"Helping Maine Businesses Succeed"
In recent weeks, I have had the opportunity to travel throughout our beautiful state and visit the businesses and meet the employees that drive Maine's economy.
The range of these businesses is remarkable. The new Poland Spring plant in Kingfield was just voted the water company's "Best Factory of the Year" for manufacturing excellence. William Arthur, Inc., in West Kennebunk produces exquisite greeting cards, invitations and personalized stationery. From the publication of its first road atlas in 1976, DeLorme in Yarmouth has grown to become a world leader in mapping technology, with applications that are invaluable to travelers, public safety agencies, and the military.
New Balance Athletic Shoe in Norridgewock stands up to the challenge of global competition with innovative designs, a commitment to customer satisfaction, and confidence in the skills and teamwork of its unparalleled Maine workforce. It is the only athletic shoe manufacturer producing its shoes in the United States. AthenaHealth provides advanced information technology to help our health care providers spend less time doing paperwork and more time with their patients. It now employs 325 Mainers in a beautiful facility in Belfast.
What these different businesses have in common are innovative and skilled workers essential to Maine's future. Rather than focusing on businesses that are "too big to fail," it is time that we did more to support those businesses that are too entrepreneurial to ignore. That means enacting pro-growth economic policies that encourage the creation and preservation of good jobs.
While visiting New Balance, I was honored to receive the Award for Manufacturing Legislative Excellence from the National Association of Manufacturers, just a few days after I received the "Spirit of Enterprise" Award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. This recognition means a great deal to me because advancing pro-growth, pro-jobs policies is critical to our state and our country.
During the recent district work period, I also visited Eastern Maine Development Corporation in Bangor, an outstanding resource for businesses and communities. I was excited to hear of its new plan to foster job growth through more targeted and effective workforce training that identifies the specific needs of employers.
One of the impediments to growth and job creation is excessive government regulation. No business owner I know questions the role of government in protection the health, safety, and well-being of the public and employees. Far too often, however, our small businesses are buried under a mountain of paperwork, driving up costs and further hampering economic recovery and job creation. The 2010 Federal Register, the compilation of all federal regulations, exceeded 82,000 pages, and more than 3,573 new regulations were added just last year.
I worked hard to repeal the 1099 provision in the health care law that would have required small business owners to file separate tax forms for all transactions totaling $600 or more in a given year. It was an unfair mandate that would have created a huge paperwork burden for as many as 40 million businesses, which already are struggling in these difficult economic times.
Requiring that federal agencies take into account the impact on small businesses, job growth, and energy costs during rulemaking is a key component of my Seven-Point Jobs Plan. In addition, I recently introduced the Clearing Unnecessary Regulatory Burden (CURB) Act that advances three common-sense provisions to ease the regulatory burden on our nation's businesses.
First, the CURB Act requires federal agencies to analyze the indirect costs of regulations, such as the impact on job creation, energy costs, and consumer prices. Second, it prohibits federal agencies from circumventing public notice and comment requirements by issuing unofficial rules as "guidance documents." And third, the CURB Act establishes a process for small businesses to obtain waivers from onerous penalties the first time they fail to comply with a paperwork requirement as long as no harm comes from that failure.
It is always inspiring to visit the many businesses in Maine that embody the entrepreneurial spirit that drives innovation, economic growth, and, most of all, new jobs. Easing the regulatory burden on these businesses will allow that spirit to soar.
The range of these businesses is remarkable. The new Poland Spring plant in Kingfield was just voted the water company's "Best Factory of the Year" for manufacturing excellence. William Arthur, Inc., in West Kennebunk produces exquisite greeting cards, invitations and personalized stationery. From the publication of its first road atlas in 1976, DeLorme in Yarmouth has grown to become a world leader in mapping technology, with applications that are invaluable to travelers, public safety agencies, and the military.
New Balance Athletic Shoe in Norridgewock stands up to the challenge of global competition with innovative designs, a commitment to customer satisfaction, and confidence in the skills and teamwork of its unparalleled Maine workforce. It is the only athletic shoe manufacturer producing its shoes in the United States. AthenaHealth provides advanced information technology to help our health care providers spend less time doing paperwork and more time with their patients. It now employs 325 Mainers in a beautiful facility in Belfast.
What these different businesses have in common are innovative and skilled workers essential to Maine's future. Rather than focusing on businesses that are "too big to fail," it is time that we did more to support those businesses that are too entrepreneurial to ignore. That means enacting pro-growth economic policies that encourage the creation and preservation of good jobs.
While visiting New Balance, I was honored to receive the Award for Manufacturing Legislative Excellence from the National Association of Manufacturers, just a few days after I received the "Spirit of Enterprise" Award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. This recognition means a great deal to me because advancing pro-growth, pro-jobs policies is critical to our state and our country.
During the recent district work period, I also visited Eastern Maine Development Corporation in Bangor, an outstanding resource for businesses and communities. I was excited to hear of its new plan to foster job growth through more targeted and effective workforce training that identifies the specific needs of employers.
One of the impediments to growth and job creation is excessive government regulation. No business owner I know questions the role of government in protection the health, safety, and well-being of the public and employees. Far too often, however, our small businesses are buried under a mountain of paperwork, driving up costs and further hampering economic recovery and job creation. The 2010 Federal Register, the compilation of all federal regulations, exceeded 82,000 pages, and more than 3,573 new regulations were added just last year.
I worked hard to repeal the 1099 provision in the health care law that would have required small business owners to file separate tax forms for all transactions totaling $600 or more in a given year. It was an unfair mandate that would have created a huge paperwork burden for as many as 40 million businesses, which already are struggling in these difficult economic times.
Requiring that federal agencies take into account the impact on small businesses, job growth, and energy costs during rulemaking is a key component of my Seven-Point Jobs Plan. In addition, I recently introduced the Clearing Unnecessary Regulatory Burden (CURB) Act that advances three common-sense provisions to ease the regulatory burden on our nation's businesses.
First, the CURB Act requires federal agencies to analyze the indirect costs of regulations, such as the impact on job creation, energy costs, and consumer prices. Second, it prohibits federal agencies from circumventing public notice and comment requirements by issuing unofficial rules as "guidance documents." And third, the CURB Act establishes a process for small businesses to obtain waivers from onerous penalties the first time they fail to comply with a paperwork requirement as long as no harm comes from that failure.
It is always inspiring to visit the many businesses in Maine that embody the entrepreneurial spirit that drives innovation, economic growth, and, most of all, new jobs. Easing the regulatory burden on these businesses will allow that spirit to soar.
