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Upcoming Events
2016 Virginia Workforce Conference
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Greater Richmond Convention Center
2016 Virginia Conference on World Trade
October 4-5, 2016
Norfolk, VA
SAVE THE DATE!
2016 Virginia Congressional Luncheon
November 16, 2016
Russell Senate Office Building
2016 Virginia Economic Summit
December 2, 2016
The Williamsburg Lodge
Financial Forecast
January 7, 2017
Greater Richmond Convention Center |
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President's Message
 As summer comes to a close, there are a number of important initiatives and events on the horizon for this fall. I'm highlighting a few here, and you can read more about each of these in the sections below.
We're looking forward to hosting the 2016 Virginia Workforce Conference on September 28th. This year's theme is "Veterans: Closing the Workforce Gap" and we're pleased to be partnering with Virginia Values Veterans and the Virginia Society of Human Resources Managers. I hope you'll make plans to join us. For more information or to register, click here.
On October 4-5, we'll be hosting the 68th Annual Conference on World Trade with the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, the Virginia Manufacturers Association and the Virginia Maritime Association. With 95 percent of global consumers living outside the United States, international trade is critical to growing and diversifying our economy. Please make plans to join us for this 2 day conference.
The November 8th election is just around the corner, and we wanted to make sure you're aware of an important issue that will be on the ballot--adding Right to Work to Virginia's constitution. The Virginia Chamber's PAC has created a referendum committee called the Workplace Freedom Committee, which will allow us to engage in directly advocating for the passage of the amendment.
A number of programs have recently announced grant and funding opportunities, and we wanted to be sure you were aware of these announcements. In this issue, we highlight the Governor's Competition for Talent Solutions, the Virginia Trade Show Assistance Program and the Commonwealth Research Commercialization Fund.
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2016 Virginia Workforce Conference
September 28, 2016
Greater Richmond Convention Center
The 2016 Virginia Workforce Conference will bring together leading educators, employers, human resources managers, veteran groups, and policymakers to explore solutions to providing greater access to in-demand skills.
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Keynote Luncheon Remarks and Presentation of Virginia Values Veterans Awards
The HonorableTerry McAuliffe
Governor of Virginia
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Morning Keynote Address
Eric Eversole
VP, US Chamber of Commerce
President, Hiring Our Heroes
Sr. Advisor, US Chamber of Commerce Foundation |
Featuring Panel Discussions On:
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How Does Virginia Close the Workforce Skills Gap?
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How can the public and private sectors work together to create education opportunities that are more flexible and responsive to the needs of businesses, employees, and entrepreneurs?
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Why Hiring Veterans is Right for Your Company
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Veterans bring valuable skills and experience from their military service to our workforce. Hear from these companies on best practices for integrating veterans into your organization!
THANK YOU TO ALL OF OUR SPONSORS - CLICK HERE FOR FULL LIST
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International Business:
Strengthening Your Future
Featuring Keynote Opening Remarks by
The Honorable Todd Haymore
Secretary of Commerce and Trade
With 95 percent of global consumers living outside the United States, international trade is critical to growing and diversifying our economy. Exports alone account for 30 percent of Virginia's post-recession growth, supporting more than 320,000 Virginia jobs with an average annual income that exceeds $58,000.
Join us for a two-day conference that will help your business find new markets abroad for your goods and services.
New Speakers Posted Daily!
Presenting Sponsor
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Platinum Sponsor
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Signature Networking Sponsor
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2016 Virginia Congressional Luncheon
SAVE THE DATE!
November 16, 2016
Russell Senate Office Building, Capitol Hill
Join the Virginia Chamber for our annual Congressional Luncheon with Virginia's federal delegation. Don't miss this unique opportunity to ask your representatives about the most pressing issues important to your business, including potential changes to health care, taxes, labor laws and more! Senior members of Virginia delegation serve as guest speakers.
More details available soon!
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This November, Virginians will vote on whether to protect Virginia's Right to Work status by adding it to the Constitution of Virginia.
What is Right to Work?
Right to Work simply means that membership in any particular trade union cannot be made a condition of employment.
- Ten other states incorporate a right to work provision into their constitutions
- Elevating Right-To-Work to the Constitution will ensure that a future General Assembly could not reverse this important piece of pro-business policy without first consulting the voters
- This referendum will give employers assurance that they will have a predictable long-term business environment for employers
Labor unions have already mobilized to defeat this important referendum. Here are some of the myths we have to dispel:
- "RTW hurts the middle class" - RTW states tend to have faster job growth, faster wage growth, and more disposable income
- "RTW holds down wages" - Wage growth has been faster in RTW states at 15.2% from 2003-2013, whereas wages in states without RTW grew only 8.2% in that period
- "Collective Bargaining will be hurt" - RTW does not alter or abolish the right of workers to organize or bargain if they desire
- "RTW states are more likely to have injuries on the job" - RTW does not jeopardize training regimes and there are no data showing that non-union shops or employers are more dangerous
Please share these facts with your network and spread the word that this amendment is on the ballot. For more information, you can contact either Ryan Dunn at
r.dunn@vachamber.com or John Dickinson at
j.dickinson@vachamber.com.
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Virginia Faces State Budget Shortfall of $1.5 billion over next 2 years
Last month, Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced a budget shortfall for Virginia of $1.5 billion dollars in the two-year state budget. The shortfall will force the state to defer raises for state employees, including teachers and other state-supported local employees who were anticipating a 3% raise in December. A one percent shortfall or more is the trigger for the state to conduct a mandatory reforecast and deferral of raises included in the state budget. The Governor has asked executive branch agency heads to send estimated proposals to cut 5% of their budgets for 2017 by September 20, and a memo from McAuliffe Chief of Staff, Paul Reagan, has said the state will need to cut approximately $844 million for this year. Governor McAuliffe will present a new budget plan to the General Assembly in December.
Revenues grew this year by 1.7%, less than the estimated 3.2% projection. Gov. McAuliffe said that while the unemployment rate in Virginia dropped in 2016, the gain in new jobs has been mainly for lower-paying positions. This contributed to the drop in state income tax revenue which accounts for almost two-thirds of state revenues. Sales tax revenues also saw sluggish growth in 2016 which may have been caused by slowed growth in new housing.
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Governor's Competition for Talent Solutions Application Open
Last May, Governor McAuliffe announced the second year of the Governor's Competition for Talent Solutions, a grant opportunity for businesses who need help developing a highly-skilled workforce.
In this year's competition, $800,000 is available to eligible business applicants, with a maximum individual award amount of $200,000 for either an individual business or consortium of businesses, or an eligible trade association or professional business association. The funding will help businesses defray a portion of their training and workforce development costs.
Governor's Competition for Talent Solutions grant applications are available here. Applications are due before September 30, 2016 and funding awards will be announced by October 28, 2016. |
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Funding Available Through Virginia Trade Show Assistance Program
In August, Governor Terry McAuliffe announced the launch of the Virginia Trade Show Assistance Program, administered by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership's (VEDP) International Trade Division. This new program, funded by the General Assembly in its biennial budget, provides a way for eligible Virginia companies to connect with new customers and grow international sales by exhibiting their products and services at international trade shows.
Eligible companies can receive up to $10,000 in reimbursements for exhibiting at a trade show that is relevant to their unique product, service, or industry.
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Commonwealth Research Commercialization Fund (CRCF) FY2017 Solicitation Preview
CIT is pleased to preview the Commonwealth Research Commercialization Fund (CRCF) FY2017 solicitation. Approximately $2.8 million is available to award to Virginia's private sector, higher education, federal research facilities, and other research organizations through five programs: Commercialization, SBIR Matching Funds, STTR Matching Funds, Matching Funds, and Eminent Researcher Recruitment. Award caps range from $50,000 to $250,000. The RFP is planned for early October.
CRCF will invite technology development projects in seven targeted industries: advanced manufacturing, cyber security, energy, environment, information technology, life sciences, and unmanned systems. Click here for high-level program information, including industry subsectors, eligibility criteria, and key dates. The RFP will include program-specific guidelines and other application resources. CRCF staff will host webinars and field questions about this round with the release of the RFP; a curated list of FAQs is available at the link above.
CRCF accelerates innovation and drives economic growth in Virginia by advancing solutions to important state, national, and global problems through technology research, development, and commercialization. Industry sectors eligible for CRCF funding are drawn from the Commonwealth Research and Technology Strategic Roadmap, which identifies research areas worthy of economic development and institutional focus in Virginia.
Interested in learning about previous solicitations? Visit www.cit.org/initiatives/crcf/ for a complete list of awardees and access to CRCF Annual Reports. Email crcf@cit.org to be added to their listserv.
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Virginia Joins Forces with the National Movement 'Million Women Mentors' (MWM)
Earlier this year, Governor Terry McAuliffe launched the
Million Women Mentors initiative in Virginia. Million Women Mentors is a national movement that mobilizes corporations, government entities, non-profit and higher education groups around the imperative of mentoring girls and women in STEM fields.
We're pleased to share a letter of support from Governor McAuliffe--click here to view the letter.
Virginia has expanded the focus for Million Women Mentors to include our entrepreneurs and our veterans, with a special focus on the cybersecurity field. Note that MWM already in 27 months has 750,000 pledges nationwide to mentor. Virginia's goal is 10,000 mentors over the next four years.
We encourage you to visit
http://millionwomenmentors.org/contact_us or email the Virginia MWM state steering committee at
MWM@vigillence.net to learn more on how your organization can participate.
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Chambers of Commerce Submit Letter in Support of Atlantic Coast Pipeline
Chambers of Commerce and business organizations throughout Virginia believe development of North American energy resources will create and preserve thousands of jobs and greatly benefit Virginia's economy. Central to that principle, we believe that the construction of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) is in Virginia's best interest.
A coalition of Chambers of Commerce from across the Commonwealth recently submitted a letter to Senators Warner and Kaine in support of the ACP.
Click here to view the letter. |
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$11.5M in federal grants aimed at cleaner Chesapeake Bay
Article from The Daily Press
by Tamara Dietrich
The Chesapeake Bay will benefit from nearly $11.5 million in federal grants awarded across the watershed for projects intended to help clean up the polluted estuary. Most of the grants - nearly $11 million - are from the Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Of that, Virginia projects will receive nearly $3.5 million.
Stewardship fund grants also will leverage an additional $12 million in matching funds from participating partners and localities. Virginia's matching amount is nearly $4.5 million.
In addition, the U.S. Department of Agriculture gave the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay $462,794 to promote investment in farm and woodland conservation in Virginia and Maryland that will improve the quality of water that ends up in the bay.
To read the rest of the article, please click here. |
Federal Budget Update
One of the top items remaining on Congress' to-do list between now and September 30 is passing some form of continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government funded.
Although we expect to see a relatively "clean" measure with few extraneous policy riders, it is unclear whether the CR will extend funding into mid-December or further, into early 2017.
We will continue to monitor this topic.
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Record 600 Major Regulations Imposed With an Economic Impact of Over $743 Billion
According to a new
study from the American Action Forum (AAF), since 2009 the federal government has issued 600 major regulations totaling $743 billion and creating 194 million paperwork burden hours. The regulatory costs to our economy is larger than the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Norway and Israel combined. In analyzing agency regulatory data, AAF determined that the federal government issues an average of 81 major rules, those with an economic impact of at least $100 million, on a yearly basis. That's about one major rule every four to five days. AAF estimates that these rules will create a $2,294 regulatory imposition on every person in the United States. To grow our economy, the Virginia Chamber supports regulatory reform to remove barriers to job creation, business expansions and innovation.
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Business Taxes Hurt America's Ability to Compete
Countries around the world have made maintaining low corporate tax rates a priority in recent years. The United States, on the other hand, increased its corporate tax rate from 34 to 35 percent in 1993. As a result, the U.S. now has the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world, exceeding the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development average by nearly 15 percentage points. Corporations in the U.S. also are subject to state and local taxes, resulting in a combined average corporate tax rate of 39 percent.
By maintaining such a high corporate tax rate, the United States hinders its competitiveness in the global economy. For example, Switzerland has a corporate tax rate of 8.5 percent. Germany's corporate tax rate is 15.83 percent, Ireland's is 12.50 percent, and the United Kingdom is 20 percent. Comprehensive tax reform is needed to make the U.S. more competitive internationally. An efficient tax system will encourage domestic and foreign businesses to invest and grow in the U.S.
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Op-Ed: Minimum Wage Hikes Mean Major Job Losses
from The Daily Caller
by Delegate Michael Webert
California, New York, Seattle and Washington D.C. are some of the jurisdictions where the minimum wage has been increased to $15 an hour. Recently, activists from the labor union-backed "Fight for $15" movement held their first national convention in Virginia. Advocates of increasing the minimum wage claim that this proposal is the best means for lifting workers in low skilled positions out of poverty. However, mandating employers increase wages will likely have the opposite effect - decreased economic opportunity.
Increasing the minimum hourly wage here in Virginia would adversely impact small businesses.
Some of these job creators would likely consider decreasing employee hours, automating positions, reducing other benefits, increasing consumer costs, reducing employment opportunities, firing employees, relocating, or closing down. How am I so sure these would be the likely responses from businesses to a wage hike in the Commonwealth of Virginia? Well, this has been the typical outcome in other states and localities that have implemented significant minimum wage hikes.
To read the full article in The Daily Caller, click here.
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How Many Jobs Will Virginia Lose With a $15 Minimum Wage?
According to a new study from The Heritage Foundation, proposals at the state and federal levels to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour would lead to job losses in every state and the District of Columbia. The study found that state minimum wage hikes would lead to the loss of 9 million jobs across the country. Economists have extensively studied how changes in wages affect employers' demand for labor. This research finds, on average, a 10 percent increase in labor costs causes businesses to reduce employment of less-skilled workers by 6.8 percent.
In Virginia, almost 30 percent of all wage and salary workers would be impacted by a minimum wage increase, and of those occupations Virginia would stand to lose approximately 221,000 jobs within 5 years.
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Interested in International Expansion? Take Advantage of VITAL!
The Virginia Chamber is proud to partner with the Virginia Economic Development Partnership on VITAL, the Virginia International Trade Alliance. As a VITAL partner, our member companies have access to steeply discounted rates for international market research as well as international trade shows and international trade missions facilitated through VEDP.
Click below for more information:
If you or a company that you work with is interested in learning more about VITAL, please contact Samantha Quig, Corporate Communications Manager, at s.quig@vachamber.com or 804-237-1457.
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Marty Hall Recognized for 20 Years of Service to Twin County Regional Chamber
 In August, Marty Hall, past president of the Twin County Regional Chamber, was recognized for his 20 plus years of service to the Chamber. Ryan Dunn, Executive Vice President of Corporate and Government Affairs presented Marty with the award at the Fiddler's Convention in Galax.
Among his many accomplishments, Marty has made the Poor Man's Dinner at the Fiddler's Convention one of the premiere regional events each year, drawing elected officials and candidates from all corners of the Commonwealth.
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Keep up with the Virginia Chamber on Twitter!
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