Virginia Chamber of Commerce
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Chamber Briefings 
February 5, 2016
Upcoming Events

SAVE THE DATE for these upcoming events:
 
2016 Fantastic 50 Awards
April 28
Westfields Marriott, Chantilly

2016 Energy, Sustainability & Resiliency Conference
May 10
Greater Richmond Convention Center

Virginia Chamber Annual Dinner and Legislative Awards
May 17
Richmond

2016 Health Care Conference
June 9
Greater Richmond Convention Center
Member News
President's Message

Barry DuVal
As the General Assembly session progresses, we wanted to update you on a number of items our team has been working on. The deadline for filing bills was January 22nd, and over 2700 bills and resolutions were introduced this year. Our government affairs team has been busy tracking over 600 bills. Of those 600, we've listed positions on around 100, which you can find on our Bills We're Watching. 

We're pleased that many anti-business bills have already been defeated, including minimum wage increases, paid sick leave requirements and a provision that would have required business owners to open up their books to the Department of Labor for essentially any reason. You can read more about these harmful bills below.

We will continue to provide you with timely updates as the 2016 General Assembly session progresses.

Last week, on January 27th, we hosted 300 Chamber and business leaders in Richmond  for Chamber Day at the Capitol, where we heard from Speaker Bill Howell, Senator Tommy Norment, Lt. Governor Ralph Northam, Attorney General Mark Herring and Governor McAuliffe. That evening, over 500 people joined us for the Old Dominion Assembly Legislative Reception, including Governor McAuliffe and First Lady Dorothy McAuliffe, the Attorney General, many General Assembly Members, members of the Governor's Cabinet and state agency heads. To view photos from Chamber Day and ODA, click here.

At the Chamber Day luncheon on January 27th, Tom Palmer of Wells Fargo & Company was elected to serve as Chairman of the Virginia Chamber Board of Directors for 2016. Dennis Treacy, President of the Smithfield Foundation was elected first vice chair. 18 new board members were also elected. A full announcement and list of new board members can be found below.
Tom Palmer Elected Chairman of the Virginia Chamber Board of Directors
The Virginia Chamber of Commerce elected Tom Palmer of Wells Fargo & Company to serve as chairman of the board of directors at the Chamber's annual meeting January 27 in Richmond. Palmer served as first vice chair of the board in 2015. He succeeds 2015 Chairman Stacy Mendler, COO of Alion Science and Technology.

Tom Palmer is a senior vice president and regional vice president for the Central Virginia regional commercial banking office of Wells Fargo, based in Richmond. He also oversees the Eastern Virginia commercial banking office. Commercial Banking provides lending, capital markets, treasury management and deposit products for middle market businesses with annual sales between $20 million and $1 billion.

"The Virginia Chamber represents companies of all sizes, in diverse industries from across the Commonwealth," said Chairman Tom Palmer. "Our chief mission is to provide a long-term vision for economic growth for Virginia and to implement that vision by educating business leaders, voters and policymakers. I look forward to advancing the Chamber's agenda for growth, laid out in Blueprint Virginia. We will also work to grow the Chamber's reach to ensure that every voice in the business community is heard in the process."

"The Virginia Chamber is fortunate to have Tom Palmer in this new leadership role," said Barry DuVal, President and CEO of the Virginia Chamber. "Tom has the right vision for the Chamber and for implementing policies that will grow our economy and create jobs."

The board of directors elected 18 new members at the annual meeting, including electing Dennis Treacy as first vice chair. Treacy serves as president of the Smithfield Foundation and was most recently an executive vice president with Smithfield Foods. He has previously served as vice chair - economic development with the Virginia Chamber.

Other new board members include:

Bill Aden, Founder, Draper Aden Associates, Inc., Blacksburg

John Dooley, CEO & Secretary-Treasurer, Virginia Tech Foundation, Inc., Blacksburg

Paige Clay, Partner, Mercer, Richmond

Alan Witt, CEO, PBMares, LLP, Newport News

Kym Wellons, Associate General Counsel, WestRock Company, Richmond

Teresa Beale, Executive Director, Franklin-Southampton Area Chamber of Commerce, Franklin

Vince Bush, President & CEO, Eagle Corporation, Charlottesville

Janice Crawford, Supplier Diversity & Commodity Manager, Global Travel, AREVA, Inc., Lynchburg

Chris Kyle, Vice President, Shentel, Edinburg

John Stacey, SVP of Marketing, Tranlin, Inc., Charlottesville

Billy Beale, President & CEO, Union Bank & Trust, Richmond

Valerie Camillo, Chief Revenue & Marketing Officer, Washington Nationals Baseball Club, Washington

Karen Campbell, Vice President - State Government Affairs, Verizon, Richmond

Tom Corbitt, Vice President - Human Resources, McGraw Hill Financial, Manakin Sabot

Nick D'Andrea, Director, Public Affairs, UPS, Nashville

Clark Lewis, Partner, Troutman Sanders, Richmond

Dan O'Neill, Jr., President & CEO, SunTrust Bank - Greater Washington & Maryland Division, Washington

Jeff Ricketts, Regional Vice President - Sales, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Richmond

A full board listing, including those continuing their terms, can be found at www.vachamber.com.
Bills We're Watching

Our bill tracking system, "Bills We're Watching," provides a quick and easy way for our members to stay abreast of all legislation pertinent to business. Short, concise summaries of each bill are provided along with the Chamber's "thumbs-up" or "thumbs-down" position.

Click on the image above to view Bills We're Watching. 
Chamber Works to Defeat Anti-Business Bills
While we develop and advocate for a proactive agenda in the legislature to advance the goals of Blueprint, some of our most important work is monitoring and alerting legislators to bills that would hurt our business climate. 

Over the last several years, minimum wage increases represent the single largest potential new cost to Virginia businesses proposed by members of the General Assembly.The Virginia Chamber has educated legislators on the impact that an increase would have on making it more difficult for businesses to expand and hire new employees. This year, there were eight bills in the House and Senate to increase the minimum wage on a statewide or local basis, all of which have been defeated. 

In recent years, efforts to set wage floors have been on the rise. These efforts are essentially an alternative to raising the minimum wage without having to pass a statewide law. To combat these efforts, we are also working to advance HB1371, which would prohibit localities from requiring a minimum wage or benefit that exceeds requirements in state and federal law.

We helped stop a proposal (HB7) that would require private employers with 25 or more full-time employee equivalents to provide employees working 18 hours per week or more with paid sick leave benefits.

Another defeated bill (HB743) would require employers to open up their employment records to the Department of Labor upon request or face a civil penalty. 
Attorney General Herring Announces 'Patent Troll Unit' at Chamber Day at the Capitol

On January 27th, 2016 at Chamber Day at the Capitol, Attorney General Mark Herring announced the launch of the Attorney General's Patent Troll Unit. The Patent Troll Unit will help protect Virginia businesses from bad faith and abusive patent enforcement practices.

Legislation supported by the Virginia Chamber and passed during the 2014 General Assembly session gave the AG's office enforcement powers and resources to investigate cases of patent trolling and to seek financial penalties and injunctions against those who assert patent infringement claims in bad faith, even if they are based outside of Virginia. 

Potential violations can be reported:
When reporting a potential violation, the following information should be included:
  • Contact information for the business or individual being targeted by the bad faith assertion of patent infringement;
  • Contact information for the alleged patent troll;
  • Details about the assertion of patent infringement (number of demand letters, patents asserted, a description of the product that allegedly infringes the patent, whether a license was offered and at what price, etc.);
  • Details about the target's actions since receiving the assertion of patent infringement (contacted alleged patent troll, sought legal counsel, filed a declaratory judgment action, etc.); and
  • A copy of any demand letter(s) received by the target.
For more information regarding the announcement of the Patent Troll Unit, please click here.
Virginia Chamber Supports Bill to Establish Virginia International Trade Authority

The Virginia Chamber supports HB858, sponsored by Delegate Steve Landes, to establish the Virginia International Trade Authority, a public-private partnership that optimizes existing international trade development programs of the state with federal and local resources. 

The Virginia International Trade Authority is Virginia's 21st century response to capturing the benefit of global markets for Virginia citizens.  With the vast majority of economic growth expected to occur outside the United States over the next several decades, Virginia must ensure that it implements and maintains innovative international trade programs in order to help our businesses grow and expand.

In an op-ed in the Richmond Times Dispatch on February 1st, Barry DuVal outlined the reasons why we support HB858. You can read that op-ed by clicking here.

On February 2nd, the Virginia Chamber, along with Delegate Steve Landes, the Virgina Manufacturers Association, the Virginia Maritime Association and business leaders from across the Commonwealth held a press conference to express support for the Virginia International Trade Authority. 


We also delivered a coalition letter to all General Assembly Members listing over 100 Virginia businesses in support of HB858. You can view that letter here.
Right To Work Constitutional Amendment Passes House and Senate
The Virginia House and Senate both passed 'Right to Work' constitutional amendments this week. 

The constitutional amendments, carried by Delegate Dickie Bell in the House (HJ2) and Senator Mark Obenshain in the Senate (SJ70), prohibit union membership as a condition of employment. Virginia's current law states that an individual cannot be denied employment for refusing to join a labor union, but including right to work in the Constitution solidifies this important pro-business policy. 

After approval by the other respective body, the constitutional amendment will go to the voters for final approval. 
Bill to Change Definition of "Large" and "Small" Businesses for Health Insurance Coverage Passes General Assembly, Signed by Governor

On January 26th, Governor McAuliffe signed HB58, which was introduced by Delegate Kathy Byron in order to protect small businesses from an insurance change originally mandated by the Affordable Care Act. This legislation protects small businesses by allowing them to to maintain the current small group insurance market definition as businesses with 1-50 employees. The bill contained an emergency clause.

Under the ACA, small businesses between 51 and 100 employees were due to be moved into the small group insurance market starting in 2016.  The small group market is more heavily regulated than the market for larger businesses, and insurance rates for small businesses would rise significantly under this change. The Obama administration modified the ACA to prevent this expansion. However, Virginia is one of a few states where the Bureau of Insurance regulates the implementation of the ACA.  While other states were able to use executive action to follow the lead of the federal government, Virginia needed to pass legislation.
Affordable Care Act reporting extension issued for employers

The U.S. Treasury Department is giving employers an extension to report certain Affordable Care Act (ACA) requirements, as it seeks to manage some of the most complicated parts of the federal health care law.  Employers had previously faced deadlines in February and March to report 2015 health insurance information to their employees and the IRS, respectively.  Employers now have until March 31 to get information to their workers and until June 30 in certain cases to get details to the IRS.  

The information is needed to enforce the ACA's mandate that individuals carry insurance, to administer its subsidies for premiums and to apply its requirement that larger employers offer coverage.  The requirement for employers with 50 or more workers to offer coverage or face fines has been delayed twice. It takes effect January 1 for companies with 50-99 employees. Companies with 100 or more workers faced the requirement starting in 2015, after an initial postponement of a year.  Treasury Department's announcement does not involve any delays of the law's underlying requirements, and just provides additional time for companies to file paperwork.
General Assembly Resources





Interested in International Expansion? Take Advantage of VITAL!
The Virginia Chamber is proud to partner with the Virginia Economic Development Partnership on VITAL, the Virginia International Trade Alliance. As a VITAL partner, our member companies have access to steeply discounted rates for international market research as well as international trade shows and international trade missions facilitated through VEDP. 
 

Click below for more information:

If you or a company that you work with is interested in learning more about VITAL, please contact Samantha Quig, Deputy Director of Communications, at s.quig@vachamber.com or 804-237-1457.
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