Will pending legislation in Congress help ease the traditional barriers  small-business owner’s face in providing health care to their employees, and get them back on track to living the American Dream?  Or will America’s small businesses find themselves stuck in a perpetual American Nightmare?

Members of Congress began the fall stretch of the congressional agenda where they left off before the August recess by addressing NSBA’s number one priority: health care reform. Lawmakers have carried their tumultuous town hall experiences back to Washington, D.C.  While President Obama’s primetime joint address to Congress posited an unwavering course for health care reform this fall, there is undeniably a bumpy road ahead.

Congress recessed for August with four out of five committees with jurisdiction over health care having passed four different versions of legislation. One of those four committees, the Energy and Commerce Committee, could potentially address several amendments that were put aside before the House recessed. At some point, House leaders and committee chairmen will combine their various versions into one bill to be voted on by the full House chamber.

The Senate Finance Committee just recently introduced a bill reflecting the efforts of three Democrat and three Republican Committee members who worked over the recess to find common ground. Their work is largely seen as the only hope for a bipartisan bill. Nevertheless, Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) returned from recess with a framework for legislation for the Committee to consider.  Sen. Baucus said he expects the Senate Finance Committee to consider legislation the week of September 21. A final version from the Senate Finance Committee will then be combined with the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee bill that was passed in July and sent to the Senate floor.
Speculating on the timing of health care reform for the remainder of 2009 is not worthwhile; there are as many opportunities for progress as there are for obstructions. The chaotic health care reform deliberations of the summer are certain to carry over into the fall. Threatening the timing and chances of a bipartisan compromise further are controversial budget reconciliation instructions inserted into the FY2010 budget resolution that would likely end with a partisan and partial health care reform outcome.

Needless to say, NSBA will continue to fight for reform that will provide small businesses with quality, affordable health insurance. Continue to check back with NSBA’s Health Care Reform Today Web for action alerts and more information as it is made available.

The Council of Smaller Enterprises (COSE) a 17,000+ small business membership organization based in Cleveland, Ohio servicing the businesses of Northeast Ohio was out early against this issue in late 2007.  In addition to requiring seven days of paid sick leave, the ballot issue further allowed sick time to be taken with no notice and in the smallest increment of time an employer’s payroll system tracked.  For many employers that was a ten minute increment, and an hour was the highest increment allowed under the proposed law.

There were a myriad of other issues with this flawed legislation. One of the most significant was a prohibition in the law of the use of sick leave as a factor in any wage action, performance review or termination process.  This clause essentially opened employers to lawsuits over any perceived slight that could be linked to an employees’ use of paid sick time.

The proponents of this issue were both well funded and had the benefit of a populist appeal—featuring ads of sick children headlined by phrases like “Paid Sick Leave: We’ve earned them.  Our families need them.”  Even though 88.5% of small business employees already had some type of paid leave available, the issue came out of the gates polling with 70%+ support and over the course of the campaign dropped no lower than the low 60’s.  However, polling data indicated that if we could help voters understand the negative impact on small business in Ohio and could educate them about the resulting loss of jobs in our state, we could beat Issue 4.

Over eight months, COSE worked with a statewide coalition of business concerns that mobilized grassroots educational efforts with employers and employees.  From an employer resource kit to academic research (http://delicious.com/COSESmallBiz), to videos featuring employees as well as radio and television ads, the business community worked hard to educate voters on the negative economic consequences for our state.

Just a day or so before the filing deadline for the November ballot, the Governor of Ohio—a  popular Democrat—under enormous pressure from business interests, was  successful in his request to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the main proponent behind this issue, to pull the issue from the ballot.  In an election year with a nominee for President who was in full support of the measure, Governor Strickland understood that though popular, this initiative would hurt Ohio’s competitiveness nationally and disadvantage our state.  His rationale, with Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown at his side, was that he and the Senator would fight for passage at the national level where a national “level playing field” could be created.

So – Ohio and its small business community dodged a bullet.  But, the fight will continue on the national stage with the Healthy Families Act.  We’ll see you there!