Effectively representing your interests in Washington is an ongoing, daily process involving many varied steps and actions. It is not always easy to see the full scope of this unless you are actually here in Washington. So, we list below some of the key legislative coalitions which NAW leads or helps manage, and actions the coalitions and/or NAW specifically have taken on those key issues. We also provide a sampling of the meetings in which we participate, regularly or for specific purposes, as part of our continuing effort to fight for the wholesale distribution industry in Congress and the regulatory agencies – in this case from May through September 2019. If you would like to see additional information on the issues mentioned below, please go to: www.naw.org

TAXES:

• The LIFO Coalition – NAW organized and since 2006 has led the LIFO Coalition, opposing every effort to repeal LIFO both legislatively and through regulation by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Neither the House nor the Senate included LIFO repeal in their tax proposals in 2017, nor did the White House recommend repeal – a huge victory for our industry which uses the accounting method extensively.
• Parity for Main Street Employers – NAW serves on the Steering Committee for PMSE, which advocates for equitable tax treatment for pass-through businesses. PMSE led the fight for changes to both the House and Senate tax proposals in 2017, resulting in significant improvements in the final Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). PMSE continued its efforts throughout 2018 as the Department of the Treasury wrote the regulations necessary to implement the TCJA and has now taken the lead working with allies in Congress to make permanent the specific pass-through provision in the law that are now scheduled to expire in 2025.
• Marketplace Fairness Coalition – The intense growth in e-commerce has put wholesaler-distributors and others with physical presence in the states at a measurable disadvantage to on-line sellers who are not required to collect state sales taxes. NAW serves on the MFC’s Management Committee, which advocated for federal legislation to overturn the US Supreme Court’s 1992 decision in Quill v. North Dakota to permit the states to equalize the sales tax treatment of remote transactions with sales made locally in Page 2 brick-and-mortar locations. NAW also participated in the federal litigation on this subject, filing an amicus curiae brief in support of South Dakota’s US Supreme Court petition for a Writ of Certiorari in South Dakota v. Wayfair et al., and joining an amicus brief to the high Court on the merits. On June 21, 2018, the Supreme Court handed down a decision in the Wayfair case overturning the Quill decision allowing states to require out-of-state/on-line sellers to collect state sales taxes. So far, no new legislation has been introduced in the 116th Congress to address this issue and Rep. Jerry Nadler (NY-19), the new Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has indicated that he will not intervene in the Supreme Court’s decision. The Marketplace Fairness Coalition strongly believes that the time for Congress to act was prior to the Wayfair decision and has now passed.

LABOR:

• Coalition for a Democratic Workplace – NAW serves on the Management Committee and Steering Committee of CDW, a coalition of 500 trade associations which was organized to oppose organized labor’s effort to pass legislation removing the secret ballot from union certification elections. In the last ten years CDW has filed comments, amicus briefs and court challenges in response to numerous pro-labor regulations and rulemakings from the National Labor Relations Board and the Department of Labor. Since the 2016 election, CDW has participated in legislation, regulations and rule-making repealing or modifying the anti-business regulations of the previous Administration.
• Partnership to Protect Workplace Opportunity – NAW helps manage PPWO, which was organized to oppose the Department of Labor/Wage and Hour Division’s 2015 proposed changes to the overtime rules. NAW individually filed comments in the rulemaking on the overtime regulations, brought several member CEO’s to Washington to meet with the White House and Labor Department regulators, and joined as a plaintiff in the litigation that successfully challenged the final rule in court. We participated in the new rulemaking initiated in 2018-2019, which resulted in a much more business-friendly rule in September 2019.
• NLRB Trade Association Working Group – A coalition of association and corporation executives and corporate attorneys organized to coordinate the business community’s participation in NLRB rulemaking and case adjudication. The mission of the working group expanded in 2018 to include Department of Labor (DoL) rulemaking, and again in 2019 to respond to new and burdensome compensation data collection requirements enacted by the Obama-era Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

HEATH CARE:

• Stop the HIT Coalition – NAW serves on the Steering Committee of the Stop the HIT Coalition, which advocates for the repeal of the Obamacare “health insurance tax” which is, in essence, a premium tax that will be passed on to individuals and businesses. Last Congress, a pause in the collection of the HIT for 2019 was enacted as part of the stopgap government funding bill, and the coalition worked to advance legislation to extend the Page 3 delay in 2020. This Congress, the coalition was successful in having new legislation introduced in both the House and Senate to delay and fully repeal the HIT. The HIT coalition continues to urge Congress to ultimately repeal the HIT once and for all.
• Cadillac Tax; Expanded Use of Health Savings Accounts (HSA); Employer Mandate – The Cadillac tax (a 40% excise tax on high-cost employer-sponsored health plans) was enacted as part of the Affordable Care Act. Its repeal is a high priority for NAW and the many other organizations that are affiliated with the National Coalition on Benefits (NCB) and the Partnership for Employer Sponsored Coverage (P4ESC). NAW serves on NCB’s Steering Committee, and P4ESC’s Management Committee. In July, the House overwhelmingly voted to fully repeal the Cadillac Tax but action in the Senate is unclear given the overall cost of repeal. A delay in implementation of the Cadillac Tax until 2022 was enacted as part of the stopgap government funding bill. NAW is also working with these groups in support of legislation to provide employers with greater flexibility in their health benefit offerings by permitting wider use of HSAs. Finally, with NAW’s support P4ESC is promoting legislation to revise employers’ reporting requirements under the ACA’s employer mandate

GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT:

• Procurement Through Commercial e-Commerce Portals – Section 846 of the fiscal year 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) directed the General Services Administration (GSA) to establish a program to procure commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products through commercial e-commerce portals. NAW organized a working group of member companies with substantial e-commerce to engage on this issue. While the law provides for multiple marketplaces, GSA’s Phase I implementation report and recommended statutory changes could result in a single entity like Amazon becoming a monopoly marketplace. In the FY’19 NDAA Conference Report, the NAW working group was successful in preventing the GSA-supported provision to increase the micropurchase threshold (MPT) from $10,000 to $25,000 for portal transactions only. NAW was also able to have language included in the House FY’20 NDAA that directs the GSA to conduct their upcoming pilot with multiple e-commerce models, not just the Amazon model. NAW has submitted multiple written critiques of the GSA plan to the Congress, the Administration, and is actively at work to prevent any legislative back-sliding on these issues as Congress continues to negotiate the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2020.

TRANSPORTATION & INFRASTRUCTURE:

• Infrastructure Working Group – NAW sits on the Infrastructure Working Group (IWG) coalition, which consists of nearly 120 manufacturing, distribution, construction, agriculture and finance trade associations, labor unions, and other diverse stakeholders. The IWG is working to urge Congress and the Administration to pass a large-scale comprehensive Infrastructure Package to transform the nation’s current 20th century infrastructure into a system that can support a 21st century economy
• Americans for Modern Transportation – NAW is a founding member of Americans for Modern Transportation; a coalition of American shippers, carriers, and retailers who advocate for improved transportation infrastructure as well as efficient trucking policies and incentives for better safety and fuel technology. The coalition is working to urge Congress and the Administration to allow twin 33-foot trailers, smart road technologies, and increased investment in the Highway Trust Fund to increase the efficiency and productivity of the interstate commerce system.

OTHER COALITIONS: NAW serves on the Management and/or Steering Committees of numerous other coalitions, including –

• The 1,000-member Tax Relief Coalition
• Coalition for Workplace Safety
• Employers Heath Care Clearinghouse
• Mobile Workforce Coalition
• Employers for Flexibility
• DRIVE-Safe Act Coalition
• National Coalition on Benefits
• Partnership for Employer Sponsored Coverage
• NAW Online Procurement Working Group

Other meetings and activities: In addition to the effort made through our coalitions, NAW staff –

• Had numerous calls with reporters from The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The New York Times, Bloomberg News, The Wall Street Journal, Roll Call Newspaper, Politico Newspaper, The Hill Newspaper, The National Journal Magazine, CEO Update, and Congressional Quarterly Magazine to discuss legislative and political issues
• Attended quarterly meetings on National Labor Relations Board regulations and litigation with attorneys and association colleagues
• Attended bi-weekly dinner meetings of association colleagues with a guest participant at each meeting, including Senators, Members of the House of Representatives, journalists, and key staff from Capitol Hill and the Administration
• Made presentations on government relations matters to NAW Billion Dollar and Large Company Roundtable meetings in Chicago
• Served on the Steering Committees for Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE), Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Cong. Bradley Byrne (R-AL, candidate for U.S. Senate)
• Met periodically with House and Senate GOP Leadership staff about specific issues and/or the broader legislative agenda
• Met with White House officials about health care issues
• Met with Members of the Senate and House – emphasis on House Ways & Means Committee Members – to discuss health care issues
• Made government relations presentations at NAW member direct member company and member association conventions and meetings
• Met with Members of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees and Oversight Committees to discuss the Procurement Through Commercial e-Commerce Portals program
• Attended meeting with the General Services Administration (GSA) to discuss the Commercial e-Commerce Portal initiative, as outlined in Section 846 of the FY2018 National Defense Authorization Act
• Sent letters to the House and Senate supporting the DRIVE-Safe Act
• Actively participated in meetings of the Infrastructure Working Group • Submitted three sets of comments to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMSCA) in support of Federal pre-emption of California’s trucking Hours of Service rules and regulations
• Submitted comments to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMSCA) in support of their notice of proposed rulemaking on nationwide updates to hours of service rules to increase safety and provide additional flexibility for commercial drivers
• Participated in meetings and conference calls with new coalition organized to respond to rule-making by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
• Met with Congressman Guy Reschenthaler (PA-4)
• Meet with Chief of Staff and key committee staff of Senator Marco Rubio (FL)
• Met with the following Congressional offices: Anthony Brindisi (NY-22), Sean Casten (IL-6), Elaine Luria (VA-02), Elissa Slotkin (MI-8), Dean Phillips (MN-03), Lizzie Fletcher (TX-7), Steve Watkins (KS-2), Mike Waltz (R-FL), Abby Finkenauer (IA-1), Ben McAdams (UT-4), Xochitl Torres Small (NM-2), Ross Spano (FL-15), Susan Wild (PA-7), Dan Crenshaw (TX-2), Daniel Lipinski (IL-3), Ben Cline (VA-6); Mark Walker (NC-6); Bradley Byrne (AL-1); Tim Walberg (MI-7); Francis Rooney (FL-19); Cindy Axne (IA-3); Chrissy Houlahan (PA-6); Henry Cuellar (TX-28); Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-2); Jim Costa (CA-16); Kurt Schrader (OR-5); George Holding (NC2); Darrin LaHood (IL-18); Sharice Davids (KS-03); Kenda Horn (OK-5); Ami Bera (CA-7); Anthony Brown (MD-4); Mike Thompson (CA-5); Drew Ferguson (GA-3); Ed Perlmutter (CO-7); Tom O’Halleran (AZ-1); Stacey Plaskett (VI-AL); William Keating (MA-9); Scott Peters (CA-52); David Schweikert (AZ-6); Mike Quigley (IL5); Ann Kuster (NH-2); Collin Allred (TX-32); Jim Hines (CT-4); Suzan DelBene (WA-1); Steve Scalise (LA-1)
• Attended dinner with Congressmen Will Hurd (TX-23) and Greg Pence (IN-6)
• Met with staff from House Republican Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney (R-WY)
• Attended fundraising events for Representatives Elise Stefanik (NY- 21); Jason Smith (MO-8); Brian Mast (FL-18); Liz Cheney (WY-AL); Troy Balderson (OH-12); Dave Joyce (OH-14)
• Attended fund-raising events for Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS); Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC); Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY); Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ); Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL); Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK); John James, GOP candidate for U.S. Senate from MI; Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE); Carl DeMaio, GOP candidate Congress for California 50th District
• Met with Young Kim, candidate for Congress for California 39th District
• Had informal dinner with Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL)
• Attended meeting of trade association colleagues with Acting Secretary of Labor Pat Pizzella and his senior staff
• Organized meeting at NAW of trade association colleagues with senior staff of Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) to discuss economic issues
• Met with David Young, GOP candidate for Congress from Iowa
• Met with Nicole Rodden, GOP candidate for Congress from Georgia
• Attended candidate reception for Maverick PAC, supporting female GOP congressional candidates