National

Health insurance exchanges are the most important component of healthcare reform for small businesses. These marketplaces will allow small businesses and individuals to band together to purchase insurance, which will lower their healthcare costs and allow more of them and their employees to get quality healthcare coverage. 

In March 2011, Small Business Majority and Pacific Community Ventures (PCV) released the results of a survey, commissioned by PCV, of 804 California small business owners with fewer than 20 employees on key provisions of the Affordable Care Act. It found that small business owners who currently don’t offer health insurance, along with those who do, are more likely to provide or continue to provide coverage because of the healthcare tax credits and state insurance exchange.

Executive Summary

More than any other sector of the economy, small business suffers from our broken healthcare system. From spiraling premium costs to inadequate access to quality healthcare for themselves and their employees, small business owners have seen their prospects for growth diminished and their profits slashed by today's patchwork of inefficient healthcare options.

American small businesses create 65 percent of all net new jobs and employ roughly half of all workers in the private sector. According to the Kauffman Foundation, businesses founded between 1970 and 2000 (some of which grew into large businesses during those years) provided all net private sector job growth during that timeframe.

National opinion polling shows small business owners believe government can play an important role in creating financial incentives that help small businesses take energy efficiency measures. As the drivers of the economy, small businesses want lawmakers to do what they were sent to Washington to do, including holding an up or down vote on nominees to lead government agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency. 

The Clean Air Act is one of the nation's most important environmental laws. It directs the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop and enforce regulations addressing a wide range of air quality problems and challenges. However, the EPA’s authority has come under threat from members of Congress that would limit the Agency’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

Small Business Majority, American Businesses for Clean Energy and We Can Lead commissioned a national survey of 800 small business owners across the country to learn their attitudes toward energy conservation practices and clean energy policies.

The results of the poll show that among small businesses there is strong support for clean energy and climate legislation; small businesses believe that clean energy policies will help the U.S. economy; and support for clean energy policies is even higher among Latino- and black-owned businesses.

Small business owners have been working tirelessly to pull the economy back from the brink of the Great Recession. The long hours and commitment they put into their businesses is rivaled only by their employees, whose hard work is crucial to the success of the business. That’s why small business owners feel it makes good business sense to take care of their employees, as it’s crucial they retain a loyal, talented workforce.

Small businesses are particularly at risk from climate change and the extreme weather events it causes and must take steps to adapt, according to a new report Small Business Majority released on July 25, 2013. 

Extreme weather and climate change have become real business threats for small businesses across the country. Scientific opinion polling conducted for Small Business Majority found nearly six in 10 small businesses believe climate change and extreme weather events are an urgent problem that can disrupt the economy and harm small businesses.