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Florida Chamber Leads Effort to Reduce Unemployment Comp Taxes on Employers |
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Unemployment Compensation rates are set to drop for many Florida businesses which is good news for Florida’s job creators.
Thanks in part to Florida Chamber-backed legislation sponsored last session by new Florida Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, and new Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, the current reemployment minimum tax rate of $120.80 per employee will drop to $81.60 per employee on January 1, 2013. Both President Gaetz and Speaker Weatherford were endorsed by the Florida Chamber in their recent elections and received “A” grades on the Florida Chamber’s Legislative Report Card in 2012.
The Florida Chamber worked closely with President Gaetz and Speaker Weatherford to avert a massive $817 million tax increase on Florida’s business community during the 2012 Legislative Session and passing legislation that reduced the UC tax by nearly $40 per employee –saving employers more than $500 million over two years!
While Florida, like many other states, has resorted to loans from the federal government to deal with higher unemployment, those loans will be paid off by May 2013 due to the solutions put forward by President Gaetz, Speaker Weatherford and other leaders in the Legislature who share the Florida Chamber’s commitment to free market solutions.
This welcome UC news shows that Florida is on the right path and our leaders are putting the state on sound footing, taking a large step in securing Florida’s future. More information can be found in the attached document.
Take Action by contacting President Gaetz and Speaker Weatherford and thanking them for their work to reduce this massive tax burden on Florida’s business community!
Florida Chamber President and CEO Mark Wilson and Executive Vice President David Hart with Governor Rick Scott when he signed UC tax reform into law as part of his Jobs Package in March.
To learn more about the Florida Chamber’s efforts to stop this massive tax increase and lower UC taxes on Florida’s job creators, visit our unemployment compensation page at www.FloridaChamber.com. To sign-up for more alerts and updates from the Florida Chamber, visit www.FloridaChamber.com/grassroots.
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Election Recommendations |
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With Election Day less than a week away, almost 2 million absentee or early votes have already been cast. While candidates and the proposed constitutional amendments backed by the Florida Chamber of Commerce are gaining momentum, the future of the fight for free enterprise relies on you! Now is the time to ensure that employees, friends, family, colleagues and neighbors have the information they need to make informed decisions that will help secure Florida’s future!
Along with our endorsement of pro-business, pro-jobs candidates, the Florida Chamber supports six of the eleven proposed constitutional amendments on the November ballot. Those business friendly amendments include:
- Amendment 1
- Amendment 3
- Amendment 4
- Amendment 5
- Amendment 8
- Amendment 10
The Florida Chamber has several tools that serve as helpful resources to educate voters on many important legislative races and proposed constitutional amendments on the November ballot. Over the next six days, we hope that you will take this opportunity to learn more about the pro-business candidates and constitutional amendments backed by the Florida Chamber.
For more information on pro-business, pro-jobs candidates and proposed constitutional amendments on the November ballot, visit the Florida Chamber’s Election Center at www.FloridaChamber.com/2012Election.
Paid political advertisement paid for by Florida Chamber of Commerce, 136 South Bronough Street, Tallahassee, Florida 32301 independently of any committee.
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Governor Scott Signs Final FBA Priority Bill |
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 On Friday afternoon, Governor Rick Scott signed a Florida Chamber of Commerce-backed regulatory reform bill into law, marking the second consecutive year in which the Governor signed all Florida Chamber FBA bills passed during the legislative session. HB 503 by Rep. Jimmy Patronis is an environmental regulation bill that streamlines the regulatory process, eliminates costly duplicate regulations and expands the use of general permits. Specifically, this important law will ensure that:
- More commercial or industrial development projects will qualify for expedited permitting,
- Duplicative and costly agency and local government reviews for environmental permits will be eliminated,
- Agencies will act on environmental permits faster,
- Provides a general permit for stormwater management system under 10 acres may be authorized without agency action,
- Reduces permit decisions from 90 days to 60 days,
- Provides expedited permitting for any inland multimodal facility receiving and/or sending cargo to and/or from Florida ports, and
- Expands the circumstances where general permits and self-certification can be used to simplify permitting.
We thank Governor Scott for signing this legislation into law which emphasizes real regulatory reform and streamlining permitting process to help businesses grow and get Floridians back to work. We also thank Rep. Patronis for his commitment and hard work on this Florida Chamber priority issue.
With this signing of this bill Friday, Governor Scott has now signed all 22 Florida Chamber-backed FBA bills that passed during the 2012 Legislative Session. This marks the second consecutive year in which the Governor batted 100% for Florida’s business community. The Florida Chamber would like to recognize Governor Scott for his focus on reducing burdensome government regulations, improving Florida’s business climate and making Florida the No. 1 private-sector job creator in the country.
For more information on the Florida Chamber’s efforts to reduce and eliminate costly regulations on Florida’s employers during the 2012 Legislative Session, visit or regulatory reform issues page at www.FloridaChamber.com. To sign-ups for grassroots alerts and updates, visit www.FloridaChamber.com/grassroots. |
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Governor Scott Promotes Jobs Package at Florida Chamber Board Member Al Stimac’s Business 4-6-12 |
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This morning, Governor Scott continued his efforts to highlight the benefits of his Florida Chamber-backed jobs package by traveling to Longwood to meet with Al Stimac. Al is the Owner and President of the manufacturing firm Metal Essence, serves as chairman of the Manufacturing Association of Florida and is a member of the Florida Chamber Board of Directors.
You may recall that several months ago Governor Scott took his first tour of Metal Essence and, while there, announced a major component of his 2012 legislative priorities would be targeted incentives for Florida manufacturers. Today, the Governor's efforts came full circle when he once again joined with Al and Metal Essence employees to ceremoniously sign his jobs package into law.
"Small businesses in Florida will create four out of five new jobs in Florida, so the Governor's focus on growing the private-sector is welcomed news and a sign of confidence for job creators," Al said this morning during the bill signing ceremony. "What business needs most is predictability and stability and this bill is another example that our state government is open for business."
The Governor's timing couldn't have been more perfect for Florida's business community. Many of you may have seen today's Florida Trend Daily Pulse or even Governor Scott's tweet highlighting that 40 percent of Florida's small business owners plan to hire more employees during the next six months, according to the Florida Chamber's Small Business Council Survey.
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Florida Chamber Board of Directors' Member Al Stimac with Governor Scott, Metal Essence employees and friends, Rep. Scott Plakon (R-Longwood), Manufacturers Association of Florida Executive Director Nancy Stephens and Rep. Eric Eisnaugle (R-Orlando) at today's bill signing in Longwood
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Governor Rick Scott with Florida Chamber Board Member Al Stimac
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At a time when other states are adding taxes and regulations, Florida is sending a strong message that we are a state where making investments in machinery and employees is a good investment.
"The passage of these important bills is a tremendous victory for Florida's families and businesses and will ensure private-sector jobs can continue to grow," said Governor Rick Scott. "My jobs package, combined with an additional $1 billion for K-12 education, will have an important impact on all Floridians, and I thank the Florida Legislature for recognizing the valuable contributions this legislation will make toward growing businesses and jobs in our state."
Congratulations to Al Stimac and the employees of Metal Essence and to Florida's entrepreneurs who are securing Florida's future.
My best,
Mark
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Small Business Index Survey due March 23rd! |
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Dear Jan,
If you have not done so already, we encourage you to use our Chamber Views survey tool to distribute our Small Business Index Survey to your members by Friday, March 23rd.. Thank you to those that have already sent out the survey. For directions on how to use the survey tool, please read the message below.
To view the live survey, click here.
The Florida Chamber is in need of your support with distributing our recent Small Business Index Survey to your membership. The purpose of this survey is to obtain the most accurate information about the business climate in Florida with efforts to wrap up the 2012 Legislative Session and plan for the 2012 Election Cycle.
Over the last year, the state of Florida created more jobs than all but two other states. We would like to take this time to receive feedback from the businesses of Florida, and we need your help!
This survey allows you the flexibility to add specific questions that you would like to survey your membership on, as well as rebrand the survey with your chamber's logo or header. Please help us increase our response rate to this survey by distributing it to your membership database with any additional questions you feel are necessary. The deadline to respond to the online survey is Friday, March 23rd. All results will be shared and available for your use by the end of March. You will be able to access those results through your Chamber Views webpage that is available to all local chambers.
Our Chamber Views survey system allows you to do three things:
1) Use our existing survey to ask your membership about key issues facing their business
2) Add questions to the existing survey that relate to issues your Chamber may be facing locally
3) Brand the survey using your ChamberÂ’s heading so that your membership know the survey is coming from their local chamber
If you are interested in surveying your membership using Chamber Views, please log on to the website (www.Chamberviews.com) and enter your username and password. You can distribute the survey to your database or post the link to your website. After you have signed in, you should be able to view our survey under the "global surveys" header. Please upload the most recent survey into your account.
Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email me at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
or call me at 850-521-1243.
Your answers to our surveys over the past year indicated that the tax burden was one obstacle facing your business. During the 2012 legislative session, the Florida Chamber worked with Governor Rick Scott and legislative leaders to lessen that burden.
In our effort to Secure FloridaÂ’s Future, it is critical that we know what issues are most important to you and your member businesses! Your membersÂ’ personal information will not be shared. We will also provide you with the results of the survey and any policies that come from the results of the survey. Our message is more powerful in Tallahassee when you voice your opinion.
Please take five minutes to complete this 15 question Small Business Index Survey and provide feedback on what you believe are the important issues facing small businesses. Also, we would appreciate it if you took a few more minutes to pass this survey along to your membership.
Thank you for your help and support of the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Florida's small businesses!
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