Georgia Legislators Offer Bipartisan Support for Business Owners

For the second consecutive year, state Rep. Dar’shun Kendrick (D-Lithonia) facilitated an opportunity for local business owners in Georgia to share in an exchange of ideas with a bipartisan group of congressmen.

“Business Owners Day at the Capitol” began at 7:30 a.m. Thursday in the Floyd Room of the West Twin Towers building at the state Capital. Kendrick was joined by fellow Democrats Rep. Karen Bennet (Stone Mountain) and Sen. Ron Ramsey (Decatur) and well as Republican Rep. Brett Harrell (Snellville). According to a press release from Kendrick’s office, the event offered business owners from across the state an opportunity to network with other business owners and to learn about what state and federal agencies are doing to support small businesses. It also gave them an opportunity to let state representatives and senators know what they can do on the state level to make it easier to do business in Georgia.

In a special blog on the event, Kendrick pointed out that while as a representative of the Georgia government, she also another job — that of a practicing attorney. Harrell explained that he, too, is a small business owner, has owned and operated several small business over the course of his career, and still does.

“Today I am a salesman with Advanced Disposal Services,” Harrell said, going on to explain why businesses should have an intimate interest in the Georgia legislature. “Our laws and policies guide the operations of the Georgia Department of Labor, Revenue, Transportation, and others that impact small business on a daily basis. Your legislator should hear from you often on what is working and what needs change or elimination.”

Kendrick emphasized the need for policy engagement.

“I understand that you are busy working and making business decisions BUT please remember that there are external forces that decide how your business functions and a huge component of that are the local, state and federal policies and laws made by legislators, judges and agencies,” Kendrick said. “It’s important to keep abreast of what’s going on in the “political world” so make sure you can voice your opinion when something is being proposed that adversely affects your business interests. It’s not selfish—-it’s being a good business owner and a good American. We all should strive to do this, whether we own a business or not.”

Would you like to see more of this form of bipartisan cooperation between your state legislators? Tell us in comments. 

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