The Grass (Business) Is Always Greener

The Grass (Business) Is Always Greener

The business of grass, you might say, has emerged as a topic of interest this week, despite the slushy snow piles still sitting atop of it. It’s a topic being cultivated at the Statehouse and in Pawtucket –where a certain variation may soon be growing indoors.

The first grass story concerns legislation proposed by Senator John Tassoni that would require, for the first time, that all gardener businesses must register with the state as landscape architects, pay annual registration and licensing fees, and carry a property damage insurance policy worth $100,000. Tassoni ‘s rationale for the bill is that the larger landscape companies are paying taxes, pay licensing and registration fees and carry insurance, overall higher overhead than the smaller guys. But many of the so called “fly by night” operations, as Tassoni labeled them, are family run, often just father-son part time enterprises which are very representative of the state’s small business service operator community.

The nature of landscaping makes it a seasonal business to begin with and therefore is it truly fair to require these types of small service businesses to be treated like full scale year round operations? The larger issue Tassoni’s bill represents is that all independent businesses in the state better brace themselves because the hunt for desperately needed new channels of revenue (new fees and taxes) to prop up the state’s depleted reserves is only going to get more and more aggressive. Furthermore, it seems the other objective is to address the growing number of landscaper businesses which not only employ illegal workers but slowly are also becoming owned and operated by illegals who would presumably be discouraged from the industry if they had to legally register with the state, pay fees, taxes and take out insurance policies. How might Tassoni’s bill be measured by the new Governor who operates from the philosophy that the legal or illegal status of workers is irrelevant, and their undocumented participation in the local economy should be encouraged? Stay tuned.

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The second “grass” story comes out of Pawtucket. (A third grass item, a bill from Tiverton Rep. John Edwards to legalize marijuana, warrants a separate review.) Turns out former candidate, former Democratic Party chairman Bill Lynch appears to want to jump aboard the coming federal gravy train of funding that will likely accompany the “growing” medical marijuana industry as the new federal health care law takes hold. Lynch is listed as one of four prominent Pawtucket figures who have joined together to form the “RI Center for Compassion and Wellness” as applicants to land one of three Compassion Center licenses the state will award for the right to cultivate and sell the drug to approved medical patients. The exact parameters governing how the new federal health care law may provide health care coverage of medical marijuana use is currently unclear. But other states where it has been legalized are pursuing policies to have it covered. Although the Compassion Centers are legally organized as non-profits, they will presumably operate off of “healthy” sized government contracts—which is probably where the heightened interest from non-health care background public officials comes into play. Regardless of the noble medical objective of prescribing marijuana for the relief of pain in terminally ill patients, it’s doubtful the Lynch-led Pawtucket contingent is applying because they are seeking to run a charity. After all, green is the color of grass.

Donna Perry is a Communications Consultant to RISC, the RI Statewide Coalition www.statewidecoalition.com