On April 1, Small Business Majority filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to uphold the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, which is being challenged in Texas v. United States. In the brief, Small Business Majority contended that even though the ACA’s individual mandate penalty has been repealed, the healthcare law’s remaining components must be upheld in full because the ACA is critical to the success of small businesses, solo entrepreneurs and their employees.
Policy Statements
Small Business Majority writes in support of AB 539, the Fair Access to Credit Act, which would eliminate the practice of charging unaffordable interest rates on consumer loans between $2,500 and $10,000. The legislation would protect small business borrowers from the predatory practices of triple-digit lenders, and as a result, greatly benefit entrepreneurs and small businesses in California that rely on consumer loans to grow their businesses.
Small Business Majority has created a comprehensive state policy agenda to ensure entrepreneurship is at the center of a thriving and inclusive economy in Missouri. The state’s more than 520,000 small businesses employ 1.1 million people (about half of the private workforce) and created more than 32,000 jobs in 2015.
Small Business Majority writes in opposition to the Regulatory Sandbox Act (HB 2825), which would permit a range of financial institutions to test unlicensed financial products on consumers, including entrepreneurs. We believe this legislation would open up small business owners and entrepreneurs to predatory lending practices.
Small Business Majority writes in support of HB19-1174, which concerns out-of-network health care services, or surprise billing. The legislation would bring more transparency and affordability to pricing for healthcare services, benefitting small businesses’ bottom lines and helping to control costs in the healthcare system overall.
Small Business Majority writes in support of SB 343, which would create healthcare data transparency parity across California’s healthcare industry. Requiring uniform disclosure information about healthcare usage, costs and outcomes would further efforts to improve affordability and quality of existing healthcare options for all Californians, including many entrepreneurs small business employees.
Small Business Majority writes in support of AB 824 which would prevent “pay for delay” business practices by drug companies. The legislation would crack down on these practices through greater enforcement and by making them presumptively illegal, which shifts the burden of proof in lawsuits onto drug companies to prove these agreements are not anticompetitive. As a result, it will help ensure small business owners have access to affordable, quality healthcare options.
Small Business Majority writes in support of AB 731, which would extend existing rate review policies to the large group marketplace in California. The legislation would increase pricing transparency in the state and bring down costs for all consumers, including many small business owners.
Small Business Majority writes in support of AB 1309, which would extend California’s open enrollment period by two additional weeks. The legislation would help more Californians, including many small business owners and their employees, enroll in healthcare coverage.
Small Business Majority writes in support of AB 929, which would require that current data reporting on health plan cost, quality and outcome required by Covered California be made publicly available. Making this data publicly available would increase transparency about healthcare costs and outcomes that would further efforts to improve affordability and quality of existing healthcare options for all Californians, including many entrepreneurs and small business employees.