Last week, NFIB State Director Brad Jones hosted a virtual Small Business Day, where small business owner members received updates on NFIB’s efforts in Jefferson City and Washington, D.C.

The event included a conversation on the state legislative session, remarks from Sen. Curtis Trent on efforts to curb lawsuit abuse, a presentation on income tax reform from Ray McCarty, president and CEO of Associated Industries of Missouri, and a federal update from NFIB Principal Dylan Rosnick.

CLICK HERE to view the full event. Excerpts are below!

Protecting Small Business Owners from Predatory Trial Attorneys

Right now, predatory trial attorneys are using the transformative work of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) against small business owners. During the event, Jones and Sen. Trent highlighted SB 907, which aims to stop trial attorneys’ attempts to force a settlement without giving the business an opportunity to resolve the issue.

“We’ve had a lot of folks around the state who have either been threatened or have been sued based on a really frivolous theory of liability,” Sen. Trent said. “Basically, there are these lawsuit mills, where a lawyer has somebody try to get on a website. They’re disabled, and they can’t get on there [the website]. And so, they then send a demand letter out and try to shake down the business with the website. It’s a very abusive practice, not intended by the ADA, certainly not intended by Missouri statutes. We have legislation to clarify what the actual duties and responsibilities are there and choke off that point of liability.”

Visit ProtectMissouriSmallBusiness.org for more information on NFIB’s campaign.

Jones highlighted two additional lawsuit abuse reform bills NFIB is championing this session, including a bill to shorten Missouri’s statute of limitations from five years to three years and another bill to restrict foreign-backed financing of litigation.

Reforming Missouri’s Income Tax Code

Small business owner members participated in a Q&A with McCarty on the effort to eliminate Missouri’s income tax. NFIB will continue to pay close attention to the ongoing debates on this issue. CLICK HERE to view McCarty’s slides.

Federal Updates

Rosnick provided a brief update on NFIB’s efforts in Washington, D.C., including urging Congress to immediately protect small businesses by repealing the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) and deleting the Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) that millions of small businesses were required to file with the federal government.

Small businesses also strongly oppose the government restricting and regulating operations during warm temperatures. A new bill would stop the proposed Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Heat Standard from being finalized. Sign the petition!

CLICK HERE to view the full event.

Miss the event? Want to get more involved? Reach out to your Grassroots Manager, ML McGinty.