{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://hern.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=4128", "Hern Introduces Legislation to Protect Small Businesses", "2025-09-10", "2025", "2025-09", "Republican", "House", "OK", "Kevin Hern", "H001082", "hern.house.gov", "hern", "https://hern.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Representative Kevin Hern (OK-01) introduced the American Franchise Act (AFA) today with Democrat co-lead Representative Don Davis (NC-01). The legislation provides stability for the franchise model of small business by aligning federal statute with longstanding precedent and National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) policy.\n\n\u201cAs one of the few franchisees in Congress, I understand how damaging an ever-changing joint-employer rule is to the franchise business model,\u201d said Rep. Hern. \u201cI'm pleased that we were able to come together in a bipartisan effort to create legislation that safeguards small businesses and individuals working to achieve the American Dream across the country.\u201d\n\nThe AFA has the support of the International Franchise Association.\n\n\u201cThis legislation recognizes that franchisees are small businesses, and their independence must be protected by federal law,\u201d said Matt Haller, IFA President and CEO. \u201cThe American Franchise Act allows franchisors to properly support their franchisees \u2013 who are often first-time business owners from all walks of life \u2013 without the fear of an overly broad joint employer standard undermining the unique benefits of the franchise relationship. On behalf of America\u2019s 831,000 franchise small businesses, we are grateful that the decade-long uncertainty around joint employer policy can finally come to an end.\u201d\n\nIn the past, ever-changing \u2018joint employer\u2019 rules have put franchise business owners on a regulatory rollercoaster, due to a fundamental misunderstanding of the franchise business model. This has resulted in 376,000 lost job opportunities and a 93% spike in costly litigation.\n\nThe American Franchise Act would give small, family franchise businesses the certainty they need by clarifying that franchisors are only \u201cjoint employers\u201d if they possess an exercise substantial and immediate control over essential terms and conditions of employment, like hiring workers, firing workers, setting wages, and disciplinary action.\n\nThe AFA recognizes that while franchisors set and enforce uniform standards to protect their brand and ensure consistency, franchisors and franchisees remain independent employers.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:10:29Z"]], "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://hern.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=4128"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5116212889552116, "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"}