TRSA Members Advocate for the Industry
WASHINGTON, March 23—As TRSA’s Leadership & Legislative Conference finished at a U.S. House of Representatives office building, attendees departed with satisfaction they had learned more about how to maneuver the nation’s political machine in their best interests and recognized the increased risks to their businesses from adversaries’ manipulation of it.
This was the second of two days of meetings and seminars designed to launch an era in which members increase their political involvement wherever they operate. TRSA wanted to educate as many individuals as possible in the ways of Washington by bringing them to the nation’s capital to better prepare them for effective grassroots response at home to current and future TRSA initiatives with Congress and regulators. Some 125 attendees participated in the conference, based at the Gaylord National Resort in suburban National Harbor, MD.
Numerous attendees said they were impressed by the value of the program, which included meetings of 10 committees and the Board of Directors to consider new and ongoing programs. One participant, Melanie Boyle, an environmental sustainability specialist with Cintas Corp., Cincinnati, characterized the program of Hill visits as, “Great! It was very educational. We met with Sen. Rob Portman’s (R-OH) staff and Rep. Michael Turner (R-OH), one of his representatives. It was just a tremendous experience,” Steve Kallenbach, regional sales manager with American Dawn Inc., Los Angeles, said this week’s gathering in DC was simply, “One of the best TRSA events I have attended.”
Much of Wednesday morning was spent visiting congressional offices to advocate the industry’s pressing regulatory issues. On Tuesday, the group prepared for these 18 meetings by attending seminars on rulemaking procedures and effective personal interaction with legislators.
Wednesday began with a critique of federal policies from freshman Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD), who addressed the group at a Capitol Hill breakfast. Too many regulators still believe it’s their place to command and control American industry, he said, so “the government frequently gets in the way of your running a successful business.”
Rep. Harris cited examples specific to the textile rental services industry:
Regulating shop towels as hazardous waste. While EPA has formally proposed maintaining this exclusion since 2003, this rule still hasn’t been enacted. “EPA can define anything it wants as hazardous waste,” Harris observed. “Far too often, EPA has taken a view just not consistent with common sense.”
Phaseout of nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs) from commercial laundry detergent. Similar to the shop towel rule, TRSA has negotiated favorable treatment of the industry, as EPA has indicated that it will accept launderers’ voluntary phaseout of NPE by 2014 rather than banning it immediately. This sounds good, Harris said, but many who work for federal agencies are still prone to believing that “You don’t work with industry, you work against it.”
Deductibility of textiles purchased for rental. This is another longstanding practice the IRS seeks to curb through onerous recordkeeping requirements; failure to comply could remove favorable tax treatment or require these goods to be amortized. “Why do they care?” Harris said of the IRS. “It’s not going to affect tax revenue. It makes no difference fiscally.”
Conference attendees also received insights into the most recent rulemaking and enforcement practices of EPA and OSHA from John Wittenborn and Kathyrn McMahon-Lohrer, partners in the Washington office of Kelley Drye Warren, Washington. These attorneys previously have contributed to victories by the industry in dealing with these agencies.
Wittenborn said that the shop towel rule is now scheduled for publication in summer 2012. It might be sooner but the measure requires an “environmental justice review” to ensure that its passage will not inadvertently result in pollution of disadvantaged communities. He expressed confidence that TRSA’s efforts with EPA on this matter have addressed any concerns about the land filling of laundry pretreatment system waste (i.e., sludge) from shop towel processing.
In addition, Wittenborn addressed the EPA’s records of environmental-rule violations by laundries—mostly state actions under the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act. Violations of the former stature have become more problematic lately, he said, as more plants are subject to new-source rules and requirements to keep records of discharges.
McMahon-Lohrer reviewed the onset of OSHA’s initiative that might be the last workplace safety standard ever needed: its Illness and Injury Prevention Program (I2P2) rulemaking. This proposed rule would require employers to identify all hazards in their workplaces and control them. While this task might seem like second nature for a business operator, it may not be so easy to determine some risks such as possible musculoskeletal hazards. I2P2 will also enable OSHA to “double-dip” enforcement by accusing employers of violations of I2P2 rules and underlying statutes, she noted.
While the White House has sought to increase safety inspections in the early years of the Obama administration it has been unable to do so because of a flat budget for several years. For fiscal 2012, OSHA seeks a 4.5% increase in operating funds ($558 million to $583 million) with about $8 million more for enforcement and $6 million to encourage whistleblowing. The potential hike is big news for OSHA employees, McMahon-Lohrer said, who are undertaking more significant enforcement activities (resulting in $100K+ fines) and finding more egregious violations. The latter are the kind that put multiple employees in a workplace at risk and, thereby, justify the agency in replicating a fine for each worker potentially affected.
Before the Kelley Drye presentation, TRSA conference attendees heard from two Hill staffers: Eric Schmutz, chief of staff for Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-KS) and Glen Chambers, chief of staff to Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO). They discussed federal legislative challenges and advised attendees on working with members of Congress.
After hearing detailed comments on runaway deficits ($3.8 trillion in spending vs. $2.2 trillion in revenue), one attendee asked Schumtz and Chambers if they saw anything positive on the horizon in Congress. The staff chiefs agreed that good news is that the scope of America’s fiscal problems is so vast that it now may force action on budget planning. “I’m completely optimistic long term that we will make the right decisions,” Schmutz said. “It all depends on how hard we get in the situation to make that (happen). The conversation is that everything’s on the table, people are saying it enough that now they’re being held accountable for it.”