Sinema’s bipartisan bill creates a workplace safety tax credit to help small businesses follow CDC-recommended measures to fight the coronavirus
WASHINGTON – Arizona senior Senator Kyrsten Sinema introduced bipartisan legislation today with Republican Senator Kevin Cramer (ND) establishing a workplace safety tax credit to help Arizona businesses and nonprofits implement coronavirus infection prevention measures to keep Arizona workers and customers safe.
“Helping Arizona small businesses and nonprofits implement best practices and critical hygiene measures will save lives, slow the spread of coronavirus, and ensure employers can recover and get Americans back to work safely,” said Sinema.
“As small businesses seek to reopen safely, we should help them cover the costs of complying with recommendations designed to keep workers safe and on the job,” said Cramer. “A targeted workplace tax credit helps small businesses invest in CDC-recommended protocols like testing, increased cleaning, and personal protective equipment while we move the economy forward and combat COVID-19.”
Currently, as employers work to re-open safely and smartly, they face large, and unplanned costs for personal protective equipment (PPE) for employees, as well as the redesign of facilities, and sanitation services to protect workers. Many of these investments will be made in order to comply with local directives or CDC guidance, and should be supported to keep workers and customers safe during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Sinema’s bill aims to expand the number of small and mid-sized workplaces implementing CDC-recommend measures such as symptom checks, FDA-approved testing, increased cleaning and sanitation, industry-appropriate PPE, and social distancing measures to fight the virus. Sinema’s bipartisan workplace tax credit bill offsets costs employers expend to safely and smartly re-open during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, and provides a slightly lower tax credit to employers in 2021 as they continue to maintain safe workplaces until a coronavirus vaccine is approved and widely-distributed. The tax credit is limited to two years and is limited to companies with less than 2,000 full time employees. Sinema will continue to solicit feedback and seek improvements on the proposal from employers, public health experts, and other stakeholders in the month of July.