{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://comer.house.gov/2025/7/congressman-comer-introduces-the-save-local-business-act", "Congressman Comer Introduces the Save Local Business Act", "2025-07-15", "2025", "2025-07", "Republican", "House", "KY", "James Comer", "C001108", "comer.house.gov", "comer", "https://comer.house.gov/media", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 Today, U.S. Representative James Comer (R-Ky.) introduced the Save Local Business Act, which clarifies the joint employer standard to provide certainty for small business owners and workers across the country. In recent years, small businesses have suffered under unelected bureaucrats at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that have dramatically expanded the definition of \u201cjoint employer\u201d and implemented burdensome regulations for small businesses.\n\n\u201cCongress must promote policies that empower small businesses and free them from stifling regulations pushed by an unchecked and unelected federal bureaucracy,\u201d said Congressman Comer. \u201cMy bill, the Save Local Business Act, will add common sense to the definition of a joint employer, protect the franchise business model, and reduce bureaucratic headaches for American job creators. Now is the time for job growth and creation, not harmful and unclear regulations.\u201d\n\nThe Save Local Business Act has already received resounding support, including from a coalition of employer industry groups who released a letter of support for this legislation.\n\n\u201cThe Save Local Business Act provides much-needed stability to the franchise community on the issue of joint employer,\u201d said Michael Layman, IFA Chief Advocacy Officer. \u201cAfter four changes to the federal joint employer standard in the last decade, certainty and a reasonable, clear, and consistent standard of joint employer is essential to the nation\u2019s 831,000 franchise small businesses\u2019 plan for the future. We are grateful to Rep. Comer for his leadership and look forward to clarifying the joint employer standard once and for all.\u201d\n\n\u201cFranchising is the backbone of the hotel industry, providing a pathway to entrepreneurship for tens thousands of small business owners. The majority of hotels across the U.S. are small business franchises. This bill will give them the clarity they need to effectively run their business, and we applaud Representative Comer for introducing this commonsense measure. Codifying the definition of \u2018joint employer\u2019 will ensure the pathway to the American dream is preserved, while creating more career opportunities in the hotel industry. We encourage Congress to swiftly adopt this legislation,\u201d said Rosanna Maietta, President & CEO of the American Hotel & Lodging Association.\n\n\"ABC is proud to support the Save Local Business Act, which provides construction industry contractors with much-needed certainty when determining joint-employer status. By clarifying that such determinations must be based on whether an employer directly, actually and immediately exercises significant control over the essential terms and conditions of employment, this legislation safeguards longstanding subcontracting practices that enable contractors to build America efficiently and effectively,\" said Kristen Swearingen, Vice President of Government Affairs at Associated Builders and Contractors.\n\nYou may click HERE to read the Save Local Business Act.\n\nBackground:\n\nIn 2015, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) placed itself in the middle of the employer-employee relationship, making changes that hurt working families and small businesses and empowered union interests. Hiring, work schedules, and pay increases were no longer solely between an employer and an employee. This prompted a similar expansion of the joint employer standard under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). With these actions, the Obama administration and the NLRB discarded settled labor policy and blurred the lines of responsibility for decisions affecting the daily operations of local businesses across the country. Under former President Biden, the Department of Labor again worked to reinstate this harmful framework before it was struck down in federal court.\n\nUnder the previous administration\u2019s proposed definition, two or more employers can be considered joint employers for making a business agreement that \u201cindirectly\u201d or \u201cpotentially\u201d impacts their employees\u2019 day-to-day responsibilities and working environment. According to the International Franchise Association, the expanded joint employer standard cost franchise businesses over $33 billion per year, resulted in 376,000 lost job opportunities, and led to 93% more lawsuits.\n\nThe Save Local Business Act:\n\nAmends the National Labor Relations Act and the FLSA to clarify that two or more employers must have \u201cactual, direct, and immediate\u201d control over employees to be considered joint employers.\n\nRolls back a convoluted joint employer scheme that threatens job creation and undermines the American Dream.\n\nRestores a commonsense definition of employer to provide certainty and stability for workers and employers.\n\nProtects workers and local employers from future overreach by unelected bureaucrats and activist judges.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T14:40:33Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://comer.house.gov/2025/7/congressman-comer-introduces-the-save-local-business-act"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3476910535246134, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}