Supporting Small Businesses & Jobs
Small businesses are the backbone of our communities, but Washington keeps making it harder and more expensive to operate, hire workers, and serve customers. I support reducing unnecessary taxes and regulations that are driving up costs for families and employers across our state.
I oppose ESSB 5814, the 2025 expansion of sales taxes on services, and I will work to reverse this harmful policy. This tax increase affects a wide range of industries, including nursing homes, service providers, salons, staffing services, technology services, and many other businesses that families rely on every day. Those added costs do not disappear — they get passed directly on to consumers and contribute to our growing affordability crisis.
Washington should be focused on helping businesses grow, creating good-paying jobs, and making life more affordable, not adding new taxes that make everyday services more expensive for working families.
Proposed L&I Reform Bill
I have spoken with multiple business owners across our district who operate more than one business, and one issue I continue hearing about is how Washington’s L&I system handles claims across multiple companies owned by the same individual.
Currently, if a workplace injury or claim occurs in one business, it can impact L&I rates across all businesses owned by that person, even when those businesses operate in completely different industries with different risk classifications.
For example, I spoke with a business owner who operates both a restaurant and a fire inspection company. These are entirely separate businesses with very different types of work, risk levels, and employees. Yet a claim in one business can negatively affect rates across the others. That simply does not feel fair.
Business owners should not be penalized across all of their companies because of an incident in a single business. Especially when each business is independently operated, classified differently, and carries its own level of risk.
I would support legislation reforming this process so that L&I claims and rate impacts remain tied only to the specific business, LLC, or company where the incident occurred, rather than automatically affecting every business owned by the same individual.
I believe we can protect workers while also creating a more fair, balanced, and predictable system for employers. Washington needs policies that encourage entrepreneurship and small business growth, not policies that unintentionally punish business owners across unrelated operations.
Proposed Cottage Industry and Small Business Reform Bill
One of the issues I continue hearing from small business owners, cottage food operators, and local farmers market vendors is that Washington’s cottage industry laws have not kept pace with inflation, modern business realities, or the true cost of growth.
Many small businesses start from home kitchens, local markets, and side businesses. These entrepreneurs are often trying to responsibly grow family income, test new products, and eventually build full-time businesses. But right now, the revenue caps and regulatory thresholds can create steep cliffs that make growth difficult and discouraging.
I would support legislation to modernize Washington’s cottage industry and small business laws by increasing outdated revenue limits, adjusting thresholds to better reflect inflation and current economic conditions, and creating a smoother transition as businesses grow.
We should not punish entrepreneurs for succeeding. The goal should be to create pathways for small businesses to grow sustainably without suddenly facing overwhelming regulatory burdens the moment they begin gaining traction.
This is especially important for local farmers market vendors, home based food businesses, artisans, and family run operations that are part of the economic fabric of our communities. I believe Washington should be encouraging entrepreneurship, local production, and small business growth, not creating barriers that make it harder for people to succeed.
Business Reform and Economic Growth Priorities
One of the primary reasons I am running for State Representative is because I believe Washington is becoming increasingly difficult for small businesses, employers, and entrepreneurs to survive in. I hear constantly from business owners who feel like they are being regulated, taxed, and burdened from every direction while simply trying to create jobs and provide for their employees and families.
I have many ideas and reforms I am excited to work on in Olympia to help restore a healthier business climate in Washington, including:
• Reforming Washington’s B&O tax structure to allow businesses to deduct major operational costs such as payroll or inventory. Businesses should not be taxed on money that is already being reinvested into employees, products, and operations. Different industries have different cost structures, and our tax system should reflect that reality more fairly.
• Exploring targeted tax incentives that encourage businesses to directly invest in employee benefits such as healthcare, childcare assistance, workforce housing, or other employee support systems instead of continually routing more money through government bureaucracy.
• Opposing additional increases to employer costs through Washington’s Paid Family and Medical Leave program while many businesses are already struggling with inflation, insurance costs, labor shortages, and rising operating expenses.
• Supporting reforms to Paid Family and Medical Leave that preserve strong parental leave protections while improving the long-term financial sustainability of the program. One idea I support is maintaining the full leave benefit for the primary recovering or caregiving parent, while reducing secondary partner leave benefits to a more limited timeframe such as two to four weeks. I believe this could help reduce long-term cost pressures on the system while still supporting families during important life transitions.
• Evaluating long-term reforms to ensure the Paid Family and Medical Leave program remains affordable and sustainable for both employees and employers without requiring continual premium increases that many small businesses simply cannot absorb.
• Supporting reforms to Washington’s recent noncompete clause restrictions passed in 2026. While workers should absolutely have protection from abusive employment practices, the current law swung too far and created unintended consequences for many businesses. I would support modifying the law to create a more balanced approach that protects employees while still allowing businesses to reasonably protect client relationships, proprietary information, and investments in training and development.
Overall, I believe Washington needs to return to a more balanced, practical, and pro growth approach. We should be making it easier to start businesses, hire workers, build housing, and create opportunity again. Small businesses are the backbone of our communities, and I am passionate about fighting for policies that help them survive, grow, and thrive long term.