Warnick, Manweller honored by NFIB

OLYMPIA – State Reps. Judy Warnick and Matt Manweller were recently presented the “Guardian of Small Business Award” by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) for their voting records during the 2013-14 legislative sessions.

NFIB State Director Patrick Connor commended Warnick and Manweller for taking some difficult votes to support small businesses and being leaders on business and economic development issues.

“As the ranking minority member of the House Labor and Workforce Development Committee, Manweller called to task fellow lawmakers and witnesses alike whose faulty arguments in favor of more regulations and more government intervention in the private sector defied common sense and the basic laws of economics,” Connor said.

As an NFIB member and small-business owner herself, Warnick has an “innate” understanding of what it takes for job creators to be successful, Connor added.

“Throughout her tenure in the House, Warnick has been a faithful ally, working to lessen the burden of high taxes and excessive regulations on our state’s small employers. Main Street has been fortunate to have her steadfast support in the state House.”

The award recipients are graded on votes they take during the two-year legislative cycle that help or hurt small businesses. A lawmaker must have an 80 percent voting record or higher to receive the award. Warnick and Manweller had a 90 percent voting records on the 10 House bills tracked by NFIB.

“We have a lot of work to do to make this a small business-friendly state,” said Manweller, R-Ellensburg. “There needs to be some stability for employers. A good start would be an end to the business-killing legislation proposed every year that is detrimental to our employers and economy.”

Warnick, R-Moses Lake, said: “We need to give the private sector the opportunity and incentive to invest in or expand their business, instead of imposing or proposing rules and regulations that are damaging their livelihoods.”

Sixty percent of members of the NFIB, America’s Voice of Small Business since 1943, have five or fewer employees, Connor noted. Small businesses are crucial to the fiscal condition of the state and numbered 546,885 in 2010.