New bill aims to help Louisiana small businesses weather future price hikes

Two U.S. senators have reached across the aisle as allies in a bill that both believe will help bolster small businesses.

U.S. Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., have introduced Senate Bill 5603, which they are calling the Help Small Businesses THRIVE Act.

The legislation would create a new program overseen by the Small Business Administration that would offer small businesses resources and expertise on how to lock in prices of things like electricity, natural gas, gasoline and other commodities.

“Small businesses are particularly vulnerable to high inflation costs. The Helping Small Businesses THRIVE Act gives small businesses in Louisiana the tools they need to create jobs, expand operations, and compete with large companies,” Cassidy said.

Cassidy and Shaheen believe this would allow smaller businesses who are hurt by inflation or higher prices for any reason to be able to budget, expand and compete with larger companies that are better able to protect themselves by using sophisticated financial derivative instruments to hedge their costs.

While the devil is always in the details, three national small-business groups, the Small Business Majority, the National Small Business Association, and the Center for American Entrepreneurship, are weighing in positively.

“Participating businesses will be able to recapture losses sustained from price volatility regarding critical commodities like gasoline, diesel, natural gas, lumber, and potentially other inputs, that they rely on,” said John Dearle, president of the CAE.

While the bill would give no direct funding to the small businesses, it would provide guidance and resources, and that is something Cohab Executive Director Jessica Schiele says is always helpful to small businesses.

“I think more knowledge and understanding is always a good thing,” Schiele said. “I definitely think that any opportunity that any business owner has to further their own understanding of ways that those changes can be weathered is a positive thing. It’s always beneficial to have a resource that increases your knowledge and ability to deal with changes and also to have someone that you can avail yourself to their experience.”

Schiele leads the Shreveport-based nonprofit, which works with the state, parish and other partners on providing information and resources to help small businesses survive and grow. She knows the obstacles those businesses face when dealing with unknown future price increases.

“It has been a challenge in doing forecasting and in setting a pathway that is going to be a successful one over a stretch of time,” she said. “It’s certainly a challenge when it comes to planning, and I think it’s been a challenge for all of us just in being able to deal with increased costs, because a business has costs just like anyone else.”

The THRIVE Act will be a pilot program. Molly Block, communications officer for Cassidy, said the program is envisioned to run for five years.