The chairman of the Assembly Small Business Committee gutted, SB 212, the bill intended to protect small firms trapped by hidden automatic renewal clauses in service contracts.  Rep. Terry Moulton of Chippewa Falls sided squarely with the interests of large out-of-state corporations and against the interests of the small businesses expecting protection from the Assembly Small Business Committee chairman.  Wisconsin Independent Businesses, in our 31^st year of service, cannot recall another case where a small business committee chairman acted with such disregard of the small businesses of Wisconsin. 

 WIB believes our members and the public should have the facts on the Moulton Massacre of SB 212.  This webpage allows you to compare the Senate-passed clauses of SB 212 with the Moulton rewritten version.  You see that: 

·        Moulton drastically chopped contract renewal notification requirements;

·        Moulton eliminated any contract over $1000 per month;

·        Moulton eliminated any penalties for violating the law;

·        Moulton protected credit card companies by eliminating all contract work done in another state;

·        Moulton eliminated all telecommunications companies from coverage including cell phone service providers;

·        Moulton eliminated the automatic renewal of existing contracts from coverage;

·        Moulton gutted the disclosure requirement; 

This page (SB212 Comparative Narrative) allows you to determine the facts by comparing the Senate-approved version of SB 212 with the Moulton Massacre version. 

Moulton’s emasculation of SB 212 came after the bill sailed easily through the Senate.  It received a unanimous vote in the Senate Small Business Committee and then passed on a voice vote in the full Senate.  The bill had no visible legislative opposition until it reached Moulton’s control.  Moulton was quoted as telling one businessman that Moulton was working on the bill with WIB.  No, he wasn’t.  

The business contract hidden auto renewal clauses fought by WIB look like this:

If you have a tiny clause like this hidden on an inside page of a multi-year contract you deserve to be told when the automatic renewal is coming due.  Moulton called that requirement, “crazy regulations.”  Moulton appeared to care much more about Big Business than about the costs to a small business trapped by the hidden automatic renewal clause. 

Giant trash haulers, credit card processing operations, telecommunications and uniform supply companies are among the big businesses using the deceptive renewal clause technique.  Companies and organizations opposing SB 212 and its Companion bill, AB 432, include Veolia ES Solid Waste Inc., Water Quality Association, General Electric, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, Equipment Leasing & Finance Association, Marshall & Ilsley Corporation, National Solid Wastes Management Association, Sprint Nextel Corporation, Time-Warner Telecom, Direct Marketers Association and TDS Telecommunications Corporation.  Waste Management, the giant trash holder that has opposed the legislation in past sessions, stayed active but officially neutral this session. 

WIB and our attorneys at the Boardman Law Firm have heard repeatedly from WIB members calling our WIB member HOTLINE.  Hidden automatic renewal clauses have been a big issue for many years and, given the inactivity of the Wisconsin Assembly, it became the most important legislative issue actually before the Assembly and its Committee on Small Business in 2008.  Mr. Moulton gutted the bill and then failed to get his gutted version scheduled for a vote in the Assembly.  It is a pitiful example of the work done, or not done, by the 2007-08 legislature. 

WIB members and the public can see the truth.  Determine the facts for yourself.  Compare SB 212 as passed by the Wisconsin Senate with the version created by Mr. Moulton.  Dare to compare.  We believe you will understand why WIB believes Wisconsin’s small businesses deserve better treatment from the chairman of the Assembly Small Business Committee.

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