HB290: State House Members Want To Kill Businesses
by Bill Simon
SPECIAL LEGISLATIVE MEMO
TO the following Ga State Reps:
(1) Dempsey, Katie 13th HD (RS)*
(2) Benton, Tommy 31st (RS)*
(3) Clark, Valerie 101st (RS)*
(4) Brockway, Buzz 102nd (RS)*
(5) Kaiser, Margaret 59th (DS)*
(6) Powell, Jay 171st (RS)*
CC: Governor Nathan Deal
CC: Ga Economic Development Department
CC: Everyone Else
From: Bill Simon, Political Vine
RE: HB 290 (aka “Obama’s Wet Dream for Georgia“)
If that above link does not work, copy this link and paste it into your URL slot: http://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/en-US/Display/20132014/HB/290
================================================================
Ladies & Gentlemen who sponsored HB 290,
Are you trying to kill businesses in Georgia? ‘Cause, this bill is going to do the following if passed by both houses, and signed by the Governor:
1) Large, service businesses employing hundreds of people in Georgia will look to exit ASAP and go to someplace like Texas, Florida, Tennessee…and throw hundreds to thousands of people out on the street here in Georgia…all because you nimrods want to stick your noses into every future decision of what is an agreement between an employer and an employee in an at-will employment-state.
2) Businesses sized at an employee-count of 10-15 now (yes, there are quite a few of these, believe it or not) will either seek to slice-down their employee count to be below 10 (as your legislation calls for a floor to be), or simply opt to stop offering sick days altogether to their employees.
3) Businesses who operate at the employee level of 9 people who may want to offer their employees sick time AND hire and expand may opt to just stand pat, rather than wait for an insertion into their business of what the Ga Department of Labor decides.
4) Businesses looking to come to Georgia will look at this freaking mandate and decide “Eff-this. These people in Georgia are effing, statist-morons who want to insert themselves into our businesses and tell us how to run them” and opt to go to some OTHER state to set-up shop where they can operate in peace.
The reason why I label this bill “Obama’s Wet Dream for Georgia” is because it is parallel to what ObamaCare has done for businesses. The State of Georgia will require that, for any business that currently employs a minimum of 10 employees, and who now offers their employees sick days, it shall be a requirement that up to 5 of those sick days can be taken by an employee who says to their employer “I’m not sick, but someone in my immediate family is, and I can take this sick day right now, and you cannot do a freaking thing about it. AND, I don’t have to prove anything with regards to what I claim.”
It’s Obama’s Wet Dream because it forces businesses to not have the flexibility of how a sick day is determined, and how it is taken. Rep. Katie Dempsey, by being the #1 Sponsor, is essentially poking her nose into every freaking business in Georgia and saying “Mr. Employer, I don’t care what happens to your business, it is the requirement by the State of Georgia that you pay for the time away from work for an employee to take care of immediate family members, up to 5 days per year…if, that is, you are already giving them sick days.”
Why the hell stop at 5 days, Rep. Dempsey? I mean, this bill went through the Human Relations & Aging Committee…just about every time one of my aging parents has ended-up in the hospital, it’s taken more than 5 days to get things worked-out…so, why not demand that every employer do the following instead (if, of course, you really…really…reeeeeally care): “Whether you employ 1 person or 500,000 people, you, Mr. Employer, are required to offer up to 180 days sick time to any employee needing to take care of an immediate family member. Period.”
Oh, sure, I know ALL of your “hearts” are in the “right place” (See “Paved With Good Intentions, Road to Hell”), but you’re assuming that every claim made by every employee will always be for the reason they claim it will be, and tough-sh*t to the employer who is paying for these benefits (and, has to figure out how to get the work completed while the employee isn’t there).
Frankly, I’m surprised you Obama-mandate-loving-Statists who sponsored this bill didn’t stick a minimum-wage hike in that bill as well that says “If you pay anyone minimum-wage now, you shall start paying them a minimum of $50 per hour immediately.”
(Rep. Buzz Brockway…do ask the Rules Committee to ensure that it can be amended on the floor to sweeten this bill more. ‘Cause, as you well know, the more mandates you put on employers, the more Georgia will attract TONS of new businesses, right?)
Just as an aside…what, exactly, is the Georgia Chamber of Commerce‘s position on this bill?
Did this bill perhaps originate from the pen of Chamber Lobbyist Ryan Mahoney who has been instructed by the Ga Chamber to get this done to help drive small to medium-sized businesses out of Georgia so the Big Businesses can operate monopoly power more easily? (Nothing should surprise us about the Jay-Carney-Chamber-of-Commerce, but just wondering, ya know?)
How about GPPF? Got a position on this bill yet, Mr. McCutchen? Or, how about you, Ms. Dodd?
Well, to wrap-up this lovely memo, I do wish to explain one quick thing. Did you folks notice those asterisks next to the “(RS)/(DS)” designation to the right of each of your names? Know what they mean? Care to guess?
The “RS” means that by sponsoring this bill (or this type of bill), your ranking as a Republican-Statist has just increased by one point. Congrats!
The “DS” means you are a Democrat-Statist (which, granted, may be a tautology, but maybe there are some Democrats in the Legislature who have some common sense…you know, like maybe Rep. Mike Jacobs).
