OLYMPIA — For the fifth straight year, Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, will be awarded the Business Champion Award bestowed annually by the Joint Governmental Affairs Committee of the Joint Snohomish County Chambers of Commerce.
The award recognizes Haugen’s sponsorship and support of legislation to improve the business climate of Washington and Snohomish County and will be presented Wednesday at the 2009 Legislative Recognition Breakfast at the Everett Golf & Country Club.
“I learned early in life that if you want to have a healthy community, you need healthy businesses,” said Haugen, herself a small business owner for several decades prior to serving in the Legislature. “No one has to tell a small business owner the importance of a friendly business climate.”
Business-friendly legislation that Haugen supported this legislative session include bills to:
- create a business and occupation tax credit for small businesses (SB5899);
- change the way unemployment insurance benefits are charged to employers to give businesses access to significant annual tax breaks (SB 5963);
- waive fines and civil penalties for first-time paperwork violations by small businesses (SB 5042); and
- offer customized training at state colleges through which employers can train employees now and pay later (SB 5616).
“This is the fifth consecutive year that Sen. Haugen has received our Business Champion award,” said Louise Stanton-Masten, president and CEO of the Everett Area Chamber of Commerce. “We are pleased to again recognize her for her support of legislation that was identified by our Joint Government Affairs Committee for its positive impact on the businesses in Snohomish County.”
Haugen, who chairs the Senate Transportation Committee, noted that while public safety is the state’s top priority on transportation projects, also high on the list is traffic flow on key transportation corridors.
“Many of our businesses can’t succeed if they can’t move their products easily and quickly on our roads,” Haugen said. “Those considerations come into play every time we’re making the tough decisions on how to best spend our limited transportation dollars.”
Every year, the Joint Snohomish County Chambers track the bill sponsorship and voting record of Snohomish area legislators on issues of importance to business and economic development. This year, the committee gave Haugen a near-perfect score of 96 percent, the highest among 10th District lawmakers and the second highest among all legislators in the House and Senate.