As a small, woman-owned business, my boutique Pilates Studio has been classified as a gym or fitness center, and alongside cinemas with a 250+ person capacity, and in turn, my business has been shut down in advance of other non-essential businesses. We have been closed since March 16th, and while we have made every effort to generate revenue through virtual, online classes our monthly revenue has dropped below 5 percent of its regular value. To be clear, unlike gyms and fitness centers, boutique fitness studios and micro gyms have a typical capacity of 1-6 people. Most clients are seen 1-1 (instructor-client) up to 4-1 ratios as normal practice. Clients attend pre-scheduled sessions limited to this capacity. At no point are clients admitted to classes as walk-Ins, a physical appointment must be scheduled 12-24 hours in advance of their session. In addition, this industry is one of the few female-led and powered industries in existence. We estimate 75% of the owners and workers impacted by this crisis are women. I ask that you support the Petition to exclude boutique fitness studios and micro-gyms from the definition of of “Gyms” or “fitness centers,” and create independent directives applicable for the reduced footprint of the unique business models used by boutique fitness studios and micro-gyms. We respectfully request that Governor Whitmer open us along side other non-essential businesses who will reopen June1. As a boutique fitness studio and micro-gym, it can be argued that we are actually are an essential business as we see more than 60% of our clients in a therapeutic/rehabilitative manner, under the guidance of licensed physical therapists. Our industry has, and always will be committed to the health and wellbeing of all others. We want to reopen responsibly and as quickly as possible.As the studio owner, I can attest that my boutique fitness studio/ microgym appreciates the importance of employing several team members and supporting clients to become healthy with the least risk possible to their good health.

This action is important for so many reasons, such as Mr. Trump and his administration’s: 1) racist and violent rhetoric; 2) dangerous refusal to sufficiently handle the current COVID-19 pandemic and its numerous associated issues; 3) shameful detention of immigrants and their families; 4) purposeful raiding of taxpayer funds to benefit the richest segment of US citizens; 5) flagrant unethical and unlawful behaviors; and 6) other issues too numerous to mention. - - - We must make our disapproval unequivocal. Please lend your voice to this political action. - - - “There is a power that can be created out of pent-up indignation, courage, and the inspiration of a common cause, and that if enough people put their minds and bodies into that cause, they can win. It is a phenomenon recorded again and against in the history of popular movements against injustice all over the world.” ― Howard Zinn, You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times

Family and Friends across the nation are not getting their life-saving cancer surgeries and hospital workers are being furloughed due to not enough work. WE can't allow our HEALTH Care system to collapse!!

1. We have had numerous calls from clients requesting us to come to their homes. Nail Technicians will eventually start doing nails at home and in client's homes. When this happens, sanitation requirements are not going to be able to be followed properly and exposure will become heightened. 2. Many Nail Technicians have received unemployment and it will give them some income. For most nail technicians, this is not enough as most of their income comes from the commission and the tips that they make. 3. For the self-employed, it is even more of a struggle trying to manage both home and work bills. Having no source of income, lease agreements to pay rent, along with many other expenses that come from being self-employed, this puts many of us under stress that is effecting our mental health. 4. Many nail technicians and nails salons have now been without income since the businesses have closed back in March. A lot of salon owners are facing financial hardship and the longer the salons stay closed, the more possibility of some of us having to close our doors permanently. Please ask Governor Sununu to Consider us as an essential business and allow us to reopen. Thank you for Support & Consideration.

We have been asked to reopen at a time when our health department strongly recommends that staff and children with pre-existing medical conditions stay home. This is critical for safety; however it also means that our pre-pandemic staffing crisis is much worse and we need to operate below capacity while many of our children remain home. Our operating costs have skyrocketed, we have little access to supplies, and social distancing is not possible for young children. We have a work environment at very high risk for infection, even with strict regulations and highly trained staff. Our programs are facing an unprecedented staffing crisis and revenue hit and we were already in crisis before the pandemic. There are centers that do not have enough staff to open or can only partially open, and we need funding to bridge this gap. In addition, we need to protect our current staff so that we can reopen to full capacity when the crisis is over. There are a number of ways that we can ensure the solvency of the childcare industry, but there are three systems in dire need of long-term public investment. Those three systems are healthcare, wage supports, and access to childcare financial assistance. As we attempt to re-open, we will be missing a substantial portion of our staff that fall into the "at-risk" categories, meaning we need to support what little workforce we have left. Those teachers that are able and willing to return to work are going to need guaranteed access to healthcare and childcare financial assistance. Historically, teachers that did not qualify for these things would either quit or work part-time as they juggled schedules. In addition, our average wage is just over $12.00 per hour. This is at or below many other lower tier essential jobs and we often have higher education degrees and continued education. Without public investment in wage supports for our teachers and directors, many of our workers may never return. Even with our best efforts, many programs cannot resume operation on June 1 or can only partially open due to lack of staff and/or lack of children. Programs that have teachers and/or directors out will not be able to resume full operation or may not be able to open at all. Without continued financial support, these programs risk permanent closure. In addition to lack of staff, programs will have reserved spaces sitting open with no income for those at-risk children that cannot return, or for those families that have experienced lay-offs. This creates a precarious financial situation for an entire industry. We need continued stabilization grants and continued allowance for subsidy reimbursement for both open and closed programs; otherwise the system is penalizing programs that have staff and children with pre-existing conditions. Without continued financial support, open programs will have operating expenses that are higher than their tuition income, closed programs will cease to exist and not be available to provide care when it is safe for staff to return. Supporting current programs will allow the industry to bounce back from the pandemic much faster than allowing programs to fail and then trying to restart anew. In addition to financial investment, all programs will need assistance with health and safety measures such as procuring PPE, cleaning supplies, and groceries as well as testing and contact tracing. We don't have the buying power of large businesses and have little access to the supplies that we need to operate safely. Our work environment is close contact and high risk for disease transmission. We need PPE for our workforce to try to prevent widespread illness and additional center closures. We will need regular access to free testing for our workforce and our families as we try to monitor and control infection. In addition to the testing, we need clear and enforceable protocols for keeping staff and children safe and that do not leave wiggle room for parents to send in sick or possibly contagious children. Lastly, we would like to mention that there will be a significantly increased need for social/emotional support for children as they return to group care and funding for mental health and case management services will be needed as we help children cope with the effects of a pandemic. We realize that this list is extensive and will require significant financial investment, but it addresses many of the issues that our profession is currently facing and will face in the future. If we can secure permanent funding for wages, subsidy, healthcare, and a path back to re-opening during a health crisis, then we will have helped to create a much more sustainable model of early education that should last us years into the future. Thank You for Your Consideration, The Early Educators of Vermont

These businesses are the livelihood and sole source of income of many bar owners, some of which I know personally. If they are forced to wait longer than 30 more days to open they will NOT be able to reopen at all! Not just for the patrons of these establishments and the music industry, but also on behalf of bar/nightclub owners please consider allowing them to open!

So many Service industry workers out of work and Bars are paying high leases on their businesses but not allowed to open to capacity or at all. These bars and restaurants are going bankrupt and losing their life’s work before our eyes. People can social distance at a bar as they do elsewhere. Those that are particularly concerned with catching the virus will stay home anyway. Let the marketplace govern itself.

The unemployment report is simply horrific. More than 20 million people lost their jobs in April, and the country's official unemployment rate is nearly 15%. That's worse than anything since the Great Depression. But it doesn't have to be this way. Rep. Pramila Jayapal has a proposal that would prevent mass unemployment by doing what many European countries have already done: have the government cover the payrolls of struggling businesses. The Paycheck Guarantee Act provides urgent relief to businesses and workers, while also helping make it easier for the economy to recover once public health has improved. Congress is debating the next stimulus bill and there's a chance this can be included, but only if we demand it. Will you speak up now?

Donald Trump is considering several proposals that would wreck Social Security and Medicare -- and we need your help to stop him. Trump's advisors are considering a plan to allow people to get more economic stimulus cash, but you would have to accept cuts to your future Social Security benefits. It's a kind of payday loan that forces you to take money you need in your old age and use it to survive right now. Trump himself is also pushing a plan to slash payroll taxes as part of the economic stimulus. But payroll taxes are one of the main sources of revenue for Social Security and Medicare, and cutting them would cause a crisis. We need to make sure Congress rejects these horrifically destructive plans. Instead, now is a good time to expand Social Security and Medicare. Will you help?

Essential workers are putting their lives on the line every day during this crisis--they are providing healthcare, ensuring that workers have the ability to travel to their jobs, processing food and stocking grocery stores, collecting garbage and keeping our streets clean, delivering packages, energy and telecommunication services, and keeping our government functioning. Essential workers want to be safe and do their jobs with the dignity and respect that they deserve. This is as much about racial and gender justice as it is about economic justice: women, immigrants, and Black and Latinx workers are more likely to be essential workers. We must do more to protect the 2.2 million essential workers in New York in order to prevent more unnecessary deaths and a second surge of COVID-19 in already devastated communities. The federal government is refusing to protect workers and their communities from COVID-19 and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is not formally investigating any complaints from workers outside of the healthcare industry. For these reasons, we must turn to New York State to take action in order to protect essential workers and their communities from preventing a second wave of COVID19. Stand with essential workers to call for a New York Health and Essential Rights Order (NY H.E.R.O.) to protect the essential workforce and the communities they serve. The NY H.E.R.O. Executive Order will quickly improve the health and safety in workplaces across New York by implementing the following measures: HEALTH & SAFETY PROTOCOLS TO PROTECT PUBLIC HEALTH - Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Requirements - Physical distancing requirements - Hand hygiene requirements - Disinfection and deep cleaning requirements - The requirement to provide notice when workers contract the virus - Quarantine housing for workers living in employer housing ENFORCEMENT & PROHIBITION ON RETALIATION - Workplaces should establish a facility pandemic safety committee that can raise concerns about health and safety conditions and notify the employer about worker complaints and concerns - No employer should take action against workers who raise any concern or information about workplace health and safety practices - Any worker has the right to refuse to do work under conditions where they feel at risk of contracting or spreading COVID-19

The coronavirus pandemic has disproportionately ravaged Black and brown communities compared to their white counterparts. The small business market is no different, as minority-owned small businesses have struggled to stay afloat during this global health crisis. The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is a loan program put forth by the Small Business Administration to give small businesses incentive to keep employees on payroll. However, 75% of the loan must go towards payroll — rent and utilities can only be paid with the other 25%. Minority and women-owned businesses on average have fewer employees compared to white, male-owned businesses. Many do not have employees at all. These businesses either didn’t qualify or the funds had been exhausted by the time their applications were processed. Another hurdle for minority business owners to overcome is the relationships banks already have with non-minority businesses. Banks participating in loan-forgiveness programs are more likely to issue loans to existing clients. Unfortunately, businesses owned by people of color are less likely to have commercial banking relationships. A reformed PPP should include demographic questions on loan applications to provide a better sense of who is receiving the loans and give business owners more leniency with how the loan is allocated. It is simply not enough for Congress to replenish the funds if these problems persist. Congress must take the corruption out of government relief programs and create an economy that truly works for everyone.

It is important that both Governors stop using fear mongering language directed at the beauty industry because they are making consumers unnecessarily afraid to return to their favourite salon or spa and preventing in home services where allowed. Governor Cuomo insists salon and barbershop professionals are non essential and Governor Newsom without any facts is spreading a lie that coronavirus started in a nail salon in California. It is irresponsible and damaging to an entire industry. Both Governors Cuomo and Newsom are preventing professionals from making an income indefinitely even though we have followed their shelter in place mandates. Many salon owners will lose their businesses through no fault of their own and never be able to reopen while leaving them in massive financial debt. This not only hurts them as a business owner but the people they employ and the communities they serve which is not limited to salons and spas. Licensed beauty professionals serve our senior communities by working in retirement and rehabilitation facility salons. We volunteer at city hospitals to bring services to patients that are not able to get to otherwise. We participate in charities, fundraisers and fashions shows. We provide services for the media and for entertainment. The disdain they have for the salon and beauty industry goes far beyond the four walls of any beauty or Barber shop and will inevitably effect every single person on both of their states if they don’t work with of instead of against us.