Main Street businesses: Close tax loopholes, invest in future

It’s not every day that a business group calls on legislators to resist budget cuts, raise revenue and invest wisely to boost the economy and fuel consumer demand, but Monday was one of those days.

“We need customers – not cuts!” a coalition of small-business owners from across the state said in a letter hand-delivered to Rep. Reuven Carlyle of Seattle in the Legislative Building. “We believe it’s time to refocus our political debate on generating revenue to create the investments we need to support small businesses,” the letter said.

The letter called for closing tax loopholes for big corporations or adopting new revenue measures in order to raise money for health care, education and infrastructure. It was signed by more than 170 members of the Main Street Alliance.

“We believe that an economy works best when everyone pays their fair share,” the letter said. “When essential public services are cut, our economy suffers, people lose their jobs and small businesses lose our customer base.”

The letter was delivered by Consuelo Gomez of Marty K Comprehensive Facilities Maintenance in Bellevue, Tiffany Turner of Adrift Hotel and Inn at Discovery Coast in Long Beach and Don Orange of Hoesly Eco Automotive in Vancouver.

Carlyle has long advocated for increased accountability for tax loopholes granted to businesses and industry sectors. As chair of the House Finance Committee, he is working this session to make sure that the exemptions are linked to measurable economic benefits.

Read this story in Spanish.

House OK for Hansen bills brightens job outlook

Rep. Drew Hansen

The state’s job market would gain strength for the future under four bills by Rep. Drew Hansen that cleared the state House this past week.

“There are signs we’re rebounding from the depths of the Great Recession, but we’ve got a long way to go,” Hansen said. “I want to protect the jobs we have and prepare our young people for opportunities in the 21^st –century economy. It’s very encouraging to me to get the strong, bipartisan support of my fellow legislators in that work.”

The bills are:

House Bill 1247, which makes it easier for small businesses to get money from a key state job-training program designed to help employees upgrade their skills. The bill also ensures that money from this program supports training that leads to degrees and credentials rather than dead-end jobs. The House voted unanimously for it Saturday, 98-0.

House Bill 1472, which helps students train for high-paying jobs in the computer industry by enhancing computer-science education in high schools and creating a statewide task force to address the computer programmer shortage. It was approved Friday 95-3.

House Bill 1245, which protects jobs in the shellfish and recreation industries by getting abandoned vessels out of our waters before they sink and cause pollution. It passed the House Thursday on a 96-1 vote.

House Bill 1660, which will lessen the paperwork burden on hospitals and colleges as they train new doctors and nurses. It won unanimous approval Tuesday, 96-0.

House approval of Hansen’s bills sends them to the Senate for action there.

To read a more extensive account of House action on these bills, click here.

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What the Affordable Care Act really means for small businesses in WA

Rep. Dawn Morrell

The coming years will bring many changes as Washington state takes the necessary steps to fully implement the Affordable Care Act. In fact, Washington is one of 21 states with approval from the federal government to move forward with our health care exchange on-time in October of this year.

This session we’ll continue this important work. Not only is it the fiscally responsible thing to do- it’s the right thing to do for families, businesses and public health. In the House, these efforts are being led by Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services Chair Dawn Morrell and Health Care and Wellness Chair Eileen Cody.

Rep. Eileen Cody

However, these changes have resulted in some misinformation and confusion surrounding the ACA reforms- especially with regards to small business (businesses with less than 50 employees).

Thankfully, we’ve got Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler to clear up the confusion. He outlines what reforms that have already gone into effect and what we can expect in coming years.

 ACA reforms already in place:

• Tax credits of 35 percent if you offer health insurance, have fewer than 25 full-time workers, and you pay an average annual wage of $50,000.
• In 2014, that tax credit goes up to 50 percent.

What’s coming in 2014:

• If you have fewer than 50 employees, you’re not required to offer them health insurance. However, if you choose to offer health insurance, you could qualify for a tax rebate.
• All health plans must cover essential benefits.
• You can shop online for coverage through Washington’s Health Benefit Exchange and enjoy greater purchasing power, similar to large employers.

For a complete list of what health care reform means for individuals, families, seniors and large businesses, please visit the Commissioner Kreidler’s webpage on health care reform.

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Classic win-win: Bill boosts 'back-to-school' sales-tax holiday

​Sometimes, everyone's a winner.

Case-in-point: State Rep. Jim Moeller's House Bill 1329 would set up a "back-to-school" sales-tax holiday for a few days every summer right before classes kick off. Moeller's idea is to relieve folks from having to pay the state sales tax on school items they buy on the second Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in August. The bill would exempt, for that big school-shopping weekend, clothing items under $100 and school-supplies under $10.

Moeller points out that at least a dozen other states provide their citizens and businesses a break from their sales tax for a couple of days a year. He said he's met with small businesses and other retailers, as well as city and county officials to develop his bi-partisan legislation.

Calling it a "people's tax break," Moeller says it's an especially appropriate idea for border counties. Businesses in Clark County, where Moeller's district is located, lose millions of dollars a year in revenue to their Oregon competitors.

The measure now awaits a hearing in the House Finance Committee.

Read this story in Spanish here.

Legislation would OK selling growlers of cider

No, not that kind of growler

State Rep. Sam Hunt has introduced House Bill 1008 to legalize the sale of growlers of cider.

The proposal would give a good many small and medium businesses in the tourism and refreshments industry another attraction for customers. Hunt's legislation is tentatively scheduled for a public hearing in the House Government Accountability & Oversight Committee at 9 a.m., Thursday, Jan. 17, in House Hearing Room E on the first floor of the John L. O'Brien Building on the State Capitol Campus right here in Olympia.

The bill states that folks who already have a license to sell "beer to a purchaser in a container supplied by the licensee or a sanitary container brought to the premises by the purchaser and filled at the tap at the time of sale may similarly sell cider to a purchaser in such a container."

Reps. Tharinger and Van De Wege ensure President Obama hears rural business concerns, too

Small business owners on the Olympic Peninsula, along with civic and Tribal leaders, had the opportunity this week to share feedback on the economy with those who have President Obama’s ear – members of the White House Business Council.  Specifically, two representatives of the U.S. Small Business Administration came to Clallam County this week for roundtable discussions organized by Representatives Steve Tharinger and Kevin Van De Wege. 

Calvin W. Goings, a former Washington State Senator, is now an Assistant Associate Administrator with the SBA.  He and Jennifer Clark, an SBA Regional Advocate for Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington, listened to the concerns of Clallam small business owners as they navigate the economic recovery. 

While the business owners represented many different sectors of the economy – retail, food production, real estate, hospitality and manufacturing, to name a few – they seemed to uniformly agree that the major hurdle facing small businesses right now is lack of access to capital.  Tightening of the credit market nationwide means many small businesses can’t expand or hire new employees, even though they want to. 

Their concerns will be relayed, unfiltered, to the Obama Administration by Goings and Clark.  With half of all American workers employed by small businesses, and two-thirds of all new jobs created in small business, we’re pretty sure the President will take these concerns very seriously.  Additionally, these roundtables provided the unique perspective of rural business owners from outside the I-5 corridor, where recovery is proceeding, albeit more slowly than in urban centers.

The SBA is a small federal agency with a big economic impact.  It helped small businesses across the country save $12 billion last year.  Here in Washington, the SBA has helped to provide 5,000 loans (representing $2 billion) to small businesses since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was passed in 2009.

(Photo, from left:  Rep. Kevin Van De Wege, SBA Assistant Associate Administrator Calvin W. Goings, Clallam County business owner Bret Wirta, and Rep. Steve Tharinger at the May 30 White House Business Council roundtable in Sequim.  Photo courtesy of Linda Barnfather.)

To read this story in Spanish, click here.

Cottage Foods Act: Coming to a farmer’s market near you

Just last year Governor Gregoire signed the Cottage Food Act of Washington into law, which directs the Department of Agriculture to license cottage food facilities and allows the permit holder to prepare and sell certain foods in their home kitchens. State law previously required folks to operate a commercial kitchen, complete with stainless steel countertops and three sinks, in order to sell their baked goods. A full-scale commercial kitchen was out reach for most families, and this meant that a lot of cherry cobblers and blueberry muffins were being sold under-the-table without permitting or regular inspection by the local health jurisdiction. A sort of underground baked goods black market, if you will.

The Department of Agriculture is currently in the rule-making process, and the law could go into effect as early as this summer. Friday’s Seattle Times reports on some of the entrepreneurial excitement surrounding our state’s new law. From the story:

For more than a year, Jennifer Greiner Clark sold cakes under the table. Specifically, she baked them in her Ballard kitchen and not in a commercial kitchen, as the law required. When it looked like her sales would expand beyond friends (who reimbursed her for ingredients rather than paying $150 for fancy 8-inch layer cakes), Clark looked into renting commercial kitchen space. She found it prohibitively expensive, particularly because she also would need to pay for child care. At home, she bakes and decorates after her children are in bed.

Then came the Cottage Food Act of Washington, an economic blessing from the Legislature on small, home-based entrepreneurs looking to sell cakes, cookies, jams, jellies and other so-called "low-risk" foods.

"I was kind of feeling hopeless about it, and now I'm very excited," said Clark, who hopes to launch an aboveboard decorated-cake business when her 2-month-old daughter is a little older.

The law also ensures that the rule applies only to small operations, by limiting the annual revenue from a home kitchen to $15,000.  Families across the state will have a cost-effective way to supplement their income, and consumers will know that the delicious baked goods from their local farmer’s market are safe and healthy. A true win-win for Washingtonians!

To read this story in Spanish, please click here.

Rep. Upthegrove honored by Kent Chamber for helping businesses

Rep. Dave Upthegrove

The plight of one Kent restaurant led to new legislation that saves jobs in this South King County city, and helps other businesses all over Washington.  The measure's prime sponsor, Rep. Dave Upthegrove, was one of two recipients of the Kent Chamber of Commerce's "Government Employee of the Year" award this year.

Rep. Upthegrove was motivated to sponsor House Bill 2491 after he was contacted by the owner of a popular locally-owned eatery in his district.  The restaurant happened to be located at a site where a different restaurant - under completely different ownership - had gone out of business. But due to a technicality in state law, the new restaurant was being assessed a 500 percent increase in its unemployment insurance rate - even though it had nothing to do with the previous restaurant's failure!  That's because unemployment insurance rates are based, at least in part, on the number of employees a business has laid off. Since the previous business laid off all its employees when it closed its doors, the new restaurant was being penalized with a much higher rate.

Doesn't make much sense, does it?  Rep. Upthegrove didn't think so either, so he introduced a legislative fix, which the governor will sign into law tomorrow. Thanks to this fix, the Kent restaurant will get some relief on its unemployment insurance rate and won't have to let any workers go. And no other business in our state will have that problem ever again.

In addition to House Bill 2491, Rep. Upthegrove sponsored or worked on several other measures this year to help local businesses and strengthen South King County's economy, which you can read about here.  We congratulate him on his well-deserved award.

To read this story in Spanish, click here.

Small businesses play big role in WA

Washington state is known for world-leading companies like Boeing, Microsoft and Starbucks – but it’s also home to 532,162 small businesses, which employ more than half of our state’s workforce.

Those are the latest numbers coming out of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Most small businesses are quite small, with the majority – 389,308 – being one-person shops, such as self-employed plumbers or lawyers.

The SBA says self-employment is a new trend in our state, and that “Female self-employment fared the best compared with other demographic groups during the decade.”

Small businesses employed 1.3 million workers out of a total private sector employment of about 2.3 million.

To wade in all sorts of economic data, click here for our state’s two-page profile.

The SBA numbers also provide a snapshot of Washington’s economy as a whole, breaking down the total number of jobs – in businesses big or small – by industry, with the exception of farms. (Why not farms? Nobody knows. It’s an economist thing.)

Here are the biggest sectors by number of total workers:

Health care & social assistance	360,500
Retail trade	309,900
Manufacturing	234,200
Hotels & restaurants	230,600
Professional, scientific, & technical services	163,100
Construction	158,300
Wholesale trade	127,200
Information	115,000

Pretty safe guess that “Manufacturing” includes airplanes and that a good chunk of those workers in “Information” are employed in the Silicon Forest east of Seattle.

Our state has traditionally been a great place for businesses of all sorts. We are Number 1 in Exports per Capita, Number 2 in the New Economy Index 2010, Number 3 in the Bureau of Business Research’s 2011 State Entrepreneurship Index, and Number 2 in Money Rates; Best States to Make A Living 2011.

Not too shabby.

To read this story in Spanish, please click here.

Business benefits from ’08 legislation

Photo credit: Philip A. Dwyer
The Bellingham Herald

Back in 2008 the legislature passed a bill to define craft distilleries in Washington, as well as providing a reduced license fee for their operation. The bill also allowed for limited sampling and retailing of the distillery’s products.

The purpose of the change was to level the playing field between small breweries, wineries and distilleries while supporting Washington agriculture. According to the Bellingham Herald, the measure is working and has led to a significant uptick in business for craft distilleries across our state.

Dave Gallagher at the Herald reports:

The reason for the sudden boom in craft distilleries is because of changes in state laws. Dry Fly Distilling of Spokane led the way, working with the state to create an industry that could be regulated in terms of small onsite samples and how much can be sold to a single customer, said Brian Smith, a spokesman for the Washington State Liquor Control Board. Once the rules were established with Dry Fly, it allowed others to consider the possibilities of producing craft liquor.

To read the entire article, including how business is booming for Whatcom County distilleries, click here.

To read this story in Spanish, please click here.