GOVERNOR O’MALLEY ACCEPTS TASK FORCE REPORT TO STRENGTHEN, SUPPORT SMALL BUSINESSES

Governor Hosts live Small Business Town Hall at Baltimore’s Blue Sky Factory

ANNAPOLIS, MD - Governor Martin O’Malley today joined with members of the Governor’s Task Force on Small Business to formally accept their recommendations to strengthen and support Maryland’s small businesses and create jobs. The Task Force, which is made up of small business owners, legislators, and leaders of several State and local agencies, presented the Governor with a report on the key issues impacting small businesses and a list of strategic recommendations on expanding access to capital, procurement, regulatory reform, sustainability and workforce that could be addressed during the upcoming legislative session.

“I want to commend the members of the Small Business Task Force for taking on the monumental challenge of crafting a roadmap for sustaining and growing Maryland’s small businesses,” said Governor O’Malley. “Maryland small businesses and the jobs they support represent the engine that drives economic progress in Maryland and I look forward to working with the Task Force to move these recommendations forward and putting our hard-working citizens back to work.”

The Task Force, chaired by Ackneil Muldrow, CEO of Parker Muldrow & Associates LLC, outlined five key recommendations for the Governor to consider. The Governor previewed some of the Task Force recommendations at a Maryland Chamber of Commerce event last month:

· Extend the State’s Small Business Reserve Program, and define small business as it pertains to State assistance and opportunities.

· Retool State financing programs to compliment federal and private sector offerings for small businesses.

· Streamline and fast track regulatory review processes.

· Establish a center for small business excellence under DBED’s jurisdiction and create a standing Maryland Small Business Commission.

· Centralize and effectively market workforce resources.

“In developing this report, the Task Force reached out to small business owners, State policymakers and stakeholders to fully understand the issues most critically impacting small businesses and the recommendations that we needed to make to eliminate the barriers to progress,” said Mr. Muldrow. “I want to thank my fellow Task Force members for their time and commitment to making Maryland a stronger place to start and grow a small business.”

Following the Small Business Task Force meeting, the Governor hosted his first online Small Business Town Hall meeting with a panel of small business owners live from Blue Sky Factory in Federal Hill. The Governor, joined by Mr. Muldrow; Julie Gabrielli, Owner of Gabrielli Design Studio; and Greg Cangialosi, President of Blue Sky Factory, fielded questions on access to credit, procurement and health care. The Town Hall, which was moderated by WYPR’s Mario Armstrong, can be viewed by visiting www.choosemaryland.org.

Yesterday’s event in the latest in a series of initiatives by the O’Malley Brown Administration focused on Maryland’s small businesses. At the Maryland Small Business Summit earlier this week, the Governor outlined three key initiatives as part of a broader economic agenda to help strengthen small business in Maryland and create jobs.

The initiatives included streamlining the loan approval process for small businesses and expanding access to credit by creating the Maryland Small Business Credit Recovery Program, offering a loan guaranty on small business deals through the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development’s current loan guaranty program - the Maryland Industrial Development Financing Authority Program (MIDFA); establishing a Job Creation and Recovery Tax Credit, which would award businesses a $3,000 tax credit for every unemployed worker it hires and introducing emergency legislation to address the rate increase for small businesses to the Unemployment Trust Fund.