Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2004 | 10:43 a.m.
Nevada's small businesses want the governor and the state Legislature to address their concerns on health care costs and training for employees, a statewide study released today found.
The Nevada Commission on Economic Development and Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt conducted the study with 393 small businesses with 100 or fewer employees and found that although the types of businesses across Nevada vary, their concerns are similar.
"This is their voice and these are their recommendations," Hunt said. "All the different businesses we talked with, whether it was a florist, restaurant or a manufacturer, they all echoed the same sentiments of what their problems are."
Hunt's office whittled the list of concerns down to the 10 most common responses and plans to submit those to Gov. Kenny Guinn's office and the Nevada Legislature during the next session.
"Small business is the backbone of not only Nevada's economy but also the national economy," said Hunt, who has owned multiple small businesses including Bootlegger Bistro restaurant in Las Vegas. "It's a huge amount of our economy, but it's overlooked because small businesses don't have a voice. Big everything has all kinds of people working for them in the Legislature and the mom-and-pops don't have anyone working for them."
One of the issues small businesses want addressed is the cost of doing business in Nevada, the survey found. They would like to see a cap on the modified business tax, which was a tax on gross payroll that was approved during the last special legislative session. A cap was originally proposed and then removed before the bill was passed, Hunt said.
"They can only absorb to a point and then it has to be passed on to the consumer, and that's what the government forgets," she said. "Whenever you can limit the cost of doing business to the business, then you're limiting the cost to the consumer."
Respondents also mentioned limits on government business fees and workers' compensation. Nevada has the 17th highest workers' compensation premiums in the nation, Hunt said.
The survey also found that small firms want changes to health care policy so that more small firms can afford to offer such benefits. For example, they want to be exempted from several state-mandated benefits that employers are required to provide with all plans such as maternity care. Instead, they want access to a barebones plan with basic coverage, Hunt said.
They also want small businesses to be allowed to pool together through cooperatives and associations to be able to purchase health care. This issue is currently being considered as part of a bill in Congress.
"A lot of these small businesses can't get insurance for themselves and their families, let alone for their employees," Hunt said.
Some of the local chambers of commerce offer health plans to their members, helping small firms collectively increase their buying power. But there are several requirements the members must meet to participate and the members' premiums vary based on their employees' medical conditions, said Bob Bishop, president of KIA Insurance.
Also, the plans are not exempt from state-mandated benefits, he said.
The survey found that many small businesses want tort reform for medical malpractice, which some respondents said are increasing health care costs.
Respondents also commonly said that they would like a statewide training program that would help employees with reading, writing, math and responsible work ethics.
The program would likely be part of the Department of Training, Employment and Rehabilitation, which has money for training programs and is eligible for federal matching funds, Hunt said.
Each state legislator will receive a bookmark with the list of Nevada small business owners' concerns and Hunt hopes they will consider bills to address those issues.
Small businesses, defined by the Small Business Association as those with 500 or fewer employees, represent about 98 percent of all Nevada businesses.
Michael Graham, deputy state director of the Nevada Small Business Development Center, said the survey is a great start for raising awareness about small businesses and their concerns.
"Most of those are things that should be on the minds of legislators when they begin to create bills that affect our lives and our economies," he said. "Any time we can bring this kind of information to their attention, it's to their benefit."
He said Nevada, overall, is a business-friendly state but must work to maintain that reputation.
"Nevada continues to rank high in jobs and start-up growth and entrepreneurship," he said. "If Nevada wants to stay on the front end of that, it's going to have to have a business-friendly environment that continues into the next decade."
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