Carey, Landsman Reintroduce Bipartisan NO BOSS Act to Encourage Small Business Formation
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Reps. Mike Carey (R-Ohio-15) and Greg Landsman (D-Ohio-01) reintroduced the New Opportunities for Business Ownership and Self-Sufficiency (NO BOSS) Act to support individuals as they pursue small business ownership. The bill makes improvements to the underutilized Self-Employment Assistance (SEA) Program, making state participation less onerous and encouraging greater participation…
“The NO BOSS Act is a commonsense proposal that empowers workers, improves our social safety net, and creates new opportunities. While self-employment rates and business start up rates remain lower than they were 30 years ago, the post-pandemic period has seen a movement towards more people pursuing their dreams and starting new businesses. This proposal can help the nation continue this positive momentum. The R Street Institute is pleased to support it,” Eli Lehrer of the R Street Institute said…
BACKGROUND:
The SEA Program is designed to encourage unemployed individuals to start their own businesses. Unlike traditional Unemployment Compensation (UC), SEA participants can receive weekly payments while getting their small business off the ground.
Only five states have active SEA programs for UC claimants as of 2025 (Delaware, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New York, and Oregon). As of 2022, Oregon and New York had the largest SEA programs with 390 and 1,005 participants, respectively.
The NO BOSS Act will improve use of the SEA program by making common-sense changes to the program, many modeled after the program’s highly successful implementation in Oregon.
The bill would remove the “likely to exhaust benefits” provision, which prevents many unemployed workers from participating in this program and implies that entrepreneurship should only be for those who are unlikely to find any other job.
Additionally, the legislation would clarify that a business plan and market feasibility study could serve as an alternative requirement to entrepreneurship training.
The bill also provides integrity guardrails to ensure those who have opted to submit a business plan and market feasibility study are meeting the required deadlines.
Lastly, the bill increases the participation cap from five percent to ten percent.
This bill is also cosponsored by U.S. Reps. Max Miller (R-Ohio-07), Rudy Yakym (R-Ind.-02), Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa-04), and Nathaniel Moran (R-Texas-01).
Reps. Carey and Landsman previously introduced the NO BOSS Act in the 118th Congress.
Full text of the NO BOSS Act is available here.