Madison (September 28, 2011) – Wisconsin’s largest advocate for small businesses today applauded Governor Scott Walker’s executive order this morning calling on the Legislature to dedicate a special session to dozens of initiatives aimed at creating jobs and growing the state’s economy.
“Now all of these issues that have been simmering for a while will be moved up to the front burner, and the Legislature can use them as a basis for a comprehensive economic recovery strategy,” said State Director Bill G. Smith of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB).
Walker is asking the Legislature to consider more than 30 bills dealing with tax relief, regulatory reform, legal reform, workforce development and transportation. It’s a bi-partisan mix that the Governor estimated would create 250,000 new jobs in Wisconsin.
“We agree with the Governor that although the state has outperformed the country on job creation, we can’t be complacent,” said Smith. “In order for Wisconsin to be competitive, we’ve got to deal with a whole range of issues and I think this package moves in that direction very aggressively.”
Smith said that the reforms are important for small businesses, which employ more than half of the residents of Wisconsin and which are critical to the state’s economy.
“If we’re going to emerge from the recession, small businesses are going to lead the way,” said Smith. “That’s why these reforms are necessary and we applaud the Governor for remaining focused on small business.”
NFIB represents more than 10,000 small businesses in Wisconsin and more than 350,000 members nationwide. For more information, please visit www.nfib.com/wisconsin.
