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Time Business News
5 days ago
- Business
- Time Business News
Small Business Compliance: Staying on the Right Side of Regulations
One of the biggest challenges that small businesses face is remaining in compliance with federal, state, and local laws. These can change at any time; for example, an unrelated Act of Congress can result in additional regulations or restrictions on businesses in other sectors. Let's take a look at types of compliance and a few examples, and then we'll examine the best methods for small businesses of all sizes to understand what, how, and to whom they'll need to report. These methods include searching for regulatory compliance services and hiring specific staff for compliance. Some forms of compliance, like adhering to OSHA standards and hiring paperwork requirements, are rather obvious. However, there are others that might not come to mind immediately or not every business owner might know about. For example, some states charge a 'franchise tax' on businesses that have a physical presence within their borders. If a business owner in one state without such a tax ends up moving to a different one that does have one, they might not initially be aware that they owe money. Common types of compliance include financial (like earnings statements, IRS filings, and sales tax receipts), human resources, industry-specific mandatory training and certifications, contractual, and many others. According to the Small Business Administration, there are two main categories of compliance with which businesses need to comply: internal and external. Internal compliance is primarily related to paperwork and documentation, like those that you generally wouldn't show anyone outside the company unless you were involved in a court case or had some other reason. For example, imagine a company co-founded by two people who each own a 50% stake. However, after a few months, they decide the company should be split 60-40, as one person has more of a hands-on role than the other. This deal should be documented in the event that the company is sold or the person with a 40% share claims their reduction in ownership never took place. Without that internal record, sorting out the proper proceeds of a sale can be difficult. External compliance refers to paperwork or documentation filed with an outside party, usually some level of government. The penalty for not filing these on time can range from fines to, in extreme cases, a company having its business license revoked. For example, imagine a small business that has had a total of 45 employees throughout its entire 20-year existence. However, due to an increase in business, they hire 20 more people for a total of 65. Under the terms of the Affordable Care Act, any business over 50 people must require 'comprehensive and affordable' healthcare to its employees. Since they've been under the threshold for so long, they might not know that it's required. However, if one of their employees gets insurance from the federal marketplace, the company would face a fine of over $100,000. A simple and accidental compliance issue can have massive repercussions for businesses. One popular strategy to make sure everything is filed in a timely manner is a small business compliance checklist that includes federal, state, and local regulations. Outside of standard IRS tax filings, businesses in most industries won't have to file many reports with the federal government. However, you'll need to be in compliance with federal advertising rules, OSHA regulations, and other laws that can lead to massive fines. Most states have regulatory guides available on their websites that explain what paperwork needs to be filed with each state office. In most industries, the only city or county paperwork you'll need to file will involve income tax requirements, but you'll want to check their websites, too, just in case. Due to the importance of making sure these deadlines are met, job postings for dedicated compliance employees have increased significantly in the past few years. According to Statista, there were over 350,000 compliance officers employed in the United States during Fiscal Year 2022. However, this usually isn't a practical solution for small businesses, as the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the median wage for a compliance officer is $75,670 per year, which most startups or small businesses may not be able to afford. One popular solution is using regulatory compliance services that know the state and federal requirements for your location and industry. By letting these experts handle your compliance paperwork, you'll no longer have to worry about missing deadlines or making sure you've sent every required document to each entity. These regulatory compliance services allow small business owners to spend more time focusing on cultivating and expanding their businesses. By spending less time focused on paperwork, they can spend more time interacting with clients and growing the customer base. For those who would like to go a bit further, outsourcing HR entirely to a human resources company is a great way to save money and ensure all relevant paperwork is filed before their respective deadlines. They also handle hiring employees, payroll, and most other standard HR duties. The biggest benefit is that these organizations often have thousands of employees all over the country, which means they'll have access to significantly better healthcare plans with lower premiums than most small businesses would be able to get. Complying with governmental laws, rules, and regulations can be a difficult experience for many small businesses, especially with so many deadlines and different entities to whom the paperwork is to be delivered. However, by maintaining compliance checklists and staying vigilant, the work can become easier. It may also be a good idea to contract with a regulatory compliance company or an HR company, as it'll reduce the total cost of overhead and prevent any paperwork mistakes or missed deadlines in the process. TIME BUSINESS NEWS
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Chabria: Military takeovers, questionable arrests, sanctuary city crackdowns. Hot Trump summer is here
President Trump dropped an executive order this week about "sanctuary cities," of which California has many. Not to mention we are a sanctuary state. Alone, that order should grab the attention of cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento, where the commitment to protecting our immigrant neighbors, regardless of documentation, is strong. But stack it with a few other recent Trump moves, and we have what promises to be a summer filled with dissent, fear and a flurry of military maneuvers, questionable arrests and attempts to hobble efforts to protect immigrants, documented or not. At the nexus of these efforts by the administration is a push to centralize ever-greater power at the federal level, never mind that Republicans have long been the standard-bearers for the federalist principle of states' rights. Remember all those 1776 patriots who have suddenly gone silent? "Don't tread on me" has morphed from a MAGA war cry to a Democratic plea. "We're still a federal state, and that means that there are powers that are given to the federal government in D.C. and powers that are given to states and localities," Ross Burkhart told me. He's a political science professor at Boise State University who studies patterns of democracy. "I worry about the balance being tipped toward a heavily centralized state." First, there's Trump's executive order from April 11 that hasn't made too many ripples, despite being a bonkers expansion of military authority over civilians. Trump turned over from the Interior Department to the Department of Defense a swath of land at the southern border that crosses three states — California, Arizona and New Mexico — known as the Roosevelt Reservation. That 60-foot-wide strip is now considered part of Ft. Huachuca, though the Arizona military base is in reality 15 miles away. No matter. The Roosevelt Reservation is now patrolled by military personnel, and entering it is considered trespassing on a military base — a criminal act. The overt premise of this unusual military takeover is to detain those crossing the border illegally. But what happens if a U.S. citizen crosses into that zone without permission? Maybe protesters, for example? Or aid workers, the kind who bring water to the desert? They too could be subject to military detention. Read more: Chabria: Rep. Garcia returns from El Salvador with a sliver of hope for deported gay hairdresser Of course, federal law, in the form of the Posse Comitatus Act, forbids the use of the military for civilian law enforcement. Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center, a nonprofit law and public policy institute, called the act "an absolutely critical protection for our freedoms and our democracy." Its single sentence reads: "Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the [armed forces] ... to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.' That sentence was originally written as a compromise to remove federal troops from the South during Reconstruction after the Civil War. Those troops had been protecting Black voters. But a disputed presidential election threatened stability, and so a deal was struck with still-angry white Southerners that soldiers couldn't be used to enforce civil laws — thereby removing the largest impediment to the Jim Crow era, but also putting that critical protection in place that prevents the military being used to suppress citizens. A doubled-edged sword with profound consequences. The Posse Comitatus Act in the most simplistic of terms eventually led to the rebellion that was the civil rights movement, and subsequent laws that have pushed for equality and equity. That in turn has led us to this moment, when the powers that be are seeking to undo those gains. Which brings us to the "except in cases and under circumstances" part of the Posse Comitatus Act, a Trumpian loophole if ever one was written. If Trump's first 100 days have proved anything, it's that anything is on the table. Take the Insurrection Act, for example, another piece of loophole-filled law Trump has recently mentioned with interest. Imagine, for example, if sanctuary cities were deemed to be violating federal law. If their leaders were accused of harboring and helping undocumented fugitives who somehow made it past the Roosevelt Reservation, or protests in the street were deemed violent rebellions. In his executive order Monday titled "Protecting American Communities from Criminal Aliens," Trump hinted at such scenarios. "Yet some State and local officials nevertheless continue to use their authority to violate, obstruct, and defy the enforcement of Federal immigration laws," it reads. "This is a lawless insurrection against the supremacy of Federal law and the Federal Government's obligation to defend the territorial sovereignty of the United States." That sounds a lot like the Insurrection Act getting ready to leap through the Posse Comitatus loophole. The order then suggests that some state and local officials could even be in violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, most commonly used against organized criminal enterprises such as the mafia, and promises to "pursue all necessary legal remedies and enforcement measures to end these violations." "The thing about the Insurrection Act is that it is intended to be used only in very extreme, severe emergencies where there's an immediate and overwhelming threat to public safety or to constitutional rights that the state and local authorities cannot or will not address," Goitein said. "Unfortunately, the actual text of the law is much broader and so it is vulnerable to being exploited by a president who is unconstrained by norms." The same day, Trump also signed another executive order, 'Strengthening and Unleashing America's Law Enforcement to Pursue Criminals and Protect Innocent Citizens,' which instructs the Defense and Justice departments to "determine how military and national security assets, training, non-lethal capabilities, and personnel can most effectively be utilized to prevent crime.' Read more: A Trump-appointed Californian shakes up civil rights unit at the Justice Department Taken together, those orders are a huge expansion of the federal powers of policing, a move toward a "security state" where the president could have the ability to enforce martial law, and arrest or detain anyone who opposes him. Although the idea of arresting politicians, activists or even everyday folks still seems a surreal bit of exaggeration, it has already happened. Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested by FBI agents last week, charged with obstruction of justice and concealing an individual to prevent an arrest. Well-known social justice activist the Rev. William Barber was arrested with other religious leaders while praying in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on Monday, as part of a protest against Republican budget cuts. An Oklahoma woman and her daughters, all U.S. citizens, were rousted from their beds in the middle of the night last week, in their underwear and at gunpoint, by federal authorities (who refused to identify themselves) looking for undocumented immigrants. And Stephen Miller, the Santa Monica native and Trump immigration architect, had this to say after Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker called for peaceful protests against Trump's authoritarian moves: "His comments, if nothing else, could be construed as inciting violence." Maybe the type of "violence" that leads Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act? Although a hot Trump summer is on the horizon, Goitein said she has hope that people will push back successfully. She points out that although Trump does not seem to care about crossing boundaries, he does care about his image. Currently, his popularity in polls is tanking and he is persona non grata on the international stage. The pressure, and power, of nonviolent protests may still keep this administration from treading on democracy. The people, Goitein said, are not helpless. "We are not there yet," she said. But things are heating up. Get the L.A. Times Politics newsletter. Deeply reported insights into legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond, in your inbox twice per week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Military takeovers, questionable arrests, sanctuary city crackdowns. Hot Trump summer is here
President Trump dropped an executive order this week about 'sanctuary cities,' of which California has many. Not to mention we are a sanctuary state. Alone, that order should grab the attention of cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento, where the commitment to protecting our immigrant neighbors, regardless of documentation, is strong. But stack it with a few other recent Trump moves, and we have what promises to be a summer filled with dissent, fear and a flurry of military maneuvers, questionable arrests and attempts to hobble efforts to protect immigrants, documented or not. At the nexus of these efforts by the administration is a push to centralize ever-greater power at the federal level, never mind that Republicans have long been the standard-bearers for the federalist principle of states' rights. Remember all those 1776 patriots who have suddenly gone silent? 'Don't tread on me' has morphed from a MAGA war cry to a Democratic plea. 'We're still a federal state, and that means that there are powers that are given to the federal government in D.C. and powers that are given to states and localities,' Ross Burkhart told me. He's a political science professor at Boise State University who studies patterns of democracy. 'I worry about the balance being tipped toward a heavily centralized state.' First, there's Trump's executive order from April 11 that hasn't made too many ripples, despite being a bonkers expansion of military authority over civilians. Trump turned over from the Interior Department to the Department of Defense a swath of land at the southern border that crosses three states — California, Arizona and New Mexico — known as the Roosevelt Reservation. That 60-foot-wide strip is now considered part of Ft. Huachuca, though the Arizona military base is in reality 15 miles away. No matter. The Roosevelt Reservation is now patrolled by military personnel, and entering it is considered trespassing on a military base — a criminal act. The overt premise of this unusual military takeover is to detain those crossing the border illegally. But what happens if a U.S. citizen crosses into that zone without permission? Maybe protesters, for example? Or aid workers, the kind who bring water to the desert? They too could be subject to military detention. Of course, federal law, in the form of the Posse Comitatus Act, forbids the use of the military for civilian law enforcement. Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center, a nonprofit law and public policy institute, called the act 'an absolutely critical protection for our freedoms and our democracy.' Its single sentence reads: 'Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the [armed forces] ... to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.' That sentence was originally written as a compromise to remove federal troops from the South during Reconstruction after the Civil War. Those troops had been protecting Black voters. But a disputed presidential election threatened stability, and so a deal was struck with still-angry white Southerners that soldiers couldn't be used to enforce civil laws — thereby removing the largest impediment to the Jim Crow era, but also putting that critical protection in place that prevents the military being used to suppress citizens. A doubled-edged sword with profound consequences. The Posse Comitatus Act in the most simplistic of terms eventually led to the rebellion that was the civil rights movement, and subsequent laws that have pushed for equality and equity. That in turn has led us to this moment, when the powers that be are seeking to undo those gains. Which brings us to the 'except in cases and under circumstances' part of the Posse Comitatus Act, a Trumpian loophole if ever one was written. If Trump's first 100 days have proved anything, it's that anything is on the table. Take the Insurrection Act, for example, another piece of loophole-filled law Trump has recently mentioned with interest. Imagine, for example, if sanctuary cities were deemed to be violating federal law. If their leaders were accused of harboring and helping undocumented fugitives who somehow made it past the Roosevelt Reservation, or protests in the street were deemed violent rebellions. In his executive order Monday titled 'Protecting American Communities from Criminal Aliens,' Trump hinted at such scenarios. 'Yet some State and local officials nevertheless continue to use their authority to violate, obstruct, and defy the enforcement of Federal immigration laws,' it reads. 'This is a lawless insurrection against the supremacy of Federal law and the Federal Government's obligation to defend the territorial sovereignty of the United States.' That sounds a lot like the Insurrection Act getting ready to leap through the Posse Comitatus loophole. The order then suggests that some state and local officials could even be in violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, most commonly used against organized criminal enterprises such as the mafia, and promises to 'pursue all necessary legal remedies and enforcement measures to end these violations.' 'The thing about the Insurrection Act is that it is intended to be used only in very extreme, severe emergencies where there's an immediate and overwhelming threat to public safety or to constitutional rights that the state and local authorities cannot or will not address,' Goitein said. 'Unfortunately, the actual text of the law is much broader and so it is vulnerable to being exploited by a president who is unconstrained by norms.' The same day, Trump also signed another executive order, 'Strengthening and Unleashing America's Law Enforcement to Pursue Criminals and Protect Innocent Citizens,' which instructs the Defense and Justice departments to 'determine how military and national security assets, training, non-lethal capabilities, and personnel can most effectively be utilized to prevent crime.' Taken together, those orders are a huge expansion of the federal powers of policing, a move toward a 'security state' where the president could have the ability to enforce martial law, and arrest or detain anyone who opposes him. Although the idea of arresting politicians, activists or even everyday folks still seems a surreal bit of exaggeration, it has already happened. Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested by FBI agents last week, charged with obstruction of justice and concealing an individual to prevent an arrest. Well-known social justice activist the Rev. William Barber was arrested with other religious leaders while praying in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on Monday, as part of a protest against Republican budget cuts. An Oklahoma woman and her daughters, all U.S. citizens, were rousted from their beds in the middle of the night last week, in their underwear and at gunpoint, by federal authorities (who refused to identify themselves) looking for undocumented immigrants. And Stephen Miller, the Santa Monica native and Trump immigration architect, had this to say after Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker called for peaceful protests against Trump's authoritarian moves: 'His comments, if nothing else, could be construed as inciting violence.' Maybe the type of 'violence' that leads Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act? Although a hot Trump summer is on the horizon, Goitein said she has hope that people will push back successfully. She points out that although Trump does not seem to care about crossing boundaries, he does care about his image. Currently, his popularity in polls is tanking and he is persona non grata on the international stage. The pressure, and power, of nonviolent protests may still keep this administration from treading on democracy. The people, Goitein said, are not helpless. 'We are not there yet,' she said. But things are heating up.
American Military News
30-04-2025
- Politics
- American Military News
Trump orders Hegseth, Bondi to consider use of military for domestic operations
President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Monday that orders Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to increase the provision of 'military and national security assets' to local law enforcement officials and 'determine how military and national security assets' could 'most effectively be utilized to prevent crime.' In Trump's executive order, titled 'Strengthening and Unleashing America's Law Enforcement to Pursue Criminals and Protect Innocent Civilians,' the president emphasized that his administration is 'steadfastly committed to empowering State and local law enforcement to firmly police dangerous criminal behavior and protect innocent citizens.' Part of Trump's executive order directed Bondi and Hegseth to consult with Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and other agency leaders to 'increase the provision of excess military and national security assets in local jurisdictions to assist State and local law enforcement' within 90 days. Trump added, 'Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the Attorney General, shall determine how military and national security assets, training, non-lethal capabilities, and personnel can most effectively be utilized to prevent crime.' READ MORE: US military can now detain illegal immigrants along southern border strip The Independent reported that some opponents of the president's executive order warned that the order could result in a violation of the Posse Comitatus Act 1878, which was instituted to prevent military forces from engaging in local law enforcement matters. The Posse Comitatus Act states, 'Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.' According to The Independent, the Posse Comitatus Act's restrictions were later extended to both the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Navy. In Monday's executive order, Trump stressed the importance of equipping local law enforcement agencies with the resources necessary to protect American citizens. Trump wrote, 'Safe communities rely on the backbone and heroism of a tough and well-equipped police force.' In his executive order, Trump ordered Bondi and other administration officials to 'provide new best practices to State and local law enforcement to aggressively police communities against all crimes,' to expand and improve training opportunities for law enforcement officials, to increase pay and benefits for law enforcement officials, and to increase legal protections for law enforcement officials.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bondi and Hegseth ordered to look at how military can be used in domestic operations
Donald Trump has ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth to look at how the United States military might be used to prevent crime. The executive order - 'Strengthening and Unleashing America's Law Enforcement to Pursue Criminals and Protect Innocent Civilians' - was signed by Trump at the White House on Monday ahead of his 100th day in office Tuesday. It instructs Bondi and Hegseth to 'determine how military and national security assets, training, non-lethal capabilities, and personnel' can be used to support domestic law enforcement. The order also establishes a legal defense mechanism for law enforcement officers accused of misconduct and threatens a crackdown on officials who prevent law enforcement officers from carrying out their duties. However, experts have already warned the latest order risks violating the Posse Comitatus Act 1878, introduced to keep the Armed Forces out of police matters. 'Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both,' the act states. It was subsequently extended to apply the same restrictions to the U.S. Navy and the Marine Corps. Earlier this month, Trump attracted the same complaint after authorizing the U.S. military to take control of land at the country's southern border with Mexico as part of his administration's efforts to crack down on undocumented immigration from Central America. A memorandum was sent to Hegseth, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other members of the cabinet entitled 'Military Mission for Sealing the Southern Border of the United States and Repelling Invasions' that outlined the president's plan to allows American forces to 'take a more direct role' in policing the border. 'Our southern border is under attack from a variety of threats,' the memo read. 'The complexity of the current situation requires that our military take a more direct role in securing our southern border than in the recent past.' It gave the Department of Defense jurisdiction over federal lands in the region, including the Roosevelt Reservation that crosses California, Arizona and New Mexico, and would empower soldiers stationed there to detain immigrants accused of trespassing. Among the other orders signed by the president on Monday was one seeking to punish sanctuary cities for failing to cooperate with immigration enforcement and another ordering truck drivers to prove they can speak English before hitting America's roads.
