LICA is cooperating with the Business Coalition for Fair Competition (BCFC) in calling for a White House Conference on Small Business. Reps. Brad Finstad (R-MN) and Don Davis (D-NC) will be introducing the White House Conference on Small Business Act of 2025 this week. There have been three White House Conference on Small Business (WHCSB) in 1980, 1986, and 1995. They were convened by Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton in an effort to foster better relationships with members of the business community, Congress and the White House to develop innovative policy solutions to economic problems.
A critical piece to the success of the WHCSB is the utilization of state conferences to ensure broad and equitable representation of the very diverse small-business community. Through the state conferences, which feed into the regional conferences and then into the national conference, small-business owners can develop, enhance and fully embrace the key issues facing small businesses nationwide. In addition to building consensus, growing small-business networks and nurturing future small-business leaders, the state conferences and broad participation of small businesses lend credibility to the final list of recommendations. Despite action and success on a variety of issues impacting small business, there has not been a White House conference in more than two decades. That is far too long to go without giving voice and a forum to America’s small businesses which account for 99 percent of U.S. private sector employers and 64 percent of net new private sector jobs.
LICA’s Government Relations Committee Chairman Bruce Barnhart was quoted in the letter calling for the conference, ““Small business construction contractors, like many small businesses, face a host of issues - from workforce shortages to government regulations to increased input costs- that challenge their ability to be successful and to maintain and create new jobs. The Land Improvement Contractors Association (LICA) urges a coordinated effort to identify obstacles and opportunities for small business success through a White House Conference on Small Business. Small business success strengthens the US economy and enhances US global competitiveness.”