Thursday 28th March 2024

missouri-capitol-8-28-20

The Missouri House Special Committee on Small Business this week approved “The Small Business Protection Act” by a unanimous vote. House Committee Substitute for House Bill 1408, sponsored by House Majority Floor Leader Dean Plocher (R-St. Louis County), provides licensing relief to Missouri small businesses faced with local government shutdown orders. The bill has one final step before moving to the full House for consideration.

“The Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent shutdown orders imposed by local governments have had a devastating effect on our small businesses. This bill provides critical framework for our small businesses to continue operating when local governments impose burdensome job-killing regulations,” Rep. Plocher said. “This is particularly evident in St. Louis County, the region’s economic engine, where local shutdown orders have crippled many of our small business job creators including women, minority, and family-owned businesses.”

Recent data from the Small Business Administration reports there are over 530,000 small businesses in Missouri. Missouri small businesses employ 1.2 million Missourians, comprise 99.4% of all Missouri businesses, and over 46% of Missouri’s private workforce. HCS HB 1408 would waive fees for business licenses if a small business is closed for at least sixty days solely due to a government shutdown order. License fees would be waived up to a period of six months, or during the period of the shutdown order, whichever is more.

“Thousands of Missouri family-supporting businesses have been affected by local government shutdowns through no fault of their own. Small businesses are the backbones of our communities in every region of Missouri. The Small Business Protection Act is a commonsense solution intended to protect our small businesses in times of extreme distress by waiving fees for business licenses,” Rep. Plocher said.

The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry has also endorsed The Small Business Protection Act. “The pandemic has been hard on Missouri’s small businesses, and many have not survived. This commonsense legislation would provide some much needed relief to business owners struggling to remain open,” Daniel P. Mehan, President/CEO of the Missouri Chamber, said.

 House Bills 1406 and 1407, also sponsored by Rep. Plocher, also address local government shutdown restrictions by providing tax relief for our small businesses, and were added as measures in HCS HB 1408.

The full bill summary for HCS HB 1408 may be found here.