影响旅行社的州法律可能会延伸到美国
by理查德·德·安布罗西奥(Richard D'Ambrosio)/
行业专家担心,可以消除旅行顾问独立承包商(IC)职位的拟议的加利福尼亚法律可能成为其他州遵循的榜样。
专家们警告旅行顾问不要对自己的州和联邦立法者感到自满,并鼓励代理商在提出账单时准备迅速集会。他们建议,同样重要的是,顾问需要在新提出的法律之前优先与立法者会面,以对他们进行旅行社业务模式的教育。
加利福尼亚旅行组织联盟(CCTO)总裁黛安·恩伯里(Diane Embree)说:“这个国家的许多事情都从加利福尼亚开始,并在美国其他地区驶过。”“旅行社和其他州的行业也应该关注。”
大量税收收入受到威胁。仅加利福尼亚州估计,由于ICS“错误分类”,每年损失70亿美元的税收。
“If California goes, it could spread across the country, because every state is looking for tax revenue,” said Dan Smith, owner of Travel by Dan, Seattle, Washington.
7月初,加利福尼亚的大会法案5(AB5)将使“零工经济”工人全职员工,被关键参议院委员会批准并更加接近成为州法律。出乎意料的是,由于法案的撰写方式,旅行社已经被陷入了立法。
加利福尼亚州议员已为各种专业提供豁免,包括律师,建筑师,保险代理商,投资顾问和发型师/理发师。但是,该法案仍然要求旅游行业IC成为全职员工。
要做什么
The American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA) feels the overall bill eventually will pass, so their efforts now are focused on obtaining a travel agent exemption.
根据立法者不了解代理商业务模型的巨大变化,据ASTA高管和代理商称,这种情况是由于立法者的结果。
“It’s almost non-existent, the public’s basic understanding of how we are compensated for our services,” said Brian Hollien, president, Morris Murdock Travel, Salt Lake City, Utah, who has lobbied at his state capitol this year.
ASTA总法律顾问彼得·洛巴索(Peter Lobasso)加入了与加利福尼亚AB5的斗争,与高级立法人员举行了四次会议。洛巴索说:“在那些会议中,有一种普遍的感觉,唯一成为独立承包商的人是没有议价能力成为雇员的人。”
“他们不了解ICS的职业选择,也不了解我们从消费者的角度增加的价值。我们花了很多时间对他们进行教育。”
“我认为他们被教育,”相关的悲伤。“They’re not looking at us with disbelief, when we tell them how integral the IC model is not just to the travel agency community, but how it impacts our clients.”
一个非常活跃的立法年度
像全国各地的许多其他ASTA成员和旅行顾问一样,Hollien今年一直在积极打击立法。在犹他州,众议院第441号法案将对包括犹他州特工在内的服务提供商征收新的总收入营业税。
Hollien visited with legislators and their staffs to educate them on what travel agents do and how they do it, to suggest that advisors don’t fit the kind of companies Utah was looking to tax.
One lawmaker challenged that a travel agent’s services are no different than a landscaper who cuts lawns. “That is so far from explaining how travel agents work that it’s comical,” Hollien said.
“I explained to them how the services we sell are already taxed, that every time a travel agent books a hotel, a rental car, the consumer pays local taxes. I don’t think I talked to a single office that understood our economics,” he said.
华盛顿州于4月通过了一项法律,该法律将每年收入超过25万美元的旅行社税收税,尽管他们能够将赚取低于25万美元的机构维持州利率为0.275%。
In June, agents and others were able to defeat a Texas online booking hotel tax that was written loosely enough to require agents to collect the levy.
包括康涅狄格州在内的一些州法案仍在积极地进行,其中包括康涅狄格州,州长内德·拉蒙特(Ned Lamont)仍然有2020年的预算,其中包括将该州的6.35%的营业税扩大到个人和专业服务,包括“旅行安排和保留服务”。
ASTA倡导执行副总裁Eben Peck说:“我有一个朋友,一个律师,喜欢和我开玩笑,问‘马与越野车协会发生了什么事?’“那是因为当今代理商的店面少于20年前。”
“但是我的感觉是潮流正在转变。我们正在进步。我们只需要继续与媒体和立法者更加积极主动。”
ASTA’s education of several members of the U.S. House of Representatives led to three of them co-sponsoring the Travel Advisor Retail Fairness Act. Representatives Francis Rooney (FL 19th), Dina Titus (NV 1st) and Andy Biggs (AZ 5th), all support the removal of travel agencies from the Department of Labor’s “black list,” which blocks advisors from utilizing an exemption from federal overtime rules designed for retail businesses.
自2016年以来,ASTA一直在国会和劳工部提出问题,与高级部门官员会面,提交正式的规则制定请愿书,并为国会议员鲁尼(Rooney)的2017年法案提供了支持,并协调了有关该主题的国会联盟信件。
Be proactive
To keep up the momentum, ASTA and others are hoping more agents will be proactive in communicating to and meeting with local lawmakers across the U.S., and contributing to the association’s PAC fund.
霍利安说:“作为一个行业,我们通常对提议的法律有效,而不是主动地教育立法者。”
“You don’t want the first time you to talk to a doctor to be an emergency visit,” Peck said. “You want to attend regular annual checkups. The good news is that we have been able to devote some time to being proactive,” he said, like a recent July meeting hosted by Virtuoso Travel, ASTA and some local Seattle-area agents, with U.S. Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (WA-7th).
Jayapal坐在众议院预算,司法和教育与劳工委员会上。与会者对Jayapal和一名员工进行了有关旅行顾问行业的教育,包括独立承包商法规,TSA资金,古巴旅行和其他政策问题。
参加会议的史密斯说:“她告诉我们她的父母使用旅行社。”“她知道我们,我们现在正在她的雷达。”
霍利安说:“我绝对会鼓励每个代理商与您当地的代表联系。”“让他们知道您是本地企业。让他们知道您的名字,您的工作,我们的职业运作方式,以及如何由旅行顾问征收和收取税款。”
Agents also can improve their ability to impact legislators by working with other local business organizations. In California, the powerful state Chamber of Commerce was able to get a B2B amendment to AB5 for certain professions. The chamber is talking with ASTA to potentially modify the amendment’s language to include travel advisors.
AB5 has moved on to the Senate Appropriations committee, where a hearing is scheduled for Aug. 12. (The California legislature currently is in recess.)
如果它通过该委员会进行,AB5然后将前往全部参议院进行投票。由于已从原始的大会法案进行了修改,因此必须返回大会进行和解,然后再去州长签署。
CCTO,ASTA和其他人目前正在计划在当前休息期间,代理商和其他感兴趣的旅行方为他们的家庭办公室中的参议员拜访参议员。