Today, Public Policy Director, Awesta Sarkash, submitted written testimony in favor of SB 499, Clean Slate Texas, to the Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs. The legislation would strengthen our economy, expand the talent poll for small businesses, and make Texas a better place to live and work.
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Texas Policy
Browse our latest state-based regulatory comments and legislative testimony in this area below, or click the button to view all records.
Thursday, April 20, 2023
Today, Public Policy Director, Awesta Sarkash, submitted written testimony in favor of SB 499, Clean Slate Texas, to the Texas Senate Committee on Criminal Justice. The legislation would strengthen our economy, expand the talent poll for small businesses, and make Texas a better place to live and work.
Thursday, March 30, 2023
On March 30, Small Business Majority's Public Policy Director Awesta Sarkash wrote in support for SB 1281, legislation that would end the OmniBase program in Texas. This program enforces debt-based license holds on individuals with overdue fines and fees, which impacts small businesses and their employees and their ability to seek employment and entrepreneurship opportunities.
Texas Research
Published:
Wed, 04/03/2024
Small Business Majority’s new poll of Texas small business owners reveals strong support for legislative solutions that would remove barriers for justice-impacted individuals by making reforms to occupational licensing and debt-based driver’s license suspensions. These politically diverse small business owners believe these measures would enable employers to tap into an underutilized workforce and open up opportunities for entrepreneurship.
Published:
Tue, 02/07/2023
Small businesses in Texas are still struggling to hire and retain a ready workforce, persistent challenges in the wake of the pandemic.
Published:
Wed, 01/25/2023
While small businesses employ nearly half (46.4%) of the private workforce in the United States, many are struggling to hire and retain a ready workforce. One viable solution to their persistent workforce challenges is the passing of Clean Slate policies, which seal and expunge certain criminal records and allow justice-impacted individuals to seek employment opportunities and entrepreneurship. Individual state analyses of small business responses in Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas found widespread support for Clean Slate policies at the state and federal level.
