5/2012 * Why Businesses Should Engage in Policy and Vote!
by Jeff Cogen, Multnomah County Chair
As you read this, Oregonians throughout the state are casting their primary election ballots. They’re voting for city councilors, judges, county commissioners, local initiatives, state representatives and senators, congresspeople, and much, much more.
Everyone has different reasons for voting. As a former entrepreneur myself, I imagine your reasons for voting not only have to do with your personal convictions and values, but also with issues that impact your business – fair taxation, sensible regulations, sustainable planning, etc…
As an elected official, I rely on all members of the community to help me form and support policies that will have a positive impact on all residents of Multnomah County. The county’s business community is no different. And even though the size of a business often dictates what policy outcomes they would like to see, I aim to make sure that our small business community has an equal seat at the table with the larger businesses – creating an atmosphere of fairness and cooperation.
Before taking a seat and voicing their opinions at that table, business owners can use the power of the ballot box to ensure government is receptive to their needs. The sad truth is that too few people participate in one of the easiest civic rights – voting.
In fact, statistics show that more people vote in general elections than primaries, and I would argue that primaries are just as important as general elections. That’s why I’m calling on you, Oregon’s sustainable business community to take the time to inform yourself and mark your ballots with not only yourself in mind, but also your business and other fellow business owners in mind.
Please make sure the sustainable business voice is heard in this primary election. Ballots are due your county elections office by May 15th. You can find a list of drop box locations here: http://www.sos.state.or.us/dropbox/#
5/2012 * Crowdfunding Offers Big Promise
by Sattie Clark, VOIS Founder/President
Senator Jeff Merkley was in town last week (May 2) to talk about the Crowdfunding Act, an amendment he co-sponsored that was passed by the U.S. Senate on March 22 and signed into law by President Obama on April 5. The American Sustainable Business Council, a key supporter of this legislation, asked me to participate as a panelist on their behalf and VOIS’s.
Crowdfunding is a model for small businesses and entrepreneurs to raise capital using the internet to solicit small investments from a large number of people. The Crowdfunding Act creates a vehicle for small businesses to access capital investment without the prohibitive cost and time previously required by SEC regulations. It also protects investors from predatory scams by limiting the amount any one person can invest and by limiting the amount of money a company can raise (up to $1 million).
What does this mean for small business owners and would-be entrepreneurs? First, anyone who has a great idea or a cool prototype product can pitch it on one of many internet crowdfunding sites and see who bites. Small businesses in need of capital to scale up can take on investors without losing control of their companies. For entrepreneurs, there is an opportunity to test the market demand for their big idea—before risking their life savings and going into debt.
What’s in it for investors? It can be an opportunity to get in on the ground floor with an up-and-coming superstar company. It’s a way to vote with your dollars for the future you want. It can offer a means of community-based financing of local projects and businesses.
For more information about crowdfunding including examples of crowdfunded businesses and a list of crowdfunding site, I recommend the Wikipedia.com entry on the topic.
4/2012 * Can a ZIP code determine your health or affect your business’s bottom line?
By Tricia Tillman, Director, Office of Equity and Inclusion, Oregon Health Authority
Pop quiz! What is the greatest variance in average life expectancy between U.S. counties? The answer is stunningly disparate–15 years!
Where we live, learn, work and play can have a greater impact on how long and well we live than just access to quality medical care, and our ZIP code is often more important to our health than our genetic code. A person’s health and chances of becoming sick and dying early are greatly influenced by powerful social factors such as education, income, neighborhoods, housing and access to fresh food. In fact it’s estimated that only 50% of illness and death is caused by either genetic or behavioral factors.
Yet individuals and businesses are paying dearly for our “premium” health care system and encouraging people to simply exercise and eat right, while as a community, we apathetically address the environmental and policy decisions that can have significant return on health.
Despite massive investments in the American health care system, we are not achieving anywhere close to our full health potential. How do you think the U.S. stacks up to other countries in terms of the basic health outcome measure of life expectancy? The answer is 29th place, behind countries like Chile and Greece and tied with South Korea. What about infant mortality? Answer, 30th place despite being the richest country on earth. We spend four times as much on health care than any other country, or more than $2.7 trillion a year, to try and fix our sick bodies rather than spending a fraction of this to address key social determinants of health.
It’s not only the poor, but the middle class workforce whose health and pocket books are suffering. How much do you think Americans pay each year for health care? In 2009, it was $7,600 per person, more than double the median of the 30 OECD countries. To make things worse, it’s costing businesses $1 trillion a year in lost productivity due to illness. This is not sustainable from either a health perspective or an economic perspective. As businesses interested in equity and sustainability, we face a choice: invest a little in conditions that can improve health today, or pay a lot to repair our sick bodies tomorrow.
So why are our health outcomes among the worst in the industrialized world, even as our medical costs continue to escalate and technology continues to improve? Please join me on April 19th at this month’s VOIS networking and education event to learn how upfront investments and civic engagement can improve our health, without investing in the health delivery system. Co-sponsored and hosted by Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oregon, I’ll be discussing why our zip code and social factors can determine our health. Hope you can join us!
4/2012 * Lower insurance costs, maximum benefits
by Tom Blan, COO, International Living Future Institute/Cascadia Green Building Council
Like most organizations, the International Living Future Institute/Cascadia Green Building Council has been affected by ever increasing premium costs for health care coverage for our employees. We have implemented a strategy that has worked to keep costs under control while not sacrificing the level of coverage that our employees have enjoyed in the past.
As everyone knows, health plans with a high deductible are cheaper than the low deductible plans that people want. We’ve figured out a way to get the best of both worlds. What we have done is raise the deductible amount of our policy from the initial $250 amount to $1,000 in 2011, and then in 2012 we raised it again to $3,000. At the same time, we established a Health Savings Account for our employees and implemented a process whereby employees who had exceeded the original deductible amount of $250 would be reimbursed for any excess over that amount.
Employees who exceed $250 in deductible payments submit an Explanation of Benefits to one designated person at our organization, who maintains confidentiality in order to comply with HIPAA confidentiality rules. In effect, we are self-insuring for the deductible portion. We felt confident raising our “official” deductible to $3,000 in 2012, because in 2011, when our liability was only $750 per person ($1,000 – $250), our reimbursement costs were WELL below a break-even point for following this strategy. We reasoned that even if those same people went over the deductible limit again to the maximum level possible, we would still save far more than that amount in monthly premiums by raising the deductible.
This isn’t the simplest approach to employer-funded health insurance, but it has allowed us to provide extremely high quality coverage to our employees without breaking the bank. Perhaps it would work for you company as well.
3/2012 * Got Democracy?
by Laura Weiss, VOIS Board Member and Policy Team Chair
Most of us watch the work of the Oregon Legislature from afar, sometimes weighing in with a letter or phone call when we can. This session, however, was the first official short session, and it moved so quickly, it was hard for most of us to keep up.
If you looked closely enough, you were left with the distinct feeling that decisions were being made behind closed doors and that public messaging deviated from what was really going on.
Huge policy changes were introduced into the short session without consensus or vetting. Controversial issues were in the headlines almost daily: a consistent call for increased timber harvest, a substantial change to our statewide land use system, various changes to laws governing gun ownership, and more.
Issues that seem a no-brainer to any small business owner, like continuing work on a health insurance exchange to decrease health care costs and increase consumer confidence, got tied up in partisan bickering.
VOIS seeks to support policies that support our mission. But short timelines and strict deadlines made it hard for our members, many of whom are busy entrepreneurs, to engage in the legislative process in a meaningful way. In this abbreviated timeline, groups like VOIS have a very hard time having a real voice in the process.
There was some good news out of a Salem this session: a budget that protected K-12 funding and crucial services for our most vulnerable neighbors; passage (after inexplicable delays) of the Oregon Investment Act and the Oregon Health Insurance Exchange; an expansion of “buy local” policies for our local and state governments.
But it was hard to see these steps forward, thanks to the introduction of many bills that have no place in a short session (unveiled, lacking bipartisan consensus). Oregon has a tradition of stakeholders working together over months and even years in order to pass consensus legislation. We hope that future short sessions won’t bring that tradition to an end.
2/2012 * Coal: A Bad Deal for Oregonians
Opinion by Chris Dennett, VOIS Policy Team member
After an unpublicized meeting last month, the commissioners of the Port of St. Helens voted in favor to export up to 38 million tons of coal per year from Oregon to Asian markets, leaving a wake of coal dust and diesel fumes along the train corridors. If you combine the Port of St. Helens’ agreements with one or more of the other Big Coal targets for terminals in Coos Bay, Longview, Bellingham and Grays Harbor, Oregon and Washington would be responsible for unleashing more climate pollution than the purported threat of the entire Tar Sands Keystone Pipeline.
There are philosophical reasons why Oregon should not export coal to Asia. Burning coal in fire coal plants elsewhere would negate Oregon’s decommissioning its last coal power plant by 2020. The coal we’ll export to be burned in Asia will return to us in the trade winds across the Pacific as pollution, impacting our health and polluting our rivers; thereby increasing the already present mercury danger to children, pregnant woman, and to those who eat fish. Imagine the irony of Portland’s bike commuters riding across the Steel Bridge next to a mile long coal train on its way to St. Helens.
Beyond philosophical issues, there are many economic arguments that exporting coal is a bad deal for Oregon. In Governor Kitzhaber’s own words on the topic, we need to have an “open, vigorous public debate” about coal exports.
We must consider exactly how much port and tax revenue these Oregon coal terminals will create and where that money will go. Will this supposed economic boom cover the cost of the damage to our rivers and air, and will this revenue be reserved to pay for the health care cost for coal terminal workers who may experience higher workers compensation claims after becoming chronically sick with bronchitis, emphysema and fibrosis?
We need to discuss how Oregon seems desperate enough to trade its green future to satisfy international energy demands by creating relatively few low paying, poor quality jobs. Exporting coal is not a long-term remedy for job creation as coal mining has been on a decline for decades and coal fire plants are costing more in pollution than they are producing in economic benefit. What will happen to these communities and terminal jobs when the international demand for coal diminishes since coal is historically a volatile and unstable investment?
We’ll also need to debate about the cost of increasing train traffic above current levels by more than 10 coal trains per day as they sever key services and businesses from their communities through Portland and in small towns like Rainier and Scappoose. The increased train traffic means the rails will need upgrading and the noise disturbance will increase (freight train whistles are already a major sleep disturbance in the region). Will there be a discussion about the effects on property value, quality of life and on public health threats in communities along the train corridors? According to the rail operator BSNF, up to one ton of coal dust can escape from a single car during transport, and coal dust buildup is contributing factor to weakened tracks and derailment.
As a bottom line, we need to ask ourselves this question: Does exporting coal offer Oregonians a credible vision for a shared and lasting prosperity?
Let’s have this “open” debate that was promised to us last year by Governor Kitzhaber when it comes to coal export projects in Oregon. It’s time for all of us to get smart about possibly turning the Pacific Northwest into a global polluter versus becoming a world leader in sustainable living. We can do better by spending our limited resources supporting the businesses and industries that give back to a prosperous future for our region, a goal which resonates VOIS’s mission and vision.
Chris Dennett is a member of the VOIS Policy Team and a Director of the Pacific Northwest chapter of Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2). He is also a Systems & Analytics Manager for Corporate Account Management at Regence.
1/2012 * Re-Imagining Health Care for Oregonians
by Leslie Mestman, Executive Director
Greetings VOIS Community!
As part of my second week on the job, I attended a presentation on an exciting new health insurance option in the works which may benefit many of our members. As many of you know too well, finding affordable and flexible health insurance can be one of the biggest challenges facing small business owners. Imagine a new health insurance option set up as a non-profit; focused on preventative, community-based care; run by a member-elected board. This is exactly the vision of Oregon’s Health CO-OP (Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans).
In October 2011, Oregon’s Heath CO-OP (originally Community Care of Oregon) applied for a share of the $3.8 billion dollars in federal loans made available through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. The CO-OP plans to insure individuals, small businesses and even large groups with a unique emphasis on community building and support, preventative approaches and personal responsibility.
Oregon’s Health CO-OP is sponsored by CareOregon, a non-profit health plan serving over 155,000 Oregon Health Plan recipients in 17 Oregon counties. Under the structure of the agreement, CareOregon will function as a third-party administrator for the first three years, providing expertise as well as assistance in developing a provider network and system for processing claims. After that time it will be up to the newly elected member Board to decide what the structure should look like.
Oregon’s Health CO-OP should hear by the end of the January if their application, one of approximately 30 submitted, was successful. If so, they could start enrolling members by late 2013 with coverage targeted to begin January 1, 2014. As one of the speakers at the meeting said, “The opportunity of the CO-OP is motivating communities around health – to totally rethink health care.” This sounds like something we’ll want to watch.
Changing gears, I am really excited about my new role with VOIS and look forward to hearing how I can engage with our members and our community. If you have ideas, feel free to drop me a line at Leslie@voisalliance.org. I hope to meet many of you at the Happy Hour Networking on Thursday, January 19th.
11/2011 * Think Global, Bank Local
by Dan Lombardi
Did you know that today, two-thirds of the private bank deposits in Oregon are held by just five Wall Street Banks? This is why the concept of “moving our money” is more important now than ever.
Moving your money is not a difficult task in theory, but it can be difficult to find a truly local bank or credit union to move to. Many financial institutions use slick marketing campaigns to makes themselves “look local,” and it can be hard to tell what’s substantive. But there’s some help out there!
A coalition of organizations, including Working Families, has done extensive research and built an online resource called Oregon Banks Local to help folks find out how “local” the banks and credit unions in your neighborhood truly are.
More than 150 people in Portland rallied, marched, and opened new accounts at a local credit union to celebrate “Bank Transfer Day” on Saturday, November 5th. On this day, folks around the country were asked to take their money out of the Wall Street banks and deposit it in local banks and credit unions, ensuring that their money is put to work for the local community instead of leaving the state to never be seen again.
Once you’ve used Oregon Banks Local to find a truly local bank or credit union, we encourage you to move your money and start banking locally right away!
Dan Lombardi oversees communications and organizing for Oregon Working Families, the c(4) entity of the Oregon Working Families Party. He is also a member the VOIS Policy Team.
10/2011 * Nonconformity as a Driver of Innovation
by Sattie Clark, VOIS Board President & Founder
Thanks so much to everyone who attended the Champions of Change event on October 5, and to everyone who made it possible! It was a huge success and lots of fun. Thanks especially to the VOIS Board and advisors, event sponsors and partners, and the many generous volunteers who donated time and energy. And congratulations to the nominees, finalists and winners of the first annual Champions of Change Leadership Awards!
Today, I’m thinking about nonconformity and the role that it plays in sustainable businesses. Yesterday I got a call from charter VOIS member Brian Setzler (of CPA firm TriLibrium), asking how VOIS could support the Occupy Wall Street movement (see his most recent blog post on this topic). Even though I’ve been on vacation, it’s been hard to avoid news of the huge crowds that have been gathering in cities all over the world to demand a change to an economic system that destroys the planet and the middle class for the benefit of the wealthiest corporations and billionaires.
My first thought was, “Demonstrations in America?!?! How exciting and unlikely!” I admit: I tend to think of my fellow Americans as a pretty complacent lot, too busy watching TV and shopping for the latest plastic junk made in China to stand up and say, “hell no” to anything. But maybe the American dream just isn’t pleasant enough to keep us asleep anymore. It’s not just the disaffected youth who are showing up and raising their voices. It’s Main Street.
And what’s more Main Street than small businesses? We are the economic backbone of this country, and yet we are struggling more and more each year to be that support system while bigger and bigger pieces of the pie go to mega corporations or overseas. Perhaps our voices could add a lot of credibility to this movement so that it grows and blooms rather than fading away. What would that entail? Brian, for one, recommends getting involved in the discussion. The VOIS board will be weighing in and paying attention. We hope you will, too!
Last night I read an amazing interview in Sun magazine with Paul Watson, the founder/director of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an nonprofit organization that takes it upon themselves to enforce international laws that are intended to protect sea mammals and other endangered ocean life. One of the founding members of Greenpeace, Watson went his own way because he couldn’t reconcile himself with the slow work of winning the hearts and minds of citizens in the countries responsible, while the oceans and its sentient life were plundered. Instead, he puts his boats between the harpooners and the whales, risking the lives of his crews. Talk about going your own way. I wondered, do I do enough to create change? How do I stand up for my values while not impinging upon my child’s right to grow up with a mother? There’s a lot of middle ground, certainly, but where is the most fertile middle ground?
I also just read a great piece by Portland architecture blogger Brian Libby about Steve Jobs and the deeply original thinking (and risk-taking) that infused his work and his life. Maybe you know the story: that he dropped out of Reed College and started auditing the classes that truly interested him, conscious that he was saving his working class parents tens of thousands of dollars per year. Libby sharply identifies Job’s nonconformity and risk-tolerance as a part of the spirit of “Portlandia,” recognizing that it is our nonconformist values that attract and inspire the people that make Oregon different.
There’s nothing like getting away for getting perspective. I’m renewed in my gratitude for all of you who support VOIS and it’s mission. I’m also wondering, how do we get the most bang for our buck in terms of shaping a future we want to live in and leveling the playing field for businesses who do the right thing? Regardless of whether we are liberal or conservative, well-to-do or starving artists, we are certainly trailblazers and nonconformists. There is an amazing opportunity to use that difference to leverage a better world.
9/2011 * Who are your friends with benefits?
by Stephanie Ryan, Senior Associate at B Lab
What do Portland businesses TriLibrium, B-Line, gDiapers, PREM Group, FMYI, The Joinery, Sustainable Harvest, and Eleek have in common?
These businesses have all met third party standards for social and environmental integrity. And they’re in good company, with nearly 30 certified B Corporations in Oregon, and over 430 B Corps across North America.
Like fair trade certification for coffee or LEED certification for green buildings, B Corp is a certification for sustainable business. To earn certification, B Corps must do two things:
- amend their articles of incorporation to require consideration of stakeholder interests (not just shareholder interests); and
- meet rigorous social and environmental performance standards.
The performance standards require B Corps to earn a minimum score (80 out of 200) on the B Impact Rating System (BIRS) that assesses a company’s impact on all its stakeholders: workers, suppliers, consumers, community, and the environment. BIRS is a free, on-line resource for benchmarking the impacts of your company.
Meeting these legal and performance standards enables B Corps to differentiate themselves in a marketplace where everyone claims to be green, responsible, or sustainable. As a result, B Corps are preferred by consumers, sought after by investors, and receive significant discounts on dozens of business products and services that are saving them more than $1 million each year.
B Corporations are legally structured to do more than just make money: the B Corp legal language can help protect a company’s social or environmental mission as it raises outside capital, plans management succession or defends against an unwanted acquisition offer.
While B Corps themselves benefit from certification, their collective impact is even greater. One example is how the community of B Corps has become a powerful political constituency for public policies supporting sustainable business. In the last two years, the B Corp community has passed legislation in five states (MD, VT, NJ, VA , HI) creating legal recognition for the B Corp model as a distinct corporate entity, called a Benefit Corporation. Six other states have legislation pending and another ten are lining up for 2012 (including Oregon!).
Want to know more? I’ll be giving a short presenation at the VOIS networking social on September 15 and will be available to answer questions afterward. I hope you can make it!
