Friends and neighbors,
In 2023, Democrats used their one-party control to pass a blanket, one-size-fits-all earned sick and safe time (ESST) mandate. It was well-intentioned, and I think most of us agree that workers should have access to time off when they really need it. But as many of us said all along, a one-size-fits-all law doesn’t work for small businesses, especially for ultra-small employers like farms and Main Street shops with just a few employees.
When you’re a small business owner, you wear every hat. You work weekends. You struggle through setbacks. And you do it all while trying to stay above water in an increasingly complicated regulatory environment. A mandate that might be manageable for Target or Medtronic can break a mom-and-pop shop.
I spoke about these concerns on the Senate floor this week. You can watch a short clip from my remarks here: https://youtu.be/Cwiac0hAzFQ
I know many of you would like to scrap the ESST law. Others want to keep it and maybe do even more. With divided government, neither option is really on the table. But there are smart, reasonable changes we can make to improve it.
This week, Senate Republicans offered two amendments to do just that, and I’m glad to report both were adopted:
- One exempts farms with five or fewer employees from the mandate.
- The other reinstates language to exclude microbusinesses with fewer than four employees. These might seem like small tweaks, but for many employers, they make a world of difference.
If you have any questions, please reach out any time. God bless,