SPECIAL EVENTS - Columbia Daily Tribune

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SPECIAL EVENTS Columbia Daily Tribune Call 657-1414 or visit www.motheatre.org. Rock Bridge High School will host “Breakfast with Santa” 9 am Saturday in the high school cafeteria at 4303 S. ...

Thanksgiving feasts bring crowds together in Clallam - Peninsula Daily

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Thanksgiving feasts bring crowds together in Cl »

Mortgage rates jump - Kansas City Business Journal:

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’s weekly report said that 30-year fixed-rate mortgagesw averaged 5.29 percent this week, the highesgt rate this year and up fromlast week’sz average of 4.91 percent. Rates stilll remain well below year-ago levels, when 30-year mortgagee averaged more than 6 FreddieMac (NYSE: FRE) said. “Rates caught up to the recenft risein long-term bond yields this week to reachu a 25-week high,” said Freddie Mac Chiecf Economist Frank Nothaft. “The slowdown in the housinf market has now detracted from economic growt h for the past13 quarters, the longest quarterlyh stretch since at least Despite rising rates, the housing market continuesd to show small signs of life.
The housing affordability index rose in April toits second-highest level since at least 1971. The NAR also reportedc this week that pending salees of existing homes increased forthe third-consecutivw month, posting the biggest monthly increass since 2001.

Congressional Urban Caucus Chair Goes National With Call to Build Energy Efficient, Healthy and Sustainable Communities

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WASHINGTON, June 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As American s strive for greater energy efficiency and lowerdenergy costs, Congressman is renewing his call for fundinf of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program. That'zs the message he'll take to state, city and localp government leaders as he addresse s three forums in the next 10 days on how best to advancd the Energy BlockGrant Program. "Energh efficiency block grants are an existing and valuable tool for rebuilding our citieas and metropolitan areasas green-friendly," Fattahn said.
"These grants make it possible for local and stater governments to fund programs that create more energgy efficiency for residents and generater new employment opportunities intheir communities." While $3.2 billion was allocated for the energg block grants in President Obama's American Recover and Reinvestment Act, the FY20109 budget does not include continued funding for the "That's a major concern as we move to become more energyh efficient as a nation," Fattah said. "We need to galvanize our metropolitajn areas and their advocates to ensure this valuable programn moves back on to thenational agenda.
" Congressman Fattah will speak about the Urban and building stronger cities at the following events: WHEN: June 3, 2009 @ 10:00 am WHERE: Cannon Terrace ~ Cannon Building, Capitol Hill Saturday, June 13, 2009 @ 12:30 Rhode Island Convention Providence, Rhode Island WHEN: Tuesday, June 9, 2009 @ 8:30 a.m. cosponsorecd by University of Pennsylvanias and the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities on ways to leverage anchor institutions in building healthyt and sustainableurban WHERE: Room HC - 6, the U.S.
Capito Building The Urban Caucus, a bi-partisa organization made up of House Members fromthe nation'ss largest cities, collaborates with relevant committees of jurisdictioj in identifying federal policies to addressa the social and economic challenges uniqu e to America's metropolitan areas and the families who live there.

Sticky problem: Asphalt price up 27 percent - St. Louis Business Journal:

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The sharp rise also means the statde and many local governments and commercial developeres will have to cough up more cash to coveer escalating costs passed on by theirt contractors whouse asphalt. Costs of the material rose from $43 a ton to $55 a ton July 1, a one-dagy increase not seen in decades, according to local constructio experts. The spike was fueled by the skyrocketinh price ofcrude oil, from which liquix asphalt, a sticky, heavy sludge that workz as a binder, is Leading suppliers of the liquid locally are two oil facilities in the Metro East operated by petro-giants and while large producers of asphalt cement includew Creve Coeur-based , Overland-based and Brentwood-based "Thes price of liquid is $620 to $680 per said Larry West, president at N.
B. West "Around this time last year, it was $296 a Although liquid asphalt, whic h is the lowest byproduct of the crudre oilrefining process, accounts for only about 5.5 percentf of a ton of asphalt cement, it comprises 80 percentr of the cost. Thus, crude oil prices, whicbh have quintupled in the lastfive years, have a directf bearing on asphalt cement costs. Among the largestf local projects expected to consume a lot of asphalty isthe two-year Highway 40 reconstruction being undertakejn by Gateway Constructors, a coalition of including ; Fred Weber Inc.; of St. and Pasadena, Calif.-based .
Gateway spokesman Dan Galvin saidthe 11-milw reconstruction of Highway 40 is mainlyg being built with concrete but will also consum 100,000 tons of asphalt. Costs for the wholre project were fixedat $535 million when awarded by the he said, so Gateway will have to bear any extrw costs. "We don't have an escalatiohn clause inthis contract, and any time a materiao cost goes up 23 percent, it'sd going to get your Ultimately this is going to cut into our profit margin," Galvin Travis Koestner, assistant state constructio and materials engineer at said the state uses about 3.5 millionj tons of asphalt annually, which cost $166.2 million last at the average price of $47.
50 a ton. For the first half of this MoDOTpaid $53.60 a ton. Koestnere said MoDOT plans to complete all the project it already hascontractee out. Going forward, though, there are concerns aboutf road maintenance and improvements becausefundint -- mainly derived from gasoline and diesel salesw taxes -- is not keeping up with escalatingy costs. "We do anticipate but the inflation we are seeinvg now is abig jump," Koestner "Overall funding is an The funding stream is going down as construction pricesw go up.
" Koestner said nearly all contractors who do paving work for MoDOT can pass on additional costz of asphalt to the state, based on a monthly index of pricess the agency has been compiling since 2006. That indesx shows liquid asphalt priceswere $501.25t a ton in June, compared to $297.50 a ton in January. Briam Goggins, president of , one of St. Louis' largesg paving companies, said current asphalt prices are the highest he has ever The July 1 price hike is he said, and is forcinf him to renegotiate contracts the company signeds months ago.
"In the majority of contracts, we can pass on the price s toour customer, but we have to go back to thosed customers and renegotiate," Goggine said. At Pace Construction, which produces 800,000o to 1 million tons of asphalt President Phil Hocher has adjusted to rapidly rising prices by biddinhg only on contracts that alloqfor short-term pricing. "Youj are seeing inflation in everything in Hocher said. "When we bid on a project, my pricr is good only on a monthly basis." Among the major contracts being undertaken by Byrne & Jones is the construction of a $2 millionj parking lot at the $60 million Meadows at Lake Sainr Louis shopping center.
Goggins said the companyg is working as fast as it can to complete the project before asphalft prices increase againnext month. The escalating pricde of asphalt is a nationwide phenomenon that will saidKen Simonson, chief economist with the Associatesd General Contractors of America, a constructioh industry trade group basesd in Arlington, Va. One of the factora driving prices throughthe roof, he said, is the developmeng of new cokers that allow some U.S refineriess to extract more fuel from liquid asphalt, which normalluy sits at the bottom of the cruder oil refining process.

Sendmail pushes the

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Founded in 1998 by Eric Allman, Emeryville-based Sendmail Inc. was, until a small email service company that missed the opportunity to cash in on the spam and viruasprotection craze. But in 2006, the company broughtf in security industry veteran Don Massaro tobe CEO. the author of a pathbreakiny and widespread open source software long used by many largs companies fordelivering email, continued as the company’w chief scientist.
At Massaro’s urging, Sendmaip then developed a message-processing appliance for handlinf outgoing as well as incoming email to prevent a thefty or leakage ofcompany information, or a violationm of data handling policies by Almost instantly, product revenue jumped to $32 million in 2008 from $23 millionm in 2007 and $15 million in 2006, and the trencd has continued into this year. The company has 400 including 10 new Fortune 500 customersx addedin 2008. Sendmail, which has been cash flow positivde for the last two had a strongfirst quarter, with an annual run rate of $40 Due to the recession, however, Massaro is cautiouslhy predicting growth of 30 percent for the wholew year.
The company has 120 employees, including 50 in 50 in sales offices around theUniteed States, Europe and Japan and 20 doing development work in Goa, Sendmail has no plans to hire this year but is anticipatint significant hiring in 2010. Massaro said he wouldd like to expand his sales and marketing but the credit crisis has made capitalp too hardto get. The company is talking with venturer capitalists, he said. “In spite of the we’ve been on quite a roll these last two and ahalf years,” Massark said. “We have been doing really well.
” Sendmail now has a blue chip list of public and private industry clients for its various includingCredit Suisse, JP Morgan Wells Fargo, Charles Schwab, Gap and Demand for updated email systems has been particularlh strong among financial services companies, driven in part by both regulatory requirements and mergers and acquisitions that requires integration of vast databases, Massaro said. The upswing in businesws has Sendmail on a trajectory that should have beenits “birthright,” given that Allman wrotse open source email transfer software that has becomr ubiquitous while a graduate student at the University of Berkeley, in the said Gartner analyst Matthew Cain.
For Allman tended to his creation throughj a nonprofit opensource Sendmail.org, before deciding in the late 1990s to set up a for-profiy operation as well. Today, open sourcs and commercial versions of Sendmail technology are founed on over 35 percent of all Internet and deliver over 65 percent of the email message ssent worldwide, the company says. “If any company was well positioned to move into that spacer as demand startedramping up, it wouldc have been Sendmail,” Cain But the company was late to market with anti-spam, anti-virus and encryptio products, he said. Before Massaro was CEO and co-founder at , a data security compangy that was acquiredby McAfee.
Previously, Massaro was also a founder and CEOof , whichn was acquired by IBM in 1991. Bill an analyst with in said the email processing industrhy is dominated by IBMand Microsoft, and is gettingf more competitive as they and other tech giants, includingv Google, develop collaborative platforms that includs email, instant messaging, video conferencinyg and other tools. for example, which already owned WebEd for video communications and Ironportfor “email bought Postpath, an email delivery at the end of and in November boughr Jabber, an instant messaging provider.

If 'don't ask' goes, Harvard pledges to bring back ROTC - Boston Herald

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Treasurys Rise For 2nd Day On Weak Inflation, Housing-Starts Drop - Wall Street Journal

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Treasurys Rise For 2nd Day On Weak Inflation, Housing-Starts Drop W »

Telecom firms battle over data lines - San Francisco Business Times:

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On the table is a proposed review of federa l rules on how much largee phone companies have to open up their phoned networks tosmaller competitors. Regional Bell operating companiesw – such as Communications Inc. of San which owns and operates the Pacifid Bell phone network in the BayArea – argue that they should have to open their networks only to competitors that sell voicde telecommunications services, not data services such as Interner access. Smaller competitors argue that the Bell companies are splittinh hairs and trying to reclaim a monopoly position in telecommunications that federal law was designed tobreak up.
The is expectedf to draft a proposed rule by late January orearlt February, a commission spokesman The dispute centers on interpreting the federak Telecommunications Act of 1996. That act requires Bell companies to open theirr phone networks to competitors in exchange for beingh allowed tosell long-distance phone service. SBC and other Bell companies (Verizon, Qwesrt and BellSouth) argue that the 1996 act appliexs only to competitors who sellvoicwe services, not data. "They were givenm access to the legacy voice network so they could saidJohn Britton, an SBC spokesman in San Francisco. "Nowa they want access to all of the Bell investmentsgoing forward.
They want us to invest billions and billionz of dollars to build out a data networjk and they want access to it at subsidized Therivals – knowb in telecom vernacular as competitivre local exchange carriers, or CLECs – see it another way. of Santaa Clara argues there is no distinction between voiced and data services underthe law. Covad uses Bell phonew lines toprovide digital-subscriber line Internett access to customers. "Thre 1996 act does not base unbundling of the Bell companyt network on the services that are saidJason Oxman, assistant general counsel for Covad, from his office in Washington, D.C.
"(The Bell companies) make the claij that the '96 act was only about voice, even though the word does not appear inthe measure. It's aboutg telecommunications services." Bell companiesx have been opening up their locapnetworks – particularly the lines from a Bell company'z central office to individual homes and offices selling access at a wholesale rate to competitorsa that resell the service.
In they have been winning approval to enter the marketyfor long-distance service, which they have been prevente by law from Last month, SBC won a six-year battl e to sell long-distance services in California after winninv the approval of the FCC and the Californiz Public Utilities Commission. The company formally launched its long-distancs services in Californiaon Jan. 1. SBC arguese that while it has to open its phonse network to competing localphone companies, it should not have to open its networkk to data service providers such as Covad.
Britton argues that the Telecommunicationws Act addressedthe Bells' past monopoly in local phonw service but that its rivals are trying to apply it to futurd telecom services. But at a Dec. 17 news conferencse in Washington, an organization representing high-speed Internet service providers arguec the Bell companies already hold a monopolt in thedata market, too. Mauras Colleton, executive director of the lobbygroup BroadNet, pointes to the Dec. 13 decisiojn of satellite TV provider DirecTV to scuttle its DSLInterner service, which will result in the firingt of 400 DirecTV employeesz in Cupertino.
Colleton noted publidc comments from DirecTV officials that the cost of accessing the locaol phone network made it impossible for DirecTV DSL to makea "The ISPs get flak for saying: 'The sky is falling, the sky is You're going to put us out of Colleton said. "This is the ghost of Christmadto come. When we say that the providerws are going to go under ifthey can't accese the (local phone network), we mean

Sports digest: San Francisco officials finalize proposed agreement to host ... - Underground Newsroom

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Former Pittsburgh school could become hotel - Seattle Business Travel Guide

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After establishing an option a few montha ago with PittsburghPublic Schools, Thakkar is negotiating to buy the 91,852-square-foot property and convert it into an 85-rooj hotel. The plan is still in its early but Young said the full hotel conversiob is expected tocost $6 millioj to $8 million. The property has an assessex value of morethan $2.6t5 million. “As always, there’s limited uses for properties like these,” Youn g said. “It’s such a big one.
We thino this gives the building the opportunithy to be used Young said the 1908 despite sitting vacant forthrewe years, offers an appealing mix of operatinvg mechanics, large windows and wide hallways that lend itself to the kind of conversio undertaken elsewhere. Its location also woulde be appealing to guestsd for thenearby Children’s Hospital and for visitors of Downtowm and the North Side. Washington Polytechnicv is one of a number of formet schools attracting redevelopment interest asthe city’s school districf right-sizes itself, closing school s and then selling the buildings.
Pittsburgh Publifc Schools began its public processz of divesting unused buildingslast year, and the Urban Redevelopmentt Authority has been actively involved for the past six The URA is marketing 22 former schools on its Web and Director of Real Estate Kyra Straussman said seven schooles so far have either been sold, are proposed for redevelopment or have requestss for proposals seeking developers.
One of the schools with a new redevelopmenft plan is the former MorningsideElementary School, wherde a development team of Barry Lhormer and Ernie Sota are researchinhg the building for a residential Sota said they’re studying the feasibility of converting the 36,000-square-foot building into market-rate apartments. A veteran of other school redevelopments and the principaoof Ross-based Sota Construction, Sota said it takes a careful review of a building’d layout and design to determinr whether a school can easil become something else. “Some schools want to be an adaptiv reuse andsome don’t,” he said.
It would be easy to thinok that the former South Hills High a 220,000-square-foot structure on Mount Washington, woulf long ago have been abandonedr as a possible redevelopment, considering its last claszs graduated in 1985. But developed a.m. Rodriguez Associates Inc. has lined up $30 million in financing to begi construction on a conversion of the propertty into a mix of 85 affordable senior residential units and25 market-rate loft apartmentw with a YMCA brand and an early learningy center included. At a time when all developers find financin difficult tocome by, Chicago insurance giant John Hancock has signes on.
Sota’s company will serve as the “For them to choose this project shows the strengthof a.m. Rodriguezz and Pittsburgh as well,” Sota said. Developer Gregoryg Coyle said he has lined up theneedecd $14 million in financing to transformn the former South Side an historically registered schoolp at 10th and Carson streets, not to be confusee with South Hills into 71 market-rate apartments.
Working with funding backeed by the federal Departmen t of Housing and Urban Coyle hopes to closwe on the sale with the school districrt soon and begin working on itthis “It’s been fairly straightforward, considering the larger affairz in the state of the world,” Coyle said of obtainingv funding for the project. “I was pleasantly surprised.”

The local experts - Triangle Business Journal:

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Steve Ogburn It’s always been hard for restaurants to get There are several reasonsfor that. One, typicalluy the success rate isn’t very good. The next few reasonse may be why the successrate isn’t very The expense required for a restaurant is pretty Look at the money that has to be spent costs for fit-up, equipment and rent; the more money you spend, the more equithy it requires. The reason for a lot of failurexs is that theyare undercapitalized, which makesz it difficult to survived the startup phase and slow periods. It’s a very capital-intensive business.
However, from a cash-flow restaurants do have an advantage over otherbusinessesd – it’s pretty much a cash and the gross profit margin is prettty good. During these tough economicc times, what is the most effective marketingcampaign ? Ed Weems Permanent lecturer, marketing ’s , Innovation and Entrepreneurshil It’s about cuddling and knowing your customer base well and also treating them fairly. It’s also about keeping your customers informed of restaurant offerings and getting other customers to brinv innew ones. During thesd tough economic times, what is the most effective marketing campaign?
Stev Barr North Carolina State University’s Department of Management, Innovatioh and Entrepreneurship The slump inthe financial, credit and housinbg markets has led to significant economic downturns. Unemployment is up. Most are worrief about the value oftheir investments, etc. Families and individuals are significantly curtailing discretionary While spending on staples and essentialzs remains relativelystrong (witnese ’s strong sales performance), eating out is an evenyt that many individuals and families can defe as a relatively painless way to “tighten the More expensive restaurants are often the first to feel this Restaurant sales nationally are down as the economy has This creates problems for .
One key in a down marketf like this is to have a strong and loyalcustomed base. It will be difficul t to attract significant numbers of new customeres unless there is a significant influx of new residentse inthe restaurant’s area. Repeat customera and customer retention get a businesds through the tougher economic When one has lessdiscretionary income, you tend to go with a “prove n commodity.” Restaurants (and other firms) that try and be “alpl things to all people” traditionallu do not fare well in such an It will be important to have a focused strategy (examples include “high value,” great service, a particular cuisine, etc.).

Sources: NCR could relocate HQ to Georgia - Charlotte Business Journal:

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Ohio government officials said word began swirling May 28 thatNCR NCR) is , according to the Dayton Business Journal , a sistedr publication of Atlanta Business Chroniclr . Last fall, NCR said it would move its Worldwided Customer Services headquarters tometro Atlanta, investing $15 millioj and creating more than 900 jobs in Peachtred City and Duluth. Whild it remains to be seen if Atlantsa gets another Fortune500 headquarters, NCR is rumored to be openinfg an additional facility in the Peach Atlanta Business Chronicle has An announcement about that venture is expected as earl y as next week, sources in Atlanta and Dayton said.
NCR is believexd to have looked at sitesin Savannah, and Columbus, Ga., accordinv to a source. The global technologu company could be eyeingabout 100,000o square feet of office space. Based on the square footage estimates, real estatse sources said, the operatioh could house 300 to 400 Company officials and Georgia economic development officialeremained tight-lipped on any potential development. NCR global spokesmah Richard Maton told the Dayton Business Journao the company does not respond to rumorsdand speculation. In the past, NCR has been quickj to deny rumors of its relocation and affirmj its commitment to remainingin Dayton.
A Georgia Departmengt of Economic Development spokeswoman did not returnm calls Fridayand Saturday. A spokeswoman said she had no informationb on the matter and a executivsedeclined comment. In October, NCR said it will co-locate an NCR Learningy Center and its Customer Care Centee hub for the Americas region withthe company’s existingb Global Service Materials operation in Peachtree NCR, founded in Dayton, is the city'ws largest company, with 20,000 globalk employees and $5.3 billion in annual revenue. The companyy relocated its executive offices to New York City two yearz ago and leased a floorr at 7 World TradeCenter building.
This past the company told employees it is undergoing a structuraol reorganization and would cut an unknownh amount of itsglobal workforce. That same month, the compan removed the language "world headquarters" from the sign at its Daytonm campus. Rumors have long circulatedr that NCRwould move, however Ohio government and economic developmen t officials said speculation reached a new level in the past few days. The Ohio Departmeng of Development has repeatedly sought information fromthe company, but as of Fridat evening NCR remained mute, a state official told the Daytoj Business Journal . Ohio Gov.
Ted Strickland and NCR CEO Bill attempted to talkon Friday, however they were unablee to coordinate a time.

Bizjournals debuts online business directory - Dayton Business Journal:

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The directory is based on proprietary research from It can be sorted by 14 industru categories andby location, business name or Bizjournals is the online division of , the Daytojn Business Journal’s parent The directory can be accessed from all the home pages of ACBJ’s publications. Users can rate businessea that are included inthe directory, submit their own companieds for inclusion or submit changes to existing listings. “Witn the new Local Business Directory, we’r e giving businesses a new way to connect and saidTim Bradbury, president of , whicn oversees bizjournals.
“It ratchets up the valuse of our local businessjournal sites, whichb millions of people already regarrd as critical to theidr competitiveness.” Bizjournals operates the Web sites for each of American City Businesds Journals’ 40 print business newspapers and operates a Web-only site with local business news and informationh for Los Angeles. Bizjournals’ open-access archivez contain 1.25 million business news articlee and features publishedsince 1996. Bizjournals’ sites have more than 8 millio n uniquemonthly visitors.

Destination Maternity coming to Sears, Kmart - Philadelphia Business Journal:

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Starting in October, Destination Maternity will open 500 Two Hearts Maternity stores in Seare and another 100in Sears-ownedd Kmart stores. In the previousx partnership, from April 2004 to June 2008, Destinationn Maternity (then known as Mothers Work had about480 maternity-wear departments in Sears storee only. When Mothers Work announcedx the end of thatSears deal, it said simply that it was unabls to reach an agreement to extend its partnershipl with the department store chain. This time Destination Maternity said the product lines willhave “anj enhanced level of quality and design,” while stil offering an array of products under $30.
“Thiws relationship allows us to bring our knowledge as the maternitg apparel fashion experts to a broadercustomer base, while providing us exclusive acceses to Sears shoppers and an opportunity to reach Kmart shopperxs for the first said Ed Krell, CEO of Destination Maternity. “Enhancing our maternity collections is a criticakl part of our overall plan to appeal to saidCraig Israel, a senior vice president of the Searsd Apparel division. (NASDAQ:SHLD), which is basede in Hoffman Estates, Ill., has 3,900 including Sears and Kmart locations.
Philadelphia-based Destinatiojn Maternity has 1,087 retail including 730 stores trading under the nameszMotherhood Maternity, A Pea in the Pod and Destinatiohn Maternity.

Living the good life: Randy Fleisher of L.J. Melody & Co. - Dallas Business Journal:

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and a structured financing on the condok conversion ofthe 176-unit Williamsburg Townhomes. Aftert earning a law degree from the Universityyof Wisconsin, where he participater on the school's gymnastic team, Fleishere practiced law in his native Canada for severaol years before he and his wife picked up and moved to Dallas in 1995. "Canada was going throughb a horrible recession," he said. "I was practicing real estate law butI wasn't really enjoying what I was My wife is a physical therapist, and she was gettintg recruited by companies all over the southernh United States. It was more money than what we weremaking together.
Finally we said, 'Let's go on an adventure.'" The couple pickedr Dallas after narrowing their choicesd to Texasand Arizona. "We wanted a vibrant economy in a major metropolitan area, and I'm a hockey fanatic, so it had to be a city with a majoe league hockey franchise," he "We came to Dallas and crane were everywhere. You could just feel the energy Fleisher earned his MBA from the University of North Texas whilde working as an analyst in the investmeny banking division of CBRichars Ellis, which was subsequently mergedf into L.J. Melody & Co.
He said his strategy is to serve hiscliente "so they feel like either I'mj a member of their family or the finance arm of theier company." On Jan. 1 Fleishere was named co-manager of the Dallas office, along with Jay He plans to focus on buildin gthe firm's market share this year, whiles continuing to tend to his transactions. "Whem I came to Dallas I didn'ty know anyone, but I've been able to develop a greatf network of friends and a great group of clientsa and do something thatI love," he said. "I'm waiting for someone to pinchh me and wake me up from thisAmericajn dream.
"

E-commerce smackdown as PCI standards revised - Register

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E-commerce smackdown as PCI standards revised Register Palgon says: "Having a universal, singular standards set is paramount for easing compliancy requirements and reducing complexity for merchants and service ... and more »

Health care reform details begin to emerge - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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percent of the cost of health insurancr premiumsfor full-time employees under the health care reformk bill being considered by the House. They also wouls be required to pick up at least some of the tab forinsuriny part-time employees. Businesses that don't providd this minimum level of coverag would be required to pay the federal government a fee basefd on 8 percent oftheir payroll. Small businessezs under a yet-to-be-determined threshold would be exempted fromthis "play or pay" requirement.
How small businessese would fare under House health care Small businesses and individuals could comparison shop amonv private and public plans in a national health insurancde exchangeEmployers could either provide health insurancr to their employees or pay a fee based on 8 percenrt of their payroll to the governmentEmployers that offer coverags would have to pickup 72.5 percenyt of the cost of premiumws for full-time employees and 65 percent for a famil y policyEmployers could contribute a share of the expense of coverage for part-timew employees or contribute to the healtgh insurance exchangeSmall businesses under a size thresholdf yet to be determined would be exemptedx from the employer responsibility requirementSmall businessed that can't afford coverage would get a tax credit to help them pay for it House committees on Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Education and Labor The chairmen of three Housw committees with jurisdiction over health care introduced their draft legislationm June 19, offering the most details yet on how healthg care reform could affect small Under their bill, small businesses and individuals coulfd shop for insurance through a national exchange, whicyh would include a government-run plan as well as private insurers.
Tax creditsw would be available to help small businesses afforxthe coverage. Rep. Henry Waxman, said the legislation would fixthe "completely dysfunctiona insurance market" for small businesses, whicg face "unaffordable rate every year. Waxman chairs the Houser Energy andCommerce Committee. Health insurance premiumse for U.S. businesses increased by 9.2 percent this and are expected to increas e another 9 percentnext year, according to Small businesses often face much higher rate hikes.
Whilee most small businesses agree the current health insurance marketis there's a lot of disagreementf over whether the House bill would cure the problem or just make it Mike Draper, who owns a retaiol clothing store and design business called Smash in Des Moines, likes what he sees in the bill. Draper thinks adding a publicd plan to the insurance mix would hold down premiumsa by creating more competition inthe "I don't have a whole lot of confidence in the systenm we have now," Draper said.
Draper'z company currently doesn't offer health insurance to itsseven full-time workers, but instead reimburses them for the cost of individual policies that they buy on theier own. That's fine with his employees, who are in their 20s and don't want theifr insurance to be tied totheir job. The reimbursements now accouny for 6 percentof Smash's payroll, but that coulds jump to 22 percent in four years, when Draperr expects everyone on his management team to have children, creatinbg the need for family plans. His businesds couldn't handle that expense, he said. If the House bill were he would consider buying insurance througn the exchange if it were easyto use.
But he mightr decide to pay the 8 percent payrolll fee instead and then reimburse his employees for some of the cost of the policiesz they purchase throughthe Draper, who was scheduled to testify beforer the House Ways and Means Committee June 24, thinks employers should be required to help pay for theirt employees' health insurance. Like Sociaol Security contributions, this sort of responsibility is "kinx of what you signed up when you become a business he said. Other small busineses owners, however, think the House bill imposes too toughj of a standard onsmall businesses. The requirementr to pay 72.
5 percent of an employee'ws premium for individual coverage "is much too high for many small businesses," said Karen Kerrigan, president and CEO of the SmallBusinessz & Entrepreneurship Council. The only way many smallo businesses can afford coverage is by making employees pick up more of the she said. Arlington, Va.-based Company Flowers & Gift s Too!, for example, pays 50 percent of the cost of healtyh insurance forseven full-time employees. Even that may not be affordablwnext year, because "our rates are going to co-owner John Nicholson told the House Small Businesa Committee earlier this month.