Wisconsin Independent Businesses

With the finish of the session we would like to thank you, our members, for being great Wisconsin independent businesses. Our 2010 goal as an organization is to reach out to you, ask for your input and to develop a strong agenda that can help lead an economic recovery in Wisconsin.

We believe that we should not sit back and just play defense against higher taxes, costly regulation and burdensome rules. We feel it is time business leaders, like you, become more actively involved in the debate surrounding our state and national economy. We look forward to hearing from you about your experiences, listen to ideas you have for thoughtful reform and strengthen our coalition to be a positive voice for economic recovery.

In the past I’ve tried to explain the true depth of Wisconsin’s economic nightmare. Extremely high unemployment, exceptionally high income and property taxes which have helped build higher and higher government spending leaves our state’s economic situation in very poor shape. We all have heard numerous financial experts predict nationwide economic difficulty for the foreseeable future, in part because of so much government debt and spending. Without getting too much into all the potential issues—several things are very obvious. Our state’s finances are upside down and they won’t be fixed before the election.

What does this all mean for you as a small business owner? Ultimately, it means you have a great opportunity to impact the upcoming elections. I would encourage all of our members to ask tough questions and be very outspoken about the reality of the challenges you face every day as a small business owner. I would encourage you to ask specific questions and ask for straight answers when you see a candidate for any legislative seat or any of the candidates for Governor.

Here are several examples-

1. Will you support an overall reduction in state spending to balance the state budget?

2. Will you oppose any expansions of sales, income and property taxes?

3. Would you oppose any expansions of any government program until we can balance the state budget and start paying down our debt again?

4. Will you oppose any legislation that would raise my electricity rates or other costs of doing business while unemployment is so high?

Every candidate wants to be seen as a friend of small business. It gives you tremendous capacity to force these candidates to answer the critical questions that impact your ability to control your costs and survive these difficult economic times.

On other issues, after several years of no success, our bill to protect our small business members from hidden automatic renewal clauses in contracts has been signed into law. Once again, I believe our revitalized efforts at effective lobbying in the Capitol made a big difference. WIB worked very diligently to guide this bill through the process and succeeded. We attended the bill signing and would like to thank Sen. Wirch for his work on this bill.

Our bill to increase the small claim court limits from $5000 to $8000 passed the Assembly but not the Senate. This is still excellent progress and we look for this to become law next session. We want to increase the limits so more of our members can go to small claims court to recover losses or unpaid bills instead of getting stuck in the major delays in the circuit court process.

With continued major job losses plaguing Wisconsin, our state unemployment fund is in worse shape than almost any similar fund in the nation. For years Wisconsin was a model of fiscal discipline and health when it came to unemployment compensation. We have a unemployment advisory council which is comprised of 5 labor representatives and 5 management reps who have been charged with advising the Department of Workforce Development on the administration of unemployment policies and the health of the fund. For decades, the legislature relied on the direction of the council to help guide management of the Unemployment Fund. However, over the last several years the fund has plummeted into a deep deficit and the council has not been able to come forward with any responsible recommendation for bringing the fund out of deficit.

WIB believes it is time to reform the Wisconsin Unemployment system and its advisory council. If the council is in charge of oversight, wouldn’t you think there would be aggressive action to stop the bleeding? We believe one solution is to disband the council. If we are billions in the hole and there are no real attempts underway to fix the fund, it would appear the advisory council is impotent in managing the fund. The Department of Workforce Development ultimately needs to step up and provide some leadership to fix this problem. Our members are counting on it.

The federal government has passed new health care legislation. While many of the provisions do not take immediate effect some do. To find out more about the new legislation and how it might affect your business click: Health Plan FAQ. WIB continues to work for and support healthcare reform that will lower the skyrocketing costs of health insurance for small business owners. The new federal plan may help some small business owners at the start but may end up costing money in the long run. Time will tell and we will continue to support meaningful reform of the cost of health insurance.

President Obama recently announced the creation of a small business lending fund. The plan would redirect $30 billion of TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) funds into primarily Community banks. It still requires Congressional support. A key House Democrat this week urged the Obama administration to get the money directly to small businesses through the SBA instead of sending it to the banks and hope that they then lend it to small businesses. The SBA (Small Business Administration) does have loan programs available to small businesses. Here are some frequently asked questions about the proposed SBA programs. For more information on SBA loans you can find the information under "Current Topics" and then SBA Loan Information.

WIB wants to hear from you on these and any other issues you, the small business owners of Wisconsin, are facing. Please email us at mmetz@wibiz.org or call Mike Metz at 800-362-9644. We need your support and input to help in the fight to protect the small businesses of Wisconsin.