Carey Leads Effort to Encourage Small Business Formation

Washington, D.C. — Today, Representatives Mike Carey (OH-15) and Greg Landsman (OH-1) introduced the bipartisan New Opportunities for Business Ownership and Self-Sufficiency (NO BOSS) Act, which supports individuals as they pursue small business ownership. The bill makes improvements to the currently underutilized Self-Employment Assistance (SEA) Program, making state participation less onerous and encouraging participation…

The bill has earned widespread support from the small business community and other outside groups…

Eli Lehrer, of the R Street Institute “The NO BOSS Act is a commonsense proposal that empowers workers, improves our social safety net, and creates new opportunities.  While self-employment rates and business start up rates remain lower than they were 30 years ago, the post-pandemic period has seen a movement towards more people pursuing their dreams and starting new businesses. This proposal can help the nation continue this positive momentum. The R Street Institute is pleased to support it…”

Background:

The Self-Employment Assistance (SEA) Program is designed to encourage unemployed individuals to start their own businesses. Unlike traditional Unemployment Compensation, SEA participants can receive weekly payments while getting their small business off the ground. 

Only eight states offer SEA programs for UC claimants as of 2022 (Delaware, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island). Currently, Oregon and New York have the largest SEA programs, with 390 participants and 1005 participants, respectively.

The NO BOSS Act will improve utilization of the SEA program by making common-sense changes to the program, many modeled after the program’s highly successful implementation in Oregon. The bill would remove the “likely to exhaust benefits” provision, which prevents many unemployed workers from participating in this program and implies that entrepreneurship should only be for those who are unlikely to find any other job.

Additionally, the legislation would clarify that a business plan and market feasibility study could serve as an alternative requirement to entrepreneurship training. The bill also provides integrity guardrails to ensure those who have opted to submit a business plan and market feasibility study are meeting the required deadlines. Lastly, the bill increases the participation cap from five to ten percent.

Full text of the NO BOSS Act is available here.