TRSA Hits the Hill in Support of Huizenga Bill

“In an effort to level the playing field in which the federal prison system has an unfair advantage, TRSA strongly supports H.R. 3634,” Bubes said. “In instances across the country, TRSA members are competing for business with prison laundries, in some instances in the public market space. Their ability to translate low inmate cost into subcompetitive pricing has made it much more difficult for competing private companies like us to succeed. Labor costs are the largest ongoing expense in our industry and competing with prison laundries whose labor costs are far below prevailing rates creates an unfair playing field. Competing with the government does not foster a healthy business environment for us. This competition reduces the number of jobs that I, and others in our industry, are able to offer.

“TRSA members also make regular investments in the latest, most efficient laundry equipment. To minimize our needs for water and energy, we use environmentally friendly detergents, and we reduce, reuse and recycle supplies. Prison laundry operations do not duplicate these green benefits. Although I believe strongly in job training for inmates, it should not be at the expense of private-sector jobs.”

A group of legislators and business leaders joined Bubes in discussing the issue. Rep. Huizenga, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), a cosponsor of the bill; Dick McDonald, director of geospacial services at T3 Global Strategies Inc., Pittsburgh; John Palatiello, president, Business Coalition for Fair Competition, Reston, VA; and JD Long, program manager, military division, at Propper International, Washington, DC, also discussed the bill and how the federal prison industries have had a negative effect on business in their sector.

The afternoon kicked off with a roundtable discussion that included TRSA’s Director of Government Relations Kevin Schwalb, Manager of Environmental Affairs and Counsel Jessica Skerritt, Bubes, Rep. Huizenga and a number of business leaders. The talks centered on gaining broad bipartisan support for Huizenga’s bill and the reasons the legislation is important to help stimulate economic growth in the private sector and create a level playing field in competing for contracts with government entities.

“We are trying to make sure that this bill preserves market access for products and services for the hardworking men and women, hardworking taxpayers, of all of our districts,” Rep. Huizenga said. “It’s simply one more easy, commonsense way to preserve jobs and help restore the economy and security here in the United States. Government currently does nearly one million jobs that the private sector could do. We believe that has an impact of about $27 billion a year in taxpayer dollars that they are going into there.”