Groups Want Lawmakers to Allow Private Sector to Grow

There are many federal budget cuts that will be taking place within the United States. These budget cuts will make the creation of the private sector jobs very important and many people believe that the legislators need to be careful about what types of laws they pass, especially when it comes to businesses.

Ronald Wineholt, the vice president of government affairs at the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, has said, “There is a renewed appreciation for private-sector job growth.” Many of the small businesses would like to see a policy created by legislators that will simply do no harm.

Ellen Valentineo, the Maryland state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, has said, “The economy is still very unsettled.” She also says, “We may see more measured action with respect to considering laws that could adversely impact businesses.”

With this New Year, legislators cannot simply settle for approaches of allowing them to easily get through yet another year of challenges. This is something that Donald C. Fry, the president and CEO for the Greater Baltimore Committee believes wholeheartedly in and has even wrote about it in a column on the Greater Baltimore Committee website.

Fry says, “Even in Maryland, where the federal presence here hasprovided a long-term cushion of stability, we must recognize and act upon the reality that our state’s economic paradigm is shifting,” Fry said. “Only an engaged, diverse, and productive private sector can pull Maryland into the era of growth that we are clearly capable of achieving. It’s up to our elected leaders, through smart policy decisions, to put entrepreneurs, investors, business owners and managers and their employees in position to succeed, grow and thrive.”

From January 2011 to November 2011, the United States private sector had developed 98.5 percent of new jobs. Only 400 of the new jobs were private sectors jobs. There are some major companies, such as Bechtel, which is located in San Francisco, that are moving employees all around the state lines. Because of this, legislators need to think hard and long about the impact that a law for Maryland’s business could make. Bechtel will be moving more than 600 jobs from the Frederick area to the Virginia area.

Fry says, “We face strong competition from Virginia,” he said. “This cuts across a wide variety of issues — taxes, workplace regulations, health care.”

The health care exchange and implementation will be one of the biggest issues that employers will have. Valentino would like to have a stricter implementation for the federal insurance reform law that would ensure Maryland did not go beyond it. Valentino says, however, that there is still some uncertainty, especially when it comes to the court challenges.