who are elected into offi ce can and do have a massive impact on your business with the laws and regulations they support and pass. So it is important to be involved in the process and have your voice heard. • Join your association. No matter which segment of the market you target, one of the industry associations has your back. If you want to get more involved, join your local chapter and get educated on what their policy priorities are, and how they plan to achieve them. • Talk to your local offi cials. Join your local Chamber of Commerce to have a voice in local laws and regulations that could impact your business. It is far easier and more productive—not to mention a better use of time—to have your voice heard when new regulations are being proposed and debated than it is to try and fi ght or reverse them aft er the fact. • Get to know your elected offi cials. Find out who your Senate and House representatives are, and try to get involved with their offi ce. Bring your concerns to them, make sure they know your opinion on both local and federal legislative eff orts, and make sure your voice is heard. Th ey are, at the end of the day, supposed to represent you as one of their constituents, so you need to make sure they know what you want, and what is good for your business. • Laws and regulations— and how they are ultimately interpreted and implemented— have a massive impact on your business. Th ey aff ect your employees, your materials, and even your ability to make and keep a profi t. Th e fi rst step to making a diff erence and ensuring your future success is to educate yourself on the issues, and then get involved in the process. Find this article at PrintingNews.com/12200984 that it is advocating for a balanced solution that will protect employees, but will be fair to businesses as well. Toxic Substances Control Act Another piece of legislation that isn’t new but is impacting the industry is the Toxic Substances Control Act. Th is one was passed in 1976, and gave the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the “authority to require reporting, record-keeping and testing requirements, and restrictions relating to chemical substances and/or mixtures.” Kinter noted that for the fi rst time since the Act was passed, there is talk in various committees on Capitol Hill to revise it and bring it more in line with today’s commerce needs. Basically, they are looking to modernize the bill, and grant the EPA more authority to approve new chemicals for use in a wide range of applications—inks, washes, and other print-related solutions included. Th is revision would actually be a good thing, she said, as it would allow them to test and approve new chemicals for use much faster than the current system allows, opening the door for a faster cycle of innovation. Th e measure—which wouldn’t just provide a faster time frame, but would also create a more cost-eff ective approvals system—has already passed both the House and the Senate, and is currently in a committee where they are ironing out the details. A combined bill could potentially emerge and be sent to the President by this summer for approval. Other Measures While these are the biggest issues the industry is watching right now, there are a few others to keep an eye on well: • Th e Trans-Pacifi c Partnership Agreement (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) are both on the agenda for this year. Th ey will impact the ease of selling and buying goods internationally. • Postal Reform. Th is year is the 10th anniversary of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act which, among other things, limited the United States Postal Service’s ability to increase rates, Laws and regulations —and how they are ultimately interpreted and implemented— have a massive impact on your business. while simultaneously placing a massive burden on them to prefund their employee retirement accounts. Next year, a committee will convene as mandated by the law to take a hard look at the results of that bill, and determine whether or not the current structure has allowed them to meet the mandated goals, as well as how to proceed from here. No one knows yet how this will play out, so it is something everyone in the industry should start paying close attention to. • “Patent Trolls.” While we mostly hear about it in relation to the technology sector, NPES points out that they impact the print industry as well. Th e associations will be looking to get involved with talks around reforming intellectual property laws to prevent abuse and encourage continuing innovation. Getting Involved For most printers, it is easy to get caught up in the day-to-day operations of your business. It is easy to become so focused on your clients, jobs, and employees that paying attention to what’s going on in politics can be the last thing on your mind. But the people PrintingNews®com June 2016 ® Printing News 25
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