BUSINESS OWNERS HAVE CLOUT, SAYS SPEAKER

Small-business owners can be effective in the battle against key pieces of legislation that affect their businesses.

"Everything is not necessarily stacked against the little guy," said Bill Beydler, a territory manager for the The National Federation of Independent Business.

"Sometimes it is not that difficult to stop legislation that could be potentially devastating to small business," Beydler told the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce First Friday Coffee Friday morning.

The NFIB, a small-business advocacy group, monitors many issues important to business on the state and national levels. With membership at 600,000 nationally and 12,000 in Missouri, the group has positioned itself to have an impact on these issues.

A case of that was demonstrated last year when NFIB stopped a piece of Missouri legislation during the special session of the Missouri General Assembly that prevented elimination of the 2 percent collection allowance that retailers are able to claim when they remit their sales tax payments on time.

Brad Jones, NFIB state director appeared before the committee considering the sales tax legislation and explained how important the 2 percent was to small business.

"It may not seem like much," said Beydler, "but in Cape Girardeau County alone that 2 percent rebate adds up to more than one million dollars in the pockets of small-business owners."

More often, however, an effective lobbying effort takes more coordination and planning, such as the case with NFIB's efforts on health reform. The NFIB has been fighting for insurance reform for more than eight years.

"With the current health-reform debate, we made the decision early to focus on one primary area, to fight against the employer mandate that employers insure their workers," said Beydler. "We wanted to get our message to the decision-makers in Washington."

Beydler explained the lobbying strategy of the NFIB in its fight against the employer mandate. He said the heart of the federations's strategy is a three-step effort:

(1) Decide which senators and representatives will be the swing votes on the committees charged with health-care issues.

(2) Mobilize small-business owners who are influential in their states and districts and are willing to deliver a rock-hard message.

(3) Take the people from Step 2 and aim then at the people from Step 1.

Two examples of this, said Beydler, involve U.S. Reps. Jim Slattery of Kansas and Billy Tauzin of Louisiana.

When the White House was pushing to have a health-care vote by Memorial Day, Slattery wansn't committed to any health-care plan and was designated a key swing vote on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Beydler told the group.

"President Clinton made a few stops in Slattery's district in Kansas and even appeared at a fund-raiser in an effort to woo Slattery's vote," said Beydler.

Two days later NFIB mailed an action alert asking 8,000 members in Kansas and 20,000 other business owners to urge Slattery to oppose the employer mandate.

"Slattery's office was deluged with calls, faxes and letters," said Beydler. "Two days later he came out in opposition of the employer mandate."

The situation was similar in Louisiana, where Tauzin was under pressure from the White House to support the mandate. Four days after a meeting of small-business owners at Thibodaux, La., Tauzin introduced a resolution that would require a separate, distinct vote on any mandate.

The federation has waged a 14-month war against the employer-mandate issue.

Announcements during the gathering revealed the date and speaker for the annual Chamber of Commerce Industrial Appreciation Dinner. Ollie Miller, chairman of the chamber board, announced that humorist Charles V. Petty will be speaker at the dinner at the Show Me Center Oct. 6.

The highlight of the industrial dinner will be the presentation of the "Commitment to Excellence" award honoring the 1994 Industry of the Year.