Advocacy

04 May

Senate Vote on Small Business Health Plans Expected Next Week

It is expected that next week the Senate will vote on The Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act (S. 1955), legislation sponsored by Sen. Michael Enzi (R-WY) that would allow business and trade associations to pool their members to offer group health coverage through Small Business Health Plans (SBHP). The American Booksellers Association is encouraging its members to contact their senators to urge a vote in favor of the bill.

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27 Apr

Booksellers Urged to Action Re Small Business Health Plans

On April 25, ABA COO Oren Teicher wrote booksellers and asked them to contact their senators and urge them to support "The Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act," (S. 1955), legislation sponsored by Sen. Michael Enzi (R-WY). The legislation would allow business and trade associations to band their members together and offer group health coverage on a national or regional basis through Small Business Health Plans (SBHP, also known as Association Health Plans).

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20 Apr

Massachusetts Passes Health Care Reform

It appears that supporters of health care reform finally have momentum on their side. The Senate is nearing a vote on Small Business Health Plans (also known as Associated Health Plans) legislation sometime in May [watch for an important update and a call to action in next week's BTW]; President Bush is touting Health Savings Accounts; and in Massachusetts, on April 12, Republican Gov. Mitt Romney signed a health insurance reform bill that seeks to make health insurance available to every resident of Massachusetts within the next three years.

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30 Mar

ASAE's Dawn Latham to Discuss AHPs at ABA Legislative Day

This week, ABA announced that, at its first-ever Legislative Day', Dawn P. Latham, CAE, director of public policy, for the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), will be on hand to provide attendees with an update on the current status of Association Health Plan (AHP) legislation in Congress. "'Small business health plans is such a critical issue," Latham said. "I look forward to meeting the members of ABA to discuss this important legislation."

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29 Mar

BTW News Briefs


Senators Call for a Hearing on the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Project

In a letter dated March 21, Sen. Michael Enzi (R-WY) and Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) called on the Senate Committee on Finance to hold a hearing on S. 2152 and S. 2153, their respective streamlined sales and use tax legislation, that was referred to the committee for review. The letter was sent to Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-IA), the Senate Committee on Finance chairman, and Max Baucus (D-MT), the committee's ranking minority member.

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16 Mar

Senate Stalemate Broken: AHP Legislation Approved by HELP Committee

Ending a 15-year stalemate on Association Health Plan (AHP) legislation, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee voted in favor of "The Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act," (S. 1955), which was introduced by Sen. Michael Enzi (R-WY). With the committee's approval, the bill can head to the Senate floor for debate.

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07 Mar

Senate Stalling Subsides: AHP Moves to Committee for Mark-Up

The logjam that has seen AHP legislation repeatedly stall in the Senate could be coming to an end.

On Wednesday, March 8, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee has scheduled a mark-up of legislation that looks to provide more affordable health insurance options to America's small businesses. The bill, "The Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act," (S. 1955) was introduced into the Senate by Senator Michael Enzi (R-WY), Chairman of HELP, in late 2005.

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23 Feb

New at BEA: ABA Legislative Day

With the return of the American Booksellers Association's convention and the book industry trade show to Washington, D.C., for the first time in 17 years, ABA is making the most of the event by offering its first-ever Legislative Day.

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07 Feb

Barnes&Noble.com Now Collecting Sales Tax on Online Purchases in 38 States

With no fanfare, Barnes & Noble has begun collecting sales tax on online purchases made through its Barnes&Noble.com website in 38 states. The company website currently notes, "In accordance with applicable law, Barnes&Noble.com collects tax in all but the following states: Arizona, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, New Mexico, Vermont, and the District of Columbia." States that have no sales tax are Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon.

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16 Nov

Sen. Enzi Introduces AHP Bill With Compromise

Earlier this month, Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, introduced legislation that aims to help small businesses and their employees increase access to affordable health insurance plans. The legislation, the Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act of 2005 (S.

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04 Oct

Teen Read Week Tells Kids to "Get Real!"

Between October 16 and 22, libraries, schools, and bookstores across America will celebrate Teen Read Week, which is now in its eighth year. A national literacy initiative aimed at teens, their parents, librarians, educators, booksellers, and other concerned adults, Teen Read Week was developed by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to focus on the importance of teen recreational reading.

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15 Sep

Independents Asked to Help Pass the Book

Reach Out and Read (ROR), the 16-year-old national pediatric literacy organization, has been putting millions of books into the hands, strollers, and even mouths, of babies and preschool children to help make reading a part of every healthy childhood.

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16 Aug

ABA Files Amicus Brief to Support Robinson-Patman Act

On July 25, ABA joined a number of retail and dealer trade groups in submitting an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the Robinson-Patman Act (RPA) -- a federal law enacted in 1936 that protects individual competitors from price discrimination in favor of large chain stores by their suppliers. ABA submitted its friend-of-the-court brief in support of the Arkansas-based truck dealer Reeder-Simco GMC, which claims Volvo violated RPA by favoring other truck dealers.

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About ABA

The American Booksellers Association, a national not-for-profit trade organization, works with booksellers and industry partners to ensure the success and profitability of independently owned book retailers, and to assist in expanding the community of the book.

Independent bookstores act as community anchors; they serve a unique role in promoting the open exchange of ideas, enriching the cultural life of communities, and creating economically vibrant neighborhoods.

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