• be a quotable contact for the media

• assist in implementing the political strategy for elections, including recruitment, endorsements, fundraising, and other grassroots efforts
• help shape questions for the state ballot, the results from which are considered by lawmakers, state constitutional officers, and the bureaucracy to be the true voice of small business.

Nothing commands the attention of politicians better than hearing directly from a small-business owner. Serving as an NFIB Washington Advocate opens the doors of legislative offices—in fact, it can also open the doors to elective office, as former leadership council members Sen. Lynda Wilson, Rep. Andrew Barkis, and Rep. Kelly Chambers can attest.

For more information about this and other opportunities to be more involved in setting the small-business agenda, please e-mail NFIB State Director Patrick Connor at Patrick.Connor@nfib.org.