While business owners in a corporate setting often understand the importance of legislation, a surprising number of medium to small business owners do not know how new legislation can affect their pocketbooks.
This is why legislative monitoring on the state and federal levels is vital to corporations and businesses of any size.
It can be challenging for a business to track hundreds of thousands of measures considered across the country each year to determine which legislation would affect its bottom line. It would essentially require a person to scan through over 30,000 pages of text to determine if a bill would impact the business; this is what we specialize in at Rojas Communications Group.
If you’re a medium to small business or even a corporation that is not utilizing the assistance of a lobbyist, then legislative monitoring is even more crucial to the future of your operations.
Just as with anything in life, getting ahead of legislation before it poses a critical threat could save you money and even create more opportunities in the future.
It Could Cost Money
Early notification of emerging measures provides businesses with an adequate amount of time to have an impact and share their approval or disapproval of proposed bills.
A lot of time, new legislation targeted toward businesses and their operations could cost you money.
For example, in 2021, AB 123 was vetoed by the governor of California, which would have boosted family leave payments – and essentially cost all business types a ton of money.
This bill would have gradually increased the percentage of wages replaced when a Californian took paid family leave from at least 60 percent to 70 percent to 90 percent of a worker’s highest quarterly earnings in the past 12 months.
This is why monitoring bills before, during, and after they make their way through the legislative process is essential. It gives businesses ample opportunity to express their disapproval as well as plan and prepare before they’re affected by the new laws once they are in place.
Generate More Business Opportunities
Now, new legislation isn’t always bad. In fact, it can often create more opportunities for your business and even save you money.
Sometimes legislation can even create partnerships between businesses, associations, 501C3’s and beyond.
For instance, the Clean Air Act was enacted in 1970 to reduce pollution and protect the health of U.S. families, and it challenged many businesses to reduce emissions.
This act was known to create market opportunities that inspire innovative and cleaner technology, creating relationships between businesses, tech companies, and environmental associations.
Remember, when businesses get more vocal about legislation and communicate with legislators, it creates an opportunity to keep your business in mind when future legislation is impending, which is why monitoring state and federal legislation is critical to your business.
