CLARE OUMOU VERBETEN

• Many large corporations like Amazon pay a significantly lower tax rate than small businesses. Will you support closing loopholes through legislation to ensure that the very wealthy and large corporations pay their fair share in taxes? Examples of legislation that address this issue (at the national level) include Sen. Wyden's Small Business Tax Fairness Act and Rep. Bowman's Babies Over Billionaires Act.

  Yes.

  I am the proud daughter of a small business owner. My mother has run her own cleaning business for the last 25 years. She has also been an essential worker on the front lines cleaning buildings throughout the pandemic. Unlike larger corporations, my mother does not have an army of accountants and attorneys to find loopholes that prevent her from paying her fair share in taxes. As State Senator, I will fight to ensure there is a level playing field and small business owners aren’t held to a higher standard than large corporations.

• Massive corporations dominate our economy today. Over the last two decades, 75% of US industries have grown more concentrated, with concentration in the average industry nearly doubling. This has left everything from production of baby formula, e-commerce and healthcare in the hands of a few massive companies that choke off small businesses, raise prices on consumers, and cut wages. Would you support state-level reforms to our antitrust laws to prohibit anti-competitive conduct and breakup monopolists?

  Yes.

  Creating an environment where small businesses can thrive, workers aren’t being taken advantage of and consumers aren’t facing astronomical prices is very important to the success of our state. As State Senator, I will be fighting to ensure that we maintain a competitive market that isn’t dominated by massive corporations. I know that legislation to reform antitrust laws, including increasing penalties for violating antitrust laws and prohibiting companies from engaging in anticompetitive practices was introduced this past session in the MN House and Senate. I will fight to make sure we pass those bills in the Senate. Additionally, I will work with Attorney General Ellison to ensure we are taking steps to provide a level playing field for Minnesota workers, small businesses and consumers.

• Attorney General Keith Ellison has worked to reprioritize antitrust enforcement in Minnesota, including expanding the antitrust division. However, there are still only a handful of attorneys in the attorney general’s office dedicated to curbing the power of the monopolists that threaten small businesses. Will you support additional funding for the attorney general so that Minnesota can adequately enforce our antitrust laws and create a level playing field for small businesses?

  Yes.

• Do you have other ideas on how state policy can be used to protect small businesses from concentrated corporate power?

  In addition to the antitrust reforms mentioned above, I believe there are a variety of tools the state government has to ensure a level playing field for small businesses. Just like consumers have been hit by inflation, so have small businesses and yet Minnesota is one of the few states without any prohibitions on price gouging. I would also seek to ban or curtail use of non-compete clauses, which creates barriers for small businesses trying to attract talent and reduces entrepreneurship. These are some of the ideas I have, but I look forward to working with small businesses to explore the full range of policy options available to create a thriving economy that benefits all Minnesotans.

• Small business employees are only able to work limited hours due to the cost of childcare, a crisis that has only worsened during the pandemic. Do you support capping and subsidizing childcare costs to make it more affordable and accessible, in particular for women of color?

  Yes.

  Throughout my childhood, my mom would bring me to work with her. She didn’t have any other choice. When I was little, my mom carried me on her back while she cleaned. She literally carried me as she labored! I know that having access to affordable childcare would have made a world of difference to my mom.

• The pandemic exposed and exacerbated the lack of access to guaranteed, universal paid family and medical leave for so many small businesses. The vast majority of small businesses lack the capital and the scale to offer paid leave, even when owners want to provide this benefit to their employees. At the other end of the spectrum, sole proprietors frequently are unable to access paid leave and have to accept a significant loss in income when they are out because of reasons related to caregiving or injury/illness. Moreover, private insurers generally do not offer affordable, adequate paid medical leave policies to small businesses and do not offer paid family leave nationally at all. State programs have shown universal paid leave helps level the playing field between them and large businesses. Do you support a universal paid leave policy for small business owners and their employees?

  Yes.

  As a small business owner, my mother often worked with only herself or another worker helping. If she could have offered paid family and medical leave, I know that she would have. Unfortunately, my mother’s story is reflective of what small businesses are seeing across the state. No employee should have to face the dilemma of needing to care for a family member, but fearing taking time off from work to do so.

• Access to affordable healthcare is an ongoing struggle faced by rural and urban Minnesotans alike. This issue is especially burdensome to sole proprietors, small business owners and their employees on Main Street. Rising drug costs, copays and deductibles mean that even those with health care coverage still pay thousands of dollars per year out of pocket, which means many people avoid getting treatment except for catastrophic health issues. This increases costs for the entire state when people cannot afford regular preventative care and results in ever increasing premiums. Small businesses struggle to pay health insurance for their employees, particularly when small businesses pay 18% more for health care coverage than do large corporations and 1/3 of all dollars spent on health care go to administrative costs. Will you work to ensure all Minnesotans have access to quality, affordable health care?

  Yes.

  Healthcare is a human right. My ultimate goal is a single-payer healthcare system. I support Sen. John Marty’s single-payer proposal known as the Minnesota Health Plan that provides comprehensive health coverage for all Minnesotans. In addition to the benefits such a program would provide to individuals, it would benefit the countless small businesses that struggle to provide their workers with healthcare.

  I will always fight to expand healthcare access. I would support legislation to allow the state’s health insurance programs to contract directly with health care providers and give all Minnesotans who purchase individual insurance the option of buying a MinnesotaCare plan. The state’s programs provide high-quality, low-cost insurance to a number of Minnesotans. We should expand access to these programs and allow Minnesotans of any income buy a MinnesotaCare plan.

• Do you believe health care is a right for all people, and will you join the Minnesota Health Plan caucus to push for legislation that would provide universal health care for all Minnesotans?

  Yes.

• Investing in equitable capital access is essential for realizing the value of businesses launched by entrepreneurs not well-served by the current financial system. Black and Latinx entrepreneurs, in particular, have less business equity on average than their white counterparts and experience discrimination in lending; due to financial barriers, their businesses tend to bring in lower revenue and have lower profit margins. Women-owned businesses face similar challenges. This is particularly significant because Black-owned and Latinx-owned businesses are also more likely to be women-owned. Will you lead or support efforts to greatly reduce and hopefully eliminate this discriminatory access to capital for Black, brown, and/or women entrepreneurs so that they too can gain equitable access to low-interest capital?

  Yes.

  Economic Development is a racial justice issue. I will fight hard to ensure that small businesses have access to the resources they need to be successful. I would work towards increasing funding for programs like the Emerging Entrepreneurs Program, which provides grants to businesses owned and operated by people of color, low-income persons, women, veterans and/or people with disabilities.

• Expanding access to capital is about more than just offering financial products. It also involves providing the support that allows small businesses to obtain high-quality, affordable financing and use it to solidify and grow their businesses, generate good jobs, and contribute to vibrant, equitable communities. (Examples of support include technical assistance, procurement opportunities, and back-office support systems). What ideas do you have for expanding access to these support systems for entrepreneurs?

  There are many opportunities that we can and should take to ensure that small businesses have the resources and support they need to create a thriving business. What we can’t do is fight for these support systems and not put in the work to engage these entrepreneurs of what is available. One barrier I believe that we have to overcome is making sure that everyone has equitable access to these services and knows how to go about leveraging them. We have to do the work and get into these communities to share what opportunities exist, but also continue to listen to small businesses on the challenges they still face. This work is especially important and lacking in communities of color.

  I would work towards investing in the state’s Small Business Development Centers, ensuring that these centers are more widely available and adequately staffed. They provide crucial services often in languages other than English and have built trust with the communities they serve.

• Small businesses were impacted by COVID at a disproportionate rate (compared to large businesses) and ongoing challenges exacerbated by COVID mean that many industries have not returned to pre-pandemic levels. Many small business owners (particularly those from historically marginalized groups) were left out or disqualified from COVID relief during the pandemic. Though Covid relief programs saved many small businesses, it is clear that the U.S. lacks a public infrastructure for fostering a thriving small business economy – much less a small business economy that is just and equitable. When thinking about the long road ahead towards economic recovery, what ideas do you have in supporting small business owners that have been hit hard during the pandemic?

  The pandemic only further highlighted the disparities that exist in our state, including for people in marginalized communities who are small business owners. There is no returning to normal because normal was not an equitable environment for so many small business owners. Just like too many of the families I talk to in my district, small businesses are still recovering from the impacts of the pandemic. I will work hard in the State Senate to ensure we are addressing the gaps in our system and create a fair and leveled playing field for our small businesses. This looks like fighting for small businesses to be able to offer paid family and medical leave. It looks like passing the MN Health Plan and making healthcare more accessible and affordable to all Minnesotans. It looks like fully funding our public schools and investing in childcare. I will fight for these and so many other issues because they contribute to creating environments where our small businesses can thrive.

• COVID has exacerbated existing gaps in the care infrastructure system, unsafe working conditions, and financial burden, among other impacts for small businesses and working families. It is clear that small businesses and working families are still reeling from the effects of the pandemic two and a half years later. With that in mind, why should small business owners and working families trust you with their vote on Election Day?

  I’m not only the proud daughter of a mother who is a Senegalese immigrant and a small business owner. I’m also the proud daughter of a father who spent nearly 30 years as a public school teacher. Growing up, I saw first hand the barriers my mother endured running a business and the challenges my father faced just to get the resources he needed to educate his students. I also learned the role that our elected officials play in addressing the issues my parents and so many others in our community experience, especially communities of color. My determination to change our systems for better has guided the work I’ve done over the years. And, as a Black woman, I am in the fight for Black lives every day - both professionally and personally. Working families can cast their vote for me knowing they will have a person in this seat who will carry their stories and lived experiences to the State Capitol. I will fight alongside them every day to ensure we have a state that is truly safe and prosperous for all of us.