Barreto Out at SBA

Hector Barreto resigned today as the administrator of the SBA to go work at a Republican leaning Latino think tank and advocacy organization, The Latino Coalition.

The President announced today that he's nominated Steven Preston of Illinois to become the next SBA Administrator.

Here's what Congressman Manzullo, chair of the House Small Business Committee had to say in a press release about the new appointee:

"After speaking with Mr. Preston, I am confident he will meet and exceed the many challenges he will encounter at the helm of the SBA. As the current Executive Vice President and former Chief Financial Officer at The Service Master Company in Chicago, Mr. Preston has accumulated a wealth of experience in executive leadership and financial management that will serve him well at the SBA. I look forward to working with Mr. Preston to continue our mission to help our small businesses prosper and create jobs for Americans."

In March, I had the privilege of attending a House Small Business Committee hearing where Barreto had been asked to talk about the SBA's record in meeting small business needs after Katrina. Barreto spoke about how much paper the agency had processed. Never mind that 60% or more of the businesses that applied for loans were denied. He was proud of how many applications that they had handled.

In questions after she testified on the same subject, a woman business owner from New Orleans tore a hole in Barreto's testimony bigger than the levee breach when she suggested that he was using the wrong measure of success. She asked simply "shouldn't he measure success by how many businesses that the SBA has helped get back in business, employing people and paying taxes?"

The fact that Barreto had no answer may account, in part, for why he's gone. At least we can hope so.

And, let's hope that the new guy "gets it" when it comes to this issue and the SBA's utter failure to implement the restricted competition program for WBO's designed to help government achieve the 5% goal for WBO procurement.

Ten Tips on Grassroots Advocacy

Fellow NAWBO member, mid-west region public policy council coordinator and #1 Google rated blogger for women entrepreneurs,Kirsten Osolind, has a great feature on her re:invention blog. Every Saturday she posts 10 Tips for 10 Million Women -- featuring advice for women entrepreneurs by women entrepreneurs. Last Saturday, she featured my Ten Tips for Becoming a Grass Roots Advocate (a revised and updated version of an article that I wrote for NAWBOTime). It's a handy reference for women business owners who want to succeed in the "business" of advocacy at the local, state or federal level.

Let Kirsten know if you've got 10 Tips that you'd like her to feature. You'll find the link to submit your wisdom on the blog.

The Path to Electing More Women May Be Through Redistricting -- Thinking about 2010

American University Professor Barbara Palmer (and good friend of the Women Under 40 PAC and NAWBO ED Erin Fuller) is the co-author of an interesting new book about women candidates for political office that got great coverage in David Broder's column in the Washington Post this week.

Among the most interesting of Palmer's findings reported by Broder is this:

Demographic changes now underway will increase the number of districts where women can compete. But the radical suggestion from Palmer and Simon is for states to use this knowledge of what makes a district "woman-friendly" in the next round of redistricting, after the 2010 Census, to increase substantially the number of women in Congress. As women in state legislatures position themselves for the coming redistricting battles, that's something they can keep in mind.

There's lots more of interest in the book, "Breaking the Political Glass Ceiling: Women and Congressional Elections," which looks at all of the women candidates who ran for Congress between 1956 and 2004 and identifies the characteristics of the districts in which they won and lost.

Sounds like a good read for anyone who wants to run for Congress or would like to help identify women candidates for districts well-suited to electing them!

Take Action NOW to Reduce Health Care Costs -- Senate to Take Action Week of May 1st

NAWBO has the opportunity in this Congress to make a real difference for our members on one of our focus issues – reducing the cost of health care insurance.

There are a number of proposals pending that could have a positive impact on health care cost reduction for all of our members regardless of the size or structure of our businesses.

NAWBO continues its successful coalition partnership with Women Impacting Public Policy, advocating for passage of federal legislation authorizing national pooling or group insurance plans for small businesses (previously described as association health plans or AHPs and now called small business health plans or SBHPs).

Through our joint efforts this year, a bill authorizing AHPs passed the House, HR 525 (see August 17, 2005 Public Policy Alert), and, for the first time ever in this long debate, a companion Senate bill, S1955, which addresses many of the concerns raised by earlier AHP legislation, has now been voted out of Senate committee.

Your active advocacy for reduced health care costs can make a difference in Washington right now.

Read the pros and cons, here, here and here, and then take action on S1955 by going to WIPP’s action page, and sending a message to your Senators asking that they vote yes on S1955.

In addition to continued advocacy for SBHPs with WIPP, this year the NAWBO Public Policy Council decided to focus advocacy efforts on tax incentives and other approaches to reducing health care costs. Accordingly, NAWBO is now a member of the Coalition for Affordable Health Coverage. CAHP advocates achieving health care cost reductions and affordability through tax incentives and other market-based approaches that will both reduce the cost of coverage and the number of uninsured. Find out more about the legislation now pending in Congress that the Coalition has identified as key to achieving these objectives.

Together we can make a difference in the cost of health care insurance for all of us. Please act now.

Very truly yours,

Claire Guthrie Gastañaga
Vice President for Public Policy

P.S. You will find more information on the pros and cons of various health care cost reduction proposals in earlier posts on the Blog. Please don't hestitate to join start or join a dialogue on these and other topics by posting a comment.

SBA Releases Study Confirming that Tax Deductions for Health Insurance is Related to Small Business Success

From a press release issued today(April 4, 2006) by the SBA Office of Advocacy:

Deducting the cost of health insurance premiums may keep self-employed entrepreneurs in business, according to a study ... by the Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration. The study shows that the health insurance deduction for the self-employed has decreased the likelihood of entrepreneurial exit by 10.8 percent for single filers and 64.9 percent for married filers.

“Access to healthcare continues to be he top issue for small business,” said Thomas M. Sullivan, Chief Counsel for Advocacy. “This study will help Congress and the administration as they consider policies that help small business and strengthen the economy.”

Dr. Tami Gurley-Calvez wrote the study, Health Insurance Deductibility and Entrepreneurial Survival, with funding from the Office of Advocacy. It examines how the introduction of tax deductibility for self-employed health insurance premiums affects the chances of entrepreneurial exit. Among the study’s findings:

- The presence of the health insurance deduction decreases the probability that a self-employed entrepreneur will choose to exit the entrepreneurial sector by 10.8 percent for single filers.

- For married filers, the presence of the health insurance deduction decreases the rate of exit from entrepreneurship by 64.9 percent.

- The absolute dollar amount of the health insurance premium deduction also influences the probability of exit from entrepreneurial activities.

For single filers a 10 percent increase in the dollar amount of the deduction reduces the probability of exit by 10.6 percent. For married filers the probably of exit is only reduced by 1.2 percent.

For more information and a copy of the complete report, visit the Office of Advocacy website