If this newsletter is not displaying correctly please click here or paste the following link into
your internet browser: http://www.retailmerchants.com/newsletter-retail-advocate/2007-11.htm
The Retail Advocate

The Retail EmployerNovember 2007

Local Issues

Public Hearing Henrico County's Application for Enterprise Zone Amendment

A public hearing will be conducted by the County of Henrico, Virginia at 6:00 p.m., Thursday, November 29, 2007, in the Board Room of the County Administration Building in the Government Center at Parham and Hungary Spring Roads concerning the County’s proposed application to the Virginia Enterprise Zone Program for the Henrico/City of Richmond’s North Enterprise Zone, to add commercial properties in the areas along E. Ridge, Quioccasin Road, Three Chopt Road, Starling Drive and Parham Road, along Hungary Road and Woodman Road, along Azalea Avenue and Richmond-Henrico Turnpike, along E. Laburnum Avenue and S. Laburnum Avenue and to delete properties along Hilliard Road and Brook Road, and a property along E. Laburnum Avenue. Henrico County is also proposing to add four new incentives, available to businesses, in the Enterprise Zone. Grants are proposed for demolition, paving, landscaping and building improvements. The County encourages owners of properties and operators of businesses located in the affected areas to attend and especially residents of adjacent residential neighborhoods to attend. The purpose of the Virginia Enterprise Zone Program is to stimulate business and industrial growth in such areas which would result in neighborhood, commercial and economic revitalization.

For more information concerning the proposed Enterprise Zone amendment, call the Henrico Department of Community Revitalization at 501-7640. Maps of the affected areas and the proposed incentives may be viewed on the Henrico County web site—www.co.henrico.va.us/revit, at the Permit Center in the Eastern and Western Government Centers, and at any of the Henrico County public libraries.

*Reprint from the Richmond Times-Dispatch

Back to top

State Issues

Election results for Senate and House of Delegates

Legislative wish list

If there was one piece of legislation that could be passed in the 2008 General Assembly that would help you in the day to day operation of your business or to make your business more profitable, what would it be? Send your legislative wish to gpeyton@retailmerchants.com. Back to top

Federal Issues*

* © 2007. NRF Enterprises, Inc. used with permission.

Court Blocks Rule on Firing Workers with False SSNs

A U.S. District Court judge in San Francisco blocked the Department of Homeland Security from implementing new rules aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration by requiring retailers and other employers to fire workers who might be using fake Social Security numbers.

U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer also blocked the Social Security Administration (SSA) from sending threatening letters to 140,000 employers informing them that some of their employees' Social Security information did not match the agency's records.

Breyer issued the order in response to a lawsuit filed by the AFL-CIO and the American Civil Liberties Union arguing that many U.S. citizens and legal immigrants could be fired because of errors in the SSA database.

"There can be no doubt that the effects of the rule's implementation will be severe," Judge Breyer wrote, which would cause "irreparable harm to innocent workers and employers."

NRF and its division NCCR, which represents chain restaurants, expressed concerns that the agencies would not have been ready by the scheduled implementation date. NRF and NCCR also share the AFL-CIO and ACLU's concern that legitimate, legal workers could be affected by errors in government databases, among other bureaucratic mistakes. A letter sent from Senator Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff stated similar concerns.

"The Social Security Administration (SSA) sends 'no match' letters to employers when information on an employee's job application does not match with the SSA's database. Errors in the database account for many lawfully employed individuals receiving ‘no match' letters," wrote Senator Hagel. "In fact, the SSA reports 9 million 'no matches' a year. For DHS to use 'no match' letters as an immigration enforcement tool will undoubtedly be ineffective."

Under the blocked ruling, employers receiving a "no-match" letter from the SSA would have been given 30 days to establish whether the mismatched numbers were caused by errors on their part and 60 days to resolve the discrepancy with the Social Security Administration. Failure to respond would be interpreted as a "knowing" violation of immigration law, requiring the employer to fire the employee or face fines of up to $10,000, an increase of 25 percent over previous fines.

The rule, announced by Secretary Chertoff in August, was central to the Bush Administration's effort to crack down on illegal immigration after the defeat of immigration reform legislation earlier this year.

For more information, contact NRF Vice President and Government Relations Counsel Elizabeth Oesterle or NCCR Vice President Scott Vinson at (202) 783-7971.

Back to top

House Approves Four-Year Extension of Internet Tax Ban

The House this week approved a four-year extension of a ban on Internet access taxes that's set to expire in less than two weeks, making it unlikely that a permanent extension will be passed this year.

H.R. 3678, the Internet Tax Freedom Act Amendments Act of 2007, sponsored by Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., passed the House 405-2 on Tuesday.

The bill would extend the Internet Tax Freedom Act -- which bans state and local governments from taxing Internet access or imposing "multiple and discriminatory" Internet taxes -- through November 1, 2011. The ban, which does not involve the collection of sales taxes on Internet purchases, has seen two temporary extensions since it was first enacted in 1998 but is currently set to expire on November 1.

NRF, NRF's Shop.org on-line division and other supporters have sought a permanent ban on access taxes, but backers of the four-year extension said the House needed to pass a bill that could also pass the Senate.

"The Senate has made clear that a permanent moratorium will be dead in the Senate," Representative Mel Watt, D-N.C., said. "Politics is the art of compromise, and we are doing what is necessary to pass this bill."

"We will get (an) extension, but we will not be getting the kind of permanent ban that would be needed to benefit long-term Internet growth," said Representative Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., who made several attempts to push a permanent extension.

Goodlatte argued that "party politics have trumped good policy," noting that the bill was brought up under procedures that limited debate and barred amendments. House members were not allowed to vote on a competing bill sponsored by Representative Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., even though it had 239 co-sponsors.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., other Senate Republicans and the Bush Administration have argued for a permanent extension. But Senate Democrats have refused to agree to more than a six-year extension, and a Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee vote scheduled late last month on the six-year deal was canceled when Republicans continued to insist on a permanent extension. Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, is on record as opposing a permanent extension because "we don't know what the future holds."

Opposition has come mostly from states that want to tax Internet access the same as other telecommunications utilities like telephone and cable television service. The issue has been complicated by the fact that phone and TV services are increasingly provided over the Internet, and phone and cable TV companies also provide Internet service.

Published reports this week said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, R-Nev., might broker a deal to move the House bill directly to the Senate floor, skipping the committee process as the November 1 deadline approaches.

NRF argued in a letter to House members last week that the tax moratorium ensures that all consumers have affordable access to the Internet and are able to connect with businesses that can best serve their needs. Shop.org has argued that the lack of access taxes has helped the growth of e-commerce.

For more information, contact NRF Vice President and Government and Industry Relations Counsel Maureen Riehl or Vice President and Government Relations Counsel Elizabeth Oesterle at (202) 783-7971.

Back to top

Product-safety agencies could gain more power

The Bush administration is expected to propose a new plan that will expand the powers of the FDA, CPSC and other consumer-product safety agencies to impose product recalls as well as reinforce industry safety standards for consumer products. The proposal, which may include a request for additional funds, will require approval from Congress.

Back to top

NRF to Credit Card Companies: Stop Forcing Retailers to Store Credit Card Data

Washington , October 4, 2007—Citing concern over data breaches, the National Retail Federation today, in a letter to Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards Council, requested changes in how the credit card industry requires merchants to store credit card data. 

“All of us—merchants, banks, credit card companies and our customers—want to eliminate credit card fraud,” said NRF Chief Information Officer David Hogan in the letter. “But if the goal is to make credit card data less vulnerable, the ultimate solution is to stop requiring merchants to store card data in the first place.” 

The letter outlines the retail industry’s commitment to PCI compliance while addressing the issue that PCI itself does not discourage hackers from attempting breaches of retailers’ systems. 

“With this letter, we are officially putting the credit card industry on notice,” said Hogan. “Instead of making the industry jump through hoops to create an impenetrable fortress, retailers want to eliminate the incentive for hackers to break into their systems in the first place.” 

Credit card companies typically require retailers to store credit card numbers anywhere from one year to 18 months in order to satisfy card company retrieval requests. According to NRF, retailers should have a choice as to whether or not they want to store credit card numbers at all. 

Hogan outlined NRF’s approach in the letter, stating that credit card companies and their banks should provide merchants with the option of keeping nothing more than the authorization code provided at the time of sale and a truncated receipt, rather than requiring that merchants keep reams of data for an extended period of time, putting retail customers at unnecessary risk. 

“If all merchants took advantage of this option, credit card companies and their member banks would be the only ones with large caches of data on hand, and could keep and protect their card numbers in whatever manner they wished,” said Hogan. “The bottom line is that it makes more sense for credit card companies to protect their data from thieves by keeping it in a relatively few secure locations than to expect millions of merchants scattered across the nation to lock up their data for them.” 

Hogan concluded the letter by stating, “We believe this is the most effective and efficient approach to protecting credit card data and preventing a continuation of the data breaches that have been seen in recent years. If the PCI Security Standards Council is willing to solve this problem, NRF and its members stand ready to work with you to help you protect the nation’s consumers from the growing threat of credit card fraud.” 

Back to top

NRF Says Hearing Shows Extent of Organized Retail Crime

WASHINGTON, October 25, 2007—The National Retail Federation said a congressional hearing being held today shows the seriousness of organized retail theft, a growing problem that costs retailers and consumers as much as $30 billion a year.

“This hearing shows that Congress recognizes the seriousness of organized retail crime and is ready to do something about it,” NRF Vice President for Loss Prevention Joseph LaRocca said. “Lawmakers are hearing firsthand from merchants the magnitude of these crimes and how they are driving up costs for consumers and posing a health and safety risk for the public. We hope that today’s discussion will be followed soon by the introduction and passage of legislation to put those who commit organized retail crime behind bars."

The House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security is scheduled to address “Organized Retail Theft Prevention: Fostering a Comprehensive Public-Private Response” at 10 a.m. today. The hearing comes as Congress is preparing for introduction of new federal legislation to crack down on organized retail crime. Scheduled witnesses include representatives of retailers, supermarkets, on-line auction sites and law enforcement.

Despite the seriousness of organized retail crime, the thefts are often treated as routine shoplifting because most states lack statutes that recognize the serious nature of the sophisticated criminal enterprises involved.

NRF is leading the retail industry’s efforts to fight organized retail crime on a number of fronts. NRF is a member of the Coalition Against Organized Retail Crime, which is working with members of Congress on development of federal legislation. Earlier this year, NRF unveiled a 10-bill package of state-level model legislation currently being reviewed by the American Legislative Exchange Council and the National Conference of State Legislatures. This spring, NRF joined forces with the FBI to re-launch the highly successful Retail Loss Prevention Intelligence Network as the Law Enforcement Retail Partnership Network (LERPNet).

Back to top

U.S. Labor Secretary to Address Retailers on HR Issues

Washington, October 11, 2007—U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao is scheduled to address human resources executives from the nation’s major retail companies at the National Retail Federation’s annual HR Summit in Chicago next week.

Secretary Chao is scheduled to speak at 12 noon on Thursday, October 18, at the InterContinental Hotel, 505 North Michigan Avenue. She is expected to address the Labor Department agenda for the remainder of the Bush Administration, and to focus on issues affecting the retail industry.

About 100 human resources and employment law executives are expected to attend the conference, where they will hear from labor lawyers, fellow HR professionals and other experts on issues ranging from employee turnover to immigration enforcement.

Secretary Chao’s speech is open to the news media and coverage is invited. The remainder of the HR Summit is closed to news media.

Back to top

New minimum wage puts pressure on small business

Small businesses that find the new minimum wage laws too burdensome may need to reduce staffing needs through capital improvements or product lines that are less labor intensive, experts say. If staff cuts are necessary, they recommend reviewing state and federal regulations with a lawyer who is versed in business and employment law.

Back to top

FDA hears "behind-the-counter" drug sale concerns

Doctors and pharmacists expressed opposing views in an FDA public hearing Wednesday on the proposed creation of a new "behind-the-counter" drug category that would allow druggists to offer selected medicines without a prescription. Proponents of the new drug category argued that it would increase patient access, but critics voiced concern about possible misdiagnoses and mismanagement of BTC medications.

Back to top

Links

Back to top
Copyright ©2007 Retail Merchants Association. All Rights Reserved.