SC Business Owners Association: s.407 and other items of interest

Fellow Business Owners, I have been busy growing our membership and tracking legislation over the last couple of weeks.  I wanted to take some time out on this very wet day and give you a legislative update on some of the bills that we are working to promote or trying very hard to block! S407:  The South Carolina Business Owners Association has been working with Senator Kevin Bryant on this bill which will ensure that business owners that are LLCs, B Corps, and all other types of business entities with the exception of Sole Proprietors, will no longer have to pay  SC Unemployment Tax on themselves.  This bill will further the efforts of last year’s S1100 and will be retroactive to January 1, 2015.  The bill received a 41-1 vote on the its third reading on the Senate floor this morning.  It now moves to the House Ways and Means Committee. H3490:  Very excited about this bill as well!  Representative Rick Quinn has proposed this bill.  The bill contains some of the following reforms: All businesses will be treated equally in the calculation of business license fees.  Multiple “classifications” with different rate structures would no longer be allowed. The license fees assessed will no longer be based on gross income.  License fees will be based on annual net earnings or profits of the businesses, a number that is readily available on business tax returns. There will be a cap of no more than $100 annually for business license fees. Currently this bill is sitting in House Ways and Means.  I have been in contact with Rep. Quinn and he plans to start movement on this bill soon.  The House was focused on the budget and the bond issue last week and all else came to a halt.

H 3101, S 0145, H 3431:  These bills are all similar in that each are designed to increase the minimum wage.  We are of course, opposed to each of these bills.  The sponsoring House Members are Cobb-Hunter, R.L. Brown, Alexander, Henegan, McKnight, and M.S. McLeod.  The sponsoring Senators are Scott, Pinckney, Johnson and Allen.  So far these are all still in committee and there has been no movement on them.  I will let you know if this changes.
S 1/H 3722:  This Ethics Reform bill really does more harm than good.  First, financial disclosures (we need to know from where their money is derived in order to make sure there are no conflict of interests in their votes/appointments, etc.) are weakened.  Second, instead of pushing for a truly independent ethics investigative body, they want to appoint the members of this investigative body (who would then be tasked with investigating and rendering decisions on those they have been appointed by!)  Third…and  possibly the scariest of all….they want to revoke out 1st Amendment right to FREE SPEECH by not allowing us to speak about them or their performance as elected officials less than 60 days before a campaign.  That being said….they are free to push out whatever they would like about themselves (truth or not) and by law…we cannot refute them!  We are definitely not supporting this.  If they work against the FREE MARKET and work to hurt our businesses  we should have the right to let folks know!
Update on Workers Comp Legislation:   We continue to work with Senator Shane Martin on this important piece of legislation.  This bill is massive with greatly needed reforms. I hope to have a bill to present to each of you for your input within the next two weeks.
Thanks to each of you that have contributed financially.  Your money is being spent on legislative monitoring and growing our organization.  I am thrilled with our membership to date and look forward to our further growth.  The bigger we are….the louder our voice!
If you would like to donate you can do so online at www.southcarolinabusinessownersassociation.com or by check to SC Business Owners Association, PO Box 231 Aiken, SC 29802.
Onward, Deedee Vaughters, President, SC Business Owners Association, 803-439-5701