Legislative Agenda

As the 2007-2008 Legislative Session formally ends on July 31, 2008, the Chamber recently sent a letter to the legislative delegation expressing positions on bills still under consideration.  Here is the text of that letter.  You are encouraged to call your legislators to add your personal view.

As this legislative year’s formal session draws to a close, the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield, Inc. (ACCGS) felt it important to share its views on various pieces of legislation still pending. At its latest Legislative Steering Committee meeting, the members voted to send this letter. It is our belief that our economy is fragile and that establishing Massachusetts as business friendly is essential to solidifying our economy and sending a signal to businesses considering relocating here. Our committee reviews both the Department of Revenue’s monthly reports and a monthly report on the workforce – those employed, and those unemployed. When looking at these reports, we see Withholding Taxes up over 5% from this time last year, and the Three-County Unemployment Rate basically the same as it was one year ago. We see that our businesses are doing what they do best; employ people at good paying jobs. We sincerely believe that passage of the follow bills, or any one of them, would be a negative signal to the business community, one we can not afford during these difficult times. 

The “corporate tax loophole closing” legislation

The Chamber has written to you previously on this matter cautioning about changes to long-existing tax policy. Businesses located here, and considering coming here, are looking for consistency in policy. That said, we strongly believe that this legislation, in its final form, should be as revenue neutral as possible and that would mean adopting the lowest eventual Corporate Tax rate of the two versions. We also believe that tax policy ought to be as simple as possible without complex triggers and that given current revenue streams, the reduction in Corporate Tax rates should occur as quickly as possible. Lastly, giving too much discretion to the Department of Revenue will go against our first statement; that businesses must have a consistent policy to follow. 

Changes to the CORI laws

 The proposed changes to the CORI laws embodied in legislation such as HB 4476 while well-intentioned, could actually work against those that the changes are intended to help: people with criminal histories seeking jobs. Our members are hiring individuals every day with full knowledge of their criminal histories. If the proposed CORI changes result in less information being made available to prospective employers, those same employers are less likely to hire. This would not serve applicants looking for a second chance and it would not serve employers looking for qualified employees. At the very least, these changes require further study to determine if there is an objective basis for overhauling our CORI law.  While our members support offering a second chance to individuals, we do not believe this legislation is the way to promote that laudable goal. The Chamber advocates against making these changes to this law.                                                                                                             

 Mandated seven paid sick days, SB 1073
 We are opposed to legislation dictating how much time off must be given to employees and for what reason.  Most employers provide paid time off for employees to use for sickness, whether they call it sick time or not.  Government has no proper place setting the details of employer sponsored benefit packages.  Employers know far better how to balance their business needs and the needs of their employees. In this day and age, it is against an employer’s own best interest not to treat employees fairly as employers who do not offer competitive compensation and fringe benefit packages do not recruit or retain good employees. Passage of this bill could cause some employers to change hiring goals or existing employee benefits in place. The Chamber urges you to oppose this bill.                                                                                               

  Removing the requirement for workers from temporary help agencies to report back to that agency before becoming eligible for Unemployment Insurance benefits, SB 2620

 The repeal of this section of the Unemployment Insurance overhaul of four years ago is uncalled for. Currently, employees working through a temporary help agency must report back to that agency at the end of their temporary assignment to see if another assignment for which they are qualified exists. If a new assignment cannot be found, the employee can collect Unemployment Insurance benefits. To change this requirement so that the employee need not seek a new assignment makes little or no sense as unemployment benefits are designed to help those who are ready, willing, and able to work but can’t find any. Someone unwilling to seek out new work assignments should not be eligible to take funds from this pool that all employers contribute to. The Chamber opposes, and urges you to oppose, SB 2620.       

Nurse to Patient Ratio Bill, HB 4714
 The Chamber has written to you about our opposition to bill’s such as HB 4714 and we continue to strongly oppose it. We realize that a lot of emotion has gotten into the debate on this issue however, the fact is that a similar bill enacted by California five years ago has not produce any noticeable benefits to the quality of health care in that state and at the same time it has added immensely to the cost of health care. Clearly, these same results would occur from passage of this bill. Efforts should be made instead to be more consistent with the intent of Senator Moore’s Bill, SB 1244. We strongly urge you to oppose HB 4714. 

Health Care Cost Containment, SB 2660
 While this bill, introduced by Senate President Murray just a few months ago, has many good points to it, the Chamber believes there are also aspects of it that are troubling and we will continue to study it. However, we do applaud its intent, which is to bring the cost of health care down, an issue that is of the utmost concern to our members. We believe that containment efforts should go forward rather than legislation that would add to the cost of health care such as the Nurse to Patient Ratio bill noted above. 

Safer Alternatives Bill SB 2481
  This bill has been around in various forms for many years, and while the current legislation has removed the specific list of chemicals immediately impacted, that has actually expanded its applicability to almost any chemical. The intent, to ban these chemicals, still seems to be the same. The Chamber believes that every member of the House and Senate have businesses in their district that are using these chemicals, safely and under rigid regulations on the local, state, and federal levels. There are thousands of people employed by these companies. Many of these businesses have plants in other states, and because of this bill being debated year after year, have begun looking at relocated completely to these states where they would not be impacted. Safe regulations are in place already and with the efforts of TURA, this legislation in not needed and passage of it could be harmful. We urge you to oppose SB 2481. We appreciate your consideration of our position on these issues. In summary, we feel passage of these bills would send a negative signal to the existing business community that is facing constant pressures to remain competitive, as well as sending a negative signal to businesses considering locating here. The Legislative Steering Committee and its individual members would be glad to discuss any of these bills with you and would welcome your views on them. 

If you need any more information on these issues, please contact Jeff Ciuffreda, Vice President of Government Affairs at cuiffreda@myonlinechamber.com or at 755-1312.