As we pass the one-year anniversary of the coronavirus pandemic hitting the United States in earnest and the accompanying business lockdowns, mask mandates and social distance dictates, many elected officials are moving to get back to normal. Atop the list seems to be Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued an Executive Order this past Tuesday rescinding…
Read More »If as the old sayings go, Orange is the new Black, and 50 is the new 40, then hazard pay for ‘frontline workers’ is the new paid sick leave. Currently the benefit – between $4 and $5 more an hour – is mostly limited to grocery workers, but some have already talked about the need…
Read More »A quick glance at some of the legislation pending in the current legislative sessions – which have mostly just begun – give us some cause for concern in a number of states. California, of course, has a selection of bills pending that would be largely detrimental to business interests. Perhaps most egregious is a bill…
Read More »We’ve got a number of items you’ll want to get on your calendar for the coming months. First off, we have 2 more informative webinars scheduled for later this month, but we haven’t finalized all the details just yet. Notwithstanding, make a note in your calendar for DDIFO webinars on Wednesday, March 24 and Tuesday,…
Read More »Keeping an eye on the sentiments of the consumer as some restrictions are lifted or rolled back across the country. Well first, just a slight majority are comfortable going out to dine at a restaurant. According to the latest data from Morning Consult, 51 percent of Americans feel safe going out to eat, up from…
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Not necessarily being able to pinpoint its origins without looking it up (it was first used in a book by Walter Brandenburg in 1917), we’ve recently resurrected the phrase, “teachable moment,” as part of our modern-day lexicon. It is meant to identify a spontaneous moment when an individual is positioned – by circumstances of every-day…
Read More »Last night, Elizabeth MacDonough, the Senate Parliamentarian, ruled that a federal minimum wage increase would be ineligible under reconciliation rules, effectively killing it as a component of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. To be eligible for action in the US Senate via reconciliation under the so-called Byrd Rule (authored by and named for…
Read More »This week, the White House and Small Business Administration (SBA) announced significant changes were being made to the parameters of the Paycheck Protection Program. The changes largely serve to make the program even more attractive to small businesses with an extra focus on those located in underserved and minority communities. Primary amongst the changes is…
Read More »Notwithstanding the ruling by the Senate Parliamentarian, the US House is expected to give final approval to Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 as soon as today, with some questions still remaining as to what the final bill will ultimately include. As of this writing, the legislation, which cleared the House Budget…
Read More »Looking closer at the final COVID relief legislation, efforts by progressive democrats to incorporate the provisions of the Protecting the Right To Organize Act (PRO Act) in the American Rescue Plan Act were ultimately unsuccessful however, the legislation is not dead by any stretch. To the contrary, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) announced that…
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