[House Hearing, 117 Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] WEALTH FOR THE WORKING CLASS: THE CLEAN ENERGY ECONOMY ======================================================================= HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON INNOVATION, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT OF THE COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION __________ HEARING HELD JULY 27, 2021 __________ [GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT] Small Business Committee Document Number 117-028 Available via the GPO Website: www.govinfo.gov __________ U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 45-131 WASHINGTON : 2021 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOUSE COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS NYDIA VELAZQUEZ, New York, Chairwoman JARED GOLDEN, Maine JASON CROW, Colorado SHARICE DAVIDS, Kansas KWEISI MFUME, Maryland DEAN PHILLIPS, Minnesota MARIE NEWMAN, Illinois CAROLYN BOURDEAUX, Georgia TROY CARTER, Louisiana JUDY CHU, California DWIGHT EVANS, Pennsylvania ANTONIO DELGADO, New York CHRISSY HOULAHAN, Pennsylvania ANDY KIM, New Jersey ANGIE CRAIG, Minnesota BLAINE LUETKEMEYER, Missouri, Ranking Member ROGER WILLIAMS, Texas JIM HAGEDORN, Minnesota PETE STAUBER, Minnesota DAN MEUSER, Pennsylvania CLAUDIA TENNEY, New York ANDREW GARBARINO, New York YOUNG KIM, California BETH VAN DUYNE, Texas BYRON DONALDS, Florida MARIA SALAZAR, Florida SCOTT FITZGERALD, Wisconsin Melissa Jung, Majority Staff Director Ellen Harrington, Majority Deputy Staff Director David Planning, Staff Director C O N T E N T S OPENING STATEMENTS Page Hon. Jason Crow.................................................. 1 Hon. Young Kim................................................... 3 WITNESSES Ms. Leticia Colon De Mejias, Chief Executive Officer of Energy Efficiencies Solutions and Co-Chair for the Building Performance Association, Energy Efficiencies Solutions, Windsor, CT.................................................... 5 Mr. James Hasselbeck, Director of Operations, ReVision Energy, Inc., South Portland, ME....................................... 7 Mr. Samuel Gilchrist, Western Campaigns Director, Natural Resources Defense Council, Denver, CO.......................... 9 Mr. Tom Greer, Proprietor and Owner, Hub City Brewing Co., Belen, NM, testifying on behalf of the Consumer Energy Alliance....... 11 APPENDIX Prepared Statements: Ms. Leticia Colon De Mejias, Chief Executive Officer of Energy Efficiencies Solutions and Co-Chair for the Building Performance Association, Energy Efficiencies Solutions, Windsor, CT................................................ 30 Mr. James Hasselbeck, Director of Operations, ReVision Energy, Inc., South Portland, ME........................... 40 Mr. Samuel Gilchrist, Western Campaigns Director, Natural Resources Defense Council, Denver, CO...................... 44 Mr. Tom Greer, Proprietor and Owner, Hub City Brewing Co., Belen, NM, testifying on behalf of the Consumer Energy Alliance................................................... 53 Questions for the Record: None. Answers for the Record: None. Additional Material for the Record: ClearFlame Engine Technologies............................... 56 WEALTH FOR THE WORKING CLASS: THE CLEAN ENERGY ECONOMY ---------- TUESDAY, JULY 27, 2021 House of Representatives, Committee on Small Business, Subcommittee on Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Workforce Development, Washington, DC. The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:02 a.m., in Room 2360, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Jason Crow [chairman of the Subcommittee] presiding. Present: Representatives Crow, Davids, Phillips, Newman, Bourdeaux, Luetkemeyer, Williams, Tenney, Garbarino, and Young Kim. Chairman CROW. Good morning. I call this hearing to order. Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare a recess at any time. Let me begin by saying that standing House and committee rules and practice will continue to apply during hybrid proceedings. All members are reminded that they are expected to adhere to these standing rules, including decorum. House regulations require members to be visible through our video connection throughout the proceedings, so please keep your cameras on. Also, please remember to remain muted until you are recognized to minimize background noise. If you have to participate in another proceeding, please exit this one and log back in later. In the event a member encounters technical issues that prevent them from being recognized for their questioning, I will move to the next available member of the same party and will recognize that member at the next appropriate time slot provided they have returned to the proceeding. Those members and staff physically present in the committee room today, we will continue to follow the most recent OAP guidance. Masks are no longer required in our meeting space for members and staff who have been fully vaccinated. All members and staff who have not been fully vaccinated are still required to wear masks and socially distance. In the first half of 2020, extreme weather events rocked the United States and countries worldwide. Historic winter storms in Texas, raging wildfires in Oregon, and unprecedented floods in Michigan remind us of the imminent danger that climate change poses regardless of location. Just last week Secretary Holland was in my home State of Colorado meeting with local leaders about the worsening drought and wildfire conditions. These extreme weather events in the U.S. are mirrored by similar episodes across the globe. This wealth of evidence makes it abundantly clear that a climate crisis is a threat to human lives and to economic prosperity. That is why we must act now to protect our plant and create a more sustainable economy. Developing the clean energy economy won't be a small task and comes with its fair share of challenges. At the same time we must understand the many benefits that going green can deliver to small businesses and the American economy. For businesses relying on renewable power generation or increased energy efficiency can lead to lower costs and consumption and ultimately a higher bottom line. By increasing investment in renewables on a macro basis we can transform the U.S. into a global leader in clean energy, reducing our dependence on foreign nations. Going green also has the potential to reinvigorate the labor market by creating millions of good paying jobs spread across tens of thousands of businesses. In fact, across the country, we already see the ways that clean energy can benefit our economy. Clean energy firms account for roughly 35,000 businesses across the country and employ over 3 million workers. Small businesses dominate the clean energy sectors, with nearly 90 percent of businesses employing fewer than 100 employees and nearly a third of those with fewer than five. These jobs also pay well with medium hourly wages 25 percent higher than the national average, and they tend to hire local workers as well. Yet these small firms often lack access to capital necessary to expand their operations and meet the clean energy demand. That is why I am planning on introducing the House companion version of the 504 Green Energy Enhancement Act which would increase 504 loan amounts for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. With fighting the climate crisis being one of the top priorities for the President and the 117th Congress, the clean energy economy will likely continue to grow and create more better paying jobs for the American people. Unfortunately, if Americans don't have the requisite skills to fill jobs in the clean energy economy, they won't experience these benefits. Many firms in the sector already report difficulty finding workers. Without adequate investment in workforce development to ensure qualified workers are available, we run the risk of grounding the clean energy economy before it has a chance to take off. This would have profound consequences for the health of our economy and our decarbonization goals, so it is vital that Congress works to ensure workers have the skills and credentials needed to fill these roles. Today's hearing will allow us to explore different types of workforce development initiatives and what Congress can do to facilitate their implementation. With that, I want to thank all of our witnesses for being here today, and I look forward to our conversation. I would now like to yield to the Ranking Member, Mrs. Young Kim, for her opening statement. Mrs. YOUNG KIM. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing. And I also want to welcome and thank the members for participating in person or joining us via Zoom today. Prior to the pandemic and under the previous administration's pro growth and deregulatory agenda, an extraordinary 160 million Americans were employed, and the unemployment rate fell to a 50-year low. Additionally, wages for rank and file workers and nonsupervisory employees were rising faster than the wages for managers or supervisors. Now 3.2 million Americans are unemployed, all while small businesses place help wanted signs on their storefronts and struggle to find the labor force to meet heightened demand. As we safely reopen our communities and transition to recovery, I hope we can continue to work together to help small businesses stay afloat while also supporting American workers. Despite the tremendous amount of financial relief flowing to small businesses, many continue to endure a challenging recovery. Since January of this year, inflation has increased every single month and is climbing at the fastest rate in 13 years. We cannot continue the current path of reckless spending which in turn is becoming a tax on America's workers, middle class families, and small businesses. In May, roughly half of small businesses, 48 percent, were forced to raise their prices. This is the largest percentage reported in 40 years. Small businesses and workers are particularly vulnerable to changes in the price of fuel, food, and materials, and now they are simultaneously experiencing a decrease worth of their paychecks. To pay for this administration's spending plans, the President has proposed various tax increases that will impact small businesses and workers. Within the American Jobs Plan, which focuses on items, including the Green New Deals, climate change initiatives, the President is proposing to pay for the spending by increasing the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent. This will impact over a million small businesses organized as C corporations. I think it is worth noting that 55 percent of subchapter C corporations have five or fewer employees and 85 percent have fewer than 20 employees. So among the outsized effects, a corporate tax increase will directly cause utility costs to surge across the country and, as a result, millions of small businesses will face higher electric, gas, and water bills. The Biden administration has paired government spending with government regulations that further hinder America's small business recovery. The costs of regulatory compliance is disproportionately burdensome for small businesses who operate on thin margins with less staff and tight budgets. We should empower small businesses to innovate, not add the additional costs of regulatory compliance to their balance sheet. I believe we can return to the booming economy we had before the pandemic, but any efforts to increase regulations and impose additional requirements on small businesses will further hinder recovery and jeopardize the state of our nation's smallest firms. Small businesses have the flexibility, the agility, and the creativity to overcome anything. But, Congress, we need to allow them to do that by continuing to provide pro growth, pro business policies. So I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today and let's discuss on how we can support them and work across the nation. With that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back. Chairman CROW. Thank you, Mrs. Young Kim. The gentlewoman yields back. I would like to take a moment to explain how this hearing will proceed. Each witness will have 5 minutes to provide a statement, and each committee member will have 5 minutes for questions. Please ensure that your microphone is on when you begin speaking and that you return to mute when you are finished. With that, I would like to introduce our witnesses. Our first witness is Ms. Leticia Colon De Mejias--am I pronouncing that right, Ms. Mejias--the founder and CEO of Energy Efficiencies Solutions, a Connecticut based full service energy conservation company. EES provides comprehensive energy efficiency services, like home energy assessments and energy education. Ms. Mejias cofounded Green Echo Warriors, a nonprofit youth ecology and conservation group. She is also a longtime workforce development expert, having developed and coordinated ESL and adult-based education courses for the staff at Hartford Hospital and created the Your Education Success Foundation to support adult learners who desire to return to school. Welcome, Ms. Colon De Mejias. We look forward to your testimony. Our next witness is Mr. James Hasselbeck, the director of operations at ReVision Energy, a solar installation company in Portland, Maine. He has been involved in the development, engineering, and construction of public and private renewable energy projects since 2006. After joining ReVision Energy in 2012, he became director of operations for all three locations in Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. He is also board member of The amicus Solar Cooperative. Welcome, Mr. Hasselbeck. Our third witness is Mr. Sam Gilchrist, the western campaigns director for the National Resources Defense Council where he focuses on State and local policies to ensure a just transition for Colorado's energy workers. Before joining NRDC, he worked as the executive director of Colorado's AFL-CIO and now resides in my district in Colorado. Thank you--actually I will go back. I skipped a page. Welcome, Mr. Gilchrist. I will now yield to the Ranking Member, Mrs. Young Kim, to introduce our final witness. Mrs. YOUNG KIM. Thank you, Chairman. It is a pleasure to introduce our first witness, Mr. Tom Greer. He is an owner and proprietor of Hub City Brewing Company. He is here on behalf of the Consumer Energy Alliance. Mr. Greer currently resides in Belen, New Mexico. In 2013, Mr. Greer opened Hub City Brewing Company at the Belen Rail Runner Station in the heart of downtown to support local tourism and economic development. Many have referred to Hub City Brewing Company as Belen's Cheers. This is a community gathering place where everyone knows your name. Prior to Hub City Brewing Pub, Mr. Greer had an extensive career in television and marketing and held numerous leadership roles, including president of the board of directors of the Greater Belen Chamber of Commerce, also serving as Vice President of the Belen Main Street Partnership, and New Mexico State director of the Concerned Veterans for America. Mr. Greer is passionate about revitalizing the economy and ensuring prosperity for all communities, including rural areas. His entrepreneur background and dedication to economic development will be extremely beneficial to our hearing today. So thank you, Mr. Greer, for taking time to testify and share your experience with us today. Chairman, I yield back. Chairman CROW. Thank you very much. The gentlewoman yields back. Ms. Colon De Mejias, you are now recognized for 5 minutes. STATEMENTS OF LETICIA COLON DE MEJIAS, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF ENERGY EFFICIENCIES SOLUTIONS AND CO-CHAIR FOR THE BUILDING PERFORMANCE ASSOCIATION, ENERGY EFFICIENCIES SOLUTIONS, WINDSOR, CT; JAMES HASSELBECK, DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS, REVISION ENERGY, INC., SOUTH PORTLAND, ME; SAMUEL GILCHRIST, WESTERN CAMPAIGNS DIRECTOR, NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL, DENVER, CO; AND TOM GREER, PROPRIETOR AND OWNER, HUB CITY BREWING CO., BELEN, NM, TESTIFYING ON BEHALF OF THE CONSUMER ENERGY ALLIANCE STATEMENT OF LETICIA COLON DE MEJIAS Ms. COLON DE MEJIAS. Thank you, Honorable Chairman Crow and Ranking Member for the opportunity to be here today with you. It is so important that small businesses be allowed a space at the table as you work to lift our nation, people, and our economy. I am Leticia Colon De Mejias. I am the owner of Energy Efficiencies Solutions, President of the Building Performance Association policy Co-Chair, and Chair of Equity and Opportunity for Latino Affairs in the State of Connecticut Commission on Equity and Opportunity, and board member for the initiative board. But, more importantly, I employ 27 people in energy efficiency careers. Twenty-three of them are minorities and people of color, ten are women in leadership roles, and all are earning between $32,000 and $75,000 annually, with the potential of an increased $100,000 a years with sales commission. I have helped four other people start companies just like my own that are now owned by minorities and women, and I left my career in healthcare and workforce for 16 years to start this business after seeing a film called ``Kilowatt Hours'' that informed me on the climate and energy crisis which is polluting the world we live in today. As a mother and grandmother, I felt compelled to leave the industry I work in and start this energy efficiency job to open opportunities for people in my community to find better sources of employment with higher rates of pay and more flexible schedules. I leveraged my good credit to purchase tools and get certified in the demand reduction field to both literally and figuratively close gaps in my community, estate, and our energy bills. My first year yielded about $150,000, which was more than I made at the hospital, and my second year I began to struggle to find qualified workers. That is the struggle that I am dealing with today. It is the thing that ails my industry overall because, despite these careers being viable and accessible and offering excellent pay in benefits, we are not finding Americans who want to work or have the skills needed to work in these careers. What we need is more Federal support directly to help small businesses afford the costs of training and reskilling our current employees because our technology has continued to change rapidly daily to meet the consumer market demands and Federal law changes. We need to have resources and take intentional steps to close the workforce disparities as they relate specifically to people of color, women, minorities, and underrepresented populations that have been historically left behind, for so many Americans are unaware there is growing opportunities in energy efficiency and the clean energy economy. And how can someone be prepared for something that they don't even know exists? Unfortunately, we have not put enough emphasis or resources behind science and public schools, and we have done very little to communicate broadly on the benefits of social skills and soft skills as they relate to critical workforce success. We also have not invested in simplifying our workforce programs to help career transitions or get Americans back to work in these careers which they are ready for Americans to be hired in today. As a person of action, EES has a motto, ``We are here to help.'' And when we see a gap or a crack, we seek to fill that gap aptly, and so we use our Ts, time, talent, tenacity, and teamwork to solve problems together, and we have served over 14,000 households and over 10 million square feet of multifamily housing to draw down up to 30 percent of that building's energy demand, allowing them to use that money for their families, businesses, education, or healthcare, drawing down demands for energy and pollution at the same time and employing our communities as we go because if you have buildings with a B, we have careers for you. We can drive down the cost of energy and drive up the access to renewable resources, and we help our staff buy cars, homes, and live the American dream. And as I said, finding workers is the most difficult part. And I suggest that we push forward with robust investments in programs which offer direct supports to small businesses. An example of this is the Blue Collar to Green Collar Jobs Act which seeks to offer short-term training programs and equip Americans with the skills to fill the jobs and earn higher wages right now. We need to give priority to companies who hire minorities, veterans, and women and help them transition people from the fossil fuel industry into clean energy careers by leveraging the skill sets they have already. And Congress can support robust efficiency rebates to help Americans lower their bills and demands all the while increasing local job opportunities because, frankly speaking, efficiency overlooked is just efficient. We must ensure that these activities support the workforce development that are accessible to small businesses and include flexibility and use of funds for on-the-job training programs because there is no Department of Labor code for energy efficiency, making it very difficult for us to access apprenticeship programs, particularly in the residential sector, and this is a major barrier to our work expansion or growth depth. The Department of Energy has an understanding of this industry, and there needs to be supports for residential business. It is usual. We need ensure more leaders and Federal staff and departments understand the value of efficiency as a drawdown to close gaps in bills and health in our climate crisis and to provide stability for our clean energy economy and success for all Americans. At Efficiency for All, we are currently conducting a 12- week program to train individuals on all of the certified skills needed, as well as soft skills so they may get jobs immediately in the Energize Connecticut Program, and this program connects them directly to on-the-job training and a 6- week training internship. In conclusion, it is time that we diversify our clean energy workforce. Most of my staff came from at-risk populations and they were underserved, but that did not hold us back. We have continued to grow, all the while supporting the communities we came from because we know our work helps everyone. And the sooner we educate our communities on how to draw down energy demands and ramp up clean energy resources, the better off we will all be. As a proud American and small business owner, I know that together we can create a responsible path forward to ensure inclusive transitions to clean, resilient, stable clean energy economy which could benefit all Americans regardless of economic or social standing. Thank you. Chairman CROW. Thank you, Ms. Colon De Mejias. And I will remind all witnesses to please stick with the 5-minute time limit. I appreciate your testimony. Mr. Hasselbeck, you are now recognized for 5 minutes. STATEMENT OF JAMES HASSELBECK Mr. HASSELBECK. Chairman Crow, Ranking Member Young Kim, and members of this committee. My name is James Hasselbeck, and I am director of operations of ReVision Energy, a renewable contracting company in northern New England. I am grateful for this opportunity to provide testimony on behalf of my 300 employee owners. My goal today is to illustrate how ReVision Energy is disrupting traditional business norms as we confront the rampant climate damage resulting from 8 billion people burning fossil fuels. At the same time, we are trying to alleviate the social injustices and inequities historically inflicted on our by bot communities. The shear scale of modernizing our national grid, electrifying transportation, and transitioning to beneficial electrification is reminiscent of the public works projects that revitalized America after the Great Recession. The private sector is recognizing the economic opportunity and is investing hundreds of billions of dollars in this effort. This influx of capital, often catalyzed by early State government R&D support, has resulted in wind and solar becoming the most cost-effective electricity generation sources available today. Lazard's most recent levelized cost of energy analysis objectively demonstrates solar and wind being the lowest cost source of power generation available. This analysis is proven by ongoing massive investments in renewables, with solar projects alone making up over 40 percent of power plants brought on line in 2020. This manufacturing capacity for batteries continues to expand and prices continue to fall. We are also seeing increased adoption of energy storage. This is evident in the rapid expansion of electric vehicles and associated low carbon transportation infrastructure. My construction teams are thrilled at the idea of charging their power pools and laptops on a remote job site using battery from their F-150 Lightening of lugging a heavy generator around. The technology works, the money is flowing, and the public and private interest and desire for renewables is expanding at a rapid base, so rapid that our collective barrier to increased adoption is increasingly less economic or technological but instead due to a lack of skilled labor. You cannot outsource clean energy project installations. Our workforce today includes over 230,000 Americans at 10,000 small businesses in solar alone according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. This same workforce needs to expand to over 900,000 to achieve the ambitious but necessary clean electricity priorities President Biden has set for 2035. The women and men on ReVision Energy's installation team are electricians, plumbers, and apprentices. They are supported by engineers, system designers, project managers, procurement and warehouse staff, sales reps, financing pros, and legal experts. Together we self-perform millions of dollars of construction work in New England with our in-house teams and work closely with our subcontractor partners to build many more megawatts of clean power. This also creates millions of dollars in revenue and corresponding jobs for our many domestic suppliers and vendors, and as hard as we try, even with the support of our incredible allies, we cannot meet the demand for highly skilled tradeswomen and men. In response to this workforce challenge, in 2018, we created the ReVision Energy Training Center and Electrical Apprentice Program. In partnership with State regulatory agencies and the Federal Department of Labor, this 4-year program helps our team achieve the on-the-job and classroom electrical training to provide each individual a trade license and the skills to secure a high standard of living for the balance of their careers. Organized labor's focus on worker benefits, safety, and career training is an admirable and critically important part of any workforce development program. We highly value our historical partnership with the IBEW and especially our good friends at the local Ford plant who invited President Harris to their new facility in April. However, we want to be abundantly clear in highlighting that there are additional methods to facilitate workforce development, safety, and worker benefits outside of conventional organized labor structures. We think our 100 percent employee-owned certified B Corp. company structure shared by many of our Amicus Solar Cooperative partners provides an equally valuable platform for workers' rights and benefits. We encourage the committee to look for opportunities to provide funding and support to alternative workforce development initiatives, in addition to the important and well established union programs. In 2015, ReVision Energy became a certified B Corp. B corporations are companies that make explicit our commitment to multi stakeholder capitalism. The impacts on those multiple stakeholder groups are annually reviewed and certified by the objective third-party B Labs to assure compliance and continuous improvement. Our deep commitment to our workers, communities, and the planet earn ReVision Energy best for the world in the workers category recognition from B Labs this year. Building on that, in 2017, the cofounders of ReVision Energy decided to sell the company to our employees through an employee stock ownership plan or ESOP---- Chairman CROW. Thank you, Mr. Hasselbeck. Unfortunately, your time has expired. We will have more opportunity during the Q&A for you to fully flesh that out. Mr. HASSELBECK. Thank you. Chairman CROW. Mr. Gilchrist, you are now recognized for 5 minutes. STATEMENT OF SAMUEL GILCHRIST Mr. GILCHRIST. Thank you, Chairman Crow, thank you, Ranking Member Young Kim, for inviting me to testify today, as well as thank you to the distinguished members of the House Committee on Small Business. My name is Sam Gilchrist, and I am the western campaigns director of the Natural Resources Defense Council. NRDC is an international nonprofit organization of scientists, lawyers, and environmental specialists dedicated to protecting public health and the environment. As Chairman Crow stated, prior to joining NRDC, I served as the executive director of the Colorado AFL-CIO. There we represented over 130,000 workers, many of whom worked within the broader energy sector, including the coal and fossil fuel industries. Together we now work to develop policy solutions to ensure these workers and their communities have a future in the clean energy economy. The climate crisis is affecting communities across this nation in terms of both our economic and physical health. The decline of coal is being accelerated by the urgent need for us to reorient our energy policies away from burning fossil fuels in favor of cleaner, cheaper renewable energy. Communities largely dependent on coal for high-paying jobs and local tax revenue are facing uncertainty as market forces make it less economical to produce energy from fossil fuels. The closure of coal mines and power plants can be economically catastrophic and socially disorienting. The trauma caused by shifting economics is long lasting and involves the entire community. We have seen this before in many places across the country, but we have not always been prepared to address the situation proactively. This leaves many communities behind as their industries shutter. The bottom line is that the clean energy transition is happening, and there are many opportunities to create good jobs in the clean energy future, and clean energy jobs are good jobs. According to the Environmental Entrepreneurs E2 Clean Energy Jobs America 2021 report, the clean energy sector now employs more than 3 million individuals nationwide. Median hourly wages are roughly 25 percent higher than the national average. More than 2/3 of clean energy jobs are in energy efficiency, while the remainder are in renewable energy, engineering, smart buildings, HVAC, electric vehicles, clean fuels, et cetera. These jobs are hyper local, and they really aren't just concentrated in major metropolitan areas. Nearly 400,000 workers, which is about 13 percent of the clean energy workforce, exists in rural regions. Most clean energy jobs are in small businesses. As was already mentioned, more than 60 percent are employed by companies with fewer than 20 employees and about 90 percent of companies with fewer than 100. And I think it needs to be reiterated that these are jobs that cannot be exported or outsourced to our foreign competitors. To ensure a prosperous future for many small businesses and local economies, we must support these companies and incentivize them to create more clean energy jobs. In Colorado, we have created the Office of Just Transition to help determine this path forward. The office created an action plan that recognizes that to succeed in economic diversification, small business growth, tax revenue protection, and good jobs for workers, communities must design their own futures and have adequate lead time and resources to do so, and we are in the process currently of building that model. Colorado's Governor Polis has called on the Federal administration to do three things to help workers in their communities through the transition to clean energy accounts: First, develop a national strategy for impacted fossil fuel workers; two, address local budget shortfalls due to the loss of property tax and other revenues; and, three, finance long- term State and local economic development resiliency and diversification. The Clean Jobs Report outlines further steps that the federal government can take to grow jobs and drive investments in States which are further detailed in my written testimony. Investing in clean energy is a win-win for our country. We can reduce emissions that impact our climate and negatively affect our health while also creating good jobs, jobs that are largely in small businesses. We need Federal action to ensure these investments benefit everyone. The bottom line is there is no better time to make these investments than now as we slowly recover from the ongoing pandemic. The clean energy transition is happening. It is going to affect workers and communities across the country, and we need to develop a national strategy. The strategy should focus on worker support and community-led solutions to create more diversified communities where small businesses can thrive. Once again, thank you very much for this opportunity to testify. Chairman CROW. Thank you, Mr. Gilchrist. Mr. Greer, you are now recognized for 5 minutes. STATEMENT OF TOM GREER Mr. GREER. Thank you, and good morning. My name is Tom Greer, and I am the owner of Hub City Brewing Company in the small rural town of Belen, New Mexico, 25 miles south of Albuquerque. I grew up in East Lansing, Michigan, and my family was typical in those times, 1950s through the 1970s of the American middle class, two kids, dad with a solid job, and a mom who was highly underrated as a homemaker. I attended Michigan State University, began my career as a professor at Lansing Community College as the media Department curriculum coordinator during the economic recession of 1974 and 1975. I worked directly with hundreds of union blue collar auto workers, many of whom could only fall back on their veteran's education benefits and unemployment to keep their family afloat. I moved to New York City to be a professor at Long Island University's Brooklyn Campus. My students were predominantly African American, and I will never forget them regularly walking me to the subway station after my night classes to make sure I got to the train safely. I was recruited by J. Walter Thompson in 1980 at the time home shopping and new satellite delivered TV industry was launched and became vice president and director of new media development where my job was to introduce the JWT clients to new media opportunities. Since leaving JWT in 1982, I created and ran numerous television production and tourism-related businesses in New York, Colorado, Montana, and currently New Mexico. We moved to Belen, New Mexico, in 2005. Climate, proximity to a large city, airport, interstate highway access, and the southern terminus of the new Rail Runner commuter train presented an exciting challenge, and we thought we could make a difference. The Rail Cafe opened in 2007. Then housing collapse of 2008 hit Belen very hard. The cafe closed in 2008, but we kept the building. A booming microbrewing industry in New Mexico led to our opening Hub City Brewing in 2016. Then came the pandemic in 2019, 15 months of struggles with being open, closed, carry out only, outdoor seating at 25 percent during the height of the winter, on again off again. Despite that, we have made it through to today. So how do small businesses like mine continue to operate and thrive in this post-pandemic world? We are currently facing food and supply shortages, transportation issues, big spikes in the costs of supplies and services and, as a lot of the rest of you, difficulties in finding reliable employees. We need to make improvements and repairs, and the cost of building supplies are at an all-time high. The last thing we need are more Federal and State regulations, higher business taxes and higher energy costs. Profit margins in the restaurant and building industry are slim. We already face increased insurance costs, an unpredictable labor market, and a cumbersome regulatory environment. We use a lot of electricity in our food and brewing process and are blessed with an abundance and affordable clean energy source in natural gas here in New Mexico. Natural gas plays a role in the all-of-the-above smart plan, along with wind and solar that I strongly support here in Mexico. We have plenty of natural gas and petroleum domestically, so we don't want to be held hostage again by other producing countries, many of whom are not our friends. We have in the past seen what $4 plus gas prices do to the economy and particularly to our low wage earners as a larger percentage of their income. We need Federal regulations that are predictable so we can plan long term. We can't just change the rules in the middle of the game, which seems to happen too often. We can't afford higher Federal tax rates for businesses, particularly small ones like mine that are already struggling to stay open and serve their communities. Small family-owned businesses are the backbone of both our rural and minority owned intercity businesses. Refunding the SBA Restaurant Revitalization Grant program is essential. Eliminate the special class designation that got funding as it hurt many communities it was intended to help. While I am an old White guy, likely last in line and not funded, I serve a predominantly blue collar, rural Hispanic community. We have made a difference in this community. We have survived COVID, but it is sad so that so many businesses around our State have not. Many have failed, not because they didn't have a good idea, but rather the mandates of local State and federal governments were simply impossible to overcome. Thanks again for letting me share the Hub City Brewing story with you today. Chairman CROW. Thank you, Mr. Greer. I will begin by recognizing myself for 5 minutes. Starting with Mr. Gilchrist, I am wondering if you could just flesh out further for me the issues of kind of just transition as it relates to small businesses? What does that look like in Colorado in particular? What has been successful? What can we do better to make sure that as this transition, which is actually largely at this point market driven as we go to clean energy, renewable energy, that is a largely private market driven process since that energy is increasingly cheaper than fossil fuel energy, what can we do better to help those small businesses and communities during that process? Mr. GILCHRIST. Thank you, Chairman Crow. That is a great question. And I think one of the many things we need to focus on is community investment, you know, aligning State and Federal programs to assist local strategies, really community driven strategies that are ultimately led by many of the small business owners who are leaders in their communities. We need to target early successes in business startups, you know, expansions, retention, and attraction, empower communities with resources to drive their own economic transitions as I mentioned, coordinate infrastructure investments to support local and regional transition strategies, and identify and support State, regional, Federal, and local institutions to facilitate needed investments. A lot of this work can help drive, you know, and attract grants and investments to power that local economic growth. So ultimately, I think it starts with the community-- reaching out to the community, learning what that community needs, what those small business owners need, what sort of investments they need and allow them to drive those solutions locally. Chairman CROW. Thank you, Mr. Gilchrist. And I am going to--instead of using the rest of my time, I am going to yield early to Mrs. Young Kim who has a competing hearing right now, make sure she has an opportunity to get her questions in, and then I can loop back later. Mrs. YOUNG KIM. Oh, thank you so much for your consideration, Chairman. I also, before I ask my questions to the witnesses, I wanted to recognize the presence of our Ranking Member of the committee, Mr. Luetkemeyer. Thank you so much for joining us, and our vice Ranking Member, Roger Williams, thank you for joining us. You know, I want to pose a question to Mr. Greer. As I mentioned in my opening statement, corporate tax increases will directly cause utility costs to surge across the country and, as a result, small businesses will face higher electric, gas bills, like gas and water bills. So how would that impact your business, if you can be specific in terms of how, give me the numbers and how it will impact you? Mr. GREER. Well, the utility costs as part of our operations is one of the largest, particularly in brewing beer. I use a tremendous amount of electricity. So however we are funded and however this energy is generated plays a major role on my bottom line. Mrs. YOUNG KIM. Thank you. You know, I want to talk about--we are talking a lot about the energy and infrastructure, but I think the infrastructure is met with a lot of burdensome regulations and red tape, and you talked about in your testimony that we need Federal regulations that are predictable so we can plan long term. I couldn't agree with you more on that. And you also said we can't just change the rules in the middle of the game, which seems to happen too often. I also agree with you on that. I mean, it is really important that as Members of Congress, as policymakers, we need to set the policies that is predictable so our businesses can plan and, you know, succeed according to that. So as a small business owner, can you explain to our committee how costly regulatory compliance is for small businesses? Mr. GREER. Well, when you add together local, State, Federal regulations, just keeping up to date on the changes that are made in them is very burdensome for me because I am actually a--I make beer. I don't have--I am a sole proprietor, along with my wife. I don't have a large staff who can keep me attuned to all of the idiosyncrasies. We also, in the process of this, beyond running a small business and having the regulations of a lot of common businesses like ours, we manufacture alcohol, so we have a whole other level of insurance regulations at the local, State, and Federal level for that and, of course, increased insurance costs and increased liability because of the product that we manufacture, so it is very difficult as things change around. And one of the things that I have always been the most concerned about is as administrations change in Washington, we tend to have very quick steps taken in one direction or another that tend to influence what we are able to do, and we definitely need to have an opportunity to do a long-term plan and to be able to stick to that. And in a lot of respects with that, we are stuck in the middle. Mrs. YOUNG KIM. You know, as Members of Congress continue to examine small businesses' recovery after COVID-19, is there anything that you can tell us that we should be doing to focus our efforts going forward? Mr. GREER. Well, one of the things, the Restaurant Revitalization Grant Fund was very well written by the Small Business Administration, and I think it was very helpful to a lot of people. Its biggest problem was that it ran out of money, and I believe that there is some conversation going on in Washington about refunding some of that to be more useful to the rest of us. It is not large amounts of money, but as an example, for me I could double my capacity if I could spend $4,000 that I don't have and drop another utility pole in to service my food truck. Right now I can run the truck or the brewery or the dish machine or my portable kitchen, but I don't have enough utilities at my disposal to be able to run any of them simultaneously. And while that looks like a very small amount of money, my wife and I have been running this business as volunteers for the last 15 months just in order to be able to stay afloat. So that may seem like pocket change to some people, but that and demands for other things, food prices, transportation, the fuel costs of our truckers, you know, we are looking at $4 a gallon fuel again, it is very difficult with the regulatory environment that we live in to make beer and serve my local community well. Mrs. YOUNG KIM. Thank you so much. I know my time is up. I will yield back. Thanks. Chairman CROW. Thank you. The gentlewoman yields back. We are going to go back and use my remaining 3 minutes now. I want to start by just stating a few facts at the outset on the issue of taxes. I am obviously somebody, you know, that has a background in counseling small businesses and regulatory compliance and taxes. And a couple of just facts are that 95 percent of small businesses operate as passthrough entities and are exempt from the corporate tax rate. That is fact number one. Fact number two is that there is a lot that goes into a business besides just the corporate tax structure, like skilled workforce, good education system that feeds that business and helps them grow, roads and bridges that can move their products to port, reliable energy, and an infrastructure grid, clean water to make beer and do other things with an increasingly degrading water system, all of which requires public investment. And if we don't have the revenue to invest those things, we can't have growing and thriving businesses. And I also say that, you know, the corporate tax rate was 35 percent in 2017, and going up to 28 percent for that small segment of non passthrough small businesses that would be impacted would, you know, not be devastating for those businesses. That is what business owners uniformly have been telling me. In fact, those investments that it would make would actually help the larger ecosystem and help them grow their businesses. So I just wanted to set the record straight on that. Before I go back to the members, I also wanted to ask Ms. Colon De Mejias, I am a huge fan of apprenticeship programs, and I know I see Mr. Garbarino on here who similarly shares my passion for apprenticeship programs. But I would love to hear from you very briefly on the role that apprenticeship programs in particular would play for helping workforce development because so many of these businesses just can't find employees. People are transitioning, and apprenticeships are really one of the best ways to do that. Ms. Colon De Mejias. Ms. COLON DE MEJIAS. Thank you. We don't--in energy efficiency, we don't have a labor code so we don't have an apprenticeship program. We have kind of been working to advocate for a labor code so that we could start programs to have apprenticeships, so we kind of have to create our own training. I would be hopeful that there would be a tandem path to allow both to exist. I think it is important to have an apprenticeship program in relationship to informing people that a business opportunity exists. Oftentimes people graduate school and they want to start an apprenticeship program and be an electrician or an HVAC person, and they don't know there are other lines of careers in our industry. So I think it would be important to develop those labor codes and ensure that there was that opportunity for apprenticeship programs. But I also think there are other conduits besides apprenticeship programs, like on-the-job training through an actual business, that could be just as well served and are much faster to get up and going. So in Connecticut, we have a program just like that that is starting actually in a week from now that will train people for these jobs. It would be great if there was a way to register them for those opportunities. Thank you. Chairman CROW. Thank you. I appreciate that, Ms. Colon De Mejias. I will now go to the gentlewoman from Georgia, Ms. Bourdeaux, for 5 minutes. Ms. BOURDEAUX. Thank you so much. Thank you, Chairman Crow and Ranking Member Ms. Young Kim, and thank you to our witnesses today. Clean energy jobs are powering the economic recovery in Georgia and across the country. After an initial decline due to the pandemic, Georgia had one of the fastest growing clean energy sectors of any State, growing over 29 percent between June and December of 2020, the second highest rate in the nation. One thing I talk about with my business community is that we really have a chance to do well by doing good in Georgia, both tackling climate change and also building new opportunity for Georgia businesses. The United States and Georgia have an opportunity to lead the world in clean energy technology, but it will require investment on the part of our policymakers to make that a reality. I was very interested in hearing about the apprenticeship programs or the lack of those, and an issue also near and dear to my heart is workforce development, and I have recently visited some of the technical colleges in Georgia looking at some of the programs that they are putting in place. And I wanted to just circle back to that issue with-- actually, Mr. Gilchrist, I don't know if you have any insight on this, but at least since you sort of have a national view on it, you know, what do we need to be doing to build out the workforce for small businesses in this kind of clean energy technology space? Mr. GILCHRIST. Thank you, Representative Bourdeaux. That is a big question, and I do have a bit of experience in this area. The first thing is really investing in training programs and apprenticeships. You know, a lot of the union apprenticeships that we work alongside here in Colorado are already training their workers in clean energy. You know energy efficiency, as I mentioned before, is 2/3 of the workforce in clean energy. So, you know, those are jobs like insulators, you know, things that we don't necessarily think about in the trades. But the electrical workers especially are doing a lot of energy efficiency, the pipefitters (the United Association of Pipefitters and Plumbers) they are doing HVAC installations, which is a major energy efficiency upgrade. You know, the mechanical systems, updating and upgrading mechanical systems for buildings is extremely important, and that is a lot of work that can be done by highly skilled workers. So, I think we often categorize clean energy jobs with solar installers, installers, you know, wind technicians. And while they really are oftentimes good jobs, they aren't necessarily always the highest paid or the highest skilled. So you have to look at really the vast majority of where those workers are, which is in energy efficiency and, like I said before in my oral statement, that you know, it goes way beyond our typical understanding of clean energy jobs. But some things that we have done in Colorado, just this year we passed a bill helping to drive some innovation within training pathways for clean energy jobs. State Representative Dominique Jackson, who also resides in Congressman Crow's office, helped drive that bill which will work with the community college system, as well as a number of other stakeholders, to help create those pathways. And, you know, frankly, we have been thinking about this for quite some time. Colorado has really been an innovator in creating non-traditional sector training partnerships, you know, through things like a group called Career Connect or through our Denver public schools and school systems around the State to help students understand the breadth of opportunities, including in clean energy down the road. So, you know, they like to think of it as sort of a way to marry the vocational system with the traditional college system so that students can get an understanding of what sort of other vocational jobs are out there that are earn while you learn, high-paying jobs that are really career oriented and especially those in the union building trades sector. Another thing that we have done this year, which is sort of interesting, is to further incentivize, since we can't always predict the future, training programs, especially at the IBEW, and the pipe trades, which often take, you know, 5 to 6 years. So you have to start training those folks early on, and you can't do that without some understanding of what will be coming in the future. And so creating those incentives to invest in that cleaner, cheaper technology is really important. And I understand we are running close on time, but I definitely have more to say about that, so---- Ms. BOURDEAUX. Okay. Well, I hope some other folks will ask some questions about that because I think we need to flesh that out and see to what extent we just need to bring the community together to put those pieces in place or to what extent, you know, we need to make some Federal investments in getting that training pipeline set up. Thank you so much. And I yield back. Chairman CROW. Thank you. The gentlewoman yields back. I will now recognize the gentleman from Texas, the Vice Ranking Member of the committee, Mr. Williams, for 5 minutes. Mr. WILLIAMS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In full disclosure, I am a small business owner, I have been for 51 years, and I am in the automobile business, and I am from Texas. So under President Trump's pro growth policies and the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, small businesses were able to keep more of their hard-earned profits. They used this money to reinvest in their businesses, hire new employees, and increase purchase orders. Unfortunately, President Biden and my colleagues on the left are trying to undo this progress and increase taxes on corporations, passthrough entities, and capital gains in order to pay for their social and environmental agenda. These tax increases will put our small businesses at a disadvantage, there is no doubt, as they are they are still trying to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. And I have heard today from some of our witnesses that it is hard to find people to work. Well, if we quit paying people not to work, we would have people to work. And I can also say this too, in due respect to our Chairman, I don't know a person in my district, not one, that wants to pay more taxes to the federal government with what we see how the federal government spends. So you cut taxes, it is more employees. You raise taxes, you have less employees. So, with that in mind, Mr. Greer, can you elaborate how these tax hikes will affect your brewery and any pauses you have had to put on business investments due to this looming increase in taxes that the Democrats propose? Mr. GREER. Well, one of the things, to be clear, is that the taxes on me individually as a small business are a struggle for us at the best because our margins are so small. The thing that is most critical to me are Federal, State, and regional taxes on all of my suppliers across the country that continually drive the price of the goods and services that I purchase from them up and continue to increase our costs in transportation and supply in our brewery work, kind of the end producer of this. So taxes directly on me, the first year we were in business, when we added insurance, taxes, regulations, fees and all of the things together, 51 percent of my gross income in my first year went toward those expenses. So that will give you kind of an idea of the expenses at a small, small level. Every time we turn around, we find another fee or another tax or even, more importantly, changes in the taxes or the codes that we haven't been able to plan for or haven't been predictable. Mr. WILLIAMS. Well, and certainly don't talk about making things retroactive. I would suggest you move to Texas. We don't have a lot of those fees. You might think about that. Mr. GREER. I have been told that before. Mr. WILLIAMS. The private sector is going to be the ones who bring the emission reducing or carbon capture technology to market which will ultimately help the environment and not increase government mandates which don't help the environment. Many companies are already investing their own capital and putting resources to achieving this objective without the government telling them what to do, but if companies are forced to pay more taxes or hire additional compliance officers to deal with the burdensome new mandates, they will have less money in their business to bring forward these new initiatives to find a solution for the climate change. So, Mr. Hasselbeck, how can--in short, I am running out of time. How can the federal government better utilize resources to assist small businesses like yours to encourage investment and move innovative technology towards commercialization? Mr. HASSELBECK. Thank you for the question. And I think there is three fairly simple ways we can do it: A national training and incentive program to help us develop and coach 600,000 highly paid licensed electricians and clean energy technicians in a 15-year time frame; collaboration with the fossil fuel industry to map out an orderly transition to clean renewable energy, one that does right by the thousands of fossil fuel workers who have devoted their lives to powering our economy. And then a national focus on elementary and high school programs which teach the benefits of a career in the trades. These must be supported by investments in trade schools and community college programs specifically geared towards the clean tech workforce while also avoiding massive levels of student debt. Mr. WILLIAMS. Okay. Thank you. Mr. Greer, since President Biden took office, main street America is facing a new threat of inflation, whether it is higher gas prices, increased cost of raw materials, or higher utility bills, small businesses are among those hit hardest again by these spikes. To effect the rising operational expenses, business owners have often had to shift the burden on to the consumer and raise prices for goods and services, which you cannot do that much. You can't just raise prices. Mr. Greer, how have these cost increases affected your brewery and what kind of adjustments are you making to make sure you can stay ahead of this inflation that has been created? Mr. GREER. At this current time, the adjustment we have been forced to make is that my wife and I have been volunteers running our business for the past 15 months. The costs are not real controllable for us, and I live in a small rural, one of the poorest counties in the State of New Mexico, and we don't see any practical way that we could raise our prices. Chairman CROW. The gentleman's time expired. We can loop back around for a second round. Mr. WILLIAMS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back. Chairman CROW. I am going to recognize the gentlewoman from Illinois, Ms. Newman, for 5 minutes. Ms. NEWMAN. Well, good morning. Thank you, Chairman. Thank you, Ranking Member Young Kim. This has been a great discussion this morning. I want to start by lifting up some leaders from my home State of Illinois. In light of today's hearing, I ask that the committee--offer unanimous consent to submit a statement from Clear Flame Engine Technologies into the record. Clear Flame-- -- Chairman CROW. Without objection. Ms. NEWMAN. Thank you. Clear Flame Engine Technologies is a Black and women founded small business dedicated to decarbonizing technologies in the energy sector. Their statement can serve as a blueprint for small businesses in the energy sector, so so entered. A couple of other comments, if I may, Chair. So I would like to associate myself with Chair Crow's comments. Just to reiterate 95 percent of all small businesses will not be affected in any way by any tax increase and, again, it would be to 28 percent not to 35 percent, to be clear. But I do have a couple of questions, and I think our witnesses today have offered great ideas. So my first set of questions would be to Mr. Hasselbeck, if I may. I love the notion of a national work training program. Do you envision this being a partnership of public and private and unions? Mr. HASSELBECK. I do. I think, you know, the need for skilled workforce development is so great and so urgent, we need to explore any and all viable opportunities. And as I mentioned before, we've gotten a lot of advice and support from our local IBEW partners here, but there are other alternative passes as well like our own apprenticeship program which, you know, meets the same technical requirements, job site training, getting paid while learning, but it is a 4- and a 5-year program. So, as I think Mr. Gilchrist had mentioned, these take some foresight in investment to make sure that we are setting folks up for success right from the beginning. A really common piece of feedback we get from our new employees is, man, I wish I knew that there was this opportunity when I was going to college or when I was starting out in my careers. And this is often a second career as they get into the trades. So I think where the public and private partnership can come together is really that education at the early stage, and helping kind of really support these high school starting trade-based educational programs is a real career opportunity for long-term wealth creation. Ms. NEWMAN. Thank you for that. And if you have any other materials on what you have done locally there, we would love to see that on the committee level. So please share if you can. Mr. HASSELBECK. Yeah. We would be thrilled to. Ms. NEWMAN. And then, Mr. Gilchrist, I am very excited about Just Transition. I started BlueGreen Alliance and Just Transition council in my district. So we will be reading your materials in earnest. But a couple of questions for you around how has played out in Colorado. Have you worked primarily with small businesses on this? Or who all participates, and who is seeing the most success and benefit right now? Mr. GILCHRIST. Thank you, Representative Newman. That is also a good question. Also as you know, by being a lawmaker yourself, a robust stakeholder process is extremely important. Ms. NEWMAN. Yeah. Mr. GILCHRIST. And we work alongside a number of groups that bring small business voices to the policy discussions, you know, environmental entrepreneurs to--there is also the Colorado Outdoor Business Alliance, Good Jobs for Colorado, and many of our rural roundtables that, you know, all of those groups are convening across the State. I think what has been fairly unique about this year, as you know, we are testifying virtually here, is that there has really been a great opportunity to bring in those voices from other parts of the State, those small business owners from places like Mesa County, from Pueblo County, which are, you know, are a lot further away from Denver than, you know, than we usually see. You know, one of the things that has been really useful for them in developing this transition process, which, by the way, was created by the first in the nation legislation creating the office in 2019, and the action plan, which actually focused on community engagement, community listening sessions around the State, hearing from a lot of those voices, has led to some of these policy solutions we are seeing today. So, we try to bring in, as you know, myself, you know, the work we do at NRDC, as well as all the legislators we work with trying to bring in those voices from across the State. Ms. NEWMAN. Thank you. And more, please. And I yield back. Mr. CROW. The gentlewoman yields back. I now recognize the gentleman from New York, Mr. Garbarino, for 5 minutes. Mr. GARBARINO. Thank you, Chairman. Thank you for holding this hearing. And thank you to the witnesses for coming today. My first question to Mr. Greer, businesses on Long Island where I represent have suffered during, and in the aftermath of the COVID-19, especially our restaurants and taverns. Since being sworn into Congress, I have attempted to help many small businesses. In fact, one of my first acts as a member of this committee was offering an amendment to increase the funding available for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. And the American Rescue Plan, unfortunately, was defeated. Now, I am proud co-sponsor of the Entree Act, which is being offered by the Ranking Member, which would utilize unspent funds from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 to assist American restaurant owners who are working tirelessly to serve their employees and communities. Mr. Greer, you touched upon this a little bit in your testimony. How would the Entree Act and a properly funded restaurant revitalization fund program support you and your employees in the recovery, in addition to what you had already stated? Mr. GREER. Well, I am not familiar with the new plan you were talking about, but the SBA revitalization---- Mr. GARBARINO. It would fund that bill up to almost about $70 billion from where it is now. Mr. GREER. Well, anything--you know, one of the concerns I have is I am seeing a lot of people who have taken advantage of loan programs over the last past year, and have not been able to grow their businesses coming out of this who are now in a position where they are having trouble about thinking about how to pay that back. So small grant programs are, obviously, useful. One of the things that I--and we can use all the help that we can get. The restaurant industry was one of the hardest hit, along with tourism. The--I wanted to make a comment in here because a couple of times I have heard that small businesses like mine won't be affected by the changes in the tax rate, which may very well be true, except that all of my suppliers fall into that category of those who will be taxed, and that will increase my costs because there is certainly going to pass those on. All the help we can get in getting this industry and the tourism industry out of this pandemic is useful. Mr. GARBARINO. Right. I appreciate that, but the money that would come directly from the restaurant revitalization fund, if you would--did you apply for that, sir? Did you apply for a grant? Or did you not because you didn't know if you were going to get money? Mr. GREER. No, we did apply. We qualified for a small amount of money, but it would have been enough to do the one task that I had of increasing our ability to power more of our building simultaneously. We did, and we were not--we were not picked. They said they ran out of money before they got to us. Mr. GARBARINO. Okay. So you need more money to go into that program. Okay. Thank you. Mr. GREER. Yes. Thank you. Mr. GARBARINO. And this is just a general question. We are talking about--so far if anybody who wants to answer. We are talking renewables, renewable energy. I have spoken to small businesses in New York. I don't know if you know this, but by 2030, 70 percent of the energy that we produce has to be renewable energy, as well as 3,000 megawatts have to be produced by energy storage. I have spoken to small businesses, union shops that are going to be--they are very excited to work on the wind turbines and other projects that are going out there. But my question is a two-part question. Should nuclear energy be considered part of clean energy, and will that help with jobs? And for the battery storage, something that I am running into, or our companies are running into that want to do it, are local municipalities and zoning laws, they are not being treated as public utilities, at least not in New York right now, so they have to come up with specific zoning laws, or comply with zoning laws. And a lot of people don't--a lot of NIMBYers, they don't want it in their area. So is that a problem--are you seeing--one, should nuclear be included in clean energy? And, two, the battery storage, are we seeing that kind of problem with local municipalities and zoning? So whoever wants to jump in. Mr. Hasselbeck, I see your hand up. Mr. HASSELBECK. I would like to start with the battery storage question. ReVision Energy operates in four different States. And in those four different States, we have four different sets of jurisdictions and codes and standards. And it is certainly a significant challenge to have a single product offering, and insulation program that meets varying code standards, especially for new technologies. We, too, like Mr. Greer, are often in a very rural area, and our local authorities having jurisdiction often struggle to apply codes and standards for technologies they don't have legacy experience with. So we spend a lot of our time and energy educating our local AHJs. So additional support from the Federal level to streamline the permitting process for energy storage installations, and other technologies for that matter, is really helpful. Just last week---- Mr. CROW. Unfortunately, the gentleman's time has expired. I will now recognize the gentleman from Minnesota, Mr. Phillips for 5 minutes. Mr. PHILLIPS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I do appreciate it. And, Mr. Hasselbeck, I want to congratulate you on your recent B Corps designation. And I hope you could just elaborate for this committee why you decided to take that step to become a B Corps and an ESOP, as I consider that to be perhaps one of the most compelling possibilities for this committee to inspire for businesses across the country. If you could share a little about that journey in your decisions, we would appreciate it. Mr. HASSELBECK. Well, absolutely, and thank you for asking. We think that additional Federal support for companies or organizations would prioritize both social and worker benefits as highly as profit margins is really important. So whether it is ESOPs, cooperatives, B Corps, those are all different strategies to achieve that goal. Something that is particularly neat about ESOPs in general, is that not only the ESOP companies have, on average, a higher level of wages for all of their staff, they also perform better financially just as individual businesses. So we think that that is at real catalyst to growth. Since 2017, when ReVision Energy became an ESOP company, we have seen our ESOP share values increase roughly 3,000 percent. And that benefits every single co-owner of my company, regardless of their job title, role, or responsibility level. So, we think that that is a really key long-term aspect of wealth creation. It is not just wages, it is wealth creation in the event of ESOP values. And making sure that the people doing the actual work, climbing up around on the roofs or out in the muddy fields, they need to share the financial benefits of their company's success, and we think ESOPs are great. We think the B Corps opportunity is great way to provide third-party objective certification to our different approaches. And that is really important for us. I am a construction guy, so I would appreciate metrics and goals and standards. And what we think is great from the B Corps, it is a very specific and a very detailed set of qualifications. And you are either doing this stuff or not, and it allow uses to be objectively measured and allows our consumer bases to take that objective measurement to say, You don't have to listen just to me, in my opinion. You can look at this third-party certification process that shows that, not only are we doing good for our employees and the workforce, but also our local social justice initiative. So it really just helps us kind of crystallize our individual company mission. Mr. PHILLIPS. I love it. And as someone who believes deeply that businesses can and should be positive forces for good, Representative Chrissy Houlahan, my friend and colleague and I just started a caucus called the Stakeholder Capitalism Caucus, trying to encourage fellow Members of Congress to participate in encouraging such things. So share with us, from a policy perspective, what can and should we be considering to inspire more ESOPs, more B Corps, and, frankly, more sharing from those enterprises that generate success with the people that help make it possible? Mr. HASSELBECK. Sure. I think it is education. I was looking at the Committee for Employee Stock Ownership Programs, and I think there is somewhere around 6,700 ESOPs in the United States today, covering about 15 million workers. That is a tiny drop in the bucket. I think we have several million individualized small businesses throughout our country right now, and a lot of folks are just unaware. I talked to industry peers and other businesses all the time who are very interested and curious about our ESOP transition process. And it is great story, but they just are not aware of the financial. There is really compelling tax benefits as well to becoming an ESOP, which helps us put our profits directly back into our people and our mission. So I think education, and then of the opportunities out there--and it is still--it is--it is a regulatory challenging process to become an ESOP. It took us about 18 months. We had to reach a certain scale before we as a company had the capital to apply to the ESOP transition. So, perhaps, some additional support for smaller businesses who want to become an employee ownership, who want to cover the employee ownership model, but don't yet have those excess dollars in their budget to dedicate to the time. Mr. PHILLIPS. Terrific. Well, we would love to work with you towards that end, and encourage my colleagues to join us in this important mission. Sharing success is the most beautiful outcome of capitalism. With that, Mr. Chair, I see my time is drawing to a close, I yield back. Mr. CROW. Thank you. The gentleman yields back. I will now recognize the gentlewoman from New York, Ms. Tenney for 5 minutes. Ms. TENNEY. Thank you, Chairman Crow and Ranking Member Young Kim for holding this important hearing. And thank you to the witnesses for your time and expertise and insight into this important issue. Obviously, as a small business owner, the middle class is essential to this country. But my big concern, coming from a State like New York, is that supporters of the Green New Deal too often actually ignore the science of energy, and push economics that end up hurting our energy sector and our independence, and raise prices on consumers all the way through the line. Unfortunately, this administration has taken some of the Green New Deal priorities to heart, destroying our energy sector, making us more dependent again on OPEC, causing the gas prices to go up, and devastating families, and having among the highest energy costs in the nation. In New York State, it has not helped our small business community, along with high taxes and over regulation. And on top of that, there seems to be very little effort on sourcing some of the essential materials we need for batteries, such as for solar panels. Our energy supply chain is more reliant on countries like China for our rare earth elements and those types of things. That is why I just--I would like to just ask a couple of questions. As a small business owner that relies on a municipal power source to keep us going in New York, thankfully for that, but we have sort of a Green New Deal, actually, in New York State. But I would like to pose my first question to Mr. Gilchrist. In your testimony, you said how clean energy transition in Colorado has been a win-win for the State. However, Xcel Energy, Colorado's largest utility, has announced it is seeking a rate increase of nearly 13 percent next year. So politicians keep hyping up the power grid that is completely reliant on solar and wind is cheaper than fossil fuels, nuclear and hydro, and some of those other resources, but those savings haven't seemed to pan out. What do you think has gone out with Colorado's clean energy transition? And how can we keep prices down and affordable for small business owners? Mr. GILCHRIST. Well, I thank you, Representative Tenney. You know, I am not sure I can comment too much on Xcel's rate increases, but I can comment on what will help save small businesses money. And one of the things that I think Mr. Hasselbeck was getting at is another policy solution is creating a national building standard. You know, 13 percent of building--13 percent of overall emissions in the country come from commercial and residential buildings. So, if you create a national standard rather than a patchwork approach, then you can allow businesses to plan for that. In addition, creating clean energy incentives, also on a national scale, where more folks across the country can take advantage of that, is literally putting money into the pocket of small business owners. So that is where I think we have the most opportunity to really drive that investment. You know, as I mentioned before, clean energy businesses are small businesses. So, you are directly helping them create the micro capitalism where small businesses are literally helping other small businesses thrive. Ms. TENNEY. I would like to reclaim my time. I come from a State, New York State is an original colony. We have buildings that some are 100 years old or even more. Our small business community is already overtaxed, overwhelmed with regulation. I am not sure how we would be able to invest in new building. We have a sea of buildings for sale, actually, in upstate New York, that people are looking to sell or to use that space, as a commercial property owner as well. So I am not sure that imposing another standard on building is actually going to be helpful for small businesses. But another issue, I just want to address this to Mr. Hasselbeck as well. In your testimony, you advocate on behalf of wind and solar stating that in some circumstances, it is the lower cost source of domestic power generation than nuclear, coal, and natural gas--you know, nuclear being completely emission free. However, the manufacturing of solar panels and batteries are heavily reliant on rare earth minerals often sourced in China. Would you also advocate for updated Federal regulations to make it easier to source those raw materials for batteries and solar that we need for those indications? Mr. HASSELBECK. I would. We would advocate for that, because we think having a strong domestic supply of all materials within the supply chain is a critical part to create additional jobs, as well as to allow the United States to manage our costs. You know, similar to Mr. Greer's supply chain challenges, this is the most challenging year to be a construction company that certainly we can remember with rapidly increasing costs as well as increasingly delayed fabrication timelines. Some of that, not all of that, some of that manufacturing is domestic. We buy a lot of U.S. steel. And that stuff is great, but I think some of these rare earth minerals would help us continue to reduce the costs and control our own supply chain. Ms. TENNEY. Thank you. I think my time has expired. But I do know that most of these rare earth minerals are actually mined in the United States, sent to China to be processed and sent back. It would be great if our small business community could actually do the type of work on these rare earth minerals and keep it here and keep our jobs here. But thank you very much to the witnesses. I appreciate your testimony. I yield back. Mr. CROW. Thank you. The gentlewoman yields back. I will now recognize the Ranking Member, Mr. Luetkemeyer, the gentleman from Missouri for 5 minutes. Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, a good hearing today. And I just want to comment on a couple of a comments that you made earlier with regards to, yeah, 95 percent of the businesses out there, S Corps passthroughs of some kind. But out of the C Corps, 1 million of those are small businesses. They are concerned about increasing taxes. And a statement where increasing taxes is helpful smacks to me of changing economics when you think taking money from people and redistributing it is a good deal. Changing economics has never worked in the history of this country or this world. Increasing people's taxes, in my mind, is not helpful. Mr. Greer, would increasing your taxes be helpful to you? Mr. GREER. No. Mr. LUETKEMEYER. I understand your comment about being a volunteer. I appreciate that very much. Being a small business owner myself, I understand that you are the one that gets the last paycheck on the stack. And if you run out of money, that doesn't get to cover your check, so you don't get paid. Mr. GREER. We are still here because we took a big cut of working as volunteers. We are lucky that we could do that. I am unlucky in that the paid staff still isn't working. Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Yeah, it is interesting, you know, the studies show that these tax increases, for instance, for sure on C Corps are passed on to the customers, employees, as well as the owners. So tax increases are devastating. Just a curious question here for you, Mr. Greer. I know that you talk about inflation. I will get to that in a second here. But there is a lot of other hidden costs that you have to pay, the things that have gone up. Has your unemployment insurance taxes gone up? Has your workman's comp gone up? Has your liability insurance gone up? Because I know because of the COVID pandemic, there is a lot of States that have raised their unemployment insurance rates to make up for the losses to the unemployment fund. Have you seen that in your State? Mr. GREER. We have seen it in the State, a lot of it, because I have virtually no staff. And my staff that works for us are all owners in the business. Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Okay. Mr. GREER. But one of the things that is difficult for us is we have so many multiple tiers, particularly in liability, serving alcohol that it appears that the consumer of the alcohol is the last one being held responsible for any of the liability. We just approved recreational marijuana. I know there is a conversation among the workman's comp insurance companies about whether, in anticipation of that, it might be a great opportunity for them to raise people's workman's comp, just in anticipation that there could be a problem. And I know that that has a lot of building trades really wondering about what is going to happen to them in the future. Mr. LUETKEMEYER. That is a very huge issue, depending on industry. And thank you for your comments. With regard to the restaurant program, this is something that we are looking at in trying to fix, quite frankly. You are one of the victims of the prioritization that was in the bill. In the bill, there was three separate groups that were prioritized over others. Unfortunately, you were not one of folks who were in the three initial priorities. And the bill has been viewed as unconstitutional by Texas and by Tennessee courts. So that is hung up. Half the money has not gone out. Half the money has gone out. And all of the money is committed to all of those folks in those three first groups. We would like to fix that. There is a bill to do that. We want to try and find some sources of funds to be able to fund that at a level that you would be included in that, sir. So hang with us. We are going to--we haven't forgot about you. We are going to work with you here to try and continue to help you along the way to keep your business going. With regards to inflation, small businesses are getting creamed with inflation right now. And it started with, you know, restricting the pipeline up north and restricting permits. And as you saw, immediately, there was an increase in gas prices. That is a rippling effect to the entire economy. I think you mentioned it a couple of times already, the increased inflationary prices of energy that you faced with putting in your--the parts of your product that you need to make it work. Mr. GREER. Well, the--I am heavily reliant on outside suppliers for raw materials. I am not a big business, but I still which, in itself, is difficult because I can't take advantage of some of the economies of scale that the larger brewers can. The transportation costs are also impacting this fuel. One of the things we have with the workforce is we don't have enough truckers out there running as well. It has been a very difficult supply chain thing for us because we truly are the end of the line. Mr. LUETKEMEYER. The ripple effect of increased energy prices is across the board, across all of your increased costs that you have for your inputs in your product as well, then you have to pass it along on the end game for the price that you charge for your product. Mr. GREER. Energy is one of my biggest expenses. Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Thank you. I yield back. Mr. CROW. Thank you. The gentleman yields back. I believe we are out of additional members for questioning. So we will start to wrap the hearing. So with that, you know, I always appreciate this committee's robust discussion on how to create jobs, how to grow businesses. The bottom line is, these are challenging issues. There is no doubt about it. Building a business, creating jobs, and spurring growth is not an easy thing to do. And I always appreciate that. The legislative process that this committee goes through to actually find the best way to do that. And part of that is just, you know, just the facts. And one thing that I will say in closing here is, I love facts because they just happen to be true. And a couple of those are that 95 percent of small businesses operate as passthrough entities and will be exempt from the corporate tax rate. Another one is that the administration's proposal, corporate tax rate structure proposal is that, number one, we actually spend--we actually pay for what we spend. We know that we have to make investments in infrastructure in this country. We know we have to do that. But there are--infrastructure is falling apart, and we cannot be a 21st century competitive economy and compete against China and others without strong infrastructure. This proposal would actually pay for those investments. You know, unlike the record deficit spending that we saw under the Trump administration, we believe in fiscal prudence, we believe in being able to pay for what you spend. The second thing this proposal really does is novelly that treats everyone equally under the law. We believe that if you are a huge corporation, that you should pay for some taxes. That you should actually pay for the roads and the bridges and the things that you use as a major corporation, and not be exempt, because, frankly, it is the small businesses that end up paying those taxes and pay for that. And it is the large businesses they could exempt. So we believe in enforcement. We believe in making sure that everyone pays their fair share. And I think it is really extremely important component of this proposal. The next one is when President Biden took office 6 months ago, the economy was just fluttering along, adding only 60,000 jobs per month. Today, we are creating over 600,000 jobs per month. The fastest growth at any point in any administration's history. Just dwell on that one for a moment. The unemployment rate is down to 5.9 percent after one of the worst employment crises in this country's history. What an accomplishment that is. And then on the issue of inflation, almost unanimously, most economists say this is a natural blip post-recession, right? You always see, after recessions, an increase, because demand is outpacing supply. The supply chains are ramping back up, manufacturing is ramping back up, the supply chains are reaccommodating that, and that costs--that causes the increase in costs. And you always see that leveling out after those changes. Those are just facts, folks. That is what is happening. That is the assessment. I think it is extremely important that we talk facts so we can make good policy, and we can legislate appropriately. So with that, I look forward to continuing the work with---- Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman, I would like to reclaim some time in opposition to make a rebuttal statement in closing. Mr. CROW. No, we are going to close out, Mr. Luetkemeyer. Mr. LUETKEMEYER. We are always offered the opportunity. As you were able to articulate here for several minutes, we have the opportunity to also have our own voices heard in a closing. Mr. CROW. Are you going to do the closing for Ms. Young Kim, the Ranking Member? Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Yes, I will do the closing. Mr. CROW. Okay. When I am done, I will do that. One moment. Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Okay. Mr. CROW. The gentleman is recognized for 5 minutes. Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Thank you. Well, I appreciate the Chairman's reiteration and emphasis on facts. It certainly is important. As I have stated earlier, you know, increasing taxes is not helpful. Those taxes are passed on to customers, employees, and the less dollars are returned to the owners of companies. When you talk about the jobs that are being created, we are still hundreds of thousands of jobs short from where the projections were by the administration, because we are not growing the economy as fast as it needs to be, and could be growing if we were to fix this $300 check that is out there that doesn't allow people, or incentivizes people to stay home rather than go to work. Again, the comments made about the supply chains. Yeah, supply chains are a problem, but they are broken because the people are not going back to work, and as a result, there is a shortage of parts, and there is a shortage of people, everything from truck drivers to manufacturing employees, to people serving folks at restaurants because they are incentivized to stay home. 1.8 million people decided not to take the job they were offered as by the Morning Consult Poll just last week. Forty percent of the people can make more money staying home than they can going to work. Twenty-six States so far got rid of that $300 check, and you have seen an increase in the employment in those States. That is why the numbers you see are going in the right direction from the standpoint of unemployment going down. That being said, we still have a huge problem with the labor participation rate in this country. It continues to go down because people do not go to work because they are incentivized to stay home. So the programs and policies of this administration are not working. We are limping along. And being successful in spite of them, not because of them. I think that is the point we need to make. Also, with regards to the tax bill and the infrastructure as you were talking about, it is interesting that--you know, I have talked to multiple electrical utility companies, an electrical generation company, executives who are talking about if we went to all electric vehicles, we don't have enough electrical capacity to provide the amount of electricity it is going to need to make this work. We don't have the power grid built up to make it work. And for us to then spend--and our numbers I have seen, anywhere from 120 to $170 billion for electrical charging stations. That is like about building a bridge to nowhere because only 2 percent of the cars are electric right now. It would be much better spent if you wanted to spend 120-, $170 billion to put in the roads and bridges, which improve the maintenance and ability of cars to run efficiently on those roads and over those bridges, or make energy efficient gas pumps. Why not make more energy efficient gas pumps instead of electrical charging stations that is costing $150, $200,000 apiece, and nobody is going to use them. Mr. Chairman, this is the folly of this administration. This is the fallacy of the policies that are out there with. The American people are seeing this nonsense. And Mr. Greer on here today had some very salient observations about some of the problems, and he, as a small business owner, is directly affected because he has to wait for his paycheck until we finally make some money and get this economy going. With that, I yield back. Mr. CROW. Thank you. The gentleman yields back. I always appreciate a robust debate and discussion. So I appreciate the comments and look forward to working with all of the members to figure out how we do what we all want to do and that is create jobs, grow our economy, and address the climate crisis at the same time. So with that, I would ask unanimous consent that members have 5 legislative days to submit statements and supporting materials for the record. And, without objection, so ordered. And if there is no further business to come before the committee, we are adjourned. Thank you. [Whereupon, at 11:34 a.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.] A P P E N D I X [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT] [all]